2011
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Life, Learning & Writing
The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 7,742 posts.
2012
Facebook is wrong, text is deathless
It’s a throwaway line in a longer talk and we probably shouldn’t make too much of it, but I will anyway. In five years time Facebook “will be definitely mobile,
2013
2014
How to Get Tenure
Even before I got tenure, folks have told me they’re “looking forward to an academic advice post on tenure.”
2015
Software essays that shaped me
I started reading software blogs before I got my first programming job 20 years ago. At this point, I've read thousands of blog posts and essays, but a small handful stuck in my mind and changed the way I think about software.
2016
2017
The two questions I ask every interviewer
Applying the engineering process to software interviews
2018
I learned Haskell in just 15 years
Haskell is a programming language invented sometime in the 20th century by Scottish logicians as a prank. ¹ Fifteen years or so ago, for reasons I can no longer remotely recall, I started learning Haskell. Now, I have finally written a useful program in Haskell, and I am pretty sure I can do it again, if I ever need…
2019
We are all nerds: The literary works of Neal Stephenson
If you and I ever had a longer conversation, chances are that Neal Stephenson might have come up once or twice. As contemporary authors go, Neal’s books are by far the most enthralling on my long and ever-growing reading list. This post is primarily written for people that usually shy away from reading what they…
2020
I made my blog solar-powered, then things escalated
In 2020 I wondered if I could run my blog on solar power , being inspired by Low-tech Magazine , doing the same thing (but better) 1 . The answer was 'yes', but only through spring and summer.
2021
How to earn your macroeconomics and finance white belt as a software developer
Lambdaclass's blog about distributed systems, machine learning, compilers, operating systems, security and cryptography.
2022
The more you learn, the faster you can learn
Throughout my schooling and career, I’ve impressed people over and over again with how quickly I pick up things, especially hard things. For instance, exactly 4y ago I did my first ever interview, got
2023
But yak shaving is fun (2019)
KO | EN | Discussions on HN Alexandr frolov (CC BY-SA 4.0) This blog doesn’t use a static site generator or framework like Jekyll, Hugo, or Gatsby. I tried a few of them at first, but they gave me too little freedom to customize, so I decided to build the blog myself. Early on I just wrote posts in ...
2024
2025
2026
Ox
“Why is it called oxtail if it’s from a cow?” I’m glad you oxed. It’s not just a load of bull. Ox is a word that, for many of us, is both familiar and strange. I grew up in ranch cou…
2027
2028
The user is visibly frustrated
In this article, I try to understand why coding agents can be infuriating to use. I think the problem is their conversational UX: they behave enough like helpful colleagues to trigger our social instincts, but they don't learn, adapt, or take responsibility the way people do, which makes their repeated mistakes feel…
2029
2030
Here’s what I learned hanging out with Jason Fried
Discuss on Hacker News. I went to meet Jason Fried so I could learn how to stop selling software by accident. Since I started programming 10 years ago, I’v
2031
The beginner's guide to overcomplicating coffee
There’s a scene in AMC’s “ Breaking Bad ” where Gail Boetticher explains to Walter White how to make the perfect cup of coffee . And it all sounds so plausible—there’s a perfect coffee, and science will magic it for us.
2032
2033
Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do
I have twin daughters that just turned three months old. I decided to write up the list that I wish I had before they were born. Just reasons why they cry, how to tell the cries apart, and what to …
2034
The Guy I Almost Was (1998)
An online graphic novel about a young man's coming of age in the California cyberculture of the early 1990s.
2035
Anki-fy your life
Creating a subconscious problem-solving framework.
2036
Masterclass on mathematical thinking
About a year ago, I was contacted by Masterclass (a subscription-based online education company) on the possibility of producing a series of classes with the premise of explaining mathematical ways…
2037
De-Googling: My Progress
I wrote a bit about my reasoning to De-Google here . Now I want to write a bit about my progress, the struggles and what I ended up with.
2038
2039
I learnt C++ in 2018 and have no regrets
My quest for relearning C++ started in November 2018. I have been reading + blogging + writing C++ from then. I would like to reflect on my journey a bit. Before I begin, I would like to state that th
2040