Day-by-day work log

2026-07-15

Vietnamese 0.2.0 and One Public Website

Human Voice

Not too much done, the website got somewhat improved. The distinction between alpha.whacksmacker.com and www.whacksmacker.com is gone. Alpha is byebye.

Vietnamese 0.2.0 test curriculum

Vietnamese Foundation Chapters 1–5 and Core Chapters 1–10 are now the authoritative test curriculum, with Grammar Easy and Grammar Hard summaries for Chapters 1–5 and 6–10. The validated 0.2.0 reading package is joined by a 0.2.0 review package containing exactly two 20-card decks: Chapters 1–5 and Chapters 6–10. Later Core chapters remain legacy source artifacts and are not included in this release.

Review continuity

WhackSmacker supports the revised Vietnamese review packages while respecting each learner's history: new or materially changed cards begin as new, unchanged cards keep their progress, and removed cards are no longer scheduled.

CLI and package validation

The local package feed rebuilt successfully, and the normal runner installs both Vietnamese reading and review packages. Both review decks appear in the CLI, with Foundation Chapters 1–5 still pinned above Core Chapter 1. The full application suite passed 501 tests with no failures; one PostgreSQL integration test was skipped because its external test database was not configured.

One public website

The redesigned public website now includes authentic CLI and web screenshots. The separate alpha destination has been retired: www.whacksmacker.com is the single public website destination. The web version remains under construction.

Current test ground and next step

Dutch Chapters 1–25 provide the native-language baseline, while Vietnamese Chapters 1–10 provide the active target-language test. Real self-study will now show what works and what needs improvement. No new Docker release was created today.

2026-07-14

Reading as the Source of Truth

Human Voice

Now both the Dutch & Vietnamese curriculum have been revised. Now that I finally have understood how this all works these two curricula will serve as test ground. The next immediate goal is to get the reading content polished up to an acceptable level. Separate grammar and exercise input will follow in a later stage.

Vietnamese is ready for the next step

The revised Vietnamese curriculum and its intended review collections now package and install dependably. Reading-format validation passes, and the approved lesson content remains intact. The broader presentation and structure still need polish, but the material is ready for that next pass.

One source, four connected parts

This work has made the intended shape of a chapter much clearer. Each chapter should have four connected parts:

1. Reading
2. Deck
3. Grammar
4. Exercises

Reading is the source of truth. Decks are already largely derived from approved Reading content; Grammar and Exercises will follow later. These parts should support one curriculum rather than drift into separate competing versions of it.

The immediate work is to make the structure and presentation of Reading consistently acceptable. A future reader option will also let learners show or hide translations; that is planned, not something completed today.

Dutch comes next

Dutch and Vietnamese have both been revised, making them the first test curricula for this repeatable production model. Dutch Chapters 1-25 are available, and most of that content is already acceptable, so Dutch will be used first to normalize the Reading format. The resulting structure will then be applied to Vietnamese.

A possible minor issue in Dutch Chapter 18 remains for later review once it is specified. Neither Dutch nor Vietnamese is being called finished or production-ready.

The longer-term aim is a mostly automated content-production process that carries approved Reading material into the other chapter parts, with periodic human editorial review wherever language, teaching judgment, or presentation still needs a deliberate decision.

2026-07-13

Core and Curricula Split

Human Voice

Today a shorter day, with mostly boring technical things and some licensing stuff. As a test I will produce a large body of Dutch learning content first, as that's my mother tongue, and then quickly implement other languages.

Core and curriculum packaging

WhackSmacker 0.1.0-alpha.3 was published and deployed. The public core image now contains the GPL application and independent core review decks, while authored reading curricula are separated into a private CC BY-NC 4.0 curricula image. Reading content and review decks work independently and can still link through stable package metadata. Dutch Chapters 1–25 are available.

Docker deployment

The split deployment is operational online. Login, persistent accounts, reading, and review access were verified. Deployment checks now use container health and the in-container health endpoint instead of assuming host localhost is bound; rollback preserves volumes and restores the exact prior configuration and image references.

Validation

Focused content-split tests passed: 127 passed, 0 failed. Deployment-script tests passed 12/12, web-health tests passed 7/7, and online deployment and account/content smoke checks passed. The known unrelated review-tree repaint failure remains unchanged, so no completely clean full-suite run is claimed.

2026-07-12

Alpha.2 Web Reader and Curriculum Polish

Human Voice

Mainly polishing. This is going pretty solid.

Alpha.2 web reader

WhackSmacker 0.1.0-alpha.2 was built, published, and deployed. The authenticated web curriculum reader now supports login, per-user curriculum access, exact package versions, source-language selection, chapter reading and navigation, safe rendering, browser-state restoration, and responsive layouts. It remains alpha software.

Open the public alpha or use sleepiestmario/whacksmacker:0.1.0-alpha.2.

Deployment and packages

Deployment and rollback handling were repaired. All twelve bundled packages were installed, and all ten ordinary curricula were enabled for the existing accounts. English currently appears in the new web reader; nine older curriculum packages need regenerated localization metadata before they will appear in the new selector.

CLI polish

The terminal curriculum reader now has Normal and Developer views. Normal is the default learner-facing view; Developer exposes the complete curriculum metadata and authoring information. Vocabulary and grammar presentation were also polished.

Curriculum updated

Dutch — updated through Chapter 15. Chapters 1–15, all three five-chapter review decks, and all three Grammar Easy/Hard summary pairs were updated. The content was checked in the real CLI. Chapter 16 has not yet been created.

Validation and next work

Focused curriculum, package, reader, and interactive checks passed. One known unrelated review-tree repaint failure remains. The last broad run encountered hanging PostgreSQL-auth processes, so it was not a fully completed clean suite.

Next curriculum work is Dutch Chapters 16–20. Next web-package work is regenerating the nine older curricula with compatible manifest metadata. Open the public alpha or see the public WhackSmacker repository on GitHub.