invalid argument: a blog by d.j. graham - Blog Feed

A tiny but handy snippet of code which formats terraform source files, but only the ones that have changed recently, according to git diff. git diff --name-only main -- '*.tf' | ForEach-Object {...

Another take on the problem of creating an archive of a favourite podcast, this time using SQLite to store which episodes have already been downloaded so we don't waste bandwidth saving files we...

Following on from the Badger 2040 Hello World example, here is an inspirational quote of the day printed on e-paper.

...for Software Architecture.

I bought a Badger 2040 e-paper device from Pimoroni years ago and never did much with it.

Andy Bell on his design approach to developing websites and the underlying cube css...

A nice presentation from Clarke Ching on the thirteen things it takes to handle projects so that they can deliver...

No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as down time.

Hadrien Mens-Pellen discussing guerilla programming - survive in hostile tech environments - from the NewCrafts 2025...

This is me collecting some of the better git explainer presentations for my colleagues.

Or "How to Update a Feature Branch From main and Still End Up With a Single Commit PR".

"I remember.

Like a man to double business bound I stand in pause where I shall first begin, And both...

Like a lot of people who have been messing about with computers and technology for a long time, I have a few old hard drives lying around acting as backups from previous, now defunct machines.

She heard him mutter, "Can you take away this grief?"

Recently I was making some changes to build scripts following a template but with a high possibility that there could be typos creeping in as the work got more and more repetitive.

I often think one of the great weaknesses of our era is that we get lone superhero movies over and over that suggest that our big problems are solved by muscly guys in spandex whose superpower is the...

Normally running a github workflow happens either automatically as a result of a commit or PR merge or as a manual invokation if dispatch is configured for that workflow.

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to...

This is an adaptation of the Flocking example code from p5js and based on the earlier work of Craig Reynolds Boids.

Here is a demonstration of a mesh network implemented by several microbits working together to deliver a message from one destination unit to an intended target unit.

Neo-colonialism is the worst form of imperialism.

I had an idea for a p5js project but it requires a way to make sense of some early version of C code.

Kevlin Henney's keynote about fun in development and making the journey of developing software more...

What would it look like to have some existing code randomly changed ("refactored") by an "AI" in vibe coding mode?

People who think they're free in this world just haven't come to the end of their leash...

...There is the tragedy and despair of all machinery laid bare.

Source /* eslint-disable */ function setup() { createCanvas(windowWidth, windowHeight).parent("hustle"); textSize(100); textAlign(CENTER, CENTER); textFont('Arial'); textStyle(BOLD); } let frame = 1;...

The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion.

A small sketch related to current events, available at Open Processing here.

I have a few podcasts that I listen to regularly and some I particularly want to archive away the earlier episodes in case they ever disappear from online due to disaster or simply the person closes...

You must realize that I am far from feeling beaten…it seems to me that… a man out to be deeply convinced that the source of his own moral force is in himself — his very energy and will, the iron...

Mike Monteiro, of Meeting Tokens fame, on changing the world - by...

Here's a small project to model a simple hourglass timer that animates "sand" pixels falling from the top, through the middle and filling up the bottom of the screen.

I had some feedback from trainers that the new improved ghost detector from last year was overly complicated and relied too much on the class construct which their students weren't working with, so...

Here is an experiment in making a tiny implementation of the Logo Programming Language adapted for the microbit and the audience I was working with for some training.

Reading about something entirely unrelated today I stumbled on a wikipedia article about Numbers Stations, a radio broadcast of seemingly random numbers that were believed to be used to communicate...

A short sketch here to create an incident in Service Now.

You are the sky.

If history is to be creative, to anticipate a possible future without denying the past, it should, I believe, emphasize new possibilities by disclosing those hidden episodes of the past when, even if...

Barry O'Reilly on structured software and the Pulsating Ball of...

your life is your life don't let it be clubbed into dank submission be on the watch there are ways out. there is a light somewhere it may not be much light but it beats the darkness. be on the watch....

I haven't posted a game in a while so here's a very simple recreation of the "Simon" game which uses the two buttons on the front of the microbit and the touch logo but could be broken out...

The only things stopping me today are: genetics, lack of will, income, brain chemistry and external...

Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not...

Following on from my 11ty shortcode to generate a simplified microbit ui as an SVG image, I wanted to explore making something similar but using the canvas API in the browser.

This is probably something I should have attempted many years ago when I was first introduced to "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" by Abelson and Sussman and the recorded...