Asymptomatic

Posts tagged: code

ActivityPub on Sn
August 24, 2025
Sn code

I’ve spent the morning trying to get my ActivityPub implementation off the ground, and I fee like I’m making headway. You can currently follow my account at the blog (@owen@asymptomatic.net), and it seems to record that information for future publishing. The testing suggests that when I publish this post, it’ll push it out to anyone that is following that account, but given that the Mastodon instance that my personal account runs from and my iOS client report different things (Mona thinks that my follow request is “pending”, and I’m pretty sure I’ve set things up for there to be no review of follow requests), I’m wondering what exactly will happen.

Configuration of a system such as this is non-trivial and a bit inscrutable. I’ve tried to narrow options down to the bare minimum necessary, as combined with the other options that are needed for the blog itself, so that it doesn’t take a lot of config to get the system going.

Mondropop
May 17, 2025
app ios code iphone coding mondropop

I’ve been creating a new game for the iPhone that I am calling Mondropop. The idea of the game is, like many other games, you have blocks in a grid that are all different colors. When you touch any of the groups of blocks of the same color, that group is removed from the board and all the pieces above those blocks fall into the open spaces.

You get points for clearing blocks using a specific formula where the larger the group, the more points you get. Towards the end of the game, if you clear a column, the columns will slide together to close the gap, allowing blocks on either side of the empty space to connect. At the end, you get a score to see how well you did.

Three Development Projects
March 27, 2024
development code

I’ve been dedicating my spare time to three development projects lately, some of which are continuations of past work, while others are new ventures. Allow me to elaborate on them.

Firstly, there’s Tin (using the chemical symbol Sn), the software that powers this website. I’m quite pleased with Tin’s progress, as it now boasts numerous features I’ve long wanted to implement. In fact, it has made creating and posting new content significantly more effortless. I recently added pagination functionality, enabling users to navigate between pages and allowing Google to index all 3,000+ posts on the blog. Additionally, I re-enabled the search feature, which has been performing well. As I continue developing Tin, I plan to enhance the interactive front-end for post composition, streamlining the process of writing and publishing content directly on the site.

The Programmer's Toolbox
January 13, 2013
code IDE editors

After reading an article on Hacker News I found myself once again perplexed by self-proclaimed "programmers" who insist upon a minimal toolset to accomplish their work.  

Jeremy Morgan, the guy who wrote the original article about the tools he uses, is clearly a Windows programmer.  His tools indicate not only that he runs Windows, but that he writes code that is intended to be deployed on Windows.  For Windows developers, some tools are necessary for the trade.  Specifically, a compiler that will produce a Windows binary application is a tool that must be in the box to accomplish your job.  But beyond what's required for producing working code/applications for different platforms, there seems to be a trend among vocal "coders" to use the least invasive tools for the job.