KentBeck
Baking a Model: A Metaphor for LLM Training
Re:Superoptimizer – A Look at the Smallest Program
on Tuesday July 14, 2026 @01:10PM (#48909955)
I love love love this paper. I wonder how a GPU would do with it?
The Pinhole view of the value of AI as simply reducing payroll costs is wrong
Tokens: The New Oil or Engineering in Spite of Scarcity
First Feedback Filter–reducing regret in responding to negative feedback
In which I write a library-quality B+ tree with the genies
Me an' Algernon – grappling with (temporary) cognitive decline
Hand-Drawn Illustrations–A workflow argument
Programmers who create more files have those files modified by others more often
Should bugs be anti-holidays–infrequent and interruptive?
Developing Software in a Forest vs. a Desert
Why the Insurance Industry Rationally Fails Its Social Purpose
Re:What Do You Visualize While Programming?
on Friday October 18, 2024 @05:59PM (#41883887)
I tend to visualize call trees. Much of my refactoring is manipulating the call tree--flattening it, re-extracting subroutines, moving expressions up & down.
Another non-symbolic style of thinking I use is kinesthetic synesthesia. I "feel" the design "lean" in one direction or another, then refactor in that direction.
Product management is hosting a party, not playing chess
Humans >> Data – The Myth of Measuring Developer Productivity
TDD is Not Hill Climbing (except where it is)
Software designers pick the path, not just the destination
Once I bet, it's not my money any more
TDD isn't software design, it's design *feedback
Reduce coding's cognitive load–code in the debugger
Timing software design: “Later, if that's responsible”
You can't guess what's going to land–publish (pretty much) everything
Re:Template for Impactful Ideas
on Tuesday August 08, 2023 @02:50PM (#37053714)
Why should I listen to you?
Seriously, thank you for that feedback. While the current generation of developers has heard of my work, they don't necessarily associate it with me. Establishing credibility would amplify what I say.