Welcome to the second edition of the Gandi IDE Creators Interview series. This time, we are featuring Fath11. If you have joined the Gandi Discord server, you probably already have a strong impression of him. Fath11 is not only the first community developer to engage with the Gandi IDE's extensions and plugin ecosystem but also one of the earliest and most dedicated users of the platform. Moreover, he is a mod on the Gandi Discord server, holds the record for the most messages sent, and is the user who has provided the most suggestions. His enthusiasm and willingness to help others in the community have been invaluable. Fath11 has played a crucial role in the development of Gandi IDE. Let's dive into his story and learn more about his contributions and experiences!
Interview Content
Brokenstrings: I understand that users on the Gandi Discord server are already familiar with you, but many Cocrea users might not be. Could you please introduce yourself?
Fath11: Hello I am Fath11, I love turtles. I am also a moderator in the Gandi IDE server.
Brokenstrings: I know you're from Malaysia, and there are many Southeast Asian users on the Gandi community. Would you be willing to share a bit about where you live or about Malaysia?
Fath11: yes i live in Malaysia. i am pretty sure the only active memeber from southeast asia is putera, calyx, me, and umbrella guy. as for how its like over here, its pretty nice. Things are very cheap(assuming you count in dollars(assuming you live outside of malaysia)) so, yeah, you should deff visit us.
Brokenstrings: I recall you joining the Gandi IDE community back in late 2022, being one of the earliest users. Compared to other Scratch mods, what do you find most appealing about Gandi IDE?
Fath11: must be you guys, idk, i just find it comfortable to have you guys as the developers. ik gandi will release some great features and most of the time, those features arent disappointing at all. so i kinda just learn to trust you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Brokenstrings: Thank you for trusting us so much. We will soon be launching some great features, and we believe you won't be disappointed. How significant do you think the changes to Gandi IDE have been since you first encountered it?
Fath11: its ui must be the biggest change visually, its very different from the ui other scratch mods have and i find it fun to work in.
Brokenstrings: However, some users have complained that Gandi IDE's UI design is too different from the original Scratch. But change is coming soon! Wouldn't it be great if everyone could customize their own preferred UI? Have you made any close friends in the Gandi community? Could you introduce them?
Fath11: putera, calyx and he/her's millions other names, x infinete, mov, outrun, sava, exotic, ivan, batitude, kebabo, papichi, i miss coolscratcher, themasteratnothing is a must mention, kaplin, aaand basically all active member in gandi server lol
Brokenstrings: They are all nice people, and I look forward to them being the subjects of future interviews. I appreciate your companionship with Gandi IDE over the past year and a half. Are there any memorable or exciting moments during this journey that stand out to you?
Fath11: The first SGJ is a fun one. lots of nostalgia.
Brokenstrings: I know you were the first developer to contribute to Gandi's ecosystem of extensions and plugins. With your understanding of various programming languages, how did you start with Scratch programming and venture into exploring other languages?
Fath11: so it starts with this Elmo Bear guy that introduced me to Stylus and the whole userstyle thing, thats when i first learn CSS. A couple months later i got myself into JS while trying to make an extension for gandi and one year later i finally "learnt" JS. idk how i got into HTML but ik it have smth to do with creating my own portfolio website or whatever. Finally, one week after gandi released plugins, i forced myself to learn Typescript and the whole React thing. since i already knew JS at this point, i found it really fun developing plugins.
Brokenstrings: Let's talk about turtles! How did it suddenly become popular in the Gandi Discord community?
Fath11: so it all started from you. That's right, YOU are creating a poll asking about our favorite animal, but there is no option for turtle. So Civero over here decided to send a turtle emoji and from there i basically started fueling everything about turtle and just like that turtle is everywhere.
Brokenstrings: Gandi IDE has faced various challenges along the way, such as criticism regarding Cocrea's data security and debates over whether Gandi IDE should be fully open source. As someone who has experienced these events firsthand, what is your perspective on how the official team handled these issues?
Fath11: certainly not perfectly, we are human beings after all, no one is perfect. I appreciate that you still come and try to clear things up, it 100% made everything easier.
