https://koenvangilst.nl Koen van Gilst en https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/ai-and-the-future-of-engineering Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT Notes from my talk at the AI Circle on vibe coding, the changing role of engineers, and why AI should be an exoskeleton — not a replacement. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/generating-vs-searching Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT My 'Software for One' post got some comments about energy costs of generating small apps with AI. When I looked into it, the numbers surprised me. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/software-for-one Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT Instead of downloading someone else's app, I built exactly what I wanted for less than a dollar using AI. Is this the future of software? https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/stacked-game-of-life Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT A 3D visualization of Conway's Game of Life where dead cells (ghosts) sink into a glowing history stack https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/computer-says-no Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT When AI takes over the coding, a layer of knowledge disappears - not just for the user, but for the builder themselves. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/gemini-svg-sunflowers Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT A new AI model drops every day. Today it was Gemini 3.1 Pro, which does a surprisingly nice SVG rendition of modern art — the Sunflowers in particular caught my eye. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/aerospace-sketchybar-macos-setup Sun, 25 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT How to set up a keyboard-driven tiling window manager on macOS using AeroSpace and SketchyBar. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/coding-is-dead Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT From typing over starfield code as a kid to letting AI agents build features - reflecting on how coding is changing and what it means for software engineers. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/tetris-time Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT A New Year countdown and clock visualized with falling Tetris blocks. In this post I share some insights on what has been working well for me when building with AI coding agents. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/brief-history-of-llms Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT From ChatGPT's launch to AI agents with tools - a user's perspective on how LLMs evolved from chatbots to autonomous systems in just three years. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/llms-txt-honeypot Sun, 23 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT Implementing the llms.txt standard to help LLMs understand my website, plus a clever honeypot to track when AI assistants actually visit. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/european-land-use Sat, 25 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT An expanded hexagonal map visualization comparing land use across multiple European countries, showing how water, nature, cities, and agriculture are distributed. See what makes Dutch land use special - or not. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/ai-art-evolution Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT An experiment tracking how AI models from 2022 to 2025 have evolved in their ability to recreate famous artworks using SVG. The results reveal how these models understand visual composition and artistic style. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/new-metaphor-for-ai Fri, 04 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT A post about a better metaphor for AI than the dominant "Terminator" narrative. What we can learn from the history of automata and scientific progress. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/when-ai-fails Sat, 01 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT A project dedicated to documenting the funny, interesting, and sometimes outright stupid ways in which AI can fail. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/united-nations Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT A side-project that analyzes diplomatic relationships through speeches during the 2024 UN General Assembly. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/gen-art-gallery-project Sat, 12 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT A gallery showing all my generative art projects in one place. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/correspondence-vondel Fri, 19 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT An experiment with GenAI to automate manual tasks in creating a critical edition of Joost van den Vondel's correspondence. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/ons-land-project Thu, 06 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT An interactive data visualization project exploring how land is used across the Netherlands, highlighting the distribution of agriculture, nature reserves, urban areas, and infrastructure throughout the country. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/randomness-in-ai Mon, 13 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT By using the randomness, AI can generate more surprising and engaging text, similar to how some human thinkers benefit from unconventional approaches. This post explores the concept of randomness in AI and its implications for creativity. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/analyzing-gpt-4-tokens Thu, 02 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT For this article I used Llama3 to analyze GPT-4 tokens, revealing a strong bias towards English and code. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/keeping-code-complexity-in-check Mon, 22 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT Large Language Models like ChatGPT and CoPilot have a dual role in simplifying and complicating software development. Using a simple experiment this post explores how LLMs often lead to an increase in code complexity. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/prognosis-2100-project Thu, 01 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT Imagining the Netherlands in 2100, this page provides an overview of the impacts of climate change. It's a personal project, driven by my desire to show what the year 2100 could look like when my kids are in their 80s. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/aranet4-co2-monitor Sun, 07 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT Tutorial on how to display real-time CO2 measurements from an Aranet4 monitor on my website using a Raspberry Pi. