JSON Canvas Spec
Version 1.0 — 2024-03-11 Top level The top level of JSON Canvas contains two arrays: nodes (optional, array of nodes) edges (optional, array of edges) Nodes Nodes are objects within the canvas. Nodes may be text, files, links, or groups. Nodes are placed in the array in ascending order by z-index. The first node in […]
Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman Equation: Reinforcement Learning and Diffusion Models
Machine learning feels recent, but one of its core mathematical ideas dates back to 1952, when Richard Bellman published a seminal paper titled “On the Theory of Dynamic Programming” [6, 7], laying the foundation for optimal control and what we now call reinforcement learning. Later in the 50s, Bellman extended his work to continuous-time systems, […]
I use excalidraw to manage my diagrams for my blog
TL;DR I use an Excalidraw, wrap the elements of interest with a frame, name it with export_ prefix, my forked excalidraw extension automatically generates SVGs for light and dark mode. Using Excalidraw I used Excalidraw a lot in the past. When breaking down a technical problem for myself When explaining a concept or an architecture […]
Good CTE, Bad CTE
The Common Table Expression, or CTE, is often the first feature developers reach for beyond basic SQL, and often the only one. You write a subquery after WITH, give it a name, and use it in the rest of your query. It only exists for the duration of that query. But the popularity of CTEs […]
Show HN: CLI to order groceries via reverse-engineered REWE API (Haskell)
The korb CLI allows using the REWE APIs programmatically to create baskets and order them for pickup to your local REWE market. The CLI is handwritten in Haskell, but designed to be a CLI mostly used by agents to organise your REWE shopping on your behalf. All output is JSON. korb_demo.mp4 // My e2e flow […]
VHDL’s Crown Jewel
In this post, I would like to talk about VHDL’s crown jewel: how it preserves determinism in a concurrent language. Here is a figure of how it works: What you see is a simplified example of VHDL’s delta cycle algorithm in action. Delta cycles are an HDL concept used to order events that occur in […]
Copilot edited an ad into my PR
After a team member summoned Copilot to correct a typo in a PR of mine, Copilot edited my PR description to include and ad for itself and Raycast. This is horrific. I knew this kind of bullshit would happen eventually, but I didn’t expect it so soon. Here is how platforms die: first, they are […]
Coding Agents Could Make Free Software Matter Again
I’ve been vibe-coding a lot lately. Like, a lot a lot. Maybe not quite the “AI psychosis” Andrej Karpathy recently joked about on No Priors, but not wildly far off either.[1] But the more I vibe, the more a thought recurs, i.e. that AI coding agents may be about to make free software matter more […]
Build123d: A Python CAD programming library
Documentation | Cheat Sheet | Discord | Discussions | Issues | Contributing build123d is a Python-based, parametric boundary representation (BREP) modeling framework for 2D and 3D CAD. Built on the Open Cascade geometric kernel, it provides a clean, fully Pythonic interface for creating precise models suitable for 3D printing, CNC machining, laser cutting, and other […]
Samsung Magician disk utility takes 18 steps and two reboots to uninstall
2026-03-29 Every time I utter the phrase “Samsung Magician,” a fully formed plan for reinstating the Inquisition is presented to me, whose sole goal is to burn this Magician at the stake. What kind of fucking name is that anyway? “Samsung Magician” – for a disk utility? Who greenlit this? Who sat in a meeting […]