A good proportion of time that I spend interacting with software, or dealing with the products of software systems, is spent with the awareness that the software could be better in specific ways. I often accommodate these technological shortfalls by working around them. This is the first side of The Struggle.
I’m a competent programmer, so I can hack software to suit my ends, but this ability can be a burden. The hack is a product of pragmatism, but a developer who takes pride in their code wants something more elegant. Furthermore, the level of intimacy required to mould someone else’s software system to my own ends can be taxing. This is the second side of The Struggle.
Interacting with software and programming are essentially exercises in instructing a computer. When you have the tools and knowledge to correct them, technical faults are artifacts of poor communication: they are defective semantics.
So, like the tagline says, Defective Semantics is a journal of this struggle. My intention is for the posts to be reminiscent of a HOWTO. It may feature other technology-related content, too. It is not a personal blog; my life is broader than an over-dramatised software crusade, but then the other stuff isn’t appropriately informative reading for the web.