Don Syme

dsyme.net/2025/08/27/o...

28 Aug 2025

Replying to @dsyme.bsky.social

dsyme.netOn Natural Language ProgrammingI recently found myself arguing with the ghost of Edsger Dijkstra on LinkedIn. This is not a comfortable position for a computer scientist to find themself in. More specifically, I was triggered by…

Don Syme reposted

Indivisible ❌👑

@indivisible.org

23 Aug

We want to train at least 100,000 volunteers how to defeat Trump's next coup attempt before, during, and after the midterms. We’re building the nationwide infrastructure to respond to attacks on voting rights anywhere — and it’s all powered by your donations of $5 or $10. Please chip in if you can!

secure.actblue.comChip in to help fund Indivisible's Election Protection ProgramShow your support with a contribution.

23 Aug

Winston notes, 'He is too intelligent. He sees too clearly and speaks too plainly.' Winston predicts, correctly, that Syme will become an unperson. 🤔🤔🤔

@agendaforreform.bsky.social

23 Aug

Luckily I don't know anyone called Winston

Don Syme reposted

Graham Davis

27 July

Got mine, get yours!

Don Syme@dsyme.bsky.social

At WOMAD for the day. Gotta say the Byline Times people are doing an amazing job of bringing thoughtful, informed, free thinking, engaging political/cultural dialogue to this event. Their tent overflowing, more at each session. Real, nuanced, non-escapist, challenging. @bylinetimes.bsky.social

bylinetimes.bsky.socialByline Times (@bylinetimes.bsky.social)A reader-funded newspaper that truly sits outside the established system and answers only to the public. Subscribe for exclusive content in the Byline Times monthly print edition: subscribe.bylinetim...

👀 👀 👀

pasttensehistories.bsky.social@pasttensehistories.bsky.social

#OnThisDay in London's industrial history: Dingleys mechanical sawmill trashed by unemployed sawyers, Limehouse, 1768. wp.me/p74yfw-86

wp.meToday in London’s industrial history: Dingleys mechanical sawmill trashed by unemployed sawyers, Limehouse, 1768.“The reason given for this outrage… is that it deprived many persons in that branch from being employed.” In Limehouse, on May 10th 1768: Charles Dingley’s wind-powered Sawmill was burnt down…

Don Syme reposted

Farrukh

@implausibleblog.bsky.social

10 May

Mark Carney, "Those whose politics is to destroy, to demolish, dismantle, they're not going to change their instincts" "This is, in many respects, this is their moment" "We can't answer them by pining for an old order that's not going to return "

Don Syme reposted

Dag Brattli

@dbrattli.bsky.social

19 Apr

If you maintain open source projects, these two tools have been game-changers for me recently: - EasyBuild.ShipIt by @mangelmaxime.bsky.social - Repo Assist by @dsyme.bsky.social - github.com/easybuild-or... - github.com/githubnext/a... #fsharp #csharp #dotnet

I'm enjoying reading the book "Protestants" by Alec Ryrie, an historical look at Protestants from Reformation to today. It's strong on recurring historical patterns of religious/political thought, and wil be useful for those wanting to get inside the shape shifting nature of Protestantism.

If you're after historical perspectives on America's emerging Christian Nationalist extremists, and the tensions this violent radicalism will bring, this book may be useful. It may also be useful for non-believers who might seek allies and common cause with those more religiously minded.

theguardian.comPete Hegseth’s holy war: the militant Christian theology animating the US attack on IranThe Bible-thumping US defense secretary is overseeing another strategic disaster in the Middle East. Is this a war or a crusade?

10 Apr

The chapter on WWI is particularly enlightening - how both liberal ahd conservative Protestants in Britain and Germany aligned behind nationalist war interests. Also the chapter on German Protestants in WWII, especially the sycophantic alignment of German Christian Nationalists with the Nazis.

For context I grew up in a protestant influenced family in a poor, mainly-Catholic neighbourhood in Australia. The language and symbols of religion were everywhere - even if religion was a relatively weak force in Australia at the time.

I don't get why Christians are so keen on oil & gas. It seems like solar and wind are the most beautifully Christian-aligned forms of energy production possible - abundant, God-given and aligned with Christian imagery of light and air. Oil & gas are hellish in comparison. What am I missing?

(I understand solar can be in tension with agriculture, and that's a real tension. But if you cover a car park with solar, what's not to like?)

Similarly tensions exist for wind - but compared to oil & gas it's lightweight in impact. Do they no longer see the impact Oil & Gas has on creation?

6 Apr

I spent some time looking at "Truth" Social today. Mainly out of curiosity. Every single post is propaganda, a lie. All posts are AI generated imagery. Not a single authentic interaction or discussion, besides the vast accounts all new accounts are auto-subscribed to.

