Blog

I write about programming, music, and other things that interest me.

Filter by tag

[POST]June 22, 2026

Running 35B AI on a 6GB GPU: 5 Flags That Actually Matter

How to run a 35-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model at 17 tokens/sec on an 8-year-old GTX 1060 with only 6GB of VRAM, using llama.cpp and five specific configuration flags.

llama.cppQwenMixture of ExpertsLocal LLMGPU Optimizationllama.cppMoEKV CacheDocker

[POST]June 12, 2026

Building High-Quality Software: Combining Hermes Agent and OpenCode for Next-Level Development

A practical guide to combining Hermes Agent's planning and reasoning with OpenCode's execution capabilities to build production-grade software with automated quality gates, TDD, linting, and security scanning.

AISoftware EngineeringHermes AgentOpenCodeQuality AssuranceAutomationDevOps

[POST]June 12, 2026

Your AI Coding Limits Are a Planning Problem, Not a Model Problem

A practical workflow showing why AI coding limits are planning problems, not model problems. Build reliable software using a frontier architect and a local execution model.

AISoftware EngineeringWorkflowClaudeLocal AIPlanningAI Coding

[POST]June 11, 2026

6 Hermes Agent Use Cases That Actually Save Me Hours Every Week

A practical tutorial on how to turn Hermes Agent into an always-available assistant using slash goals, Kanban tasks, research automation, memory wikis, device management, and daily priority prompts.

Hermes AgentAI automationTutorialProductivity

[POST]June 11, 2026

Kernel Anti-Cheat and the DMA Warfare

From memory-reading DLLs to PCIe DMA attacks and kernel-level anti-cheat, this post traces how game security evolved into digital siege warfare—and what it means for user trust, kernel privilege, and the future of computing boundaries.

SecuritySystems ProgrammingDMAKernelAnti-Cheat

[POST]May 9, 2026

Async Rust Explained

Async Rust feels alien if you're from Go or JavaScript land, where concurrency "just works" with goroutines or promises. This post breaks it down using the core ideas with analogies to make the concepts click for software engineers. Think of it as Rust forcing you to be explicit about scheduling—like manually directing traffic instead of relying on an automatic system.

RustBackend

[POST]April 30, 2026

OpenCode Cheatsheet for Software Engineers

OpenCode is a terminal-native AI coding agent that gives you powerful composability through agent modes, custom commands, and shell integration. This cheatsheet collects the most impactful tricks you need – from token-saving workflows to multi-agent setups.

AIOpenCodeAgents

[POST]April 27, 2026

From Chat to Action: Architecting AI Agents with OpenClaw

We’ve all lived the same workflow: you ask your favorite LLM a question, it gives you a brilliant answer, and then… you’re the one switching tabs, copying data from Gmail, checking a calendar, clicking buttons, and pasting everything back. The model *knows* what to do, but it can’t actually *do* it. That gap between knowing and doing is where AI agents enter the picture, and OpenClaw is one of the most compelling open-source examples of this shift. In this article we’ll dissect the architecture that turns a conversational model into an autonomous orchestrator, explore real-world patterns, and highlight what software engineers and architects need to know before putting agents into production.

AI Agents

[POST]April 20, 2026

Tiny Habits, Big Gains: How Small Shifts Fix Your Software‑Engineer Life

In this post, we’ll map each of them onto cognitive science, stress physiology, and productivity research, so you can see exactly *why* they work—and how to integrate them into a dev‑heavy life

Productivity

[POST]April 19, 2026

The Science of Focus: A Software Engineer's Guide to Training Your Brain

In software engineering, the ability to learn quickly and solve complex problems isn't just about intelligence, it's about focus. Every day brings new frameworks, shifting requirements, and intricate bugs that demand deep concentration. Yet most of us spend our days in a fog of notifications, context switches, and mental fatigue.

