Reposted by Kaspars DancisWhimsical @whimsical.com · 14/05/2026One cool use case we're seeing with our MCP and ChatGPT app: photograph a flowchart or sketch, get a Whimsical diagram back. Editable, shareable, done. Works with sticky notes too 😉 012
Reposted by Kaspars DancisWhimsical @whimsical.com · 12/05/2026Linux friends, you've waited long enough. 🐧 The Whimsical desktop app is now available on Linux. One less reason to keep your browser open. Download it here: whimsical.com/download 031
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 28/04/2026Introducing the most powerful whiteboarding capabilities available in ChatGPT: read, create and edit diagrams and wireframes, all without leaving the conversation 000
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 20/12/2024Yeap, thinking of trying Drizzle for my next experiment. I'm still not sold on `undefined` though, property not existing and property existing with undefined value is not exactly the same things. I also managed to actually get bitten by this behavior. 100
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 20/12/2024I still ended up resorting to raw SQL for bunch of queries and schema updates because of limited SQL support. Prisma's client generation in node_modules is opaque and causes pain with deployment. And as I just learned, despite all the typing, it can still be unsafe. 000
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 20/12/2024I've stayed away from ORMs for more than a decade but figured I'll give it a try to see if things have improved. I do appreciate the benefit of typed models, schema management and ease of use for common-case retrievals. Yet.. 100
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 20/12/2024In Prisma ORM, if some query parameter is accidentally `undefined` rather than `null`, it will be ignored, resulting in a query that returns all records. If this param is something like `userId` you can imagine the consequences.. 🤦🏻♂️ 220
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 11/12/2024Adding pointer cursor to all my native app buttons like a pirate 000
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 11/12/2024Spicy take: the trend against pointer cursor for buttons to make web-apps feel "more native" is harmful. Sure, originally the semantic meaning for pointer cursor was "link" but for average person it has long evolved into "something clickable". 010
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 10/12/2024For comparison, same code in SwiftUI. It's also OOP-ish, however the combo of language features and framework design achieves a better result. The logic is more logically grouped and much easier to read: gist.github.com/k7d/81109aa0... 100
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 10/12/2024My biggest gripe with Flutter is the verbosity, which makes it hard for humans to read. This seems mostly due to Dart limitations (cost of syntax simplicity I guess) although OOP-based frameworks in general tend to have this challenge. Here's a typical example: gist.github.com/k7d/b1de9b96... 200
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 09/12/2024For a contrast, I also tried rewriting Tomo in SwiftUI, but ended up stuck, because SwiftUI expects apps to follow specific UI patterns, and I couldn't figure out how to step outside those boundaries. Paradoxically, it was much easier to do in Flutter because it is using the older Cocoa framework. 000
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 09/12/2024Overall, it ended up being a success. While Dart, the language, is not my cup of tea, Flutter turned out to be surprisingly robust. You can find the source code for Tomo here: github.com/k7d/tomogithub.comGitHub - k7d/tomo: Tomo is a desktop timer app, primarily intended for the Pomodoro technique.Tomo is a desktop timer app, primarily intended for the Pomodoro technique. - k7d/tomo 100
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 09/12/2024This summer, while on a sabbatical, I wanted to explore the state-of-the-art of building native apps and Flutter in particular piqued my interest. While it was originally designed for mobile, the desktop support seemed quite solid by now. Anyway, I figured why not try to rewrite Tomo in Flutter? 100
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 09/12/2024Originally I wrote it in ClojureScript, wrapped in the native webview with a custom bridge. While it worked fine, there were some odd performance issues with webview that only surfaced after a few days of usage. I never managed to get to the bottom of it. 100
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 09/12/2024I stumbled upon the Pomodoro technique after a concussion, that forced me to take frequent breaks from the screen. While there were several Pomodoro apps available, all of them had some UX issues I no longer remember. Which led me to building Tomo. 100
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 09/12/2024I'm open-sourcing Tomo, a Pomodoro timer app for macOS that I've been using daily for a decade. k7d.dev/tomo/ 162
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 06/12/2024Fun fact, that’s about the total length of all Seinfeld episodes 000
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 06/12/2024Been thinking about this a bunch. Something like this might work well enough using file-only sync tonsky.me/blog/crdt-fi... 000
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 28/11/2024Does this whole left/right coded model even makes sense any more? I'm increasingly convinced that it has become a tool for easily manipulating people into beliefs without much criticial thinking involved. 120
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 28/11/2024I would go as far as say that good error messages are more important than good documentation. Unfortunately poor error messages are more common than poor documentation. I guess because it's less obvious. 010
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 28/11/2024Been pondering about this exact switch. Ender 3 can be so fricking annoying 110
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 26/11/2024Spent the whole day just to get a simple JavaScript app with Postgres DB working on Google Cloud. I guess it's a skill issue but damn... no wonder @vercel.com & co can be such thriving businesses. 110
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 15/11/2024Tā ir, bet Bluesky ir fundamentāli atšķirīgs no visiem pārējiem ar to ka tas ir protokola līmenī atvērts un decentralizēts (līdzīgi kā epasts), kas nozīmē ka ir daudz mazāks risks ka atsevišķi indivīdi (kā Musks vai Zuckenbervs) to var negatīvi ietekmēt 020
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 15/11/2024Starter packs ir labs sakums blueskydirectory.com/starter-pack...blueskydirectory.comAll - Bluesky DirectoryA curated collection of all things relating to the Blue Sky social media platform. 010
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 14/11/202490s were fun pikuma.com/blog/jungle-...pikuma.comThe Impact of Jungle Music in 90s Video Game DevelopmentJungle music was found in countless games from the early 90s. This article goes over what jungle is, where it comes from, and why it was the perfect match for PlayStation & Nintendo 64 games. 100
Kaspars Dancis @k7d.dev · 09/11/2024@bsky.app hey! A little usability annoyance - this button keeps getting in a away when I scroll with a thumb. Is it even neccessary since you can just tap on top of screen to acieve the same? As for new content indication, that might also be more intuitive on top of screen 010
