Alex Miles 👨🏻💻
@ghostaldev.com
PHP developer 👨🏻💻
General code botherer 🖥️
Musician 🎸
Sci-fi/fantasy fan 👨🏻🚀
General code botherer 🖥️
Musician 🎸
Sci-fi/fantasy fan 👨🏻🚀
I wish PHP developers would stop telling me (also a PHP developer) about how (supposedly) people say PHP is dead, but that it is not dead.
Would it shock them to know that I was already aware of this information? 😄
Would it shock them to know that I was already aware of this information? 😄
November 16, 2025 at 3:33 AM
I wish PHP developers would stop telling me (also a PHP developer) about how (supposedly) people say PHP is dead, but that it is not dead.
Would it shock them to know that I was already aware of this information? 😄
Would it shock them to know that I was already aware of this information? 😄
Pretty amused that the name of the --no-trunc option of docker history is itself truncated
Oh the irony
Oh the irony
July 23, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Pretty amused that the name of the --no-trunc option of docker history is itself truncated
Oh the irony
Oh the irony
Watching Kevin McKee's series on Laravel Filament on #laracasts
Glad to see I'm not the only one who's generating migrations at 3:58am 🦉🌛
Glad to see I'm not the only one who's generating migrations at 3:58am 🦉🌛
May 21, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Watching Kevin McKee's series on Laravel Filament on #laracasts
Glad to see I'm not the only one who's generating migrations at 3:58am 🦉🌛
Glad to see I'm not the only one who's generating migrations at 3:58am 🦉🌛
My heart sinks when a product explainer video says something like "this isn't just a simple tool for drawing boxes and arrows, it's a revolutionary, game changing, multi functional, super-powerful..." blah blah blah.
I just wanna draw some boxes and arrows, dude 😵
I just wanna draw some boxes and arrows, dude 😵
May 20, 2025 at 4:12 PM
My heart sinks when a product explainer video says something like "this isn't just a simple tool for drawing boxes and arrows, it's a revolutionary, game changing, multi functional, super-powerful..." blah blah blah.
I just wanna draw some boxes and arrows, dude 😵
I just wanna draw some boxes and arrows, dude 😵
I think we can all agree that it should be a crime to load ads which jump page content downwards after it's been rendered for the user
December 11, 2024 at 5:09 PM
I think we can all agree that it should be a crime to load ads which jump page content downwards after it's been rendered for the user
I just completed "Print Queue" - Day 5 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/5
I found today surprisingly easy, once I'd thought about it for a few minutes. I could have predicted part two though, and implemented for it accordingly and used that to solve part one as well...
I found today surprisingly easy, once I'd thought about it for a few minutes. I could have predicted part two though, and implemented for it accordingly and used that to solve part one as well...
Day 5 - Advent of Code 2024
adventofcode.com
December 7, 2024 at 3:21 AM
I just completed "Print Queue" - Day 5 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/5
I found today surprisingly easy, once I'd thought about it for a few minutes. I could have predicted part two though, and implemented for it accordingly and used that to solve part one as well...
I found today surprisingly easy, once I'd thought about it for a few minutes. I could have predicted part two though, and implemented for it accordingly and used that to solve part one as well...
I just completed "Ceres Search" - Day 4 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/4
Having said what I said yesterday, I actually completed part two quicker than part one!
Part 1: About an hour
Part 2: About 40 minutes.
Having said what I said yesterday, I actually completed part two quicker than part one!
Part 1: About an hour
Part 2: About 40 minutes.
Day 4 - Advent of Code 2024
adventofcode.com
December 4, 2024 at 10:38 PM
I just completed "Ceres Search" - Day 4 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/4
Having said what I said yesterday, I actually completed part two quicker than part one!
Part 1: About an hour
Part 2: About 40 minutes.
Having said what I said yesterday, I actually completed part two quicker than part one!
Part 1: About an hour
Part 2: About 40 minutes.
I just completed "Mull It Over" - Day 3 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/3
Pretty sure I need to learn regular expressions more thoroughly. Didn't have time this evening though, so wrote a little do/while loop with a file pointer to ignore the "bad" parts of the string.
Pretty sure I need to learn regular expressions more thoroughly. Didn't have time this evening though, so wrote a little do/while loop with a file pointer to ignore the "bad" parts of the string.