Productivity

[POST]April 14, 2026

Mastering AI Agent Engineering: The 7 Essential Skills Every Software Engineer Needs

AI agents are transforming from demo novelties into production powerhouses, demanding skills far beyond clever prompting.

AISystem DesignBackend

[POST]April 10, 2026

When One CPU Instruction Equals a Second: Understanding Latency in Modern Systems

This article explores the hidden world of software latency by scaling hardware and network operations to a human timeframe. By imagining “one CPU instruction = one second,” we reveal just how vast the performance gap is between registers, memory, disks, and global networks, and why software engineers must design systems with these orders of magnitude in mind.

BackendNetworking

[POST]January 31, 2026

The "Broke Indie Dev" MMORPG Stack: Running a Godot + Rust MMO on $0/Month

How we built a scalable MMORPG backend using Oracle Cloud, GCP, IBM Cloud, and smart architectural decisions—without spending a dime.

BackendArchitectureNetworking

[POST]January 28, 2026

DIY CI/CD for Rust on Oracle Cloud: The $0 Alternative to Premium Platforms

If you're running a Rust microservice on Oracle Cloud and dreading the costs of enterprise CI/CD platforms like GitLab Premium, Jenkins, or hosted solutions—there's good news. You can implement production-grade continuous integration and deployment using three free-tier tools: GitHub Actions, SSH key authentication, and systemd. This guide shows you exactly how to build a CI/CD pipeline that rivals platforms costing hundreds per month, while paying absolutely nothing.

CI/CD

[POST]October 3, 2025

The Complete Guide to Web App Project Delivery: From Development to Client Handover

As a software engineers, we often excel at creating stunning applications but sometimes struggle with the business side of client delivery. This comprehensive guide covers everything we need to know about taking our web app projects from completion to successful handover while ensuring secure payment and professional client relationships.

Business

[POST]October 2, 2025

5+ Years of Programming: Critical Lessons Every Software Engineer Should Know

After more than a decade in software development, we've learned lessons that fundamentally changed how we approach our craft. These insights took us years to discover, but we're sharing them with you today—because we believe every software engineer deserves to know what really matters beyond the code itself.

Tips

[POST]September 30, 2025

Memory and Storage: Foundations for Backend Engineers

Backend engineering often revolves around how data is processed, stored, retrieved, and manipulated. To truly understand data structures and algorithms, it helps to grasp the underlying hardware and OS landscape: how the CPU, registers, cache, RAM, storage, and kernel interact to move and manage data.

DSARustFoundamentals

[POST]September 29, 2025

Understanding Hash Maps: The Indexed Warehouse of Backend Systems

For backend software engineers, mastering data access efficiency is paramount. Among the core data structures enabling fast lookup and dynamic storage is the **Hash Map**. This article dives into the inner workings of Hash Maps, using a warehouse analogy, technical explanations of Rust’s memory layout, and kernel-level insights to offer a comprehensive understanding fit for real-world backend applications.

DSARust

[POST]September 28, 2025

Linked Lists: Scattered Boxes with Direction Tags

Linked lists in Rust are like a chain of boxes scattered across a warehouse floor, where each box contains not only a product but also a pointer to the next box’s location. This design is ideal when warehouse shelves cannot be physically contiguous but still need an ordered sequence. This article explores linked lists through the warehouse analogy, presents Rust examples focusing on memory layout, and includes an explanatory Mermaid diagram, crafted for software engineers.

DSARust

[POST]September 28, 2025

Vectors: Expandable Warehouse Aisles

Vectors in Rust are like expandable aisles in a warehouse—built for flexibility, fast access, and dynamic growth. This article delivers a deep analogy between vectors and warehouse logistics, includes precise Rust code samples, and provides a **Mermaid diagram** to clarify structure and memory layout for engineers.[^1][^2][^3]

DSARust

[POST]September 28, 2025

Arrays as Warehouse Shelves

Think of a warehouse with a row of identical shelves, each slot numbered and just large enough to hold a single item type. Once these shelves are installed, the capacity is fixed — much like a Rust array, which has a type and a size determined at compile time.

