Programming Articles

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SEP Wins TechPoint’s 2025 Exceptional Employer Mira Award

SEP Recognized as Indiana’s Top Tech Employer, Winning TechPoint’s Prestigious Mira Award Westfield, Indiana - SEP has been named Exceptional Employer by TechPoint at the 26th annual Mira Awards. This award recognizes companies that are developing talent through skills-based hiring…
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ai generated graphic showing a cartoon developer working on a computer with music notes in the air and doc above that shows an agile flow

Vibe Coding Is the Purest Form of Agile (And That’s the Problem)

Vibe coding absolutely nails the values of Agile, and quietly violates the mechanisms that make Agile work. Vibe coding might be the purest form of Agile we’ve ever seen. No standups, no tickets, no backlog grooming, just chaos and bliss. It nails the Agile values: working software, responding to change, and individuals over process. The […]
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developer working at computer

Why Vibe Coding Fails – and How Signal Coding Fixes It

AI is an amplifier for whatever signal we humans provide. Garbage in, garbage out. Signal in, software out. – Robert Herbig, in the thing you’re currently reading If you haven’t heard of vibe coding, it’s an interesting concept: you prompt an AI agent to do all the coding and focus on fast iterations. Minimize time […]
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close up screen showing a line of code highlighted

Beyond Compare: The Diff Tool I Refuse to Live Without

I love boosting productivity.  If you’re manually comparing files, squinting at Git diffs, or struggling to sync folders across servers, you’re wasting time and there’s a better way— it’s called Beyond Compare. I’ve been using this tool for over a decade, and I’ve paid for it with my own money. That’s how much I believe […]
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(Mostly) Useless Lessons From Doing Math With TypeScript Types

You can interact with the source code for this article using the TypeScript playground. Throughout my experience using TypeScript, I have constantly been finding new features in the type system that I had no idea existed. At some point, I discovered that the type system was turing complete! (If we ignore the infinite memory requirement) […]
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programmer at computer with dual monitors working on coding project while wearing headphones

Your personal programming project misses you. How to make more time.

Personal programming projects are a great way to explore new topics. They can allow you a scaffold for exploring new technologies or techniques. They can use a personal interest as a motivator to overcome the trials of learning. But they compete for your limited time with your responsibilities, friends, and family. Sitting down for a […]
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Manage the lifecycle of QObjects in C++ using smart pointers with custom deleters that invoke deleteLater.

deleteLater: Managing the QObject Lifecycle in C++

This post describes how to manage the lifecycle of QObjects in C++ by using smart pointers with custom deleters which invoke deleteLater. Qt has it’s own lifecycle for QWidgets/Objects that is distinct from the usual C++ object lifecycle. Most of the time that is essentially a non-issue. Normally, QWidgets last for the lifetime of the […]
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Building with Elm at SEP Makes

Preface For the last few months, I’d been working on my side project Contact, a JSON REST API written with Elixir and Phoenix, designed to be the backend to an instant messaging platform. I thought that SEP’s semi-annual hackathon: SEP: Makes, would be the perfect time to make a front end application for Contact, but […]
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Stop Using Variables – Learning Through Constraints

My new year’s resolution for 2017 was to stop using variables. My goal was to force some learning by applying a constraint to my work. Over the course of the year, I attempted this while writing various types of code: Restful api endpoints – good. It felt quite natural to write code without variables in […]
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Failure behind a curtain helps performers to shine in the spotlight

In any profession involving performance (like music or sports), the professionals practice out of sight of their audience. They practice to get better. They push their limits and try things they’ve never tried before. When they try those things for the first time, they suck! The football player misses the catch trying out that new […]
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