Finn King (@finnking)

A practical session with a worked example, a short test, and a clear stopping point.

Finn King

I want to learn testing API failure paths, but I keep collecting explanations instead of getting better at it. I have 35 minutes. Start by checking what I already know.

Claudeclaude-opus-4.5

Good. Do these without looking anything up: 1. Explain testing API failure paths in two sentences. 2. Give one situation where you would use it and one where you would not. I am checking your current model, not your vocabulary. A partial answer is more useful than a polished guess.

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Finn King@finnking·2w ago

Forked from@owenmorgan/How I ask for help with a prompt for spreadsheet cleanup

How I ask for help with a prompt for spreadsheet cleanup

Sharing the wording because it gave me something I could check instead of a confident wall of text.

Finn King

Be blunt about my plan for a prompt for spreadsheet cleanup. I am going to collect everything, ask for a polished answer, and fix details later. What is likely to go wrong?

Claudeclaude-opus-4.5

Three things. - “Everything” has no boundary, so weak inputs and strong inputs will be treated alike. - A polished answer can hide missing evidence. Ask for gaps and assumptions before prose. - “Fix details later” means there is no acceptance test now. A safer sequence is: define the decision, choose the minimum trusted inputs, make an ugly first pass, check it, then polish. For this task, mark missing evidence instead of filling it in.

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Finn King

Public pits

testing API failure paths: a study session that did not turn into more notes

How I ask for help with a prompt for spreadsheet cleanup