Geoffrey Litt
@geoffreylitt.com
Malleable software @inkandswitch.com
prev PhD @csail.mit.edu
geoffreylitt.com
π―π΅πΊπΈ
prev PhD @csail.mit.edu
geoffreylitt.com
π―π΅πΊπΈ
Possibly my favorite cooking book ever!!
September 10, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Possibly my favorite cooking book ever!!
Reposted by Geoffrey Litt
Really enjoyed this distillation of the vision of malleable software that drives so much great work in our community today. Important point is that we need tools that titrate in programming continuously, so that users of all skill levels can adapt their tools and expert users can *really* build.
New longform @inkandswitch.com essay! π
Malleable Software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
by me, @joshuahhh.com, @pvh.ca and @seaofclouds.com
inkandswitch.com/essay/mallea...
It's about why people need agency over their software tools, and how to make that happen.
Malleable Software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
by me, @joshuahhh.com, @pvh.ca and @seaofclouds.com
inkandswitch.com/essay/mallea...
It's about why people need agency over their software tools, and how to make that happen.
Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
The original promise of personal computing was a new kind of clay. Instead, we got appliances: built far away, sealed, unchangeable. In this essay, we envision malleable software: tools that users can...
inkandswitch.com
June 11, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Really enjoyed this distillation of the vision of malleable software that drives so much great work in our community today. Important point is that we need tools that titrate in programming continuously, so that users of all skill levels can adapt their tools and expert users can *really* build.
Reposted by Geoffrey Litt
BTW: I'm slowly assembling a LIVE Primer to help folk submitting to LIVE (& others) get the lay of the land. Please take a look and let me know what's missing, what sucks, what's rad, etc.
live-workshop.github.io/primer/
live-workshop.github.io/primer/
The LIVE Primer
The LIVE Primer
live-workshop.github.io
June 13, 2025 at 3:50 AM
BTW: I'm slowly assembling a LIVE Primer to help folk submitting to LIVE (& others) get the lay of the land. Please take a look and let me know what's missing, what sucks, what's rad, etc.
live-workshop.github.io/primer/
live-workshop.github.io/primer/
It's not a short read, we went deep on it -- but we tried really hard to keep it accessible to anyone who's curious.
Let us know what you think, and share with others if you like it :)
Let us know what you think, and share with others if you like it :)
June 10, 2025 at 4:40 PM
It's not a short read, we went deep on it -- but we tried really hard to keep it accessible to anyone who's curious.
Let us know what you think, and share with others if you like it :)
Let us know what you think, and share with others if you like it :)
New longform @inkandswitch.com essay! π
Malleable Software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
by me, @joshuahhh.com, @pvh.ca and @seaofclouds.com
inkandswitch.com/essay/mallea...
It's about why people need agency over their software tools, and how to make that happen.
Malleable Software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
by me, @joshuahhh.com, @pvh.ca and @seaofclouds.com
inkandswitch.com/essay/mallea...
It's about why people need agency over their software tools, and how to make that happen.
Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
The original promise of personal computing was a new kind of clay. Instead, we got appliances: built far away, sealed, unchangeable. In this essay, we envision malleable software: tools that users can...
inkandswitch.com
June 10, 2025 at 2:52 PM
New longform @inkandswitch.com essay! π
Malleable Software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
by me, @joshuahhh.com, @pvh.ca and @seaofclouds.com
inkandswitch.com/essay/mallea...
It's about why people need agency over their software tools, and how to make that happen.
Malleable Software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
by me, @joshuahhh.com, @pvh.ca and @seaofclouds.com
inkandswitch.com/essay/mallea...
It's about why people need agency over their software tools, and how to make that happen.
The key is you can actually explain what you want thoroughly and in detail, so it actually writes the code you want.
(And yes, I promise this can be much faster than coding by hand, in some cases!)
(And yes, I promise this can be much faster than coding by hand, in some cases!)
May 25, 2025 at 2:44 AM
The key is you can actually explain what you want thoroughly and in detail, so it actually writes the code you want.
(And yes, I promise this can be much faster than coding by hand, in some cases!)
(And yes, I promise this can be much faster than coding by hand, in some cases!)
