Goldblog

2025

• 
  Hybrid Linters: The Best of Both Worlds

  Mar 2015 minute read

  Native speed for parsing and type checking is wonderful. I also want the huge benefits of writing lint rules in an ecosystem's primary language. Here's how I think we can have both.
• 
  So You've Got A Gap In Code Coverage

  Mar 510 minute read

  This is my standard explainer for pull request reviews where changed lines aren't covered by unit tests.
• 
  My Plans for 2025

  Feb 1020 minute read

  How I'm going to make my 2025 impactful.
• 
  2024 In Review

  Feb 320 minute read

  Looking back at the accomplishments and goals from my third year as a full-time independent open source maintainer.
• 
  2024 Finances In Review

  Jan 2710 minute read

  Breaking down the income streams and totals from my third year as a full-time independent open source maintainer.
• 
  Split Out Unrelated Changes

  Jan 1310 minute read

  This is a general explainer for pull request reviews where I think unrelated changes should be split into a separate PR.

2024

• 
  Try...Catch As Little As Possible

  Nov 2710 minute read

  This is a general explainer for pull request reviews where a try...catch statement is used more than I think it needs to be.
• 
  Why I'm Migrating from X to Bluesky

  Nov 1810 minute read

  Twitter has been a core part of my web development career for over a decade. But Twitter's been replaced by the vastly inferior X. Here's why I'm finally ready to commit to Bluesky.
• 
  How I Attend a Conference

  Oct 120 minute read

  From attending a few dozen conferences and co-organizing one of my own, this is how I make the most of in-person event.
• 
  Why Typed Linting Needs TypeScript Today

  Sep 2310 minute read

  Typed linting is powerful but requires a full type checker to function well. Today, that means TypeScript. This is why we haven't found a suitable replacement yet.
• 
  Definitely Formatted

  Apr 3020 minute read

  How we migrated the massive DefinitelyTyped repository from using a linter for formatting to the dprint formatter.
• 
  The Cost of a Lint Rule

  Apr 175 minute read

  Explaining why deep work can be so difficult in open source.
• 
  Please Stop Sending Me Nested Dependency Security Reports

  Mar 45 minute read

  Security is important. Overusing report mechanisms for non-actionable noise is counterproductive.
• 
  My Plans for 2024

  Feb 1525 minute read

  How I'm going to make my 2024 beautiful.
• 
  2023 In Review

  Jan 3120 minute read

  Looking back at my second year as a full-time independent open source maintainer.
• 
  2023 Conferences In Review

  Jan 2920 minute read

  Recapping the fantastic in-person conferences I attended in 2023.
• 
  You Probably Don't Need eslint-config-prettier or eslint-plugin-prettier

  Jan 2310 minute read

  Explaining two popular Prettier integrations for ESLint, and why I avoid both of them.
• 
  Rust-Based JavaScript Linters: Fast, But No Typed Linting Right Now

  Jan 1015 minute read

  Explaining why the speed gains from Rust linters aren't comparable to the full feature set of typescript-eslint.

2023

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  TypeScript Contribution Diary: Filtering Out Types From JavaScript-Only Import Suggestions

  Nov 2015 minute read

  Removing type-land entries from import completions that can't be used in value-only-land.
• 
  Contributing to a create-typescript-app Repository

  Oct 2015 minute read

  A thorough guide through contributing to create-typescript-app or any repository scaffolded using it.
• 
  Contributing to a create-typescript-app Repository: FAQs

  Oct 2010 minute read

  FAQs for contributing to my create-typescript-app project or any repository scaffolded using it.
• 
  Speeding Up Centered Part 5: Emoji Processing

  Sep 2010 minute read

  Finding and eliminating thousands of calls to recreate a giant regular expression in a popular open source emoji plugin.
• 
  Speeding Up Centered Part 4: Unused Code Bloat

