Real-world programming with AI. No filler, just killer! github: wesen
Boston, MA
Joined November 2023
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Manuel Odendahl retweeted
Cursor for hardware is real now
built “BroccoliPods” — a physical Spotify controller for my laptop
controls tracks, volume, shows album art, artist name + a progression bar no tab switching anymore
used:
• esp32-s3
• display + buttons
• SchematikIO @schematikio
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
we been through this phase in semiconductors w/ cad or softwares w/ case tools and this is off by miles.
there are a lot of value at lower levels of abstraction, but it is not for everyone.
Code is an output. Nature is healing.
For too long we treated code as input. We glorified it, hand-formatted it, prettified it, obsessed over it.
We built sophisticated GUIs to write it in: IDEs. We syntax-highlit, tree-sat, mini-mapped the code. Keyboard triggers, inline autocompletes, ghost text. “What color scheme is that?”
We stayed up debating the ideal length of APIs and function bodies. Is this API going to look nice enough for another human to read?
We’re now turning our attention to the true inputs. Requirements, specs, feedback, design inspiration. Crucially: production inputs. Our coding agents need to understand how your users are experiencing your application, what errors they’re running into, and turn *that* into code.
We will inevitably glorify code less, as well as coders. The best engineers I’ve worked with always saw code as a means to an end anyway. An output that’s bound to soon be transformed again.
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
AI exposes how you treat people
Do you want to displace and crush people?
Then we are enemies
Do you want to raise people up and empower them?
Then we are friends
It’s that simple
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
Inspired by the Master Control Program (MCP) from TRON, I'm building ALDRED, which uses Semantic Inter-Process Communication (SIPC) to orchestrate external programs. Instead of relying on rigid API contracts, the MCP 'mutates' to interact with other programs, mimicking human-like behavior. When it engages with a program—such as a hotel booking —it requires no prior knowledge of the target's implementation; it simply negotiates until the task is complete (it is immune if the program changes). If data is missing, it dynamically prompts the user for the necessary information. While human-like communication may seem inefficient, it is the key to building truly autonomous, complex systems. Since the MCP itself is a program, you can create a powerful orchestrator. Check out this TRON-inspired demo! :D
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
Yes things will change, and they are, do not be in denial.
But posting videos of Ryan Gosling with captions like this is genuinely becoming an eye-roller.
How many people are encountering mental health issues from all of this constant demotivation content?
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
I know Silicon Valley startups don't want to hear this.....
But the combination of someone in the trades with deep domain expertise and Claude Code will run circles around your generic software.
I talked to Cory LaChance this morning, a mechanical engineer in industrial piping construction in Houston. He normally works with chemical plants and refineries, but now he also works with the terminal
He reached out in a DM a few days ago and I was so fired up by his story, I asked him if we could record the conversation and share it.
He built a full application that industrial contractors are using every day. It reads piping isometric drawings and automatically extracts every weld count, every material spec, every commodity code.
Work that took 10 minutes per drawing now takes 60 seconds. It can do 100 drawings in five minutes, saving days of time.
His co-workers are all mind blown, and when he talks to them, it's like they are speaking different languages.
His fabrication shop uses it daily, and he built the entire thing in 8 weeks. During those 8 weeks he also had to learn everything about Claude Code, the terminal, VS Code, everything.
My favorite quote from him was when he said, "I literally did this with zero outside help other than the AI. My favorite tools are screenshots, step by step instructions and asking Claude to explain things like I'm five."
Every trades worker with deep expertise and a willingness to sit down with Claude Code for a few weekends is now a potential software founder.
I can't wait to meet more people like Cory.
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
Please, please, please would people stop this. Learn patterns, not frameworks and implementation. Openclaw, Claude code. They are just simple patterns. Learn the pattern, apply the pattern. Stop mystifying these things. I really suspect people that talk about openclaw like this only do so because they don't understand how it actually works. It's just a loop with an organized setup of markdown files, common tools, and eventing pattern.
"Every software company in the world, needs to have an @openclaw strategy" - Jensen at @NVIDIAAI GTC
Framing OpenClaw as one of the most important open source releases ever, they have announced NemoClaw - a reference platform for enterprise grade secure Openclaw, with OpenShell, Network boundaries, security baked in.
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
Yes, you still need to _understand_. If reading the code aids in understanding, read the code. If you have other methods, which are better adjusted to the volume and velocity of agentic coding, use them. But you won't get far without understanding.
effective agentic engineering does not require that you read all the code.
it doesn’t even require that you read most of the code.
what it does require:
> *that you are always aware of the outcome of the code.*
and that you correct the outcome when it’s not what was intended.
in fact, you can live your whole life like this.
1. act
2. observe the outcome
3. adjust your action if not intended outcome
it’s a path to the good life.
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
Underrated side-effect of AI: we are about to get a cambrian explosion of new games for retro consoles
Took me 5-6 prompts to make a working game with music in assembly on SNES
We’ll see “Steam for Super Nintendo” before the decade is out.
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
it's very simple for me, Ghostty (no tmux), VS Code, `mise` and `mix`, and Codex
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
Wait, what. This DIY ThinkPad 701c throwback is powered by a Framework Laptop 13 Mainboard! Maglev-Rabbit is working in the open and sharing source: github.com/Maglev-Rabbit/702…
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
and as always: tech dudes like me should not have a say in how education works. we have an entire science that has this figured out. we merely lack the political will to change the system.
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
has anyone built a self-building OS where you set up the kernel and just enough to get an agentic thread going, then have it build the rest of itself?
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
Vibe coding hack from @ProgramWithAi: Instead of generating complex code, have AI output simple YAML that describes what you want. Then build a CLI to execute it. Result: deterministic, auditable AI behavior without reading a single line of generated code.
Link in 🧵
Manuel Odendahl retweeted
all these parts together is probably $30, that's how cheap hardware has become
(now if you wanna build something with it, use schematik.io)
