James Forde

S/W Director for CBE Software, husband, father of two, jogger, chess club kids mentor, creator of affordable chess broadcasting, coderdojo.

[Dave W Plummer @davepl1968]

If you're on a Linux desktop and feeling adventurous, please smoke-test my first drop of Task Manager OG for Linux!

AppImage: https://t.co/3bUdoQfi6T
Debian: https://t.co/R4FqBC2vmD
Tarball: https://t.co/oGqNP590qy

Please note this is (a) my first Linux gui app, and (b) my first attempt at making distribution pacakges, and (c) I don't know what I'm doing.

Let me know how it goes!

[Dave W Plummer @davepl1968]

I wrote a new Task Manager that runs natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux. You can get it now at https://t.co/OZcq1axGTb ... but why?

Well, it started as an argument over whether you could vibe code Microsoft Word today. I didn't think so. But I figured... maybe something simpler like Task Manager. But you can't just tell Claude, "Hey, write a task manager!" Well, you can, but it'll be hot garbage.

Then my kid blew out his appendix and needed surgery, so I had a couple of days in waiting rooms to tinker with the idea. I broke out my new M5 MacBook Air, and I put together a 107-page spec, like I was some caffeine-addled PM from the 90s. Everything you could ever want to know about a task manager, how it works, what it should do, and what it should look like.

By the time he was out of the hospital, I had a rough app working. But then he started bleeding internally, needed emergency surgery and a blood transfusion. Happy to say he's all better now - but suffice to say I had the rest of the week to tinker as he healed.

But why write a Task Manager? Because when I wrote the original in '95, it was on a P90 or something equally weak. Updating, scrolling, and painting without using more than a percent or two of the CPU was the modest goal.

Now that we have 5 GHz CPUs and GPUs to help, why not push the limits? Animate everything at 60Hz, instead of once a second. History mouse tracking, a summary page, and all the features I would have added then if the hardware had allowed it.

My autism leads me to embrace neon and high contrast in a way that's not to everyone's taste, so there's a saturation slider to control the color. But this one goes to 11.

You can also select from a bunch of DEC VT220-inspired themes like Green Phosphor, Amber, or White. And I added Blue to match my VSCode theme!

The code is fully native: Direct2D/DirectComposition on Windows, UIKit on Mac, and Qt on Linux. The UI communicates with a shared CPP core, which branches out to platform-specific helpers. There's NO electron, HTML, JSON, etc.

Thanks to David and Rutger for their help along the way, I couldn't have done it this quickly on three platforms without them!

If you've got some cycles to spare, give it a try and let me know if you run into any issues!

https://t.co/OZcq1axGTb

[Vikas gupta @vicky_grok]

🚨 Anthropic just showed a 27-minute workshop on how to actually do prompts for Claude.

Taught by the people who built it.

Free. No registration. No paywall.

I've seen $300 courses that don't cover what they teach in the first 8 minutes.

Watch it and bookmark it now.

[English Chess Federation (ECF) @ecfchess]

Congratulations to GM Daniel Gormally on finishing 2nd in the 50+ category at the ECU Senior Chess Championship ♟️🥈👏

View Danny's games:
https://t.co/xagZoEu9rk

📸: ECU Senior Chess Championship - Acqui Terme (Italy) @ECUonline

[🏴 uɒɹɥəɯ @mehrandvd]

Just watched @shanselman and Mark Russinovich drop one of the most important truths about AI in engineering, and it needs to be said louder:
"AI isn’t killing engineering, but it is quietly killing something far more dangerous: the junior pipeline."

Here’s the reality most companies have already learned:
AI delivers its best results when senior engineers work with it.
Their judgment, intuition, and experience are what turn AI from “helpful” into “game‑changing.”

But AI has also replaced almost every junior‑level task, scaffolding, debugging, boilerplate, testing, and many teams have stopped hiring juniors altogether.

And that’s the real danger.
If juniors disappear today, there will be no seniors tomorrow.
No juniors → no mid‑levels → no seniors → no architects → no one left who can actually guide AI safely.

We’ve seen this firsthand too.
That’s why we are heavily investing in our #cs_internship open-source program, to keep a strong flow of junior talent and give them a real path to grow into the next generation of senior engineers.

Because the future of engineering depends on the people who aren’t seniors yet.

#MicrosoftBuild
https://t.co/4pMdm3vZwY

[James Forde @j4desoft]

@BordGaisEnergy I'm trying to get my deposit back for solar due to poor account management and an getting the run around with no responses to texts, emails and their phone system isn't working either, very very disappointing service.

[James Forde @j4desoft]

Sligo Rapid 2026 Round 1

[James Forde @j4desoft]

Sligo Rapid 2026 Round 1

[Tarun Kanyamarala @irish_tarun]

Just wrapped up my run at the 2025 British Chess Championship in Liverpool! ♟️ It was a wild ride of highs and lows, and I learned so much. Reliving it all through the daily video recaps I made, which are all up on my YouTube channel, ChessATC!
​📸: @ecfchess

[The Sligo Chess and Culture Festival 2027 @ChessSligo]

Tag in the comments who you challenge to a game of chess for this Sunday's International Chess Day. You can play in Queen Maeve Square or one of the many participating local businesses. Don't forget to say happy birthday to @FIDE_chess. #internationalchessday #chess #chesspunks

[curraghchessclub @curraghchesscl1]

Checkout Curragh vs Celbridge games today on https://t.co/GiwnCYNFMk

[Uncle Bob Martin @unclebobmartin]

A brief intro. Please RT. (or is it RX?)

[CBE EPoS @CBE_EPoS]

As the year comes to a close, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to our incredible employees, valued customers, trusted partners, and dedicated suppliers.

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful Christmas and a prosperous start to 2025.

[curraghchessclub @curraghchesscl1]

Full House, div4 and 5 in action, also div6 away to Celbridge B too, busy day for the curragh chess club. Live games are on https://t.co/GiwnCYNFMk 11 boards

[CBE EPoS @CBE_EPoS]

🚨 Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals Are Coming! 🚨

Get 10% OFF all consumable items at ShopCBE this Black Friday and Cyber Monday! 🛍️✨

🔑 Use code: BLACKFRIDAY24 (Nov 29th)
🔑 Use code: CYBERMONDAY24 (Dec 2nd)

Visit our shop here - https://t.co/rF7DGtzQKq

[curraghchessclub @curraghchesscl1]

SOLAS charity rapid today, see https://t.co/NuoQnIfBPM for live boards and results.

[CBE EPoS @CBE_EPoS]

🔜 ONE WEEK TO GO

One week until @hospotechuk & The Hospitality B2B Portfolio take over the @ExCeLLondon

🎪 7 Expos
👥 500 Exhibitors

You can find @CBE_EPoS on Stand J92 where we will be showcasing all the latest technology for the #hospitality sector

[CBE EPoS @CBE_EPoS]

All ready for @HospExpo2024

Join us on stand B30 over the next two days in the Main Hall @TheRDS to see all the latest innovations for the hospitality sector.

The exhibition runs from 10 am to 5 pm on both days

#HEX24 #hospitalityexpo #epos

[James Forde @j4desoft]

Sligo tournament round 3

[James Forde @j4desoft]

Sligo tournament 2024 is LIVE

round 1 details here

https://t.co/w0YjC0fvon

Live games here

https://t.co/v86MPOkHaT