Web Review, Week 2025-34
Let’s go for my web review for the week 2025-34.
Google is killing the open web
Tags: tech, google, web, xml, xslt, html, history, vendor-lockin
Or why the XML roots of the web are important to keep in shape. I’m not necessarily in love with how verbose XML is, but it’s been a great enabler for interoperability. That’s indeed the latter reason which pushed Google to try to get rid of it as much as possible.
https://wok.oblomov.eu/tecnologia/google-killing-open-web/
Is Germany on the Brink of Banning Ad Blockers?
Tags: tech, advertisement, attention-economy, law
This latest ruling from the German supreme court is rather worrying…
The Lawnmower IRC Server
Tags: tech, hardware, irc
OK, this is completely useless but definitely a fun project.
https://jotunheimr.idlerpg.net/users/jotun/lawnmower/
The future of large files in Git is Git
Tags: tech, version-control, git, storage, tools
Looking forward to Git LFS going away indeed.
https://tylercipriani.com/blog/2025/08/15/git-lfs/
Introduce git-history command for easy history editing
Tags: tech, tools, version-control, git
Let’s see if this gets merged. This could be interesting convenience.
https://lore.kernel.org/git/20250819-b4-pks-history-builtin-v1-0-9b77c32688fe@pks.im/
Cheap tricks for high-performance Rust
Tags: tech, performance, memory, rust, tools
No good tricks to optimize your code, but knowing the tooling knobs sometimes help.
https://deterministic.space/high-performance-rust.html
The issue of anti-cheat on Linux
Tags: tech, gaming, windows, linux, kernel, system
Or why competitive multiplayer games which anti-cheat probably will never make it to Linux. I’m not into this kind of games but this is an interesting piece on comparing the differences between the Linux and Windows kernels. It also show that with some care from the game developers, those anti-cheats might not be necessary in the first place.
https://tulach.cc/the-issue-of-anti-cheat-on-linux/
Predictable memory accesses are much faster
Tags: tech, cpu, hardware, memory, performance
Indeed, CPU prefetchers are really good nowadays. Now you know what to do to keep your code fast.
https://lemire.me/blog/2025/08/15/predictable-memory-accesses-are-much-faster/
Fun and weirdness with SSDs
Tags: tech, databases, ssd, performance
Interesting, it looks like index scans in your databases can have surprising performance results with SSDs.
https://vondra.me/posts/fun-and-weirdness-with-ssds/
How to Think About GPUs
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpu, tpu, hardware
Long but interesting chapter which shows how GPUs architecture works and the differences with TPUs. This is unsurprisingly written in the context of large models training.
https://jax-ml.github.io/scaling-book/gpus/
Tag-based logging
Tags: tech, logging
The idea is interesting, I wouldn’t throw away level based logging but this could complete it nicely.
https://mmapped.blog/posts/44-tag-based-logging
A programmer’s field guide to assertions
Tags: tech, safety, programming, organization
A bit of a long read, but does a good job explaining the use of assertions and how to introduce them in your organization.
https://typesanitizer.com/blog/assertions.html
A Better Vocabulary for Testing
Tags: tech, tests
There’s a need for clearer vocabulary about testing indeed. The write up is a bit dry here but that’s a start.
https://alperenkeles.com/posts/vocab-for-testing/
Everything I know about good system design
Tags: tech, system, design, complexity
A good list of things to consider when designing systems. And indeed in case of success the result looks probably boring.
https://www.seangoedecke.com/good-system-design/
Why do software developers love complexity?
Tags: tech, complexity, architecture, programming
Indeed, let’s not fall for the marketing. It’s better to write less code if it’s enough to solve actual problems.
https://kyrylo.org/software/2025/08/21/why-do-software-developers-love-complexity.html
Are Your Programmers Working Hard, Or Are They Lazy?
Tags: tech, organization, team, productivity, quality, management
A good reminder that long hours are not a sign of success with your project… on the contrary.
https://mikehadlow.blogspot.com/2013/12/are-your-programmers-working-hard-or.html
Hordes Of Novices
Tags: tech, craftsmanship, learning, quality
Easy to misunderstand as an elitist stance… But it’s not the way I read it. Churning more code faster isn’t going to help us, you need to take the time for people to grow and improve. It’s not possible to achieve if you’re drowning in eager beginners.
https://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2013/11/19/HoardsOfNovices.html
The 10 models of remote and hybrid work
Tags: tech, gitlab, remote-working, management, culture, organization
A good way to frame the possible models for your organization regarding remote work. The GitLab Handbook stays a very good resource regarding remote work, they really thought about it and documented their findings.
https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/culture/all-remote/stages/
Agile Product Ownership in a nutshell
Tags: tech, agile, product-management
I think this is still one of the best distilled explanation of product ownership. It’s also interesting for the other parties on an agile project.
https://blog.crisp.se/2012/10/25/henrikkniberg/agile-product-ownership-in-a-nutshell
Managing in Mayberry: An examination of three distinct leadership styles
Tags: tech, management, leadership
Interesting parable, it’s indeed a good way to illustrate different leadership styles. Being more strategic is clearly what one should try to do.
https://www.donaldegray.com/managing-in-mayberry-an-examination-of-three-distinct-leadership-styles/
The importance of stupidity in scientific research
Tags: science, research
An important essay in my opinion. It reminds us quite well what the core drive of scientific research is about.
Bye for now!