Hiltmon

AI agents are genuinely great at turning fuzzy business ideas into clear requirements.

AI agents have bias.

One of the best features of Xcode for C++ programmers is its Assistant Editor.

The challenge has been set, the startup has been formed, and initial release objectives defined.

Warning: This post is only for developers who are having issues when coding against file descriptors in the form of C-style file handles or sockets on MacOS.

Only a few times in a lifetime does an opportunity come along that could change everything.

Recently, GitHub updated actions from Node 12 to Node 16 (See GitHub Actions: All Actions will begin running on Node16 instead of Node12).

This is my fourth CPU Architecture transition in the Apple ecosystem, from the Motorolas on the II’s and LC, through the PowerPCs in the Titanium Powerbook, Intels on the Aluminum MacBooks to the ARM M1 today.

I have been writing software professionally for 32 years.

Today, I turn 55.

“Go to where the puck is going, not where it has been”. - Walter Gretzky (Wayne Gretzky’s father) Should we be building new product on existing, proven software stacks, or taking the challenge to start using the newer tools?

Discoverability is the user’s ability to find key information, features, services and capabilities in a software application.

I plan to write more about being a coding CTO, but in the mean time, to set my credentials, I posted an article on Noverse describing, at a high level, what software and systems I have built for Asset Managers.

The vast majority of non-code writing performed by software engineers is short form standard format, defined here as: Short Form: A small amount of headings and text up to 1000 words Standard Format: The same standard structure or pattern of document repe…

We all understand the benefits of the code review process in reducing the risk of software issues making it out into the wild, and in improving the skills of developers.

2026-11-01 Creepy AI Scope Creep 2026-03-17 Adversarial Review: Making Ai Challenge Its Own Conclusions 2023-09-03 Xcode's Assistant Editor struggling with C++ 2023-01-11 Zero to One: Stages of Startup Development 2023-11-01 Increasing File Descriptor Uli…

Follow on post to Working From Home … Here We Go!

It’s been many years since I worked from home and much is different since I ran Noverse from here.

Johannesburg, 1977 It was a crisp, sunny Saturday morning and my grandmother was in town.

In 2018, I switched to using an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil when not using my computer, replacing notebooks, scraps of paper, Post-It notes, and ink-leaking pens.

The vast majority of development I perform is in C++17 on an Apple Mac Computer using Xcode.

Today I removed the comments from hiltmon.com for one reason and one reason only — the comment service, Disqus, that I used — was tracking you across a multitude of sites and is selling your data to strangers without your (or my) permission.

When I started out as a developer and designer, I know I was clever.

I wanted to move my published writing stashed in my Octopress/Jekyll site into my current writing workflow environment, Ulysses.

It is best for your technology stack to tell you what went wrong as soon as it goes wrong to get the right level of attention in the correct timespan.

I’ve been writing software for well over 30 years, I’ve spent well over my 10,000 hours and gotten rather good at it.

Adding mathematical formulae to HTML pages is easy these days using MathJax.

Much has been written, tweeted and complained about the new MacBook Pros released by Apple last week.

Last evening a package arrived from Amazon.

At work, we write a lot of code.

Just short of six months ago, I wrote about how I was transitioning to Minimal Project Management as my team was growing at work.

I often need to embed SQL statements in C++ code.

The Apple Watch turns 1 year old next week.

I think one should review one’s productivity tool load-out every once in a while.

This post presents how I have set up Keyboard Maestro to replace basic text expansion from TextExpander … so far.

Apple turned 40 this week, and it got me thinking about the past 40 years of our individual computing experiences.

TL;DR: Beware of libraries you need to compile yourself and copy-pasted code, the performance, maintenance and other hellscapes you create are not worth it in the medium and long run: Do not use dependencies that have dependencies that you have to compile.

How many people really know how their motor vehicle works, or even care to.

With my team starting to grow at work, its time to add some Project Management to our process.

A note as a result of a discussion with a colleague.

My host, Dreamhost, is offering free web site certificates through Let’s Encrypt, a new initative to make encrypted connections the default standard through the internet.

My thoughts on the toxic hell-stew that my Twitter feed is becoming.

Dangerware is common in business and government.

All my text and writing is in Markdown formatted files and I would like to search them using Spotlight.

One of the biggest headaches I have using Adobe Indesign is the creation and especially maintenance of charts and graphs.

My business runs on code.

Just over 3 months ago, Apple released Apple Music and I signed up for the free trial as we all did.

I develop a lot of applications in C++ using Xcode on OS X and deploy them to CentOS Linux Servers to run.

Growing up, Saturday afternoons were for watching Rugby Union games with friends and family.

The Apple I know and loved was doomed, so the press said.