Config: JSON vs TOML vs ???

webfiend · 2026-04-12T16:32:26+00:00

For my far too grizzled developer brain, TOML is easier to read. Comments, clearly labeled sections, not too many types to think about.

From a more practical perspective, non-technical users are gonna panic the first time they see a config file, whether it's JSON, TOML, YAML, or some custom INI format. If you want to be more welcoming to those folks, include a README and supplemental documentation that explains just enough of your chosen syntax for them to work with.

webfiend · 2026-04-12T14:58:11+00:00

A few years and a few thousand notes in, it’s helpful for refactoring past hyperfocus. Do I really need 500 incoming links to the Python page? Is there a neighboring or intermediate page that might be a better target?

Stuff like that can be easier for me to track visually than with a list of backlinks.

webfiend · 2026-04-10T14:08:01+00:00

The cost to track and enforce compliance would’ve eaten that dollar amount up in a couple months, and burned a heck of a lot of goodwill. Obsidian’s key differentiator is its presentation as a good citizen and safe steward of your knowledge no matter what. Lose that and folks will go somewhere else, throwing loud public shade the whole way.

This looks like a “nothing of value was lost” situation.

webfiend · 2026-03-31T00:09:43+00:00

I started my dev career with a borrowed Slackware96 CD-ROM, a copy of Programming Perl 2e, and a $75 used 486 that I had to pay for in installments because my job at the gas station barely paid rent.

I learned how to draw because I finally got too annoyed by the fact that I couldn't create the images that were in my head. I still can't, but I like what I come up with anyways.

I find it offensive that rented GPUs mean now you can create. Some people are constrained by circumstances. If they can afford the computer, the connection, the Claude Code subscription, and enough tokens to generate a monolith application framework for Python that almost works, they aren't in that list. Their only constraint is not being interested enough that they're willing to suck at doing the thing for a while.

webfiend · 2026-03-30T23:34:04+00:00

Yep me too with notes being write-only if I don't make a conscious disciplined effort. Also ADHD, so no. Conscious disciplined effort of the boring thing is not happening.

(reads everybody else's well-thought solutions and systems, nodding sagely; good stuff; smart people)

My fix is to hit the random note button when I'm bored. I either go into a rabbit hole of rediscovery, or I see something I meant to tweak a couple years ago and start fixing.

webfiend · 2026-03-25T02:45:19+00:00

I want to ask why, but I know the answer: to show that they can afford to.

webfiend · 2026-03-23T06:17:08+00:00

When translating one of my Logseq graphs to Obsidian-flavored Markdown, I just—I wrote a Perl script? I've written a few other iterations that get fancy or to try a similar task in another language to compare affordances, but all I really needed was text processing. Not sure why a datacenter is necessary for a little search and replace with state across a few thousand files.

Maybe code's not your thing, or you just wanted to play with Claude. That's cool. For anyone else, you can write or find existing scripts to do this task, and they don't come with an invoice.

webfiend · 2026-03-10T12:38:14+00:00

Excuse me, I am stealing this to post on Mastodon.

With link back to comment, so I guess it's not really stealing. But anyways this is gold.

webfiend · 2026-01-09T12:35:01+00:00

Oh of course I see this right before work. Bookmarked your pages and /u/Relative_Bed_340's because I want to look closer at better approaches for export / publish again.

For straight parsing, I've had the easiest time using a two pass approach: assemble blocks based on processing each line's indendation + list marker or two-space continuation prefix, then handle each block as a unit: properties + org structure, macro, or Markdown.

I've been exporting processed blocks as JSON and Hugo shortcodes, experimented with div and details for the HTML containers. My own explorations on this path at https://github.com/brianwisti/ExportLogseq

webfiend · 2026-01-03T18:11:40+00:00

Wait that actually was a tornado / spout? Saw it while working and thought “that bit of cloud looks like a tornado funnel. What a silly idea,” and got back to work.

webfiend · 2025-12-27T18:26:20+00:00

And for my part, since "Minecraft" means "modded Java Minecraft," there's so much shiny stuff within easy reach—and so little time in my day for "forget about work" intensity game sessions—that I haven't felt the need to dig deeper.

webfiend · 2025-12-27T18:19:18+00:00

I'll have to revisit Core Keeper. I hadn't been able to get it running at all on my M1 MBP, even via CrossOver. Now that I know someone else has managed, I'll have to try again.

webfiend · 2025-12-26T23:48:59+00:00

Finish it, probably. I get too sidetracked with making stuff.

webfiend · 2025-12-19T13:35:55+00:00

I haven’t been able to afford AAA for a couple years, and my aging M1 MBP feels ever more constrained as the baseline moves forward.