DSARust

[POST]September 28, 2025

Data Structures as Warehouses: A Rust Perspective

When we think about data structures, it is often useful to map them to real-world analogies. One powerful analogy is that of a warehouse. A warehouse stores goods in specific ways to optimize retrieval, organization, and space usage. Similarly, data structures organize data in memory to balance efficiency, access patterns, and flexibility. This article explores how data structures can be thought of as different kinds of warehouses, and we’ll use Rust examples to connect the analogy to real memory layouts.

DSARust

[POST]June 25, 2025

When do you use threads?

This article explores the scenarios in which using threads can improve application performance and responsiveness.

Backend

[POST]June 5, 2025

Understanding Serde: A Deep Dive into Rust Serialization and Deserialization

Serde is a powerful framework in Rust for serializing and deserializing data structures. This article explores its features, use cases, and best practices.

BackendRust

[POST]June 4, 2025

Understanding Rust Memory Layout

Understanding Rust’s memory layout is key to writing safe, efficient, and idiomatic code. This post demystifies how Rust manages memory, from the stack and heap to smart pointers and trait objects.

Rust

[POST]May 30, 2025

Database Normalization Explained: 1NF, 2NF, and 3NF

Normalization of databases is an important concept in database design that ensures data integrity and reduces redundancy. It involves organizing data into tables and relationships to eliminate data redundancy and improve data consistency.

BackendDatabases

[POST]July 6, 2024

Synchronous vs Asynchronous Programming

An overview of synchronous and asynchronous programming paradigms, their differences, and use cases.

Backend

[POST]July 5, 2024

Understanding the Request-Response Model

An overview of the request-response model in web development.

BackendArchitecture

[POST]July 5, 2024

Load Balancing At Layer 4 Vs Layer 7

Understanding the differences between Layer 4 and Layer 7 load balancing is crucial for designing efficient and scalable network architectures.

BackendNetworking

[POST]June 26, 2024

The Gatekeepers Chronicle: Decoding Network Address Translation for Backend Architects

The genesis of NAT lies in the inherent scarcity of public IP addresses. With the explosive growth of the internet, the demand for these unique identifiers has far outpaced the supply. NAT emerged as a solution, allowing multiple devices within a private network to share a single public IP address, effectively conserving this precious resource.

BackendNetworking

[POST]June 24, 2024

The Network Alchemist: Decoding TCP Congestion Control for Backend Sorcerers

Delve into the intricacies of congestion control, the cornerstone of reliable data transmission. Join our wise wizard as he guides you through the principles of TCPs slow start and congestion avoidance algorithms, revealing the magic behind efficient and stable network communicat

BackendNetworking

[POST]February 11, 2024

The Evolution Beyond Classic Request-Response, Long Polling

Long polling redefines how we handle near-real-time communication in web applications, offering a refined approach when WebSockets or Server-Sent Events may be excessive. As software engineers, understanding long polling’s lifecycle—from memory allocation to kernel-assisted I/O—allows us to design more robust, efficient systems that scale elegantly across network conditions.

BackendNetworking

[POST]January 31, 2024

Short Polling: A Pragmatic Approach for Long-Running Requests and Asynchronous Notifications

Web applications demand responsiveness, but not all workloads fit neatly into the classic request-response model. When requests involve extended processing times or when we want the server to trigger updates asynchronously, short polling offers us a pragmatic and widely applicable solution.

BackendNetworking

[POST]January 30, 2024

Push Model in Backend Systems

An exploration of the push model in backend systems, its benefits, and implementation strategies.

BackendArchitecture

[POST]January 23, 2024

TLS: Understanding Transport Layer Security

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide secure communication over a computer network.

BackendSecurity

[POST]January 22, 2024

Domain Name System (DNS)

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and decentralized naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network.

