James Westman @flyingpimonster@fosstodon.org

My markup language for #GTK4 is ready, and I'm eager to hear your feedback! Is it something you'd use in your apps? What features would you like to see next?

https://www.jwestman.net/2021/12/02/introducing-blueprint-a-new-way-to-craft-user-interfaces.html

Nothing says #decentralized like a #cryptocurrency exchange that has an extra $700M to spend on advertising

and this isn't a fixable problem, it's fundamentally what an NFT is

I think what bothers me the most about NFT art is that it's conspicuous consumption in its purest form. The only benefit of owning an NFT is getting to say you "own" it.

Something I started earlier this year, that I'm really excited about and have been wanting to do for years. I'm working on adding vector tile support to libshumate, the GTK 4 maps library!

https://www.jwestman.net/2021/11/08/implementing-vector-tile-support-in-libshumate.html

And payments. Imagine if we had federated payments (we used to, back in the days of writing checks). It would open up so many possibilities.

Like banking apps. I won't switch banks over interest rates or credit card rewards but I will ABSOLUTELY switch over the quality of their app. If there was a standard API, those would be separate decisions.

Cryptocurrency may be a terrible solution, but the problem it "solves" is legitimate: it's too hard to build innovative products with existing financial tech.

You know what would be a million times more useful than cryptocurrency? An open, standardized banking and payments API.

When it comes to compiler UX, failing correctly is just as important as working correctly. The difference between good and bad error messages is quite stark.

My two cents about Linux desktops and the shift toward platforms instead of just DEs.

https://www.jwestman.net/2021/10/26/platforms-compatibility-the-future-of-the-free-desktop.html

No livestream this week, but here's a short video on the basics of GObject and introspection instead:

https://youtu.be/fABMaGnR7AE

An overview of the markup language I'm working on for building user interfaces in GTK.

https://www.jwestman.net/2021/10/22/a-markup-language-for-gtk.html

Of course I figure out the problem almost immediately after I end the stream. I forgot to add an IdeDiagnosticProvider in the Builder plugin! That would explain why diagnostics weren't showing up.

Next livestream: Writing a new language server! For what language? Tune in to find out on Wednesday at 15:00 UTC!

https://youtu.be/eKIRFK5xqTQ

Tomorrow at 3pm UTC I'll be going live and working on libshumate, the upcoming GTK 4 maps library. Join in if you're interested in how GNOME is developed!

https://youtu.be/nrurds5huSs

My GitHub Sponsors profile is now live! You can support my work on Free Software including GNOME, Hourglass (which I haven't forgotten about!), and other random stuff. https://github.com/sponsors/flyingpimonster/

If you followed my GNOME Builder/deviced tutorial and it didn't work, it's because I forgot a step. Oops! You need to enable network discovery on the phone. The tutorial is now up to date: https://www.jwestman.net/2021/08/06/tutorial-mobile-dev-with-builder.html

I don't need to be scared of a superhuman AI, I'm already scared of what regular humans are doing with AI

I've been thinking about creating a Patreon. I know some FOSS devs have one, but I'm not sure it would be worth it for me or anyone would be interested. Thoughts?