Web Review, Week 2025-17
Let’s go for my web review for the week 2025-17.
Privacy is power
Tags: tech, privacy, philosophy, politics
Reminder of why privacy matter and why we shouldn’t collectively give in to the data vultures.
https://aeon.co/essays/privacy-matters-because-it-empowers-us-all
Librarians are dangerous
Tags: book, culture, learning
Very nice praise to an underrated and underpaid job. Can we have more librarians please?
https://bradmontague.substack.com/p/librarians-are-dangerous
I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice and received the GPLv3 license
Tags: tech, licensing, foss, funny
OK, that’s a funny experiment. I don’t think many people post such requests anymore.
https://code.mendhak.com/gpl-v2-address-letter/
How decentralized is the fediverse really?
Tags: tech, fediverse, infrastructure, decentralized
Nice experiment. When looking at the actual infrastructure used, the servers are indeed nicely decentralized. For the users the picture would be different though.
https://discuss.systems/@ricci/114396317436420669
Government censorship comes to Bluesky, but not its third-party apps … yet
Tags: tech, social-media, bluesky, censorship
That happened fast, censorship demands already reached Bluesky and got applied. Third-party apps are not affected for now, likely due to their limited audience.
Getting Forked by Microsoft
Tags: tech, foss, microsoft
Such a nice and responsible citizen… FOSS is about extraction for them, not giving back.
https://philiplaine.com/posts/getting-forked-by-microsoft/
Former Google CEO Tells Congress That 99 Percent of All Electricity Will Be Used to Power Superintelligent AI
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, surveillance, politics, energy
Are they really believing their own lies now? More likely they’re trying to manipulate clueless lawmakers at this point. They can’t afford to let the circus end.
https://futurism.com/google-ceo-congress-electricity-ai-superintelligence
Coding as Craft: Going Back to the Old Gym
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, copilot, craftsmanship, learning
The metaphors are… funny. But still I think there’s good lesson in there. If you use generative AI tools for development purposes, don’t loose sight of the struggle needed to learn and improve. Otherwise you won’t be able to properly drive those tools after a while.
https://cekrem.github.io/posts/coding-as-craft-going-back-to-the-old-gym/
AI Horseless Carriages
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, ux
Clearly to really benefit from LLMs there’s quite some thinking around UX design to be had. This can’t be only chat bots all the way.
https://koomen.dev/essays/horseless-carriages/
The Gruen Transfer is consuming the internet
Tags: tech, web, social-media, attention-economy, psychology
If you wonder why more websites become confusing… It’s not exactly an accident.
https://sebs.website/blog/the%20gruen-transfer-is-consuming-the-internet
Understanding the Origins and the Evolution of Vi & Vim
Tags: tech, unix, editor, vim, emacs, history
Very nice account of the history behind vi and vim. Also some special mentions of Emacs and why it has such a different lineage.
https://pikuma.com/blog/origins-of-vim-text-editor
Beej’s Guide to Git
Tags: tech, version-control, git
Looks like a very comprehensive resource about Git.
Store and manage dotfile configs in a bare repository
Tags: tech, version-control, git, config
Cool tip showing what can be done with got bare repositories.
https://alexalex.dev/posts/dotfiles-bare-repo/
Python’s new t-strings
Tags: tech, programming, python
A new type of strings to keep an eye on in the upcoming Python release.
https://davepeck.org/2025/04/11/pythons-new-t-strings/
14 Advanced Python Features
Tags: tech, programming, python, type-systems
Good list of interesting features in Python. Some are tied to the gradual typing system but not all of them. Definitely tricks to keep in your bag.
https://blog.edward-li.com/tech/advanced-python-features/
C++26: more constexpr in the core language
Tags: tech, c++, metaprogramming, optimization
On the ever expanding domain of applicability for constexpr, more is coming to C++26. This is definitely welcome, should keep making it easier to use.
https://www.sandordargo.com/blog/2025/04/23/cpp26-constexpr-language-changes
Does using Rust really make your software safer?
