I've been watching Jake do the Headless Frontier work with two different AI bots -- ChatGPT and Claude.ai. And as he's doing that, I'm slogging away the same way I've always done it, working on the top level user interface of WordLand. I don't see a way around it, because I have a special way of working on user interfaces, and we're still quite a ways away from the bot being able to do vibe coding at that level. It's fascinating to watch Jake revive code I wrote in the late 80s and early 90s. He's a very accomplished user of it, being transformed into a kernel-level developer of what's basically an OS built around a scripting language, object database and with the internet latched on after the whole thing was done, and then ported to Windows. I stopped working at that level before all that michegas happened. I have looked at the code Jake is working on to see what became of it, and wasn't horrified, and I recognized my work, but I wouldn't ever want to work on that myself. I imagine some commercial developers have already rebuilt their testing and support functions for products around ChatGPT-like systems. #
Another example of ChatGPT utility. "I have a function named viewFeedItem. Inside it has an icon that when you click it, it calls viewFeedItem to view the parent of the item. But I don't want it to call viewFeedItem directly because that leaves the previous instance of viewFeedItem around. In javascript what's the best way to defer the call to divFeedItem so that the two instances are unrelated, and the first instance goes away." I was pretty sure as I wrote this that setTimeout was the answer, but ChatGPT offered it as the first choice, and explained why it was the best. It's like having a code consulant, you're the surgeon and it's ready to help. And it really does help to know it parsed it the same way I did.#
The Olympics have already started, with Milan as the host city. The opening ceremony is tonight. My longtime friend the brilliant and beautiful Anna Masera will be attending. I don't know if I can boast having a friend at the Olympics, but it's her hometown, she's from the nearby city of Torino. #
And of course there will be lots of sports action on Sunday, when by coincidence, the Knicks are playing the Celtics in Boston. #
And also in case you're into American football -- the SuperBowl is on Sunday in my former home base of Silicon Valley, featuring the New England Patriots (booo) and the Seattle Seahawks (booo two). 6:30PM Eastern on Peacock and NBC. (They say "simulcast" on NBC, which means what?)#
Meanwhile I'm sooo freaking tired of working on reading and replying in WordLand, but I gotta get it done. I hope to have a test version up real soon, like maybe this coming week. I'll write some more about that in a bit. I want people to be prepared for the new design, you won't be replying on my site, you'll be replying on yours. This is the price we pay for true distribution. But when you're reading the replies, it's all seamless. No cost. But if my site goes away, your reply is still there, where you wrote it, on your site. This is what's new about WordLand. We respect the web and we respect you. And I'm not trying to lock you in, just trying to set an example for the rest of the tech world. And give us all away to avoid being locked in the trunk while the tech oligarchs have stadiums and train stations named after them (and if they think that makes them immortal, please tell me who Shea was? Heh.)#
Now one thing some people are sure to be upset about, up front. WordLand only knows how to write to WordPress sites. It's kind of a miracle we can do that at all, mostly owing to the fantastic API they have created for the system that I have build WordLand around. After we get that going, of course I want to work with other blogging vendors to make sure their products can be used in the same way. But right now I'm the only person working on this, and I'm pretty old for doing this kind of work, so please be kind. Thanks. #
Last update: Friday February 6, 2026; 11:53 AM EST.
You know those obnoxious sites that pop up dialogs when they think you're about to leave, asking you to subscribe to their email newsletter? Well that won't do for Scripting News readers who are a discerning lot, very loyal, but that wouldn't last long if I did rude stuff like that. So here I am at the bottom of the page quietly encouraging you to sign up for the nightly email. It's got everything from the previous day on Scripting, plus the contents of the linkblog and who knows what else we'll get in there. People really love it. I wish I had done it sooner. And every email has an unsub link so if you want to get out, you can, easily -- no questions asked, and no follow-ups. Go ahead and do it, you won't be sorry! :-)