  Aug 215 minute read

  Using Knip to automatically detect unused files and dependencies in the Centered repository.
• 
  Speeding Up Centered Part 3: Barrel Exports

  Aug 710 minute read

  Automating changes to module imports to overcome the build system not correctly tree shaking barrel exports.
• 
  Speeding Up Centered Part 2: Hidden Embedded Images

  Aug 710 minute read

  Finding and removing giant unused assets hidden in marketing page to speed up that page's performance.
• 
  Speeding Up Centered Part 1: 81 <iframe> Embeds

  Jul 1910 minute read

  Improving a page's performance by over-eager loading most of its embedded content.
• 
  The Blurry Line Between Formatting and Style

  Jun 1910 minute read

  Why separating responsibilities between your formatter and linter isn't always clear-cut.
• 
  Configuring ESLint, Prettier, and TypeScript Together

  May 120 minute read

  How I recommend getting your formatter, linter, and type checker to play together nicely.
• 
  Configuring ESLint, Prettier, and TypeScript Together: FAQs

  May 15 minute read

  How I recommend getting your formatter, linter, and type checker to play together nicely.
• 
  Seven Reasons Why Conversational AI is Dangerous

  Apr 15 minute read

  While AI systems such as OpenAI and ChatGPT can be helpful in certain situations, there are also significant risks associated with their use.
• 
  TypeScript Contribution Diary: Tuple Types Indexed by a Type Parameter

  Mar 3010 minute read

  Fixing a slight bug in how TypeScript resolves type elements of tuple types indexed by type parameters.
• 
  My Plans for 2023

  Mar 2320 minute read

  How I'm going to make 2023 awesome.
• 
  Configuring Markdownlint Alongside Prettier

  Jan 255 minute read

  Using the common markdown linter and disabling any rules that would intersect with dedicated formatters such as Prettier.
• 
  2022 In Review

  Jan 710 minute read

  Looking back at a pivotal year in my open source career.

2022

• 
  How I Apply to Conferences

  Nov 1710 minute read

  From a hundred conference applications and thirty speaking roles, this is my process for submitting talks.
• 
  How I Apply to Conferences: FAQs

  Nov 1715 minute read

  Common questions and answers for my How I Apply To Conferences article.
• 
  No Unattainable Intelligence

  Sep 285 minute read

  In trying to make ourselves relatable, we reinforce the negative perception of intelligence gaps.
• 
  Six Months of Full Time Open Source

  Sep 710 minute read

  What it's like to quit your job and try to work on open source tooling full time.
• 
  Type Parameters in the "Add Missing Function" Codefix

  Aug 920 minute read

  Corrects the missing function codefix to add type parameters when the function needs to be generic.
• 
  Standards Compliant Rickrolling

  Apr 110 minute read

  How to create an effective rickroll site with the Vimeo Player SDK despite modern web browser autoplay restrictions.
• 
  Why Open Source Pull Requests Can Take A While

  Mar 75 minute read

  Maintenance and development costs run both ways. Open source contributors and maintainers alike have to balance their finite energy and time resources within many constraints.
• 
  TypeScript Contribution Diary: Allowing Code in Constructors Before super()

  Mar 710 minute read

  Allowing derived classes with properties to include code before `super()` call that doesn't touch `this`. A grand pull request three years in the making -- with cake!
• 
  TypeScript Contribution Diary: Allowing Code in Constructors Before super() (Technical Overview)

  Mar 715 minute read

  More technical descriptions around allowing derived classes with properties to include code before `super()` call that doesn't touch `this`.
• 
  Switching a Jest Project from Babel to SWC

  Feb 2110 minute read

  Speeding up and simplifying the transpiler configuration for a Jest project with Speedy Web Compiler (SWC).
• 
  Full Time Open Source

  Jan 2210 minute read

  I'm quitting my job to become a full time open source maintainer
• 
  Nature, Individuality, and Developer Empowerment

  Jan 1810 minute read

  Applying learnings about how humans perceive forces of nature to how we understand code and organizations.