You may not like this answer, but one solution here is to do more coding thru an agent chat rather than autocompletingβ¦ it achieves a very different kind of βflowβ but I find it much faster for certain tasks and less jerky than code autocomplete
May 25, 2025 at 2:43 AM
You may not like this answer, but one solution here is to do more coding thru an agent chat rather than autocompletingβ¦ it achieves a very different kind of βflowβ but I find it much faster for certain tasks and less jerky than code autocomplete
How would you compare to o3?
May 23, 2025 at 4:08 PM
How would you compare to o3?
Reposted by Geoffrey Litt
What if you didn't need git to collaborate on games?
We've been prototyping a new approach to collaboration in Godot: live and async collaborative editing, with branches and diffs, built right into the editor.
We're looking for people to test out an early version, see link in next post:
We've been prototyping a new approach to collaboration in Godot: live and async collaborative editing, with branches and diffs, built right into the editor.
We're looking for people to test out an early version, see link in next post:
May 15, 2025 at 10:12 AM
What if you didn't need git to collaborate on games?
We've been prototyping a new approach to collaboration in Godot: live and async collaborative editing, with branches and diffs, built right into the editor.
We're looking for people to test out an early version, see link in next post:
We've been prototyping a new approach to collaboration in Godot: live and async collaborative editing, with branches and diffs, built right into the editor.
We're looking for people to test out an early version, see link in next post:
I like your point, but also the single mediocre undergrad works at 10-100x human speed sometimes which is a big deal!
April 30, 2025 at 10:46 PM
I like your point, but also the single mediocre undergrad works at 10-100x human speed sometimes which is a big deal!
Strong overlap between good craftspeople and life philosophers!
April 23, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Strong overlap between good craftspeople and life philosophers!
Man, this is such a beautiful video series.
Seeing the amount of work it takes to build a good house is awe-inspiring.
youtu.be/d7e6IOdKfVw?...
Seeing the amount of work it takes to build a good house is awe-inspiring.
youtu.be/d7e6IOdKfVw?...
Building a Craftsman House [Start to Finish Timelapse]
YouTube video by Essential Craftsman
youtu.be
April 23, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Man, this is such a beautiful video series.
Seeing the amount of work it takes to build a good house is awe-inspiring.
youtu.be/d7e6IOdKfVw?...
Seeing the amount of work it takes to build a good house is awe-inspiring.
youtu.be/d7e6IOdKfVw?...
we have lots more ideas cooking on ambsheets that we're excited to share - to subscribe to future updates and to see more details on filtering, check out our lab notebook post about this work! 6/6
www.inkandswitch.com/ambsheets/no...
www.inkandswitch.com/ambsheets/no...
02 Β· Filtering scenarios
Using spreadsheet formulas to choose scenarios to focus on
www.inkandswitch.com
April 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
we have lots more ideas cooking on ambsheets that we're excited to share - to subscribe to future updates and to see more details on filtering, check out our lab notebook post about this work! 6/6
www.inkandswitch.com/ambsheets/no...
www.inkandswitch.com/ambsheets/no...
you can also write any spreadsheet formula you want and use the result as a filter π
and, you can filter on *outputs* and filter "backwards" showing what inputs are compatible w/ that output!
eg: in this video we see what we can afford while staying under budget:
5/
and, you can filter on *outputs* and filter "backwards" showing what inputs are compatible w/ that output!
eg: in this video we see what we can afford while staying under budget:
5/
April 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
you can also write any spreadsheet formula you want and use the result as a filter π
and, you can filter on *outputs* and filter "backwards" showing what inputs are compatible w/ that output!
eg: in this video we see what we can afford while staying under budget:
5/
and, you can filter on *outputs* and filter "backwards" showing what inputs are compatible w/ that output!
eg: in this video we see what we can afford while staying under budget:
5/
this starts very simple: just check a box to focus down on a subset of the values in your sheet.
eg: "if i lease the cheaper car, what might my budget total look like"?
but, because we're in an open-ended spreadsheet, it can also get more interesting than that... 4/
eg: "if i lease the cheaper car, what might my budget total look like"?