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/elder-race-book-review Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT I read "Elder Race" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, a sci-fi novel that explores the concept that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/rising-temperatures Sat, 16 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT Visualizing the weather anomalies in rainfall, sunshine and temperature in the Netherlands using data from the Dutch Meteorological Institute (KNMI). https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/trunkbased-development Fri, 10 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT Moving away from the structured Git Flow to a more continuous approach with only one main branch. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/git-standup Sat, 28 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT A git alias to show a standup log for the specified author https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/accessible-router-links-in-angular Fri, 09 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT About the routerLink directive and how to make sure it's accessible https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/progressively-enhanced-dark-mode Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT Adding a dark theme to my website using NextJS 13 and React Server Components https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/ai-enhanced-learning Sun, 02 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT During the pandemic, I worked on a side project to help parents create lessons for their kids, but it was too time-consuming to create those lessons. Now, with LLMs, I revisited the idea. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/plantbased-diet Tue, 21 Feb 2023 00:00:00 GMT My arguments in favor of eating less meat. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/guest-post-gpt-3-chat Sun, 04 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT I asked ChatGPT to write a blog post about its impact on the way developers write code. The contents might surprise you. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/regenesis-reading-notes Sun, 27 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet. By George Monbiot. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/livebook-average-age-of-parliament Thu, 24 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT A tutorial for Livebook, an interactive coding notebook for the Elixir programing language. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/trash-instead-of-rm Fri, 04 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT Stop using rm -rf node_modules, use Trash instead. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/jwt-token Sat, 08 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT Using jq to decode JWT tokens from the command line. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/gitconfig Thu, 01 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT A snippet I use to setup the aliases and global git config on new machines. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/phoenix-liveview-cursors Tue, 15 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT Part 2 of my tutorial creating "live cursors" as seen in Figma. In this tutorial, I'll be using Phoenix LiveView to create the same feature. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/git-hash Tue, 08 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT A snippet to parse the git hash from the command line and add it as an environment variable to a Next.js app. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/ukraine-banner Sat, 05 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT Add a stand with Ukraine banner using this TailwindCSS snippet https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/on-returning-to-the-office Sun, 13 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT Some advice from the Stoic philosopher Seneca for workers returning to the office after the pandemic. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/git-delete-branch-not-on-remote Thu, 10 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT A bash script that deletes all local branches not found on the remote. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/phoenix-live-cursors Tue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT A tutorial for creating live cursors as seen in Figma. A step-by-step guide focused on beginners (I'm learning Phoenix myself). https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/clean-code-is-a-phase Fri, 28 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT Why it's better to be kind than to be clean. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/adding-tailwind-to-phoenix Mon, 27 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT With the official mix task it has become very easy to add Tailwind to any Phoenix project. To make it even more straightforward I've written this quick step-by-step guide. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/make-React-components-read-like-a-book Fri, 17 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT How the ordering of functions can make component files easier to read. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/css-accent-color Sun, 12 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT Nice looking radios and checkboxes with native css styling https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/styling-scrollbars Sun, 12 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT It's something you easily forget, but it's easy and looks so much better. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/one-script-to-run-it-all Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT Why mocking all external requests for your app is worth it. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/useStorage Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT A React hook that uses localStorage (or sessionStorage) to persist component state. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/of-bundles-and-barrels Wed, 17 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT Why index barrel files can lead to large bundle sizes https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/code-colocation-is-king Sun, 14 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT A simple principle to help structure code better https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/mijn-lessen-nl Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT A web app built during the Covid-19 lockdown that helps parents and elementary school children create lessons collaboratively. Parents can support their kids with challenging topics and share interactive educational content with other families. (in Dutch) https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/vaccination-progress Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT A Twitter bot that tweets the latest vaccination progress for the Netherlands. Recently updated to also show the number of people that received a booster shot. