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I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily — how calmly I can tell you the whole story.
- From The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe.

Latest Posts:

Is Making a Roblox Game Considered Programming?

A teenage boy making a Roblox game

A teenage boy works on his new Roblox game... Is this the beginning of a programming career?

I recently overheard a conversation between a Roblox Game Developer and some of his testers. As he demonstrated his game, he identified bugs, things that weren't actually bugs (features 😅), and characteristics of the environment.

What got my attention was his concern when he found a bug, relief when it wasn't a bug, and excitement about not only what he had already done, but also what he plans to do in the future... Just like me when I discover a new programming language, API, or framework.

Over the years, I've had the good fortune to participate in conversations with people working in every facet of the Software Engineering industry. Some of them would laugh me outta the room for even posing the question. They might say that you need logic, control flow, a well-documented API, or some other arbitrary and highly-opinionated features in order to be considered programming. I won't debate the point, but Roblox Game Development (along with Luau) might still qualify.

Programming gives me the opportunity to continuously learn, take what I've learned and make something new with it, break it, fix it, and share it with others before learning the next new thing. That's what I love about it. There's much less rinse & repeat than in other professions. That's what makes it awesome it seems to me that Roblox has this quality in spades.

The <menu> Element

I just noticed the navigation menu on a friend's website:

<nav>
    <menu> 
        <li><a href="/home/">Home</a></li>
        <li><a href="/about/">About</a></li>
        <li><a href="/blog/">Blog</a></li>
        <li><a href="/contact/">Contact</a></li>
    </menu>
</nav>

... huh?... <menu>? Since when is that a thing. I always use <ul> for menus.

Well, I looked it up, researched it, and even tested it with accessibility tools. The <menu> element has been around forever, is supported everywhere, and, in every case, it works just like a <ul>.

I even searched for navigation menu tutorials and they're all using <ul>. So, why aren't people using <menu> for menus? I dunno. I'm gonna start.

Absolutely Insane Unicorn

A cartoon depicting an insane unicorn head against a chaotic and colorful background

... unless you're some absolutely insane unicorn and can show it...

This is paraphrased from a Reddit discussion about Software Engineering employment opportunities.

I love that phrase! It ranks right up there with "10x developer" as someone who performs ten times better than an average developer.

"Unicorn", in any modern context is supposed to describe something that doesn't exist. It's a mythological creature like a developer with many years of experience in mutually exclusive technologies.

Not any more... Now, "unicorn" has a distinct definition in a financial context and I'll bet the redditor could describe a unicorn developer to me if I asked them. Likewise, I can search for "10x developer" and find courses that'll teach me exactly how to be one. People don't use these terms to refer to something that doesn't exist.

Well, it's still nonsense. Just like the "10x developer", it might be theoretically possible to become a "unicorn developer", but it's completely infeasible.

Think about the best developer in the world. There's no wrong answer, just whoever you think is the best...

Whether you're thinking about some overpaid FAANG engineer, an innovator like DHH or Linus Torvalds, an educator like Uncle Bob Martin, or legends like Kernighan & Ritchie I'll bet they don't have the diverse skills to be a unicorn developer and can't demonstrate the speed / quality to be a 10x developer.

There's nothing wrong with this. I just find it entertaining.

May your reach always exceed your grasp.

If you're curious about me, I'm a solid 0.9x developer in terms of speed, but I try to be a 1.1x developer in terms of quality.

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