but, because we're in an open-ended spreadsheet, it can also get more interesting than that... 4/
April 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
this starts very simple: just check a box to focus down on a subset of the values in your sheet.
eg: "if i lease the cheaper car, what might my budget total look like"?
but, because we're in an open-ended spreadsheet, it can also get more interesting than that... 4/
eg: "if i lease the cheaper car, what might my budget total look like"?
but, because we're in an open-ended spreadsheet, it can also get more interesting than that... 4/
one way to explore a space is *filters*.
we've all seen filters on shopping websites: you can use checkboxes, range sliders, etc to narrow down a list.
we can borrow from that familiar paradigm and bring it into our ambsheet. 3/
we've all seen filters on shopping websites: you can use checkboxes, range sliders, etc to narrow down a list.
we can borrow from that familiar paradigm and bring it into our ambsheet. 3/
April 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
one way to explore a space is *filters*.
we've all seen filters on shopping websites: you can use checkboxes, range sliders, etc to narrow down a list.
we can borrow from that familiar paradigm and bring it into our ambsheet. 3/
we've all seen filters on shopping websites: you can use checkboxes, range sliders, etc to narrow down a list.
we can borrow from that familiar paradigm and bring it into our ambsheet. 3/
ok, first some quick background. we previously introduced our Ambsheets project: a spreadsheet where one cell can hold multiple values.
this creates a space of options... but wait, how do you explore that space? 2/
bsky.app/profile/alex...
this creates a space of options... but wait, how do you explore that space? 2/
bsky.app/profile/alex...
What if a spreadsheet cell could hold multiple values at the same time?
That's the idea behind Ambsheets, a project I've been working on w/ @geoffreylitt.com at @inkandswitch.com. It's a new spreadsheet that makes it easier for you to explore many possibilities simultaneously.
1/2
That's the idea behind Ambsheets, a project I've been working on w/ @geoffreylitt.com at @inkandswitch.com. It's a new spreadsheet that makes it easier for you to explore many possibilities simultaneously.
1/2
April 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
ok, first some quick background. we previously introduced our Ambsheets project: a spreadsheet where one cell can hold multiple values.
this creates a space of options... but wait, how do you explore that space? 2/
bsky.app/profile/alex...
this creates a space of options... but wait, how do you explore that space? 2/
bsky.app/profile/alex...
what if you could model a problem in a spreadsheet, and then instantly start applying powerful *filters* to explore your space of options?
that's the idea @alexwarth.bsky.social and I have been exploring recently at @inkandswitch.com ... 1/
that's the idea @alexwarth.bsky.social and I have been exploring recently at @inkandswitch.com ... 1/
April 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
what if you could model a problem in a spreadsheet, and then instantly start applying powerful *filters* to explore your space of options?
that's the idea @alexwarth.bsky.social and I have been exploring recently at @inkandswitch.com ... 1/
that's the idea @alexwarth.bsky.social and I have been exploring recently at @inkandswitch.com ... 1/
Yes, I remember loving it, thatβs why I chose the name!
April 13, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Yes, I remember loving it, thatβs why I chose the name!
Yeah meal planning is next up for me too! Would be ideal to hook up Instacart automation but unfortunately that seems complicated.
April 13, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Yeah meal planning is next up for me too! Would be ideal to hook up Instacart automation but unfortunately that seems complicated.
lol yeah, itβs been a while since I read the book and I donβt really remember the details, I should revisitβ¦
April 13, 2025 at 7:12 PM
lol yeah, itβs been a while since I read the book and I donβt really remember the details, I should revisitβ¦
Oh weird! Thanks for heads up
April 13, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Oh weird! Thanks for heads up
Yes thatβs fair! Have already seen a couple close calls with date / time zone confusion.
Wouldnβt rely on this yet as a sole source of info but I find it to be a nice extra layer
Wouldnβt rely on this yet as a sole source of info but I find it to be a nice extra layer
April 13, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Yes thatβs fair! Have already seen a couple close calls with date / time zone confusion.
Wouldnβt rely on this yet as a sole source of info but I find it to be a nice extra layer
Wouldnβt rely on this yet as a sole source of info but I find it to be a nice extra layer
