all posts tagged 'engineering'

Can you complete the Oregon Trail if you wait at a river for 14272 years: A study


đź”— a linked post to moral.net.au » — originally shared here on

Two years ago, Twitch streamer albrot discovered a bug in the code for crossing rivers. One of the options is to "wait to see if conditions improve"; waiting a day will consume food but not recalculate any health conditions, granting your party immortality.

From this conceit the Oregon Trail Time Machine was born; a multiday livestream of the game as the party waits for conditions to improve at the final Snake River crossing until the year 10000, to see if the withered travellers can make it to the ruins of ancient Oregon. The first attempt ended in tragedy; no matter what albrot tried, the party would succumb to disease and die almost immediately.

Filed under “reasons I love the Internet.”

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December 2024 Observations

originally shared here on

  • I feel like I am still trying to figure out who I am. I feel like I can get along with anybody, but in order to do so, I have to contort myself into the shape I think is most acceptable to the other person. There aren't very many places where I feel like I don't need to contort. The internet promises to be that place, but now that the internet effectively has an infinite memory, I feel like any minor mistake I make will haunt me forever, which has a depressingly chilling effect on me.

  • My brand for the past few years was "neurotic, scared nerd." My brand going forward is "kind, confident, and fair nerd."

  • I wore my Windows 95 ugly sweater through the skyway and six different people told me how much they loved it. I think a big part of my purpose in life is to find ways to spread joy, even if it's by doing something as dumb as wearing the most bad ass Christmas sweater ever.

  • I got my son to try eating pizza. This is huge; he does not like pizza and refuses to even try. This is completely my fault, I've been horrible at encouraging my kids to be brave and adventurous with trying new foods. I, admittedly, am not exactly adventurous in that department either. My son told me he needed strength to be brave to try it, so I helped him bring all of his stuffed animals and cars downstairs into the kitchen, and we blased Sara Bareilles's Brave over the HomePod. And guess what? He put a piece of pizza in his mouth and kept it in there for a few seconds! Later that night, to much less fanfare, I bravely tried an Airhead. I didn't like it, but I tried it. It's cool to face scary situations together, even if that fear comes in various forms of high fructose corn syrup.

  • I have this idea to build a mini website which functions as my music library. I have a very specific vibe for a design (bad ass 70s-looking lounge area but with 2025 technology). There would be this record table console with records mounted on the wall such that you could see their faces1, and flanked on either side are the spines of records with the names of the albums on there. Clicking on a record would put it in the record player (maybe having it display some streaming widget dingus in view) along with why I like this record (interesting stories I learned about the production of the record, meaningful memories associated with it, vibes I get from it, recommended similar albums, etm.)

  • There's a fun AI project that I'm working on right now, but I am finding it so difficult to drum up the motivation to work on it. You know why? Because getting computers to do anything useful is so, so, so painful.

  • I watched this video called Why creating is crucial to human existence and it highlights the fact that what we do everyday is who we are. So in that spirit, I started a 100 day sit up challenge this month, because I wanna be the kind of guy who does stuff like that. I'm only a month into this challenge and I'm already able to knock out 100 sit ups without stopping in a little under 3 minutes.

  • The formula for discipline is (1) Create rules and standards for yourself; (2) Never break these promises to yourself; (3) Keep these promises at all costs (so start small!); (4) Build up slowly to a disciplined lifestyle; (5) Be on guard for at least a year.

  • For years now, I've had this recurring nightmare where I am being ushered out on stage in front of a huge crowd for a theatrical performance. I do not know the lines or the blocking or the choreography, and I feel this massive wave of embarassment and shame. This past month, I went to see a musical at my wife’s school, and I was unexpectedly asked to go on stage as a character. I had exactly zero idea what the show was, nor did I know the lines or blocking or choreography.2 Sometimes, life literally presents an opportunity to directly face your nightmares head on, and that rules.3

  • Direct passage from my journal from a year ago: "It's hard to write publicly about the things I am suffering with because it always seems like I look back on it in a couple of years and realize how silly it was to be stressed out about it."

  • I tend to avoid the trance style of EDM. It amplifies my anxiety because of how logical it is; I find myself hyperfocused on the technical aspects of the music, completely ignoring how it makes me feel.

  • The first big snowfall of the year rules when you have kids. The road coming back from the small sledding hill in our neighborhood was still covered in ice and snow, so I put the kids in their sleds and pulled them behind me. It was hard. My heart was pounding. My legs kept slipping on the slick road. But it was easy to continue, because I kept thinking: "why do you work out, if not for this?"

  • Running is more meaningful to me lately. I've been using it more as a meditative period in my day, a moment to disconnect from technology and notice as much as I can in my neighborhood.4 Ten years ago, I would've been mortified if I didn't push my hardest every single time. Now, I will often stop in the middle of a run and stare at the fog traveling across the pond, or watch the color of the sky subtly change as the sun comes up.

  • “Finns det hjärterum, sĂĄ finns det stjärterum” is Swedish for "If there’s heart room, there’s butt room."

