Notes ‒ Szymon Kaliski

Notes

This is a collection of my half-formed thoughts, my digital garden.

The system currently contains 152 public notes, a subset of what I use in my personal knowledge management system.

Interesting places to start could be collections on: End-User Programming, Future Of Coding, Learning, or Cybernetics.

Notes below are grouped by last edit time.

#2024-02

Tools for Novelty¹¹Why Do We Do Things?⁷Zeigarnik Effect⁶Fidelity of The Tool Should be Proportional to The Maturity of The Idea⁴Data not Apps³

#2024-01

Working with the Material⁷Mastering Tools⁴

#2023-12

Future Of Coding²²Deliberate Practice²⁰Solving Things Visually¹⁹Understanding Through Building¹⁶Live-Coding¹²Tools Building Us⁹Computer Science Positivism⁷Examples of Tools Shaping the Outcomes⁶Leave Room for Errors⁶Linguistic Determinism⁶Design Science Research⁵Live-Coding Issues⁵Lambda Encoding¹

#2023-04

DAG and Tree Representations of Code²

#2023-03

Neighbour Computing⁴

#2023-01

Programmable Ink¹²Research Themes¹²

#2022-12

End-Users Reuse Code by Cloning Instead of Starting from Scratch²

#2022-08

Computationalism⁵

#2022-07

Bret Victor's Thesis¹³The Incredible Power of The Right Interface¹²Second-Order Tool Building⁴Visualizing the Problem Domain is More Useful than Visualizing the Program Shape⁴

#2022-05

Strive for Greatness⁵

#2022-04

Where Do Ideas Come From?¹²Fixating on Solution Aesthetics can Lead to Solving Wrong Problems¹¹Be Honest with Yourself⁹Enjoy the Journey⁶Writing Was Invented for Pragmatic Reasons⁴Amplifying Strengths can be More Productive than Improving Weaknesses³

#2022-03

Cybernetics²³Each Extensions is an Amputation⁸Design Science⁷Information Aesthetics³

#2022-02

Simulator²⁴VPL²²Canvas for Programming¹³Play Your Own Games¹²Thinking About Thinking Requires Something to Think About¹²Computational DAGs⁵Computer Literacy⁴VPL Issues³

#2022-01

Dynamic Medium¹¹Epistemic Actions¹⁰Pixel Space and Tools⁹Metacognition and Debugging⁸Thinking and Time⁸Programming as a Specific Case of a Bigger Problem⁷Modes⁶No Chrome⁵Feedback Loops in Research are Long²Filesystem as Database²Idea Hooks²Short-Sightedness in Software¹Engineering vs Science⁰

#2021-12

End-User Programming vs Programming⁷End-User Programming Self-Hosted Systems are in Tension with Direct Manipulation⁵WYSIWYG is a Form of Naive Realism²

#2021-10

Strive to be Well Rounded⁴Optimising for Fewer Interactions²

#2021-09

Craft Comes from Repetition⁸Tools as Collaborators⁴Creative Work is Often Nonlinear³Avoid "Spooky Action at a Distance" in Software¹Recipes are not Programs¹

#2021-07

End-User Programming²⁹Programming Tools and People's Needs⁶Spreadsheet for End-User Programming Might be a Wrong Model⁶Domain Experts Shouldn't be Limited by Developer Time³

#2021-06

Following Genuine Interests Forms Positive Feedback Loops¹²Bicycle for the Mind¹¹Tensions¹¹Cognitive Medium⁹Places in Software⁸Ladder Of Abstraction⁶Time and Experimentation⁵Gradual Enhancement⁴Working in the Dynamic Medium⁴New Ideas Should be Oversaturated³Achieving Cognitive Fit is Easier than Social Fit¹Tuple Space¹

#2021-05

Working with Copies²

#2021-04

Novelty Search⁷Re-engagement in Knowledge⁴

#2021-03

Self-Cybernetics¹²Embodied Cognition⁸Browsing vs Searching⁷Great Thoughts⁶Peripheral Vision in Software⁴Sequences of Static Snapshots³Community in Research¹Strive to Have Balanced Days¹

#2021-02

Links²⁰Thinking by Writing¹⁶Canvas for Thinking¹⁴Extended Mind¹²Situated Cognition¹¹Thinking with Zettelkasten⁹Creating-Curating⁸Constructionism⁶End-User Programming Should be Task-Oriented⁵Second-Order Cybernetics⁵Knowledge Work Should Accrete⁴Notes Should Serve a Purpose⁴Look for Opposite Views Instead of Confirming Ones³

#2021-01

Fractality of Software Tools⁶Data Layer⁴Syntopic Reading⁴

#2020-12

Research⁹⁷Learning⁴⁹Memex¹³Understanding Requires Effort¹³Workshop vs Library⁸Handling History in Software⁷Reflective Practice⁷CLI UX⁶Connections are Usually Better than Taxonomies⁵Environments not App Pickers⁵Extended Phenotypes⁵Memex and My Limits⁵Cognition Shape⁴Constructivism⁴Dialog Across Time⁴Do Your Own Thinking⁴Downtime⁴Edit-Commit⁴Note Titles Becoming Abstractions⁴Orientation in Fractal Software⁴Research and Day-to-Day⁴Dynabook³Ideating-Authoring³Improvements vs Breakthroughs³Rules for Visual Information Systems³Software Performance and Thinking³Connectionism²Conversation Theory²Dialog in UI²Grey Thinking²Pencil and OS-level Doodling²Perceptual Control Theory²Confirmation Bias¹Design Methods Movement¹E-Prime¹Genetic Epistemology¹Semiotics¹