Christopher Orr 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
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orr.dev
Christopher Orr 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
@orr.dev
64 followers 230 following 20 posts
Knows some things about computers, and baking shortbread.

📍 Berlin
https://twitter.com/orrc
https://orr.dev/
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orr.dev
The juxtaposition of architectural styles in Dublin is quite something.
July 6, 2025 at 8:17 PM
orr.dev
This one from Berlin airport is my favourite… and it doesn't even point to a web URL!
A poster near a bathroom at BER airport, with a ridiculously dense QR code. It encodes an email with a long body, in both German and English, requesting that this particular bathroom be cleaned.
July 6, 2025 at 8:15 PM
orr.dev
Oops. Another case of good intention, bad execution from @posthog.com… 🙁
Screenshot of PostHog email with just an image and "1-click unsubscribe" link which was broken. I then replied to their "hey@posthog.com" email address, only to get an auto-reply saying that they don't monitor this address… 👌
February 11, 2025 at 4:08 PM
orr.dev
Meanwhile, here's the diff-of-the-day for our Amplitude integration…
Kotlin diff showing `val ignoreInvalidId: Boolean = true` being replaced with `val ignoreInvalidId: String = "true"`. Plus a comment: "The documentation says it should be a boolean, but in reality the API only accepts a string… https://amplitude.com/docs/apis/analytics/user-privacy#json-body-parameter"
January 13, 2025 at 2:11 PM
orr.dev
Anyway… the good news is that we can ignore the docs: the deletion API *does* in fact accept this newly acquired definitely-not-an-integer `id`.

Of course, it returns HTTP 202 rather than the documented HTTP 204 — but it works! 👍
Screenshot of a cURL request to the "Delete persons" API, using the string `id` previously retrieved. It returns HTTP 202.
January 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
orr.dev
Supposedly I can only look up a single user if I know their integer `id` value. But it's possible to search by `distinct_id`, which will return the number I need! 🥳

However, the response has the `uuid` string that the docs mention (but don't explain), along with the EXACT SAME VALUE as the `id`… 😵‍💫
Screenshot from the "List all persons" API response documentation. This includes an integer `id`, a string `uuid`, and an "array" of `distinct_ids`. Screenshot of a cURL request to the "List all persons" API, piping the results to `jq` to grab the one (and only) profile from the response. The response contains identical `id` and `uuid` string values — both are a UUID that differs from the `distinct_id`.
January 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
orr.dev
I'm implementing account deletion.

Deleting a PostHog profile means you can't later use the same `distinct_id`. Sounds great — we assign our users a UUID and use that when sending data to PostHog.

So then what's this mysterious integer `id` that the deletion API needs?

posthog.com/docs/api/per...
Screenshot from the documentation, saying that a `distinct_id` cannot be used again after deletion. Screenshot from the linked API docs, saying that the deletion API requires an `id`: "A unique integer value identifying this person".
January 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
orr.dev
It's been a non-zero WTF-per-minute count with the @posthog.com API today…

Firstly: the API requires a key that's tied to my account, rather than the PostHog organisation. Will the API key break when I leave the company soon? Maybe!

posthog.com/docs/api#pri...
Screenshot from the linked PostHog docs, saying that you need to create a "personal API key".
January 6, 2025 at 5:32 PM
orr.dev
I just ran into this non-intuitive case with @kotlinlang.org JSON serialisation…

A `data class` field with default property value won't appear in the JSON output — even if you explicitly provide it in your constructor call! 🤔

You need `encodeDefaults = true`: play.kotlinlang.org#eyJ2ZXJzaW9u...
Screenshot of Kotlin code: ``` import kotlinx.serialization.Serializable import kotlinx.serialization.encodeToString import kotlinx.serialization.json.Json @Serializable data class Person( val name: String, // Not serialised by default, unless `false`! val isCool: Boolean = true, ) fun main() { // Prints { "name": "You" } Json .encodeToString(Person("You")) .also { println(it) } // Prints { "name": "You", "isCool": true } Json { encodeDefaults = true } .encodeToString(Person("You")) .also { println(it) } } ```
December 5, 2024 at 10:23 AM
orr.dev
Good news: you can now read your colleagues' messages with the gravitas they deserve!

The Slack desktop client has added support for Comic Sans…
A screenshot of Slack, with all text in Comic Sans.
November 12, 2024 at 11:45 AM
orr.dev
The excellent Refined GitHub browser extension will at least minimise and dim such PRs by default:
github.com/refined-gith...
GIF from the Refined GitHub docs showing a PR list before and after the "dim bots" feature is enabled.
November 12, 2024 at 11:43 AM