Good things happening to me in 2022

Work

I used the Nest.js framework to make three web services (Restful APIs, application programming interfaces using Representational State Transfer). The services comply with the Open API standard through Swagger, which generates documentation about what they do and how to use them. Interoperability and standardisation — I like that!

Despite the similarities in the names, Nest.js is very much not the same as Next.js. (See the section below on my personal coding.)

And I built my first website with Angular, the popular framework for making web UIs (user interfaces) with JavaScript.

Despite the similarities in the functionalities, Angular is also very much not the same as Next.js!

Personal coding

I made this blog to keep some of my thoughts about things going on in my life. ~~It uses the Eleventy static-site-generator.~~ Update from early 2023: my blog’s now in Astro.

I converted my Latin website, velut, to the Next.js framework, giving it server-side rendering. This means you can access it without having JavaScript enabled in your browser; it’s also better for search-engine optimisation and for users of assistive technologies such as screen-readers. It’s faster too, at least for UK visitors. I wrote an article on how I made the switch to Next.js.

My efforts to reduce velut’s reliance on Microsoft Excel continued, in accordance with a plan I put on GitHub. I made a JavaScript script for generating certain data for every Latin word I have. Then I started writing a script for generating more Latin words, by applying the rules of Latin inflection to the headwords (lemmata) that I have. I expect to finish this second script sometime in 2023.

Holidays

In April I had a couple of weeks in the Scottish Highlands with my parents. We visited Portknockie’s Bow-Fiddle Rock, a natural rock formation; I also enjoyed looking at the fulmars, shags, razorbills, and other birds roosting nearby.

A rocky cove containing a rock arch that is curved like a fiddle’s bow — Bow-Fiddle Rock

Raven flying over the sea; it has a diamond-shaped tail — Raven at Portknockie

Raven on a cliff; much of its torso is hidden behind the grass — Raven at Portknockie

In May I went on a boat-trip around Puffin Island, a small Welsh isle home to many sea-birds. There were no puffins to be seen, but I very much enjoyed my time nonetheless, and I wrote a blog article because I had a lot of words to say about fraterculine feathered friends.

And in July/August, I had another couple of weeks in Scotland with my parents. My mum and I saw five ospreys, including a family of four. Even more unexpectedly, my dad and I (and my sister and the dog) went for a swim in a river in the Cairngorms. It wasn’t very cold. A heatwave that included Britain’s hottest recorded temperature ever had just finished.

Other birdlife

I saw stock doves and teal while walking the dog.