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/tutorial-svelte-scroll-video Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMT Tutorial on how to create a scroll video effect using Svelte’s powerful bind command. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/tafels-app Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT A new year, a new JavaScript framework! Using svelte I created this PWA to help my kids with math. The goal was to create an app-like experience, using micro animations, full offline support, prefetching JavaScript and server-side rendering. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/collection-of-great-tweets Sun, 22 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT A collection of great programming quotes https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/mobx-state-tree Sun, 22 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT A first look at the state management library mobx-state-tree and a comparison with Redux Saga. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/303-see-other Sun, 25 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT Last week I learned a few things about how redirects and 303 status codes are handled in the browser. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/accessible-svgs Fri, 23 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT How to let screenreaders read the title of an SVG using React https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/brutalist-css Sat, 17 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT 196 bytes of minimal CSS https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/for-git-me-nots Sun, 11 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT Git commands I keep forgetting https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/programming-typescript-reading-notes Sun, 11 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT Stuff I don't want to forget from the Book Programming TypeScript. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/react-hooks-with-canvas Sat, 16 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT An intro to the React hooks useState, useRef and useEffect https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/accelerate-reading-notes Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT Accelerate gives a scientific analysis of what makes IT organizations successful. I've listed the most important ones (from a developer perspective) https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/lumberjack Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT Weekend project to learn more about Mobx State Tree. Simple kids' game inspired by Stardew Valley and Monty Python. Don't forget to turn on the sound! https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/css-in-depth-reading-notes Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT Review of a book for programmers who have always considered CSS to be an (unpleasant) afterthought https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/finding-nora Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT I made this app to test what you can accomplish with current PWA technology (especially on iOS). My kids loved it, I hope you do too! 🎉 https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/peter-and-the-wolf Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT Progressive Web App for kids, based upon the classical piece "Peter and the Wolf" by Prokofiev. Turns out that making large mp3s available offline is harder than I thought. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/size-of-npm Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT I thought it might be (mildly) interesting to keep track of how the NPM node_modules folder grows over time. This website keeps track of the size of the top 100 npm packages. It's been running for a while now and the results are... frightening? https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/api-testing-with-jest Mon, 06 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMT Testing async API calls using Jest’s mocking features https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/star-trek Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT Star Wars or Star Trek? Why not both? Using just CSS and a little bit of JavaScript I recreated these classic science fiction intros. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/star-wars Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT Star Wars or Star Trek? Why not both? Using just CSS and a little bit of JavaScript I recreated these classic science fiction intros. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/generating-a-pdf-with-express Thu, 03 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMT A fun little tutorial of how to create a PDF using a web form, Express and PDFKit https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/converter Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT A simple web app for translators that converts a price per word to a price per standard line (55 characters). https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/help-terence Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT A Twitter bot raising emoji money for his trip around the world. A fun little experiment with social media and Twitter bots. [no longer active]. Technologies used: Express, MongoDB. