Archive on Daniel Doezema's Blog

Illocutionary Force In Prompt Engineering

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

While working with early GitHub Copilot I would use a lot of short utterances. (e.g., “can we do that?” or “That’s not right.”) I found that the model often would ignore the context of the conversation and answer in an overly literal way. I then would be forced to undo any changes and re-prompt with a more explicit request.

Wanting to fix this problem, I thought “Why is it that a colleague and I can rapid fire debug an issue (using only a few words) while fully understanding each other? How do humans pick up on intent so naturally?

Goard — Project Management for Agent Swarms

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background #

I’ve recently been tinkering with setting up swarms of long-lived AI agents that organized and self-assemble via a popular slack clone. I found that while they’re pretty good at holding a conversation with one another, they’re terrible at keeping track and organizing an actual project.

I tried adapting existing open-source trackers with mixed results. They were just too configuration heavy due to the need to design for humans and orgs with bespoke workflows.

Tail Multiple Logs with Capistrano

Fri, 11 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a quick and easy way to tail log files from multiple hosts using Capistrano and the Foreman gem.

Capistrano Task #

First you’ll need to make sure the foreman gem is installed. This can be done globally using gem install foreman, or by adding gem 'foreman' to your Gemfile.

Next, create a new Capistrano task file called tail.rake and place it in the lib/capistrano/tasks directory; Copy & paste the following code into that file.

Add Eloquent ORM Tab to PHP Debug Bar

Sun, 30 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Using Eloquent outside of a Laravel project? – Me too!

Collector Class #

class PHPDebugBarEloquentCollector extends \DebugBar\DataCollector\PDO\PDOCollector
{
 public function __construct()
 {
 parent::__construct();
 $this->addConnection($this->getTraceablePdo(), 'Eloquent PDO');
 }

 /**
 * @return Illuminate\Database\Capsule\Manager;
 */
 protected function getEloquentCapsule() {
 // ... Return your Illuminate\Database\Capsule\Manager instance here...
 }

 /**
 * @return PDO
 */
 protected function getEloquentPdo() {
 return $this->getEloquentCapsule()->getConnection()->getPdo();
 }

 /**
 * @return \DebugBar\DataCollector\PDO\TraceablePDO
 */
 protected function getTraceablePdo() {
 return new \DebugBar\DataCollector\PDO\TraceablePDO($this->getEloquentPdo());
 }

 // Override
 public function getName() {
 return "eloquent_pdo";
 }

 // Override
 public function getWidgets()
 {
 return array(
 "eloquent" => array(
 "icon" => "inbox",
 "widget" => "PhpDebugBar.Widgets.SQLQueriesWidget",
 "map" => "eloquent_pdo",
 "default" => "[]"
 ),
 "eloquent:badge" => array(
 "map" => "eloquent_pdo.nb_statements",
 "default" => 0
 )
 );
 }
}

Collector Registration #

require_once '/path/to/PHPDebugBarEloquentCollector.php';

$debugbar = new DebugBar\StandardDebugBar();

$debugbar->addCollector(new PHPDebugBarEloquentCollector());

Result #

Doctrine 2 PDO Object

Mon, 17 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Where, oh where, is that pesky Doctrine 2 PDO object…

Doctrine actually uses a base class called \Doctrine\DBAL\Driver\PDOConnection which extends the native PHP PDO class. It’s used by all PDO-based drivers as the common database connection interface.

Code #

Access to the \Doctrine\DBAL\Driver\PDOConnection instance can be gained through the Doctrine\ORM\EntityManager instance.

<?php

/* @var \Doctrine\DBAL\Driver\PDOConnection $pdo */
$pdo = $entityManager->getConnection()->getWrappedConnection();

API Docs #

WordPress Domain Changer 2.0

Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Announcing the next release of WordPress Domain Changer – version 2.0!

This release marks the completion of a total rewrite that brings an updated user interface, improved stability, fine-grained control, improved testing, and a few bug fixes.

Redesigned UI & Workflow #

Precise Control #

The ability to specify database tables has finally arrived!

Setting Up LiveReload With Jekyll

Sat, 18 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

When I decided to port my blog away from WordPress I found myself torn between two great static site generators – Middleman and Jekyll

Feature Envy #

One of the features that I’ve grown quite fond in Middleman is their LiveReload Extension. All one needs to do is add activate :livereload to the config.rb file and Middleman will automatically reload the browser when a file change is detected – it’s really slick!

Programmatically Create & Title Tabs Within The Mac OS X Terminal.app

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Terminal application has been steadily improving with every major release of Mac OS X. A new feature called Window Groups was recently added which saves the state, tabs, and locations of all terminal windows at a set point in time. I’ve personally found this to be a very helpful feature with just one caveat: It requires frequent upkeep when working with multiple projects.

The Window Group Upkeep Problem #

I currently work on nine Ruby on Rails applications that are all tied together via a single sign-on server and signed API requests – think of it like an ecosystem of decoupled apps. When I’m developing within this ecosystem the task of trying to keep track of all the activity going on between these apps is a major pain point.

Recursively Sort Ruby Hash By Key

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a quick and easy way to sort a Ruby hash by its keys. The ability to sort recursively and provide a custom sort block are also available features.

The Method #

I took the approach of monkey patching a sort_by_key method into the Ruby Hash class itself. The method can be easily modified and placed into a utility class if you’d prefer to take more procedural approach.

Twitter Bootstrap Radio Button Form Inputs

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been loving the Twitter Bootstrap buttons so I came up with a quick technique that turns them into actual working form input elements.

