Web Review, Week 2025-30
And since I’m back from my vacations, it’s time to get back into good habits. Let’s go for my web review for the week 2025-30.
Linux’s Ascendancy: Charting the Open-Source Surge in the Desktop OS Arena
Tags: tech, linux, desktop, foss
It’s a very important threshold to cross. Let’s hope this momentum stays long enough.
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/linuxs-ascendancy-charting-open-source-surge-desktop-os-arena
You MUST listen to RFC 2119
Tags: tech, standard, documentation, funny
OK… This is weird and funny. I definitely like the idea of an actor reading this important RFC aloud.
https://ericwbailey.website/published/you-must-listen-to-rfc-2119/
PNG is back!
Tags: tech, graphics, standard
Excellent news on the PNG standard front!
https://www.programmax.net/articles/png-is-back/
X-Clacks-Overhead
Tags: tech, http, history, literature, funny
This is a lovely idea I think. Good way to pay homage to lost ones.
A language model built for the public good
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, llm, ethics, ecology, research
ETH Zurich spearheading an effort for more ethical and cleaner open models. That’s good research, looking forward to the results.
How to run an LLM on your laptop
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, foss, vendor-lockin
Running interesting models locally gets more and more accessible.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/07/17/1120391/how-to-run-an-llm-on-your-laptop/
Yet another ZIP trick
Tags: tech, archive, compression, security
Better not trust ZIP files you receive…
https://hackarcana.com/article/yet-another-zip-trick
How we discovered, and recovered from, Postgres corruption on the matrix.org homeserver
Tags: tech, postgresql, failure, databases
Wow, this was a really bad index corruption indeed.
https://matrix.org/blog/2025/07/postgres-corruption-postmortem/
The most mysterious bug I solved at work
Tags: tech, debugging, pdf
Very interesting bug hunt prompted by some mysterious character in some strings and leading all the way to PDF viewers.
https://cadence.moe/blog/2025-07-02-the-most-mysterious-bug-i-solved-at-work
Graphite | Free online vector editor & procedural design tool
Tags: tech, 2d, graphics, tools, foss
Looks like an interesting vector editor.
Getting decent error reports in Bash when you’re using ‘set -e’
Tags: tech, shell, scripting
Nice way to improve the set -e output. I guess I’ll use it in my next scripts.
https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/programming/BashGoodSetEReports
On Error Handling in Rust
Tags: tech, rust, safety, type-systems
There are indeed other options beyond the model with “one enum with all the errors”.
https://felix-knorr.net/posts/2025-06-29-rust-error-handling.html
Alternative Blanket Implementations for a Single Rust Trait
Tags: tech, rust, type-systems, pattern
Nice pattern to workaround limitations of the Rust trait system preventing blanket implementations.
https://www.greyblake.com/blog/alternative-blanket-implementations-for-single-rust-trait/
The scary and surprisingly deep rabbit hole of Rust’s temporaries
Tags: tech, rust, memory, type-systems
Dealing with temporaries is always complicated it seems, whatever the language.
https://taping-memory.dev/temporaries-rabbit-hole/
The JavaScript Date Quiz
Tags: tech, javascript, date
A good reminder that the JavaScript Date API is very error prone.
This Overly Long Variable Name Could Have Been a Comment
Tags: tech, programming
If it’s too complicated to find a good name, use a comment indeed. As simple as that.
https://jonathan-frere.com/posts/names-vs-comments/
Most RESTful APIs aren’t really RESTful
Tags: tech, web, services, architecture, rest, api
And it’s not necessarily a problem. It all depends on the goal and context of the API you’re building.
Caching is an Abstraction, not an Optimization
Tags: tech, caching
It’s indeed another possible point of view about caching.
https://buttondown.com/jaffray/archive/caching-is-an-abstraction-not-an-optimization/
Expert Generalists
Tags: tech, organization, team, learning, complexity
Interesting article about expert generalists (also called “paint drip people” by Kent Beck). This is definitely a skill to foster in teams. The article is long enough that I’m not in agreement with everything in it. That being said there’s a lot of food for thought here.
https://martinfowler.com/articles/expert-generalist.html
Agile Was Never Your Problem Pt 1⁄2
Tags: tech, agile, project-management
Hear, hear! If you go through rituals without understanding the values and principles… It’s not Agile anymore so stop pretending. Another certification isn’t going to save you at this point.
https://thecynical.dev/posts/agile-was-never-your-problem/
Agile That Doesn’t Suck Pt 2⁄2
Tags: tech, agile, criticism
So, you derailed and the joy is long gone in your team. This second part shows a possible way forward. Although it’s probably not widely applicable (YMMV), the proposed end goal is what matters… If you stop fussing over labels but focus on what matters you’re likely on the right track.
https://thecynical.dev/posts/agile-that-doesnt-suck/
Why measuring productivity is hard
Tags: tech, productivity, management
Indeed, it’s hard. You need to put in the work but it’s hard to predict where the real value will come from.
https://lemire.me/blog/2025/07/12/why-measuring-productivity-is-hard/
Underused Techniques for Effective Emails
Tags: tech, email, writing
Some of this is not new, but it looks like a dying practice. It doesn’t need to be. This medium is more efficient than chat for some cases.
https://refactoringenglish.com/chapters/techniques-for-writing-emails/
Reading Neuromancer for the very first time in 2025
Tags: tech, scifi, literature
Neat piece about the reactions when reading this (IMHO) very important book for the first time in 2025. Made me want to read it again!
https://mbh4h.substack.com/p/neuromancer-2025-review-william-gibson
Why English doesn’t use accents
Tags: linguistics, history
Very interesting article. Where diacritics come from? Why English doesn’t have them?
https://www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/why-english-doesnt-use-accents
How the alphabet began
Tags: history, linguistics
Interesting exploration about where the alphabet comes from. Interesting debate about the abjad vs alphabet classification in the comments as well.
https://www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/how-the-alphabet-began
Bye for now!