With Elon Musk trying to acquire Twitter, one discussion I’ve seen pop up every now and then is that some people, including Elon Musk, think Twitter should make their algorithm public.

The idea behind microservices is not entirely bad, but what can cause problems is when developers blindly adopt orthodoxy without thinking. A way to have it both ways is to adopt the idea of modular monoliths and to care about software plasticity.

I really like the Go programming language. It looks a bit funny the first time you start using it, but after a while you get that “ahh, I see”-feeling whenever you discover just how convenient Go is for writing server software.

This note is actually an email I wrote in a thread where someone pointed out that: When you search for “spatial web browsing,” you’ll find there are whole engineering teams trying to stick web browsers on walls within 3D AR/VR environments.

When whatever language I am using as my main workhorse language at the time gets new features I worry. Go is getting generics and I have to admit I’m a bit worried.

When I see new projects being announced that are implemented in C or C++ I have to admit that I quickly lose interest. I think C and C++ are poor language choices for system software in 2021.

When the state maintains data that is supposed to be public, it isn’t always that leaders from a bygone era understand what this implies. The process of dragging laggards into the present can be painful - and you may end up having to take it to court.

Is Github Copilot something to get your panties in a twist over? Well, no, not really. But what’s more interesting is what made you think it would be?

The most annoying thing about a lot of system software is that it gets it into its head to start burning lots of CPU just when it suits the user the least.

Whenever race car drivers serve up excuses for why they didn’t win they tend to blame their equipment, their team or both. It is never the fault of the race car driver that she or he fails to win. It’s the suspension. It’s the engine. It’s the wrong tyres. In many ways, race car drivers have that in common with a certain class of programmers who blame anyone but themselves for their hardships.