  • I love learning new slang. This month, I learned two new phrases: sksksksk and ijbol.

  • Christmas Eve felt particularly bittersweet for me this year. It feels like my parents are getting closer to downsizing their home, so I tried my hardest to soak up the ambiance. And when you're in a "soak up this moment" mindset, it seems like there's never enough time to do it.

  • "It's time to stop researching and start living."

  • Before the sermon on Christmas Eve, my pastor said his words don't matter. What matters is what you hear. Sometimes, the thing you take away from a story is not what the artist intended, but that is okay.

  • The most nutritional part of a potato is its peel. Apple peels are also nutritionally important. Nothing of note is lost in a carrot peel.


Movies I watched:

Knocked Up (2007)

  • Glad I watched it? Yeah. I got 30% of the way through it and decided “I’m good here.” It's okay for your tastes to change as you do.
  • Will I watch it again? Nah.

Enough Said (2013)

  • Glad I watched it? Yeah. I heard Julia Louis-Dreyfus say on a podcast that she loved working with James Gandolfini, and it was cute to watch them interact on the big screen.
  • Will I watch it again? Nah. I didn't even finish it.

Yes Man (2008)

  • Glad I watched it? Yeah. I remember watching it in college and thinking it was a nice sentiment. It definitely hits harder at 37.
  • Will I watch it again? Nah. Wait, am I supposed to say "yes"?

That Christmas (2024)

  • Glad I watched it? Yeah. It was a cute movie, the kids loved it. It's nice to see some traditional ideas playing out in our modern time.
  • Will I watch it again? Yeah, I'd watch this again next year.

Mallrats (1995)

  • Glad I watched it? Meh. It was cool to see Eden Prairie Center in the 90s, but if I'm being honest, I've never "got" most of Kevin Smith's movies. I thought maybe I would now that I'm in my late 30s, but I think it's that I'm not a Gen-Xer.
  • Will I watch it again? Nah.

Youth in Revolt (2009)

  • Glad I watched it? Yeah. I'm a little embarassed to admit that I identify with Michael Cera in most of the movies that he is in. I like how he created a character to embody when he wants to feel confident.
  • Will I watch it again? Nah.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

  • Glad I watched it? Yeah. I don't think I've ever watched the whole thing from start to end.
  • Will I watch it again? Begrudgingly, I'm sure I will. This wasn't my favorite claymation Christmas movie.

Dear Santa (2024)

  • Glad I watched it? Yeah, this movie ruled. The kid actors were quite talented, and obviously Jack Black killed it.
  • Will I watch it again? Absolutely.

Arthur Christmas (2011)

  • Glad I watched it? Yeah. I snuggled and watched it with my kid on Christmas Day. It's an adorable Christmas movie.
  • Will I watch it again? Absolutely.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

  • Glad I watched it? Yeah. I forget how much slapstick is in that movie.
  • Will I watch it again? Probably? I feel like that movie is slightly before my time, and because it wasn't on repeat at my house growing up, I don't have the same nostalgic feelings I get from other Christmas movies like Home Alone or Muppet Christmas Carol.

Home Alone (1990)

  • Glad I watched it? Obviously.
  • Will I watch it again? Obviously.

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

  • Glad I watched it? Yes. It made me want to watch Muppet Treasure Island again, too.
  • Will I watch it again? Obviously.

  1. These would be my "current vibes," or albums which I have in a dedicated collection that I play as my default. 

  2. This is embedded in the script for the show. It's supposed to be like a "work/shoot" in wrestling where the real life beef between the actors playing these wrestlers becomes part of the show. Again, I knew none of this until after the show was over. 

  3. I'm glad my nightmares contain public performance anxiety and not, like, a fear of falling from a plane without a parachute. 

  4. Well, as meditative as I can be while ensuring I am not flattened in an intersection by an SUV. 


Mistakes engineers make in large established codebases


đź”— a linked post to seangoedecke.com » — originally shared here on

As a general rule, large established codebases produce 90% of the value. In any big tech company, the majority of the revenue-producing activity (i.e. the work that actually pays your engineering salary) comes from a large established codebase. I’ve seen multiple cases where a small elegant service powers some core feature of a high-revenue product, but all the actual productizing code (settings, user management, billing, enterprise reporting, etc) still lives in the large established codebase.

So you should know how to work in the “legacy mess” because that’s what your company actually does. Good engineering or not, it’s your job.

This was a great read as I’ve been immersed inside a large (but not too large) codebase at my new gig for the past few months now.

It’s funny: I never wanted a job as an engineer. But it turns out I kinda actually like this work? 🤔

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Write code with your Alphabet Radio on


đź”— a linked post to vickiboykis.com » — originally shared here on

Nothing is black and white. Code is not precious, nor the be-all end-all. The end goal is a functioning product. All code is eventually thrown away. LLMs help with some tasks, if you already know what you want to do and give you shortcuts. But they can’t help with this part. They can’t turn on the radio. We have to build our own context window and make our own playlist.

