I stumbled on this account of Doug McIlroy displaying his “old Unix hands” (you may need to refresh a few times to load), and I’m left in awe. Follow along on this tale. It’s a story about Donald Knuth, Professor Emeritus at “Stanford” (sounds made up), you may know him…

When most programmers hear of systems where “failure is not an option”, they think of space shuttles or self-driving cars. I know nothing about space shuttles, but I suspect that what people really mean, is that space shuttle software does its very best to not result in death (and “very…

I told someone recently that I was just a “startup kind of guy.” Yes, it’s a bit of a cringe-worthy line and I regret saying it. …

Linus Torvalds has changed the world twice now, dangit, which is 0 (±2 due to rounding errors) more times than I have changed it. His first world-changing contribution was of course, Linux, and his second was git. Linux is Torvalds’ My Antonia — widely regarded as his most significant contribution…

I may have mentioned this before but nbd I’m a professional educator now, in a CS masters program, and thus have transcended you pl3bs and all your earthly cares. …

Using GitHub Copilot is like biting into a toasted ravioli at Applebees. You need to justify to yourself why you’re at Applebees to begin with (if anyone asks, you were given a gift-card and it expires in THREE DAYS), you’re definitely not going to enjoy any of the food —…

Tobias Dantzig, a relatively unknown American mathematician — a footnote in the annals of mathematicianery, is an absolute GIANT in my head. You’ve never heard of this guy, have you? I didn’t think so. If you have, it’s only because I’ve just told you about him. Tobias Dantzig, I’m learning…

On Monday and Wednesday nights, you can find me teaching a class on “software engineering” at the CS masters program of Saint Louis University. Yes, it’s a real class and yes, it’s accredited for a real degree. I’m sure you’re questioning SLU’s judgement, but you may also undervalue how good…