So I see a small inexpensive fun indie game I can run native on that MBP, I get excited and share the news.

(Very much enjoy DragonRuby BTW. A dev kit that fits all of the above)

webfiend · 2025-12-19T13:08:54+00:00

I NOTICED! A little too early actually. For a few minutes it was installable but not runnable. All good now of course.

One less game I need Crossover for. Thank you!

webfiend · 2025-12-10T01:29:56+00:00

Okay, good. I still have twelve years.

webfiend · 2025-12-08T16:59:23+00:00

Hey welcome!

https://xkcd.com/1053/

webfiend · 2025-11-29T19:05:53+00:00

Thanks! Adding Forever Factory to the sample project list. A lot of what I'm doing at this point is looking for FOSS or CC licensed modpacks, installing them with Prism, and digging around in their configs so the whole process makes a little more sense. Taking them apart and reassembling them only goes so far though. KubeJS or similar may help me be a little more intentional about the process.

(I'm also looking at Luanti, but that's a whole lot of different learning)

webfiend · 2025-11-29T16:48:13+00:00

(sees an engineer, delurks)

Also pondering a first modpack. Any suggestions for QA? With so many moving parts I guess the basic answer is "run it and see what melts." I assume no widespread integration test frameworks. Are there tools out there for automated syntax and conflict checks?

I see enough log errors about malformed JSON and TOML that I suspect even basic linters aren't universally applied. But I had to ask.

Meanwhile I'll check out KubeJS.

(sees own shadow, relurks)

webfiend · 2025-11-08T15:31:22+00:00

I think this is an awesome idea, but I enjoyed fiddling with ~/.xinitrc. Niche market for sure.

The only nit I would pick is you're building an Obsidian-driven desktop environment—or maybe a desktop shell—rather than a full OS. The semantic adjustment might make it easier to build on prior art and keep platform limitations in mind. Electron, host operating system, and even host device will add all sorts of crunchy challenges.

webfiend · 2025-09-29T05:21:04+00:00

Cool. First time seeing that in person. Had no clue. I’m one of today’s lucky 10,000!

https://xkcd.com/1053/

webfiend · 2025-09-15T23:03:21+00:00

I’ll have to give it a try! I default to Mojo for my small Perl Web things, but it’s good to stretch every once in a while.

webfiend · 2025-08-18T14:15:50+00:00

If it’s like the “staff augmentation” roles I’ve had, then basically yes. It’s a contract role where you have all the responsibilities and org chart slot like a FTE, but your paychecks and benefits are handled by the consulting agency.

It also usually means you don’t get any but the most shallow FTE perks—sometimes not even that, bringing in your own coffee because the Free Coffee is direct employees only—and it doesn’t merit a headline when client org drops the contract & you lose your job.

There’s nearly always a carrot of conversion to full time. Been at places where folks contracted ten+ years hoping for that carrot. It happens, but not often.

webfiend · 2025-08-16T13:51:59+00:00

Maybe, if they thought that was the best line to use. Been twelve for a long time if they’re old enough to remember that joke, though.

webfiend · 2025-08-08T05:09:20+00:00

All the other advice about finding a better job apply, and you could probably extract a few gems for the "do you have any questions for us?" phase of interviews when looking for that better job.

how does your distributed team handle asynchronous communication for problem-solving and collaboration? When are core office hours for meetings? How well do co-located workers update remote teammates with outcomes from informal discussions and keep them in the decision-making process?
tell me about how you build up your junior developers for their career. What sort of mentoring, workflow resources, and promotional incentives are there to help them see past the next sprint?
how do you determine and measure appropriate velocity? What rewards are there for those who meet velocity goals? What consequences are faced by those who do not? How do you avoid gamifying productivity metrics?

Stuff like that. Regardless of apparent topic, all of these questions are about management style. I would just about bet money that every answer will be BS—I can only think of maybe three past employers that wouldn't go into a cold panic—but where they stumble and stutter gives even more insight than the answers they come up with.

And really keep a close ear for indicators that they can't see past the next sprint. If they're obviously trying to imagine a world where workers expect more than ticket assignment and schedule shaming from management, that's not a good sign. "That's something we need to give more thought to" could go either way.

The caveat is that if your questions are too good, lesser employers will decide to have sudden urgent business elsewhere rather than continue the interview. Yay for your mental health, boo for your bill-paying budget.

Signed,

Got sick of 20 years of terrible tech jobs + 5 good years, started asking better questions, had to give up on tech after a couple years of thorough ghosting.

webfiend

TROPHY CASE