When LLMs can stream advice as clearly and well as my Alphabet Radio, then, I’ll worry. Until then, I build with my radio on.

A significant contributor to my depression last year was a conviction that LLMs could do what I could do but better.

I’m glad I’ve experimented with them heavily over the past couple years, because exposure to these tools is the only real way to understand their capabilities.

I use LLMs heavily in my job, but they are not (yet) able to replace my human teammates.

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Reckoning


đź”— a linked post to infrequently.org » — originally shared here on

Canadian engineers graduating college are all given an iron ring. It's a symbol of professional responsibility to society. It also recognises that every discipline must earn its social license to operate. Lastly, it serves as a reminder of the consequences of shoddy work and corner-cutting.

I want to be a part of a frontend culture that accepts and promotes our responsibilities to others, rather than wallowing in self-centred "DX" puffery. In the hierarchy of priorities, users must come first.

What we do in the world matters, particularly our vocations, not because of how it affects us, but because our actions improve or degrade life for others. It's hard to imagine that culture while the JavaScript-industrial-complex has seized the commanding heights, but we should try.

And then we should act, one project at a time, to make that culture a reality.

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Algorithms we develop software by


đź”— a linked post to grantslatton.com » — originally shared here on

I started a new job as a software engineer last month.

It’s the first job I’ve ever had where all I need to do is write code. I don’t need to worry about finding customers, protecting the company from lawsuits, ensuring the product is the correct product to build, or making payroll.

All I need to do is write code.

This is the first time in my career where I can actually focus on the art of writing good code.

I came across this article from Simon Willison’s blog, and boy, there are a lot of great pieces of advice for folks in my position here.

As a junior engineer, there's simply no substitute for getting the first 100K lines of code under your belt. The "start over each day" method will help get you to those 100K lines faster.

You might think covering the same ground multiple times isn't as valuable as getting 100K diverse lines of code. I disagree. Solving the same problem repeatedly is actually really beneficial for retaining knowledge of patterns you figure out.

You only need 5K perfect lines to see all the major patterns once. The other 95K lines are repetition to rewire your neurons.

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making things better


đź”— a linked post to explaining.software » — originally shared here on

Tradeoffs exist; improving one aspect of a system can make other aspects worse. As projects grow, our control over them shrinks. Ugly truths abound, and beauty is a luxury we can rarely afford.

Knowing this, however, does not mean accepting it. Confronted with this dissonance, this ugliness, we inevitably gesture towards a better future. We talk about better design, better practices, better processes. We await better abstractions. We imagine a world in which we cannot help but make something beautiful.

This belief in the future, in an unending ascent towards perfection, is a belief in progress. The flaws in this belief — its internal tensions, the fact that it is closer to a theology than a theory — have been pointed out for centuries. It is, nevertheless, an inescapable part of the software industry. Everything we do, whether design or implementation, is oriented towards an imagined future.

This is a beautiful sentiment about software systems which could easily apply to most any system (like, our political and social systems, for example).

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This Post Is Not About Python


đź”— a linked post to jerf.org » — originally shared here on

Engineers are not fans of technologies.

They are also, of course, not dispassionate Vulcans who get every assessment perfectly rationally correct at all times, trivially proved by how much even relatively rational engineers can disagree with each other.

But engineers should never be fans.

There was a moment not too long ago where I closely followed every single Apple rumor, watched every single keynote, and could tell you the names of every single executive.

It’s mid-October and I’m still not exactly sure when Apple intelligence is coming to my iPhone 15.

Maybe part of growing up is being less fanatical about tools and more fanatical about solving problems.

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Why We Can't Have Nice Software


đź”— a linked post to andrewkelley.me » — originally shared here on

The problem with software is that it's too powerful. It creates so much wealth so fast that it's virtually impossible to not distribute it.

Think about it: sure, it takes a while to make useful software. But then you make it, and then it's done. It keeps working with no maintenance whatsoever, and just a trickle of electricity to run it.

Immediately, this poses a problem: how can a small number of people keep all that wealth for themselves, and not let it escape in the dirty, dirty fingers of the general populace?

Such a great article explaining why we can’t have nice things when it comes to software.

There is a good comparison in here between blockchain and LLMs, specifically saying both technologies are the sort of software that never gets completed or perfected.

I think it’s hard to ascribe a quality like “completed” to virtually anything humans build. Homes are always a work in progress. So are highbrow social constructs like self-improvement and interpersonal relationships.

I think it’s less interesting to me to try and determine what makes a technology good or bad. The key question is: does it solve someone’s problem?

You could argue that the blockchain solves problems for guaranteeing the authenticity of an item for a large multinational or something, sure. But I’m yet to be convinced of its ability to instill a better layer of trust in our economy.

LLMs, on the other hand, are showing tremendous value and solving many problems for me, personally.

What we should be focusing on is how to sustainably utilize our technology such that it benefits the most people possible.

And we all have a role to play with that notion in the work we do.

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