It is possible to work with Python quite a bit and not be aware of some of the subtler details of package management. Since Python is a popular “glue” language, one of its core strengths is integrating with libraries written in other languages: from database drivers written in C, numerical …

A story about looking for a universe, and finding a pi(e)

This is fine. You need not feel shame. Many want to create a universe. But it is good you are being careful. A universe with sentient beings is a big moral responsibility.

It is good to start with …

Many people have written about the logistical challenges of food in a conference. You trade off not just, as Chris points out, expensive food versus terrible food, but also the challenges of serving the food to everyone at once.

One natural method of crowd control is the buffet line. People …

DRY, or Don't Repeat Yourself is frequently touted as a principle of software development. "Copy-pasta" is the derisive term applied to a violation of it, tying together the concept of copying code and pasta as description of software development bad practices (see also spaghetti code).

It is so uniformly reviled …

Computers work on binary code. If statements take one path: true, or false. For computers, bright lines and clear borders make sense.

Humans are more complicated. What's an adult? When are you happy? How mature are you? Humans have fuzzy feelings with no clear delination.

I was more responsible as …

I have written before about my Inbox Zero methodology. This is still what I practice, but there is a lot more that helps me.

The concept behind "Universal Binary" is that the only numbers that make sense asymptotically are zero, one, and infinity. Therefore, in order to prevent things from …

The Labyrinth is a children’s movie. The main character is 16 years old, and solving a logic puzzle that will literally decide if she lives or dies. In fiction, characters are faced with realistic challenges: ones they can solve, even if they have to make an effort.

So, it …

The choice in parameters for back-off configuration is important. It can be the difference between a barely noticable blip in service quality and an hours-long site outage. In order to explore the consequences of the choice, I wrote a little fictional ditty about a fictional website.

I hope you enjoy …

In the 1986 movie Labyrinth, a young girl (played by Jennifer Connelly) is faced with a dilemma. The adorable Jim Henson puppets explain to her that one guard always lies, and one guard always tells the truth. She needs to figure out which door leads to the castle at the …

(I have shown this technique in my mailing list. If this kind of thing seems interesting, why not subscribe?)

Imagine you want to log something that is, potentially, expensive to calculate. For example, in DEBUG mode, you would like to count the classes of the objects in gc.get_objects() and …