BackendNetworking

[POST]January 19, 2024

The Architects Chronicle: Mastering TCPs Sliding Window for Network Flow Control

Flow control plays a crucial role in preventing data congestion and ensuring that data flows smoothly between sender and receiver.

BackendNetworking

[POST]January 19, 2024

Unveiling The Anatomy Of A Tcp Segment: A Deep Dive Into The Nuts And Bolts Of Reliable Data Transfer

To delve into the inner workings of TCP, lets embark on a journey into the anatomy of a TCP segment, the fundamental unit of data transfer.

BackendNetworking

[POST]January 11, 2024

Adress Resolution Protocol

IP addresses are used by computers to identify each other on a network, while MAC addresses are physical identifiers assigned to network cards.

BackendNetworking

[POST]January 9, 2024

ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)

It is a critical tool for network troubleshooting and performance monitoring.

BackendNetworking

[POST]January 8, 2024

Navigating The Network Landscape: Decoding Ip Addresses, Subnets, And The Default Gateway

A comprehensive guide to understanding fundamental networking concepts including IP addressing, subnet organization, and the role of default gateways in network communication.

BackendNetworking

[POST]January 4, 2024

The Revolutionary Client-Server Architecture

This revolucionary model is a fundamental concept in modern software development, offering a scalable, efficient, and maintainable solution for handling large-scale applications.

BackendArchitecture

[POST]January 4, 2024

Navigating The Digital Highwar: Demystifiying Host-To-Host Communication.

Brace yourself for an exploration of the intricate world of host-to-host communication in the digital landscape.

BackendArchitecture

[POST]January 2, 2024

HTTP Request Processing

Journey of an HTTP Request: From Client to Server and Back

BackendKernelHTTP

[POST]October 28, 2023

AsyncIO Sockets

How to use AsyncIO sockets

PythonBackendConcurrencyMultithreadingMultiprocessing

[POST]October 25, 2023

Futures

Exploring the world of Futures, Tasks, and Awaitables in Python

PythonAsyncIOAsynchronous ProgrammingPerformance

[POST]October 25, 2023

Coroutines and Tasks in Python

A comprehensive guide to understanding coroutines and tasks in Python asynchronous programming model. Learn how to implement concurrent operations efficiently using async/await syntax, manage execution through the event loop, and improve application performance with practical examples and best practices.

PythonAsyncIOAsynchronous ProgrammingPerformance

[POST]October 25, 2023

AsyncIO 3

Asynchronous Programming with asyncio is a powerful tool for handling concurrent I/O-bound tasks.

PythonBackendConcurrencyMultithreadingMultiprocessing

[POST]October 24, 2023

AsyncIO-2

GIL explained in detail

PythonBackendConcurrencyMultithreadingMultiprocessing

[POST]October 23, 2023

AsyncIO-1

Explore the fundamentals of Python concurrency through processes and threads. Learn the key differences, use cases, and best practices for implementing multithreading and multiprocessing in your applications.

PythonBackendConcurrencyMultithreadingMultiprocessing

[POST]October 12, 2023

Hacking PythonAnywhere: Deploying Multiple Apps (No ASGI)

Deploying multiple apps on PythonAnywhere is a common requirement, but it can be challenging due to the lack of ASGI support. In this guide, we will explore a workaround for deploying multiple apps without ASGI.

PythonDevOpsCheat

[POST]October 4, 2023

Docker Python Setup

Docker is a great tool for managing and running applications in containers. In this article, we will explore some tips for setting up Python with Docker.

BackendDocker

[POST]May 31, 2022

Saving a Class to JSON File

What are APIs and why are they important in modern software development?

PythonCheat

[POST]May 31, 2022

Optimizing Beautiful Soup Performance

Beautiful Soup is a great tool for scraping web pages, but it can be slow when dealing with large pages. In this article, we will explore some tips to optimize the performance of Beautiful Soup.

PythonBeautifulSoupWeb ScrapingPerformance

Loading posts...

Please wait