Category: English
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Tempestades de sal, Sés
Sés is a Galician singersongwriter. Her stage presence and lyrics reminds me of what it means to grow in small villages by the periphery. I feel connected to that dignity and survival skills, because it embodies the attitude of the women I grew around. The Galician matriachy.
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UKL passed away
I’ve just learned that Ursula K. Le Guin is no longer with us. She left multiple worlds for us to play with and learn from. Two of them –The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Dispossessed– are my goto guides when it comes to imagining societies that take into account the role of self-management, genre,…
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JavaScript in use 2011-2017
According to the HTTP Archive, the top 1.000 websites download 5 times more JavaScript today than seven years ago – HTML grew 2x and CSS 3x. Combining that with the fact that the mobile web is more present than ever, the result is that the main bottleneck for the websites we create and consume is the CPU.
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Input lag: 1977-2017
Input lag: 1977-2017 is an essay about the time it takes several computers to display a character from a keypress. A lot of newer computers take 3 to 5 times more than 30 to 40 years old computers.
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Google Maps’ Moat
Google Maps’ Moat, by Justin O’Beirne. On the competitive advantage that Google Maps has over Apple Maps – equally interesting for map nerds and business people.
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Shelter from the Storm
Mars soundtrack (the National Geographic tv-show) is fantastic. Nick Cave is just the perfect voice to convey that feeling of exploration and fear. Moon, Interstellar, The Martian, etc; it seems sci-fi movies got an appreciation for soundtracks that have a major role in the film – and I enjoy that. As much as I like Cave’s main…
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Agile according to Basecamp
Running in Circles is Basecamp’s view of agile product management. They acknowledge the value of working in cycles, but add three pieces: having the time to focus, being able to modify the original plan, and tackle the core unknowns of the feature first. The first two are enablers that are provided to the makers by management.…
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Module counts
I came across Module Counts, which tracks the number of published modules for major language package managers. At this point, npm has 600k packages published, which is 3 to 4 times what any other package manager has. I’m not aware of download statistic across different package managers, but npm has surpassed the 2 billions downloads…
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Are you serious
This puts me in the perfect mood before going for a walk in this sunny and cold Saturday.
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Software architecture failing
Software architecture failing: tech writing is biased towards what the big ones do, which usually doesn’t fit most other contexts – but, who got fired for choosing IBM, right? Although I feel connected to this rant at an emotional level, I do think it’s necessary to elaborate more and make a positive contribution: help to…
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The language of programming
The language of programming is about the struggles non-native English speakers face when learning to program. Hat tip: Manuel.
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Touch typing in Dvorak
On November 2016 I had a free month between jobs. Apart from some resting, reading, and general preparations for my new adventure, I still had quite a bit of free time to do new things or build good habits. It was while cleaning my office that I found a keyboard I had bought a couple of years…
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Weekend clean-up
I spent the weekend reorganizing things, including my blog. I’ve got a new WordPress theme (independent publisher) which looks a lot more lightweight. I’ve consolidated the essays section with stuff that grew out of individual posts (I keep thinking that someday I’ll have the time to publish them as independent e-books), polished the about, fixed some…
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Learning to learn
What does it take to acquire new skills and knowledge? Or a review of Dreyfuss model of skill acquisition.
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The thing that get us to the thing
Past Saturday, AMC aired Halt and Catch Fire season finale. I saw this tv-show grow over 4 seasons and I’m sad it’s over. HACF resonated with me because it was about the pleasure of making things work and the cost of pursuing your dreams. We need a whole lot more stories about the woes and joys of creation to…
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The pleasure of finding things out, by Richard Feynman
This was the first book listening experience that I’ve actually finished. Sean Runnette‘s voice was adequate for setting the tone and rhythm – actually, sometimes I felt I was listening to Feinmann himself! Having read Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!, What Do You Care What Other People Think? and some other papers/videos, most of the stories in…
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Turns out algorithms are racists
«Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.» — Melvin Kranzberg’s six laws of technology One of the things I was very into a decade ago was studying the intertwine between technology, culture, and society. From those years, I developed a sensitivity about my role as an engineer, or as an enabler of…
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Code and decision trees
An example on how changing the language for thinking may help us to simplify our programs.