Essays
I almost never remember what I did in a year. Having written reviews for 2021 and 2023, I've found it helpful to both have a record to look back on as well as a point to review and reflect. I think this should be a habit every quarter,
Essays
🔰If CRDTs (Conflict-free Replicated Data Types) are new to you, check out this previous post. There's a simple way to understand CRDTs: It leverages algebra to unmix the inevitable mixing of data when syncing over an unreliable network. Why are networks unreliable? For one, it'd be
startups
Despite the disdain for "GPT-wrappers," it's currently where the value is accruing in the supply chain of value to the end-user with LLM-driven apps. Unless something changes with the foundational model companies approach the market, the GPT-wrapper application layer is where the value accrues, hence where
While I've been working on systems programming and local-first software, I've resisted diving into building with LLMs for the better part of 8 months. But I think it's too much of a fundamental shift to ignore. I won't be ignoring the groundwork
I pulled down Llama 3.1 7B for a long flight recently. It seemed magical in the same way downloading all of Wikipedia seems--like taking an entire universe with you. The missing piece is the context to steer the LLM. We need a Microsoft Access of RAG and LLM system
programming
I was watching Casey Muratori and the Primeagen the other day, and they were talking about the high-level architectural design of the core data inside of Primeagen's game. What Casey says sounds counter-intuitive for anyone from a traditional OOP software background. He suggests not committing to an organization
programming
Just like CAD didn't make everyone an industrial designer, visual programming isn't going to make everyone a programmer. Whether textual or visual, there'd still be a lot of underlying concepts (and how they are composed) to learn. But still, I think it's
programming
💡The Recurse Center encourages recent graduates to write about their experience in the form of a Return Statement. Below is mine. The 12-week experience at RC did remind me of the story of the tall, strong, and unbendable Oak that towers over the short, thin, and flexible Reeds. On an
techno-optimism
Recently, the Rabbit r1 launched. It's a new handheld device that promises a new primary interaction model with compute: by talking to them in the context of the real world. In turn, they would help us perform actions to help us with unstructured, but menial tasks throughout our
programming
👉When I had mistakenly thought that Prolly Trees weren't unict, I thought maybe an interesting way forward was to leverage the same mechanism CRDTs use to converge. Below is a mathematical description of what I called a Lattice Merkle Tree, still incomplete. I had time-boxed this, so I
retro review
Compared to 2021, I was much more focused this year. Compared to 2022, I have built more conviction. And starting in September, I started to have full days to work, rather than just the nights and weekends. Unlike 2021, I wasn't trying a lot of different things. I
crdt
🔰If CRDTs are new to you, here are some introductory links. - An interactive intro to CRDTs - An introduction to state-based CRDTs - CRDTs for non-academics - CRDT: The Hard Parts - Readings in CRDTs - crdt.tech Last time, I discussed the trade-offs between more traditional CRDTs, such