Little languages are powerful. From text processing with AWK to calculations with APL, domain specific languages help us do things more concisely and with more precision than with other languages. Anthony Starks knows this well, as he's designed several little languages, including decksh, the focus of this episode, which allows users to create powerful presentations without the hassle of pushing around pixels in Powerpoint. He joins Angelica and Matt to discuss the background of why he created these languages, how they work, and so much more. And we have some fantastic unpopular opinions to round out the episode. This episode's supporter content is truly fantastic. It includes an extended conversation where the group discusses data visualization in depth, including how Anthony was able to recreate graphics from W. E. B. Du Bois that are challenging or impossible to recreate with regular data visualization tools. Get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe . Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! Notes: entr https://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/interactive-image-manipulation-with-popi https://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/giftsh-a-dsl-and-shell-for-image-editing decksh object reference decksh giftsh giftsh code 2025 Du Bois Challenge Du Bois challenge overviews and recaps: https://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/du-bois-challenge-2024-recap https://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/challenge2023 https://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/curating-the-number-duboischallenge2022 little languages Du Bois Data Portraits Black Lives 1900 Fyne Canvas: https://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/fc-a-high-level-canvas-api-for-the-fyne-toolkit https://github.com/ajstarks/fc Giocanvas: https://speakerdeck.com/ajstarks/giocanvas-a-high-level-canvas-api-for-gio https://github.com/ajstarks/giocanvas ebiten canvas: https://github.com/ajstarks/ebcanvas "Like" Table of Contents: Prologue (01:29) Chapter 1: Why Make DSLs? (04:49) Chapter 2: decksh (09:57) Chapter 3: Visualizing Data [Supporter Only] (23:34) Chapter 4: Documentation (24:22) Chapter 5: Metaprogramming (37:33) Chpater 6: Good Tools (45:13) Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions (54:23) Epilogue (01:08:21) Hosts Anthony Starks - Guest Angelica Hill - Producer Matthew Sanabria - Host Kris Brandow - Producer Socials: Website Bluesky Threads X/Twitter LinkedIn Instagram (01:29) - Prologue (04:49) - Chapter 1: Why Make DSLs? (09:57) - Chapter 2: decksh (23:34) - Chapter 3: Visualizing Data [Supporter Only] (24:22) - Chapter 4: Documentation (37:33) - Chapter 5: Metaprogramming (45:13) - Chpater 6: Good Tools (54:23) - Appendix UNPOP: Unpopular Opinions (01:08:21) - Epilogue
