š Books From 2025
David Cone once said āPitchers need to be students, forever students.ā As much as graduates might like to think about ābeing done all that learning,ā I think itās better to thinkā¦
Wondering Willow
Thoughts on software development and things adjacent.
š¤ How To Remember What Year You Are In
If you ever forget what year it is, hereās my suggestion: Recall that itās the year where we see an image with a hand in it and immediately count the number of fingers to ensureā¦
š®āšØ On REST and Its Alternatives
Sorry, this isnāt going to settle the REST vs. GraphQL debate. Iām talking about a different kind of ārest.ā This article will be more general and contemplative than technical.
š¤ Hold Your Code Loosely...On A Tight Leash
Developers should take deep ownership over their code. We should strive for a high level of personal stake in what we deploy. A little pride in our craft is quite appropriate.
š The Ancient of Datas: Living in the Past Lane
Two anecdotes reminded me how quickly times change: 1 - I was heading to Alaska and wanted to quickly grab a sticker to make my suitcase more recognizable. āOk, a laptop stickerā¦
š¤ A Mental Model for Understanding LLM Limitations
Imagine you have a ādepth-findingā boat and you need to locate the deepest point in a large lake. For our purposes, the lake is divided into squares. Letās also say you haveā¦
ā¦ļø Ruby Intensifies, or, Ruby Is Weird
P. G. Wodehouse was known as the performing flea of British literature. But what if I tried my hand at being the performing flea of the Ruby language? I mean, aging sardonicā¦
š§ Adventures in Dotfiles - Some Basic Principles
Having previously shared some thoughts about the culture surrounding dotfiles repos in The Joys Of Dotfiles, I figure it is about time I write something about my own dotfiles.
š What Can Sherlock Holmes Teach Software Engineers?
Arthur Conan Doyleās legendary Sherlock Holmes looms large in my mind when I think of the intersections of literature and software engineering. As is often the case withā¦
š” Is The Dry Run Really Dry?
My mac dotfiles installer has a dry run flag. Iāve added some new features since I originally implemented it, so I wanted to be able to easily/programatically determine that myā¦
š” The Joys of Dotfiles
This recent blog post reminded me that I need to give some love to my meagre Dotfiles repo. Dotfile sharing is a refreshing outpost in the sea of GitHub repos. A reminder that theā¦
šø What Can The Grateful Dead Teach Software Engineers? - Part 1
In the sixth stanza of āThe Music Never Stoppedā, written by John Perry Barlow and Bob Weir in 1975, thereās a line:ā¦
š Ten "Oh, How Good It Feels!" Moments for Developers
Our industry has its challenges and stresses, but there are some rewarding āOh, How Good It Feels!ā moments that make it feel worthwhile.
ā A Time To Tear Down: What Can Solomon Teach Software Engineers?
Our industry rightfully emphasizes building things. Donāt tell me about your years of experience. Or what programming languages you know. Or the companies youāve been on theā¦
š¤ What Can Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1861) Teach Software Engineers?
Sometimes you start a project you know you canāt pull off. Itās an outrageous stretch, but for some reason you just have to do it. Itās flowing in your veins. You will burst ifā¦
š 2025: Its Perils and Prospects
Itās here. The year thatā¦
š¤ What Can P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) Teach Software Engineers?
What could the āperforming flea of English literatureā, who wrote before CP/M was even a gleam in an engineerās eye, teach us about building software? One day on LinkedIn Michaelā¦
š¤ People-ware
I cut my teeth in the software development industry just as the dot com bubble was beginning to burst. Iāve learned from some of my mistakes and also at times repeated them. In aā¦
š Reading Tips
At some point earlier this year I realized that Iām not too far off from reaching 2,000 books on my āBooks Iāve Readā list. If someone asked me āhowād you do it?ā Iād jokinglyā¦