Day 3 - Advent of Code 2024
adventofcode.com
December 3, 2024 at 6:57 PM
I just completed "Mull It Over" - Day 3 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/3
Pretty sure I need to learn regular expressions more thoroughly. Didn't have time this evening though, so wrote a little do/while loop with a file pointer to ignore the "bad" parts of the string.
Pretty sure I need to learn regular expressions more thoroughly. Didn't have time this evening though, so wrote a little do/while loop with a file pointer to ignore the "bad" parts of the string.
I just completed "Red-Nosed Reports" - Day 2 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/2
That one was more of a struggle - I misinterpreted how the Problem Dampener worked, which threw me off for a while, as I was applying the "dampening" after I'd already done a transformation.
That one was more of a struggle - I misinterpreted how the Problem Dampener worked, which threw me off for a while, as I was applying the "dampening" after I'd already done a transformation.
December 2, 2024 at 9:25 PM
I just completed "Red-Nosed Reports" - Day 2 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/2
That one was more of a struggle - I misinterpreted how the Problem Dampener worked, which threw me off for a while, as I was applying the "dampening" after I'd already done a transformation.
That one was more of a struggle - I misinterpreted how the Problem Dampener worked, which threw me off for a while, as I was applying the "dampening" after I'd already done a transformation.
I just completed "Historian Hysteria" - Day 1 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/1
Very straightforward, but I expect as the month goes on things will get much trickier!
Very straightforward, but I expect as the month goes on things will get much trickier!
December 2, 2024 at 7:51 PM
I just completed "Historian Hysteria" - Day 1 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/1
Very straightforward, but I expect as the month goes on things will get much trickier!
Very straightforward, but I expect as the month goes on things will get much trickier!
Dear Slack,
You were already very annoying. Adding "AI" features, and popups etc to try and encourage me to use them, has made you even more annoying.
Yours sincerely,
Alex
You were already very annoying. Adding "AI" features, and popups etc to try and encourage me to use them, has made you even more annoying.
Yours sincerely,
Alex
December 2, 2024 at 5:55 PM
Dear Slack,
You were already very annoying. Adding "AI" features, and popups etc to try and encourage me to use them, has made you even more annoying.
Yours sincerely,
Alex
You were already very annoying. Adding "AI" features, and popups etc to try and encourage me to use them, has made you even more annoying.
Yours sincerely,
Alex
Just created myself a handy bash alias:
alias agnostic-composer="composer --ignore-platform-reqs --no-scripts"
Really useful for quickly getting a freshly-cloned Laravel Sail project to the point where you can do `sail up`, for example:
git clone ...
agnostic-composer install
sail up
alias agnostic-composer="composer --ignore-platform-reqs --no-scripts"
Really useful for quickly getting a freshly-cloned Laravel Sail project to the point where you can do `sail up`, for example:
git clone ...
agnostic-composer install
sail up
November 21, 2024 at 2:46 PM
Just created myself a handy bash alias:
alias agnostic-composer="composer --ignore-platform-reqs --no-scripts"
Really useful for quickly getting a freshly-cloned Laravel Sail project to the point where you can do `sail up`, for example:
git clone ...
agnostic-composer install
sail up
alias agnostic-composer="composer --ignore-platform-reqs --no-scripts"
Really useful for quickly getting a freshly-cloned Laravel Sail project to the point where you can do `sail up`, for example:
git clone ...
agnostic-composer install
sail up
November 11, 2024 at 12:09 PM
Desperately hoping my laptop recovers from whatever CPU fugue it's just got itself into, and that Bitbucket isn't about to lose the last hour of my work for me on Friday afternoon 😫🤞🏻
October 25, 2024 at 4:34 PM
Desperately hoping my laptop recovers from whatever CPU fugue it's just got itself into, and that Bitbucket isn't about to lose the last hour of my work for me on Friday afternoon 😫🤞🏻
Installed Ubuntu Noble on my laptop last night. It's really great how easy it is to install a Linux distro these days!
October 13, 2024 at 3:22 PM
Installed Ubuntu Noble on my laptop last night. It's really great how easy it is to install a Linux distro these days!
// Hasta la vista, baby
October 10, 2024 at 2:16 PM
// Hasta la vista, baby
I just finally worked out why the popular PHP date library is called "Carbon"
Only took me several years.
