Carl Topham
Full Stack Engineer
I’m a senior developer with 15+ years experience in front and backend development. Working with languages from TypeScript & Node to Python and PHP. I have a deep understanding of modern web technologies and a passion for creating dynamic user interfaces, with robust backends and services.
Recent articles
AI is Not Smart: Fighting Context Decay with Clean Code and "Ralph Loops"
Jul 5, 2026
1. The Illusion of AI Intelligence Let's set the baseline: AI is not smart. It has vast prior training and a much larger working memory (context) than most humans, but it doesn't understand. It recognises patterns and infers intent based on the informatio...
Vibe Coding a Real Site with AI, Vercel V0, and Cursor
Apr 25, 2025
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about "vibe coding" — moving fast, staying in flow, and using AI to accelerate idea exploration rather than getting bogged down in setup. "Vibe coding," a term popularized by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy, refers to levera...
Vibe Coding with AI
Apr 25, 2025
There’s a new kind of developer flow happening, and it doesn’t start with types, diagrams, or frameworks. It starts with a vibe. What Is “Vibe Coding”? We used to architect before we coded. Debate folder structures. Argue about types. Now? You have an ...
"O" so SOLID
Apr 9, 2025
The 'O' in SOLID stands for the Open/Closed Principle. This principle suggests that software entities (classes, modules, functions, etc.) should be open for extension but closed for modification. In other words, you should be able to add new functionality ...
GitHub code spaces
Oct 5, 2024
Today I found myself away from my computer, but I needed to update something on my site. I had my iPad, so I decided to give code spaces a try. Considering I’m using a tablet without a keyboard, or a mouse, the experience was generally pleasant. It’s not...
Recent projects
Migrate carl-topham.com from Gatsby to Next.js
Rebuilt my portfolio site (carl-topham.com) in Next.js, migrating from Gatsby
AI Prompt generatpr
Generate customised templates for popular/useful AI prompts
Advanced Strava Stats
Sync your Strava data and analyse it in extra ways than the official app. React, Redux, Saga, Axios & D3
Chord generator script
Generates note combinations for different keys & chords
SmartSave & LiveLend WebApps
React.js Redux WebApps using REST APIs with Auth.