2021

• 
  useEffect Pet Peeve: Side Effects, Not Initialization

  Sep 810 minute read

  Explaining why using useEffect to initialize values is dangerous.
• 
  Don't Write Bad Code

  Aug 1910 minute read

  A mantra for constantly learning to keep myself writing at my best.
• 
  TypeScript Contribution Diary: Improved errors for empty DOM interfaces

  Jun 2210 minute read

  Glorious hardcoding of a better error message if someone forgets to include the 'dom' lib option.
• 
  Team Construction Pitfalls

  Jan 2310 minute read

  How misbalanced or poorly positioned teams restrict their developers in both the short and long term.

2020

• 
  Type System Game Engines

  Oct 525 minute read

  Just for fun, what if we crafted a board game purely within TypeScript's logical type system?
• 
  TypeScript Contribution Diary: Improved Errors on Invalid Variable Names

  Sep 1510 minute read

  Improving the first error message emitted for invalid variable identifiers.
• 
  TypeScript Contribution Diary: // @ts-expect-error

  Jul 1220 minute read

  Adding a new comment directive to the TypeScript compiler.
• 
  Compassionate Onboardings as Developer Documentation

  Jun 1110 minute read

  How to use the energy of new employees to keep documentation up-to-date and useful.

2019

• 
  Thoughts as a TSLint Maintainer

  Nov 1910 minute read

  Maintaining TSLint was a wonderful mixed bag of shenanigans. Let's talk about it.
• 
  TSLint to ESLint Part 2: tslint-to-eslint-config

  Nov 1910 minute read

  Now that TSLint is being deprecated, let's look at how tslint-to-eslint-config converts your TSLint configuration to ESLint.
• 
  TSLint to ESLint Part 1: Historical Context

  Nov 1910 minute read

  Now that TSLint is being deprecated, let's look at the history of JavaScript and TypeScript linting.
• 
  TypeScript Contribution Diary: Improved Syntax Error for Enum Member Colons

  Oct 2110 minute read

  A quick syntax parsing improvement for incorrectly formatted enums.
• 
  Binary Arithmetic in the TypeScript Type System

  Oct 1115 minute read

  Just for fun, what if we represented binary values purely within TypeScript's logical type system?
• 
  I'm Moving Blogs!

  Sep 135 minute read

  Medium can eat it. I'm going open source with Gatsby!

2018

• 
  TypeScript Contribution Diary: Identifiers after Numeric Literals

  Dec 715 minute read

  How I made TypeScript's parsing of name characters after numbers conform to the ECMAScript specification just a bit more strictly.
• 
  Investigating Internet Explorer Exclusive Bugs in JavaScript

  Oct 1215 minute read

  IE users are users too!
• 
  TypeScript Contribution Diary: Pretty Error Counts

  Apr 610 minute read

  How I helped add an 'errors summary' to TypeScript's command-line --pretty --watch mode.
• 
  In Defense of 100% Unit Test Coverage

  Mar 1515 minute read

  Or: How to suddenly anger everybody, everywhere!
• 
  TypeScript Contribution Diary: Trailing Type Parameters

  Feb 175 minute read

  How I contributed a change to TypeScript that allowed trailing commas in type parameter/argument lists.

2017

• 
  How lazily instantiated classes reduced my game engines' reset times by half

  Oct 95 minute read

  Using lazily instantiated, dynamic classes instead of hand-written functions to reduce unnecessary work during loads.
• 
  Hacking TypeScript's async/await __awaiter for jQuery 2's "Promises"

  Jul 210 minute read

  Manipulating the details of TypeScript's emitted code to wrestle jQuery 2's older asynchronous constructs to work with modern `async`/`await`.

2016

• 
  How to show RequireJS progress with NProgress

  Dec 285 minute read

  Using the popular NProgress library to visualize load progress on sites built on the AMD RequireJS loader