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🌱 Stuff I've Written Recently

Using React's useEffect In WordPress

In the last newsletter, I mentioned a post about creating reusable React hooks. Since then I wrote a new post about how to use the useEffect hook in WordPress. This post has several examples of using that hook -- to load WordPress posts via API and to remove admin notices from wp-admin. I also explained how to use the hook to manage pagination, as an example of how the dependencies argument works.

How Is AI Going To Effect How We Write Code?

Like a lot of folks, I am super interested in AI, but also plenty fearful. Part of it is worrying about my future employment, and part of it is wondering how much longer all this code I learned about is going to matter. Saturday, in between dog walks, I made a quick twitter thread, and later rewrote it into a blog post.

Are you using CoPilot or ChatGPT or anything else to help with your code? I'd be curious to know. Igor Benić tweeted a similar question the other day, I replied and so did a lot of other folks. It's an interesting time to be alive.

🌵Open Source Updates

I am working on Plugin Machine v2 and that means updating my JSON-driven UI abstraction. This version uses React, is open source and very beta. I've talked to a few people about different ways to add fields, blocks, or whatever via a JSON or YAML file. This is is something I've built a few times. It removes a lot of the steps of developing interfaces that have variable amounts of fields, like Plugin Machine does. If this is similar to something you're working on, reply and let me know.

On Github Ben and I discussed releasing a version 1 of our "Headless Mode" plugin for headless WordPress sites -- now with over 1000 head. We merged a filter , contributed by Rachel Cherry to selectively show the default front-end. I'd like to use this to add a UI for that. This will be a good excuse to improve my React admin components package.​

🌲 Good Morning Photos?

Should I be adding some photos to these emails? I know my gm tweets, that are on Mastodon now are appreciated by many of my internet friends. I am worried about message size, your Mastodon client of choice is probably better at handling images efficently. Here are two recent gm photos of things starting to grow.

• Some wispy willow leaves that just started budding on the tree behind my house. Mastodon - WordPress Photos​
• Tiny flower buds, many colors, with some frost damage. Mastodon - WordPress Photos​

🌱🌵🌲,

Josh

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