Thread by @jessitron

Today at #QConPlus , @girba shows graphs that reveal hidden dependencies in code.
Somehow this code reveals its own properties and relationships in custom-made developer experiences

Glamourous toolkit: gtoolkit.com
"empowering developers to create their own tools for every one of their problems" @girba #QConPlus

This is a superpower of developers: we can craft our own work environment.

For example, when viewing build logs: as you find a new problem, add some custom highlighting so that next time it jumps right out at you.

Browsing through code is a very expensive activity. I'm trying to use my eyes as a data mining tool.
@girba #qconplus

@girba When you have a question about a problem
Rather than looking at the problem through the lens of tools
Mold the tools to fit the problem.

This is moldable development.

"what kind of visualization would make the problem simpler to graph?" then whip that up.

@girba

the system changes too often to rely on memory.
A generated view can show us what we need to know.
Maybe this view that you're creating will only be used once.

The economic benefit: make a decision based on reality.

Build into the environment the ability to quickly change the shape of the tool to match the current focus of development.

Empower a new kind of decisionmaking.
@girba

and a #WardleyMap for good measure:

"Five years from now, you'll be hiring for storytellers of systems." @girba #QConPlus

Given a legacy system in an undocumented language ("They gave us documentation, it was wrong"), given a few weeks to create custom lenses,
@girba tells the customer things they didn't know about the software they've been living in for years.

Rescue and revive opaque software.

This reminds me of @honeycombio, where people who dig into graphs and see traces for the first time immediately find surprises in their own system.

There is a growing wasteland of uninhabitable software that businesses depend on.

@girba aims to make it habitable again, by enabling us to casually build the custom tools of rehabilitation for each problem.
#QConPlus