I’ve been putting in the reps with agentic coding, gaining patterns and confidence. So much so that I’m committing to launching two projects here at the end of the year.
Humble Librarian
Let’s start with Humble Librarian. I’m a bit of a Humble Book Bundle addict.
BOOKS BUNDLES
Looking for your next great read? Immerse yourself in adventurous comics, discover spectacular fantasy worlds, whip up your soon-to-be favorite recipe, run a new tabletop RPG system, and more with our curated book bundles. Whether you’re a voracious reader or want to explore new genres, our exclusive bundles can help you find your next literary love. Plus, a portion of the bundle proceeds go to charity!
Over the last few years, I’ve plunked down for 80+ book bundles. I tend toward tech book and comics bundles, with dashes of science fiction and self-help. I’ve also purchased a number of eBooks directly from Manning, Pragmatic Programmers, No Starch, eBooks.com, and self-publishers. Each bundle typically includes 10 or more books.
Bottom line, I have a metric crap-ton of EPUBs, PDFs, CBZs, and MOBIs to deal with. Half the time when I’m looking at a new Humble Book Bundle, I’m not sure if I already have the books on offer.
Let’s see how far we can get using agentic coding to build a file-system crawler, indexer, and a chat UX for managing my personal library.
Peyote
Over fifteen years ago I made some headway on a project named peyote. The idea was to use Python, Pygame, and PyOpenGL to create generative art on the order of Processing. I managed to get one piece completed and then ran out of steam.
Below is a portion of a plan that I asked Claude Code to create
for a screensaver, hextrail, that recently caught my eye.
HexTrail Screensaver - Code Summary and Python Port Plan
Original Code Summary
HexTrail is an XScreenSaver module written in C with OpenGL that creates a mesmerizing animated pattern of colored lines growing across a hexagonal grid.
Core Concept
The screensaver creates a honeycomb grid of hexagonal cells. Animated “arms” (lines) grow from the centers of hexagons toward their edges, then continue into neighboring hexagons, creating a branching network of colorful trails across the hexagonal substrate.
Key Data Structures
arm (hextrail.c:39-43)
- State: EMPTY, IN, WAIT, OUT, or DONE
ratio: Growth progress (0.0 to 1.0)speed: Animation speedhexagon (hextrail.c:45-53)
- Position (XYZ coordinates)
- 6 neighbors (pointers to adjacent hexagons)
- 6 arms (one for each edge)
- Color index
- Border state and animation ratio
hextrail_configuration (hextrail.c:55-70)
- Grid dimensions and hexagon array
- Color palette (8 colors)
- OpenGL context and rotation state
- Animation state (FIRST, DRAW, FADE)
That’s just an initial assessment from the XScreensaver C source
code for hextrail. I’m feeling confident I can work with Claude and
Codex to make a passable start on a featureful, modernized peyote app with hextrail and my old sketch, substrate, as starters.
Bottom Line
As many others diving into agentic coding point out, the process might not be more productive for straightforward code creation. But these tools lower the barrier for kicking off new projects and getting them above the threshold.
Forza!
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