Tags: tech, programming, rust, memory, safety, fuzzing, tests
This is a nice little experiment. Not statistically relevant (there are other papers for that), but shows in the details how introducing Rust can impact the way people work. This is interesting because it means the safety gains are not only strictly coming from the (now infamous) borrow checker. We can’t rely on everyone applying all the techniques necessary but for sure they’re cheaper to put in place than with C.
https://tweedegolf.nl/en/blog/152/does-using-rust-really-make-your-software-safer
Zig -> allocators -> Rust ergonomics
Tags: tech, programming, memory, rust, zig
The concept of allocators in general and arena allocators in particular is too little know. Here is a little article which rediscover the motives behind them. It’s a good introduction to the topic.
https://www.capturedlambda.dev/blog/zig-allocators-rust_ergo/
pahole: Analysing Memory Layout of Complex Data Structures With Ease
Tags: tech, memory, performance
This is indeed a nice tool to explore and check the memory layout of data structures.
https://pramodkumbhar.com/2023/11/pahole-to-analyz-data-structure-memory-layouts-with-ease/
Linux syscall table
Tags: tech, linux, kernel, system
Nice table of the Linux syscalls. You can search for them based on ABI and version. It even points to their definition.
Marching Events: What does iCalendar have to do with ray marching?
Tags: tech, date, time
Interesting way to look at solving recurrence rules in iCal.
https://pwy.io/posts/marching-events/
Defold - Cross platform game engine
Tags: tech, 3d, game, foss
Looks like an interesting game engine. Didn’t know about its existence.
Feature Toggles (aka Feature Flags)
Tags: tech, architecture
A good post covering the feature flags concept and the different type of toggles you might have in a project.
https://martinfowler.com/articles/feature-toggles.html
YAGRI: You are gonna read it
Tags: tech, databases, debugging
Indeed, more metadata in your database can be a life saver.
https://www.scottantipa.com/yagri
Give it time
Tags: tech, architecture, design, time, ddd
Interesting food for thought. It’s important to also approach domain models based on their workflows and events, not just their static relationship graphs.
https://ismaelcelis.com/posts/2025-04-give-it-time/
Design in TDD - by Kent Beck
Tags: tech, tdd, design
Yes, there’s plenty of room for design in a TDD cycle. This is a good explanation of when it happens and the challenges you can have doing so.
https://tidyfirst.substack.com/p/design-in-tdd
When TDD doesn’t work
Tags: tech, tests, tdd
Indeed a good reminder that TDD might not be possible to properly apply at the physical boundaries of the system.
https://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2014/04/30/When-tdd-does-not-work.html
Implementation-Inspired Tests
Tags: tech, tests, tdd
Struggling with TDD? Really feel like you need to write the implementation first? This is a fine approach. One caveat though, you have to be very disciplined in the way you uncomment the code, otherwise you’ll quickly loose the benefits.
https://arne-mertz.de/2017/02/implementation-inspired-tests/
Extreme Programming is as relevant now as before
Tags: tech, agile, xp
This is funny how this article written a long while ago now is still relevant… These are all good reasons for reading Kent Beck’s book about XP.
https://f3yourmind.net/2014/01/06/the-relevance-of-xp/
The perils of estimation
Tags: tech, project-management, estimates
If you’re asked a broad project estimate, building a very fine grained user story list is likely not the best approach.
https://dannorth.net/the-perils-of-estimation/
Advice for time management as a manager
Tags: tech, management, leadership
Good tips for time management indeed. I apply some of those but think I will borrow some extras from this article.
How to manage a team of remote employees
Tags: tech, management, remote-working
A bit shallow, but there’s good advice to get started. Very often the quality of the communication medium is underestimated.
https://qz.com/230998/how-to-run-a-team-of-people-who-never-see-each-other
Good engineering managers aren’t just hard to find – they don’t exist
Tags: tech, engineering, management, leadership
This is indeed almost always leadership you need in your organization. An engineer who want to manage, maybe be careful about their skills and motives.
https://venturebeat.com/business/good-engineering-managers-arent-just-hard-to-find-they-dont-exit/
Argument Cultures and Unregulated Aggression
Tags: tech, organization, communication, decision-making, diversity
Indeed, arguments have a function. If they’re used they need to be regulated, otherwise you won’t get the best ideas possible in your organization due to competition.
https://www.kateheddleston.com/blog/argument-cultures-and-unregulated-aggression
Tools for better thinking
Tags: decision-making, problem-solving
Nice list of tools and models to use for better decision making and problem solving. Can all be done on paper of whiteboard. This is a good reference.
The raccoons who made computer magazine ads great – Technologizer by Harry McCracken
Tags: tech, history, art, culture
Ever realized raccoons had something to do with the history of computing? And children illustrations? Work of art if you ask me… we have to get back to the time of the computer magazines.
https://technologizer.com/home/2025/04/22/pc-connection-ads-raccoons/
Bye for now!