HTML #

Just like a normal Bootstrap Button Group, but with a few added attributes.

<div class="btn-group" data-toggle-name="is_private" data-toggle="buttons-radio">
 <button type="button" value="0" class="btn" data-toggle="button">Public</button>
 <button type="button" value="1" class="btn" data-toggle="button">Private</button>
</div>
<input type="hidden" name="is_private" value="0" />

Note: Yes, nested names like bookmark[is_private] work just fine.

JavaScript #

On document load we apply the button logic and state based on the hidden input’s value.

How to Implement a Single User Model with Rails, ActiveAdmin, and Devise

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I had just finished the standard installation of ActiveAdmin when I noticed that authentication was implemented using the fantastic Devise Gem. I had already been planning on using Devise for authentication within my application so I initially thought integration would be a snap. However, as development progressed it became clear that all of the pieces were not quite fitting together.

Realization #

After exploring the idea of using one login for ActiveAdmin and the application I ran into a rather large road block. By default ActiveAdmin uses an AdminUser Devise model to manage user authentication. Why is that such a big problem you ask?

PHP Output Profiling: Echo vs Concat

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I was in the middle of a code review a simple question came up: “What’s the fastest way to output a segmented string in PHP?”

echo '<div>';
echo '<span>';
echo 'This is a random number: ' . mt_rand(1,100);
echo '</span>';
echo '</div>';

– OR –

$html = '<div>';
$html .= '<span>';
$html .= 'This is a random number: ' . mt_rand(1,100);
$html .= '</span>';
$html .= '</div>';
echo $html;

My initial guess was that calling echo as little as possible during a request would end up performing better as there would be no need to interact with an output buffer or perform other logic tied to STDOUT.

AHAX WordPress Plugin

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago I was looking for a simple way to make AJAX requests on admin or public WordPress pages from a theme or plug-in. After a bit of searching I could not find the solution I was looking for - so I built my own, AHAX.

AHAX is a drop-in solution that allows theme or plug-in developers to take advantage of a very simple and streamlined way of making AJAX requests.

Benchmarking and Timing PHP Class

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Introducing a simple, yet deceivingly useful, micro benchmarking / timer class called Bench.

I’ve found myself on more than a few occasion using this familiar block of code in order to quickly narrow down a bottleneck or test a specific section of code.

$start = microtime(true);
// [Some Code To Test]
$time = (microtime(true) - $start);
echo $time . ' Seconds';

This is a crude but effective way of finding out how long it takes to get from line A to line B. On the down-side, this technique is annoying to implement, only measures time between two points, and makes code look very cluttered – so I started developing Bench.

WinCache PHP Class

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve developed a new class for WinCache that wraps around the wincache_ucache* functions. The goal of this project is to improve and add to the functionality of WinCache’s User Cache feature.

Basic Usage #

Below is a quick code example of how this class simplifies the way in which a developer can take advantage of the user cache.

/**
 * Get Cache Object
 */
$cacheObj = DDWinUCache::getInstance();
/**
 * Cache Data
 */
$cacheObj->set('foo', 'bar');
$cacheObj->set('bar', 'candy');
$cacheObj->set('hello_world', 'we did it!');
$cacheObj->set('apple_red_core', 'simple tagging');
/**
 * Delete Cache Entries
 */
$cacheObj->delete('*or*'); // array('apple_red_core', 'hello_world');
/**
 * Get Cached Data
 */
$cacheObj->get('foo'); // "bar"

New Features #

Within this class I’ve greatly improved the functionality of the delete method. I’ve also made getting information about the user cache simpler by creating accessor methods for all user cache related data. And to top it all off I’ve implemented ArrayAccess to push the simplicity over the edge.

Site Deployment with Subversion

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

While working for a previous employer I was tasked with developing a new company “intranet” site. Changes rolled out at an aggressive rate and the process of deploying updates via FTP quickly turned into a tedious task.

After a while I decided to spend some personal time thinking of ways to make whole process a bit smoother. A few of days passed as I tossed around various ideas in my head, then it hit me…

Why not just checkout a working copy of the project onto the production server itself?

So simple! All I’d have to do is use the production server’s subversion client to add, update, and remove any changes – deployment becomes as simple as: $ svn up.

The Basics: PHP register_globals Overview

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

In this article I’ll explain what register_globals is; how to protect against exploits that take advantage of it; and why it should be turned off (if possible).

What is Register Globals? #

register_globals is a setting/feature within PHP that was intended to ease development by making variables passed to the script (via a form, cookie, or session) automatically available as predefined variables within the global scope.

WordPress Domain Change Script

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Notice: A major release has been issued since this post – Version 2.0

Changing the domain name or URL of a WordPress site can be a very frustrating and time consuming task.

I usually have three development environments that I’m constantly switching between and all of them have completely different domain names.

Server	URL
Local	http://localhost:8888/myProject
Preview	http://myProject.mysite.com
Production	http://www.myProject.com

Fed up with all the steps needed to change the domain I decided it would be worth my time to build a script that could streamline the entire migration process. The first revision of this script was dirty and insecure (to say the least) but it significantly reduced the amount of time spent moving sites between servers and changing their domains.

Leet Speak WordPress Plugin

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

During the hours between 11:30 PM and 8:00 AM – while attempting to wrap my head around the development process of a WordPress Plugin – I found myself developing this fun, yet semi-useless, plugin that allows for the on-the-fly translation of plain text into “leet speak.”

Usage #

Translation of a post’s text into leet speak can be accomplished by using one of the following methods.