James Long is a design-focused software engineer and product builder, best known as the creator of Prettier, Actual, and absurd-sql. He specializes in foundational web technologies, local-first software, and deeply crafted user experiences.
10 articles from this blog
A developer reflects on getting sidetracked by an experimental, interactive web design project before returning to a simpler, content-focused approach.
A software engineer details their work building a design system, CSS engine, and AI Assistant at Stripe, plus a local-first app project.
A bookmarklet that lets you warp and manipulate any DOM element on a webpage with a simple click.
A developer builds an AI-integrated REPL using QuickJS and WebAssembly, exploring AI's ability to analyze JavaScript bytecode.
A developer explores using Claude Code and custom Skills to build a personal AI tool for managing and prioritizing a backlog of emails.
Explores the use of weak references in JavaScript, focusing on WeakMap and WeakRef for memory management and subverting abstraction control.
A developer uses Cursor AI to quickly build a synthesizer with harmonic controls and frequency visualization.
A technical blog post documenting notes and code examples while studying machine learning concepts from 'The Little Learner' textbook.
Developer details the technical overhaul of their personal blog's backend, focusing on improving the editing experience and interactive code execution.
Explains the science behind the shape of the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram, focusing on human color perception and the original color matching experiments.