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/rush-hour-timelapse Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT A Twitter bot that creates daily timelapse videos of the traffic jams in the Netherlands. No longer active, but you can still see some of the old time-lapses. https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/overheidedits Wed, 01 Jan 2014 00:00:00 GMT Twitter bot inspired by @congressedits that monitors and Tweets any edits made to Wikipedia by the Dutch government. It's been in the news quite a few times (de Volkskrant) and the account has more followers than I do. (in Dutch) https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/0 Mon, 05 Jan 2026 19:17:10 GMT A photograph taken in Bilthoven, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/1 Mon, 05 Jan 2026 18:49:50 GMT A photograph taken in Bilthoven, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/2 Thu, 25 Dec 2025 16:04:36 GMT A photograph taken in Altenstein, Germany https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/3 Thu, 25 Dec 2025 16:01:34 GMT A photograph taken in Altenstein, Germany https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/4 Mon, 20 Oct 2025 12:52:09 GMT A photograph taken in Segesta, Italy https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/5 Mon, 11 Aug 2025 13:47:40 GMT A photograph taken in Oslo, Norway https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/6 Mon, 11 Aug 2025 12:38:47 GMT A photograph taken in Oslo, Norway https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/7 Sat, 09 Aug 2025 15:54:08 GMT A photograph taken in Sweden https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/8 Fri, 08 Aug 2025 18:31:42 GMT A photograph taken in Sweden https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/9 Sat, 31 May 2025 15:26:08 GMT A photograph taken in Paris, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/10 Fri, 02 May 2025 18:59:30 GMT A photograph taken in Saint Pierre en Port, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/11 Fri, 02 May 2025 18:51:49 GMT A photograph taken in Saint Pierre en Port, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/12 Wed, 30 Apr 2025 15:13:42 GMT A photograph taken in Saint Pierre en Port, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/13 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 22:02:10 GMT A photograph taken in Saint Pierre en Port, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/14 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 21:21:27 GMT A photograph taken in Saint Pierre en Port, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/15 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 21:08:18 GMT A photograph taken in Saint Pierre en Port, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/16 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 21:05:40 GMT A photograph taken in Saint Pierre en Port, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/17 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 15:08:59 GMT A photograph taken in Saint Pierre en Port, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/18 Mon, 28 Apr 2025 17:56:10 GMT A photograph taken in Saint Pierre en Port, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/19 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 14:39:08 GMT A photograph taken in Henschotermeer, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/20 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 14:26:00 GMT A photograph taken in Henschotermeer, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/21 Sat, 15 Feb 2025 23:06:13 GMT A photograph taken in Utrecht, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/22 Sat, 15 Feb 2025 22:19:31 GMT A photograph taken in Utrecht, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/23 Sun, 12 Jan 2025 17:50:04 GMT A photograph taken in Zeist, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/24 Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:36:39 GMT A photograph taken in Altenstein, Germany https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/25 Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:34:40 GMT A photograph taken in Altenstein, Germany https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/26 Sun, 15 Dec 2024 12:46:49 GMT A photograph taken in Domburg, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/27 Sun, 15 Dec 2024 12:17:05 GMT A photograph taken in Domburg, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/28 Fri, 01 Nov 2024 12:26:44 GMT A photograph taken in Siciliy, Italy https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/29 Mon, 28 Oct 2024 12:49:16 GMT A photograph taken in Sicily, Italy https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/30 Sun, 27 Oct 2024 16:48:20 GMT A photograph taken in Sicily, Italy https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/31 Sun, 27 Oct 2024 13:54:00 GMT A photograph taken in Sicily, Italy https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/32 Thu, 24 Oct 2024 10:54:00 GMT A photograph taken in Bilthoven, Netherland https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/33 Sun, 06 Oct 2024 20:47:55 GMT A photograph taken in Bilthoven, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/34 Sun, 29 Sep 2024 18:49:56 GMT A photograph taken in Bilthoven, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/35 Sun, 15 Oct 2023 15:25:21 GMT A photograph taken in Zeeland, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/36 Sun, 15 Oct 2023 12:03:28 GMT A photograph taken in Zeeland, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/37 Fri, 28 Jul 2023 17:19:08 GMT A photograph taken in Vosges, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/38 Sun, 17 Oct 2021 18:39:01 GMT A photograph taken in Altenstein, Germany https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/39 Sun, 17 Oct 2021 17:49:15 GMT A photograph taken in Altenstein, Germany https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/40 Tue, 29 May 2012 23:03:41 GMT A photograph taken in Huacachina, Peru https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/41 Tue, 29 May 2012 22:59:49 GMT A photograph taken in Huacachina, Peru https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/42 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:06:53 GMT A photograph taken in Les Deux Alpes, France https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/43 Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:42:22 GMT A photograph taken in California, USA https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/44 Sat, 25 Dec 2010 14:13:37 GMT A photograph taken in Everdingen, Netherlands https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/45 Sat, 11 Dec 2010 17:00:05 GMT A photograph taken in Cologne, Germany https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/46 Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:03:47 GMT A photograph taken in Unterhaching, Germany https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/47 Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:17:36 GMT A photograph taken in Munich, Germany https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/48 Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:28:52 GMT A photograph taken in Munich, Germany https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/49 Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:27:46 GMT A photograph taken in Munich, Germany https://koenvangilst.nl/photography/50 Sun, 04 Jan 2009 12:43:53 GMT A photograph taken in Unterhaching, Germany