When you spend time on TS, you quickly start to normalise to a world where all is a lie. Everyone is on the make, everyone is a grifter, all is sham, all is posture. But if you're MAGA, they're also YOUR people, YOUR tribe, YOUR liars. The tribe bound together - bound by the Truth that is a Lie.

sergeytihon.comF# Weekly #14, 2026 – Serde.FS Brings Compile-Time RPC to F#Welcome to F# Weekly, A roundup of F# content from this past week: News Serde.FS alpha.9 — Compile-time RPC for F# with no reflection, no controllers Florian Verdonck: Fantomas — exploring new appr…

6 Apr

We are collectively so far down the rabbit hole. I'm not sure we're ever coming back.

The scammers are there, but they have a different set of scams: in the first hour I was liked by 4 Elon Musks and 1 Barron Trump.

Don Syme reposted

Sergey Tihon 🦔🦀

@sergeytihon.com

5 Apr

F# Weekly #14, 2026 - Serde.FS Brings Compile-Time RPC to F# #fsharp sergeytihon.com/2026/04/05/f...

Don Syme reposted

Bylines Network

@bylinesnetwork.co.uk

31 Mar

Replying to @bylinesnetwork.co.uk

We’re proudly independent – no corporate owners or billionaire backers. But it costs us at least £150k a year to run our network. Become a Friend of Bylines Network. For as little as £3.50 a month, you’ll get behind-the-scenes insights, access to special events, merchandise, and more.

bylinesnetwork.co.ukFriends of Bylines Network - Bylines NetworkStand with us – sign up. now to become a Friend of Bylines Network

Don Syme reposted

Jordan Marr

@jordanmarr.bsky.social

23 Mar

🚀 Serde.FS alpha.9 — Deterministic RPC for F# No reflection. No controllers. Just compile‑time RPC clients + routing. Includes: • [<RpcApi>] • ASP.NET RPC server • Deterministic JSON backend • Shared → Server → Client example github.com/serde-fs/Ser... #fsharp #rpc #aot #serde #dotnet

Don Syme reposted

Sergey Tihon 🦔🦀

@sergeytihon.com

22 Mar

First Repo Assisted release of SwaggerProvider is out #fsharp github.com/fsprojects/S... 🎉🤖

github.comRelease v3.1.0 - Repo Assisted · fsprojects/SwaggerProviderfeat: Add IgnoreParseErrors parameter to OpenApiClientProvider (#300) feat: Add SchemaReaderErrors property to OpenApiClientProvider (fixes #160) (#327) fix: include response body in OpenApiExcepti...

Don Syme reposted

Bjørn Einar Bjartnes

@bjartnes.bsky.social

20 Mar

- Hello Joe - Hello @dbrattli.bsky.social Come check out Dag presenting actors on F# and OTP at NRK! #fsharp www.linkedin.com/posts/bjartn...

linkedin.comF# Meetup (Recorded at NRK edition), Wed, Mar 25, 2026, 5:30 PM | Meetup | Bjørn Einar Bjartnes- Hello Joe - Hello Dag Brattli Come check out actors running on F# and OTP and more 25th of March with OsloFSharp at Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) #fsharp https://lnkd.in/enf64g4h

Don Syme reposted

Dag Brattli

@dbrattli.bsky.social

20 Mar

Next week I will present the new work on Fable Beam at Oslo F# Meetup 💫 #fsharp #fablecompiler

Bjørn Einar Bjartnes@bjartnes.bsky.social

- Hello Joe - Hello @dbrattli.bsky.social Come check out Dag presenting actors on F# and OTP at NRK! #fsharp www.linkedin.com/posts/bjartn...

Don Syme reposted

Indivisible ❌👑

@indivisible.org

14 Mar

The weeks right before and after No Kings Day are when we need your support the most. We’re counting on grassroots donors to help fund all the tools and resources that make our nationwide mobilizations huge, peaceful, and inspiring demonstrations of defiance. Please pitch in if you can.

secure.actblue.comI just gave to Indivisible!Show your support with a contribution.

fsprojects.github.ioFSharp.Control.TaskSeq

14 Mar

FSharp.Control.TaskSeq v1.0.0 is now released. fsprojects.github.io/FSharp.Contr... A huge thank you to Abel Braaksma, Ruben Bartelink and others for the work on this library. It's been at v0.4.0 for a while and the functionality has now been rounded out, bugs cleared and docs published.

dsyme.netStart Your Day With Code That’s Better 🌤️I have been using GitHub Agentic Workflows to help automate the maintenance of software libraries and tools. The workflow I’m using is called Repo Assist. Here’s my morning today! ⚡ A p…

8 Mar

My morning --> * A performance improvement * A feature request analysis * An engineering improvement Daily improvements to the software you maintain, delivered to your repos with GitHub Agentic Workflows. dsyme.net/2026/03/08/s...

