A bit of whimsy for today.... the gradient horse art project (draw a horse and set it in motion) https://gradient.horse/
Remote
Rebecca Wirfs-Brock
@rebeccawb@discuss.systems
mastodon 4.7.3SW Designer/consultant/mentor, author, inventor of Responsibility-Driven Design & xDD meme, heuristica (design heuristics!), patterns author, heuristic hunter, science/engineering nerd, jogger, gardener.
1301 Followers
355 Following
16 Posts
Joined November 21, 2022
@allenwb@mastodon.social I'm glad I don't live in this rat race anymore. But the people I was meeting with about exploreDDD yesterday all were... and they jumped in and offered that they had several agents going at the moment, and when we discussed what to hack on on the hack day, they jumped in to Claude code (while I was just doing a google search and reading web pages).... and they generally seemed excited by all that they were doing.
So I get this. And I am so out that loop...
So do read this.... this is the new reality for a lot of "high powered" sw folks in my former circle https://steve-yegge.medium.com/the-ai-vampire-eda6e4f07163
This NY Times article by a poetry professor is thoughtful... and I suspect that CS profs need to wrestle with the same issues... https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/opinion/ai-chatgpt-school.html?unlocked_article_code=1.X08.G9EK.3p_VSeTC8VFO&smid=url-share
And on another note.... ensh*tification video made by the Norwegian consumer council https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Upf_B9RLQ
A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator
Fact checking legal briefs conjured up by a legal assistent using AI???? Hmm... a Salem OR lawyer never thought that was needed
For your Friday reading pleasure... another patterns paper presented at PLoP 2025, I co-authored with Karl Evard. Flow Focused Testing Strategies: Working Towards a Pattern Language Alternative to the Test Pyramid
https://wirfs-brock.com/rebecca/papers/flowfocusedtesting/
What started out as a critical look at test suite pattern shapes evolved into an initial foray into patterns and considerations for testing critical execution flows.
I would be interested in hearing your latest system testing insights.
My lucky wordle day... because why not? I am in Hawaii on vacation so this word came to mind...
Wordle 1,709 3/6
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Luck 42/99
Here's a link to the pre-publication version of the paper I wrote with Chris Kohls for the 32nd Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs, People, and Practices (PLoP)PLoP 2025 conference, titled "Patterns and their Umwelt:
How to Make Patterns Come to Life"
https://wirfs-brock.com/rebecca/papers/patternsumwelt/
Why is it that design patterns, with all their potential, often land with a thud? Design patterns promise reusable solutions to recurring problems, yet many remain unused, misunderstood, or applied mechanically. We argued that patterns —or pattern descriptions, rather—often do a poor job of accounting for the designer’s and user’s backgrounds, intentions, experiences, and specific situations. That is, for the authors’, the designers’ and the users’ umwelts. We also identified some common “pattern smells” that hinder their effective use and showed how paying attention to unfolding, roughness, and contextual fit can make patterns more resilient and meaningful.
good grief... the newest version of zoom has made it difficult to even FIND how to start a meeting.........
Replying to
@irene@discuss.systems This was a difficult (for me) read. Thanks for sharing this.
I read womem writers. Always have. And as a woman writer, I don't feel I write with a gender-specific bias. But I digress.
I remember back even when I was in grade school reading books like, Silver Chief of the North and imagining myself as the protagonist. I can't imagine my brothers reading Little Women and having thoughts of being like them.
Another good wordle day... Wordle 1,718 3/6
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Lucky wordle Monday Wordle 1,717 2/6
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Once again... I'm hitting my stride in wordleWordle 1,720 3/6
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Replying to
@jmeowmeow@hachyderm.io @jasongorman@mastodon.cloud And to that, I'd add after community of practice... -> experience reports -->revised solutions -> revised writing/community owned writing/education....