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C array types are weird
C array types are weird. In this article I’ll explain what I find weird about them, what I’d do differently, and ramble on a few related things.
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The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 233 posts.
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Migrating from Go to Rust
Out of all the migrations I help teams with, Go to Rust is a bit of an outlier. It’s not a question of “is Rust faster?” or “does Rust have types?”, Go already gets you most of the way there. The discussion is mostly about correctness guarantees, run…
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Opaque Types in Python
A proposed technique for exposing an opaque data structure with idiomatic modern Python.
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A Forth-inspired language for writing websites
I don't remember where the idea came from, but I decided that it would be cool if I could write websites using a stack-based language. Something like this: : h1 ( s -- ) "<h1>" emit . "</h1>" em…
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.NET (OK, C#) finally gets union types
In this post I discuss the support for union types released in .NET 11, how they're implemented, the choices made, and how to create your own
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I keep bouncing off the Scheme language
I have a huge appreciation for the Scheme programming language. I just seem to be unable to get it to stick in my head. This seems like a huge revelation for someone who named their blog after the Scheme textbook, but there it is. This post is the public admission I need to make, to...
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C constructs that still don't work in C++
A 2026 sequel to C Constructs That Don't Work in C++: what still breaks, what C++20 changed, and what C23 changed.
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Python 3.15: features that didn't make the headlines
It's that time of the year again, a new version of Python is just around the corner. With the Python 3.15.0b1 feature freeze, we know what's...
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Node.js 26.0.0 (Now with Temporal)
Node.js® is a free, open-source, cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment that lets developers create servers, web apps, command line tools and scripts.
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SBCL: the ultimate assembly code breadboard (2014)
Paul Khuong's personal blog. Some Lisp, some optimisation, mathematical or computer.
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sp.h: Fixing C by giving it a high quality, ultra portable standard library
Over the past year, I’ve been working on fixing C by giving it a high quality, ultra portable standard library. It is not a simple wrapper on top of libc; it doesn’t depend on libc except when required to by the platform. To my knowledge, there is nothing like it.
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PHP's Oddities
flow2 | Blog post: 'PHP's Oddities' in Tech
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New features in GCC 16: Improved error messages and SARIF output
Explore new GCC 16 features for C++ developers. Learn about improved hierarchical error messages, updated SARIF output, and experimental HTML diagnostic tools.
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Erlang/OTP 29.0
The official home of the Erlang Programming Language
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Jank now has its own custom IR
The jank compiler has a new super power. With that, we push jank to the limits to see who has the fastest fibonacci in the west.
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Prolog Basics Explained with Pokémon
Demonstrating the basics of logic programming with data from the Pokémon games.
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How do I deal with memory leaks? (2022)
These are questions about C++ Style and Technique that people ask me often. If you have better questions or comments on the answers, feel free to email me (bs at cs dot tamu dot edu). Please remember that I can't spend all of my time improving my homepages.
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Making your own programming language is easier than you think (but also harder)
In mid-December last year I started making my own programming language. It's waaay far from any production quality yet (though I did manage to write a working 1k LOC Monte-Carlo path tracer in it), but the project is on pause right now, so I figured it's a good time to write something about it.
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Async Rust never left the MVP state
I've previously explained async bloat and some work-arounds for it, but would much prefer to solve the issue at the root, in the compiler. I've submitted a Project Goal, and am looking for help to fund the effort.
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A couple million lines of Haskell: Production engineering at Mercury
What it takes to run 2 million lines of Haskell in production at a fintech company serving 300,000 businesses.
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Unsigned sizes: A five year mistake
C3 is the ergonomic, safe evolution of C. Familiar syntax, full ABI compatibility, optionals, slices, contracts and zero-cost abstractions.
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Functional programmers need to take a look at Zig
I’ve been tinkering around with Zig to explore what’s possible with comptime. Whenever I evaluate a new language I use three axes:
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Why I still reach for Lisp and Scheme instead of Haskell
Scheme (and Lisp) lets you express complex systems and problem domains in simpler terms than any other language can. For all its brilliance, Haskell resists most of the attempts people make to just hack and write useful code quickly.
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Bugs Rust won't catch
In April 2026, Canonical disclosed 44 CVEs in uutils, the Rust reimplementation of GNU coreutils that ships by default since 25.10. Most of them came out of an external audit commissioned ahead of the 26.04 LTS. I read through the list and thought th…
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WASM is not quite a stack machine
Everyone knows Wasm is a stack machine. Wikipedia says so, the official Wasm design specification says so, you get it. I thought so too. That is, until I started writing Wasm code – not compiling for Wasm, but writing the instructions by hand. And I found out that there exists a major difference between Wasm and all…
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“Why not just use Lean?”
I have been told that when proposing to formalise mathematics these days, you have to explain why you are not using Lean. And that reminds me why I left the dependent-typed world 40 years ago: its cultism, insularity and conformity. Lean is a great language with good tools, a large library and a huge, enthusiastic…
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Box to save memory in Rust
dystroy - blog
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Writing a C Compiler, in Zig (2025)
First foray into the Zig programming language