Piet: Programming language in which programs look like abstract paintings (2002)
Piet is a programming language in which programs look like abstract paintings. The language is named after Piet Mondrian , who pioneered the field of geometric abstract art. I would have liked to call the language Mondrian, but someone beat me to it with a rather mundane-looking scripting language. Oh well, we can't…
Write code for the web
The story is personal, but I hope readers find something they can relate to in their own life stream.
Ruby: A great language for shell scripts
It’s more than rails!
How I configure my Git identities
This may be overkill, but it works on my machine
Regex character "$" doesn't mean "end-of-string"
This article is about a bit of surprising behavior I recently discovered using Python's regex module (re) while developing SBOM tooling for CPython. Folks who've worked with regular expressions be...
Bug squash: An underrated interview question
I love bug squash interviews.
Why are we templating YAML? (2019)
I was at cfgmgmtcamp 2019 in Ghent, and did a talk which I think was well received about the need for some Kubernetes configuration management as well as the solution
Why Haskell?
Haskell is a great programming language with many features that make it easier to write robust software, and yet it is rarely taken up by software engineering teams. This essay aims to explain my views as to why Haskell is a great choice for programmers.
Why choose async/await over threads?
A common refrain is that threads can do everything that async/await can, but simpler. So why would anyone choose async/await?
COBOL has been “dead” for so long, my grandpa wrote about it
Delving the depths of computing, hoping not to get eaten by wumpus
Sourcegraph went dark
Towards the end of my mid-2019 job search, I was down to joining the Google Go team or Sourcegraph. Sourcegraph ultimately won due to cultural factors - the most important of which was the ability to build 100% in the open . All documents were public by default. Technical and product RFCs (and later PR/FAQs) were…
JavaScript Bloat in 2024
What is the average size of JavaScript code downloaded per website? Fuck around and find out!
Software Design Is Knowledge Building
The product of software development is not code but a mental model, a theory: a specific way of explaining the world.
Bash Debugging
Here's a preview from my zine, Bite Size Bash ! If you want to see more comics like this, sign up for my saturday comics newsletter or browse more comics !
Thread: Tech we can’t use or teach?
Random thoughts, articles and projects by a chronic overengineer.
Put the DVD logo in the corner (2023)
A blog about making a game to achieve my childhood dream (of getting the DVD logo in the corner)
Techniques I use to create a great user experience for shell scripts
6 Techniques I Use to Create a Great User Experience for Shell Scripts
Planner programming blows my mind
Picat is a research language intended to combine logic programming, imperative programming, and constraint solving. I originally learned it to help with vacation scheduling but soon discovered its planner module, which is one of the most fascinating programming models I’ve ever seen. First, a brief explanation of…
Java in the Small
Java has many features that make it well suited for large, long-lasting projects. But I find it surprisingly good for small tasks as well. Recent language features make it even better. The killer features are compile-time typing and great tool support.
“Bad Apple” in Minecraft
Demoscene is the art of pushing computers to perform tasks they weren’t designed to handle. One recurring theme in demoscene is the shadow-art animation “Bad Apple!!”. We’ve played it on the Commodore 64, Vectrex (a unique game console utilizing only vector graphics), Impulse Tracker, and even exploited Super Mario…
Visual Studio Code is designed to fracture (2022)
A couple of moments ago, I finished reading the article by Rob O'Leary about the pervasive data collection done by Visual Studio Code. Whilst Visual Studio Code is "open-source" (as per the OSD) the value-add which transforms the editor into anything of value ("what people actually refer
7 Databases in 7 Weeks for 2025
7 databases to explore in 2025.
Engineering principles for building financial systems
Best practices and principles to create accurate and reliable software based financial systems.