Only took me several years.
a close up of a man 's face with his eyes closed
Alt: Michael Scott from The Office putting his head in his hand
media.tenor.com
September 30, 2024 at 11:10 PM
I just finally worked out why the popular PHP date library is called "Carbon"
Only took me several years.
Only took me several years.
Right, time for me and the raccoon to get some stuff done.
lofi hip hop radio - beats to study/relax to 🐾
YouTube video by Chillhop Music
youtu.be
September 30, 2024 at 10:29 PM
Right, time for me and the raccoon to get some stuff done.
I tend to avoid writing comments in my code, in favour of...
- descriptive variable/method/class names
- logical structure
- short methods
etc
BUT I find comments are essential for tests, because test code can get cluttered, complex and confusing.
But maybe I'm just bad at writing tests? 🤔
- descriptive variable/method/class names
- logical structure
- short methods
etc
BUT I find comments are essential for tests, because test code can get cluttered, complex and confusing.
But maybe I'm just bad at writing tests? 🤔
September 18, 2024 at 2:39 AM
I tend to avoid writing comments in my code, in favour of...
- descriptive variable/method/class names
- logical structure
- short methods
etc
BUT I find comments are essential for tests, because test code can get cluttered, complex and confusing.
But maybe I'm just bad at writing tests? 🤔
- descriptive variable/method/class names
- logical structure
- short methods
etc
BUT I find comments are essential for tests, because test code can get cluttered, complex and confusing.
But maybe I'm just bad at writing tests? 🤔
Do you include a check for rolling back your migrations in your CI pipeline? 🔙
It's obvious that the pipeline needs to run migrations forward, but it's easy to forget that checking rollbacks is very important too!
It's obvious that the pipeline needs to run migrations forward, but it's easy to forget that checking rollbacks is very important too!
September 17, 2024 at 3:52 AM
Do you include a check for rolling back your migrations in your CI pipeline? 🔙
It's obvious that the pipeline needs to run migrations forward, but it's easy to forget that checking rollbacks is very important too!
It's obvious that the pipeline needs to run migrations forward, but it's easy to forget that checking rollbacks is very important too!
When I'm writing code review comments, I always try to use the word "we" instead of "you".
"You've done this" becomes "We have code that does this".
It helps avoid feedback feeling like a personal attack, and also reinforces the idea of collective ownership of the code.
"You've done this" becomes "We have code that does this".
It helps avoid feedback feeling like a personal attack, and also reinforces the idea of collective ownership of the code.
September 10, 2024 at 2:56 AM
When I'm writing code review comments, I always try to use the word "we" instead of "you".
"You've done this" becomes "We have code that does this".
It helps avoid feedback feeling like a personal attack, and also reinforces the idea of collective ownership of the code.
"You've done this" becomes "We have code that does this".
It helps avoid feedback feeling like a personal attack, and also reinforces the idea of collective ownership of the code.
If you're overriding Laravel methods (or methods from any other framework!) to add behaviour, do everyone a favour and make sure to call back to the original parent implementation after your custom behaviour/if your behaviour isn't applicable... please 🥺
August 23, 2024 at 12:15 PM
If you're overriding Laravel methods (or methods from any other framework!) to add behaviour, do everyone a favour and make sure to call back to the original parent implementation after your custom behaviour/if your behaviour isn't applicable... please 🥺
Is it just me who feels vaguely uncomfortable about referring to human beings as "resources"?
I'm a living, breathing soul here folks, not a library book 😄
I'm a living, breathing soul here folks, not a library book 😄
August 15, 2024 at 1:43 PM
Is it just me who feels vaguely uncomfortable about referring to human beings as "resources"?
I'm a living, breathing soul here folks, not a library book 😄
I'm a living, breathing soul here folks, not a library book 😄
Learning some InfluxDB stuff today ⏱️📚 Their documentation is pretty good!
August 8, 2024 at 2:10 PM
Learning some InfluxDB stuff today ⏱️📚 Their documentation is pretty good!
Doing Advent Of Code for the first time this year. Still some days behind, but catching up!
Really liking it so far - enjoying being pushed to think of inventive ways to tackle problems.
Really liking it so far - enjoying being pushed to think of inventive ways to tackle problems.
December 12, 2023 at 9:45 AM
Doing Advent Of Code for the first time this year. Still some days behind, but catching up!
Really liking it so far - enjoying being pushed to think of inventive ways to tackle problems.
Really liking it so far - enjoying being pushed to think of inventive ways to tackle problems.