Don Syme reposted

Maxime

@mangelmaxime.bsky.social

3 Mar

The wait is over! Fable 5 Release Candidate is officially here. After a year of hard work from the community, we're bringing you: ✨ .NET 10 & F# 10 support 🐍 A massive Python update (now powered by a Rust core & PyPI!) 🌐 Cleaner JS/TS Pojo bindings fable.io/blog/2026/20... #fsharp #fablecompiler

fable.ioFable · Announcing Fable 5 Release Candidate

27 Feb

F# folk, with @nojaf.com we've added support for generating llms.txt to the fsdocs tool that's widely used by the F# community. We'll release it soon but if you have a chance to take it for a spin before please do. github.com/fsprojects/F... #fsharp

github.com[Repo Assist] Add `dotnet fsdocs convert` command for single-file conversion by github-actions[bot] · Pull Request #1019 · fsprojects/FSharp.Formatting🤖 This PR was created by Repo Assist, an automated AI assistant. Closes #811 Summary This adds a new convert verb to the fsdocs CLI tool, enabling conversion of a single .md, .fsx, or .ipynb file t...

27 Feb

F# folk, am working with @nojaf.com on a request from Nick Herchey to add support to fsdocs for "fsdocs convert" to easily convert between the nice literate programming formats F# supports - .fsx, .md, .ipynb, .tex Please take it for a spin and give feedback github.com/fsprojects/F...

27 Feb

Sorry typo, Nick Hirschey @nhirschey on GitHub

github.comSuggestion: Add yaml type provider to F# data family? · Issue #1645 · fsprojects/FSharp.DataProbably needs few revisions for modern dotnet and dependant packages? https://fsprojects.github.io/FSharp.Configuration/YamlConfigProvider.html

F# community: "Suggestion: Add yaml type provider to F# data family?" (that's all they write) Me: "/repo-assist Implement a YamlProvider" Result within an hour: New type provider with testing, CI passing github.com/fsprojects/F... #fsharp

Anyone got any other data formats that'd like type providers for?

dsyme.net🌈Repo Assist: A Repository AssistantI have spent the weekend creating and using a preliminary version of what I call Repo Assist, which is an automated repository assistant for software maintainers. For some repos, some of the time. …

My latest blog post is out! 🌈 Repo Assist: A Repository Assistant Repo Assist is an experimental automated assistant for software maintainers. For some repos, not all. It is a GitHub Agentic Workflow and uses Copilot, Claude or Gemini in automated, proactive mode. dsyme.net/2026/02/25/r...

Repo Assist is designed for helping with maintenance of low-volume, low-change repos with long term technical debt These are repositories that valuable ✨, should survive and thrive🌱, you are a maintainer 🧭, you can give oversight 👀, you can automate using coding agents⚙️

github.github.comGitHub Agentic WorkflowsWrite repository automation workflows in natural language using markdown files and run them as GitHub Actions. Use AI agents with strong guardrails to automate your development workflow.

If you’ve software you want to maintain long term, or if you have repositories you want to crunch the technical debt on, or if you’re just interested in the practice of repository automation and Continuous AI, read on! More about GitHub Agentic Workflows here: github.github.com/gh-aw/

github.com[Repo Assist] Add With* methods to CsvProvider Row and JsonProvider record types (closes #1431) by github-actions[bot] · Pull Request #1639 · fsprojects/FSharp.Data🤖 This is a pull request created by Repo Assist, an automated AI assistant. Closes #1431 Summary This PR implements With(PropName)(newValue) methods on generated types for CsvProvider and JsonProvi...

24 Feb

Turns out the AI models are really very good at writing F# type providers. Here adding an option to add .WithAbc(...) functional update methods to the provided object models for FSharp.Data.

github.comGitHub - fsprojects/FSharp.Control.AsyncSeq: Asynchronous sequences for F#Asynchronous sequences for F#. Contribute to fsprojects/FSharp.Control.AsyncSeq development by creating an account on GitHub.

22 Feb

Using GitHub Agentic Workflows "Repo Assist" automated repo assistant, I was able to 1. Clear all the lingering technical debt off the community library FSharp.Control.AsyncSeq today 2. Release a new version 4.0.0 with a major compat feature github.com/fsprojects/F... bsky.app/profile/did:...

Don Syme@dsyme.bsky.social

F# folk - I'm having some success using GitHub Agentic Workflows to automate some backlog maintenance work in some older F# community repos. FSharp.Data: github.com/fsprojects/F... FSharp.Control.AsyncSeq: github.com/fsprojects/F... It's helping me re-engage with the repos and clean things up.

github.com[Repo Assist] Monthly Activity 2026-02 · Issue #1599 · fsprojects/FSharp.Data🤖 Repo Assist here — I'm an automated AI assistant for this repository. Activity for February 2026 2026-02-21 💬 Commented on #1532: Explained HTTP socket exhaustion root cause (WebRequest port pool...

The main docs of the canonical workflow is here: github.com/githubnext/a... Some customization may be needed, e.g. firewall github.com/fsprojects/F... Contact me and we may be able to arrange some Copilot credits if you're maintaining significant repos and you're trialling this in your repos.

GitHub Agentic Workflows is here: github.github.com/gh-aw/

If you have repos you're maintaining you'd like to try this out on, please get in touch. The Repo Assist workflow * comments once on issues, investigate but never close them * creates PRs but never merge them Aim is to help and augment the human maintainer (me/you), who remains in charge.