2022 Reading list (updated as we go)

Some tools for enumerating : https://github.com/OJ/gobuster, https://github.com/OWASP/Amass

Updates on the twitter affair : https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-scoop-twitters-ongoing-cruel

Reverse engineering Swift physics

Pelikan cache, a C/Rust memcached type cache server made in twitter http://www.pelikan.io/

Giza 3D http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/giza3d/

Memory allocator used in Go language : https://google.github.io/tcmalloc/design.html
Slab Allocation : https://hammertux.github.io/slab-allocator
Linux virtual FS filename lookup : https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/filesystems/path-lookup.html
Linux dentry cache and slabtop command

Your wordpress site can feed mastodon https://fedi.tips/the-fediverse-beyond-mastodon/#WordPress

Image Format wars :
– Google removing JXL support from chrome : https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/3988999
– reasons https://www.phoronix.com/news/Chrome-Dropping-JPEG-XL-Reasons
– comments : https://cloudinary.com/blog/the-case-for-jpeg-xl
– support for JXL in android : https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/259900694?pli=1

Bare metal or cloud services : https://levelup.gitconnected.com/how-we-reduced-our-annual-server-costs-by-80-from-1m-to-200k-by-moving-away-from-aws-2b98cbd21b46

New Directions in Cloud Programming : https://www.cidrdb.org/cidr2021/papers/cidr2021_paper16.pdf

I know you all know but, just a reminder : 

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
  var m = 0.1
  var n = 0.2
  fmt.Println(m + n)

  var a = 0.1
  var b = 6.0
  fmt.Println(a * b)

  var o = 0.6
  var p = 0.3
  fmt.Println(o + p)

  var f = 1.39
  fmt.Println(f * f)

  const c = 1.39
  fmt.Println(c * c)
}

0.30000000000000004
0.6000000000000001
0.8999999999999999
1.9320999999999997
1.9321

Reducing Cognitive load (Golab2022 notes) in code :

  • Line of Sight : 1st level, second level for error conditions
    • eliminate else, return early, avoid extra nesting, wrap in function
    • align the happy path
    • remove misterious booleans
  • Package Names : concise and clear, move on the calling side. No util/common/ packages, split
  • Pure functions as much as possible
  • pass with & to indicate we change the object
  • Don’t lie to the reader

Interesting WASM talk from https://xeiaso.net/

Organize you software assets https://stackoverflow.blog/2022/09/19/i-spent-two-years-trying-to-do-what-backstage-does-for-free/ spotify open sourced their internal tool

VCF East 2019 Bryan Kernigham interviews Ken Thompson : how unix, pipes, and other things like grep came out just to run nroff/troff for Bell Labs patents office https://youtu.be/EY6q5dv_B-o

Engineering ladders https://github.com/jorgef/engineeringladders

Stackoverflow engineering https://hanselminutes.com/847/engineering-stack-overflow-with-roberta-arcoverde

Stackexchange 1.3 bil pageview/month : https://stackexchange.com/performance

Airbnb path from monolith to microservices https://medium.com/qe-unit/airbnbs-microservices-architecture-journey-to-quality-engineering-d5a490e6ba4f

Perche’ l’innovazione e’ cosi’ difficile in italia : qui

Questo non vale solo per la digitalizzazione, vale per l’industrializzazione e per il capitalismo. Prendo in prestito la domanda (e la risposta) di Roberto Maragliano “Perché i temi della maturità sono ancora così? Ce lo dice Camillo Olivetti (padre di Adriano) in un appunto del 1927: “L’istruzione della nostra borghesia ha un fondamento prettamente anti-industriale. Noi siamo ancora i figli dei Latini che lasciarono ai servi e ai liberti i lavori industriali e che in ben poco conto li ritennero, tanto che ci tramandarono i nomi dei più mediocri proconsoli e dei poetucoli ed istrioni che dilettarono la decadenza romana, ma non ci ricordarono neppure i nomi di quei sommi ingegneri che costruirono le strade gli acquedotti e i grandi monumenti dell’Impero Romano” (da Paolo Bricco, Adriano Olivetti, un italiano del Novecento, Rizzoli, appena uscito)”.

End to end tracing : Jaeger (opentelemetry)

Consistent Hashing used for load balancing resources :

Porting python2 code to python3

Interesting point of view on “complete rewrite” vs “enhance/evolve the existing” from dropbox tech blog

T Shape Engineers

Perkeep .. “Throughout our life, we all continue to generate content …”

Peer to peer hypermedia protocol : https://ipfs.io/

Building and Testing in-kernel (Rust code to be discussed at next Linux Plumbers : https://lpc.events/event/16/page/193-proposed-microconferences and discussed here : https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/linus-torvalds-weighs-in-on-rust-language-in-the-linux-kernel/

Linux Foundation Real Time OS : https://www.zephyrproject.org/learn-about/

Microservice patterns : https://microservices.io/patterns/index.html

Broken Window Theory applied to software ( initial statement in “The Pragmatic Programmer” by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas, 1999 if I’m not wrong) interesting review and interesting to meet another fan of simplicity and minimalism in code.

Again on avoiding accidental complexity (I wrote something on this in the past) https://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/tip/How-to-prevent-accidental-complexity-in-software-development
Interesting :

Super, 10X, rockstar — these are names for developers who produce a lot of code or work in many development areas. Such developers sometimes build a reputation — and an ego. “These super developers usually make their code unnecessarily complex just because they can,” Rials said. Other team members struggle to comprehend and edit the complex code. These colleagues might even compliment the super developer about the code’s complexity, which encourages more of it. Businesses should empower junior developers to take a fresh look at code.

Bill Rials, associate director and professor at Tulane University’s School of Professional Advancement

How common the pattern above is ..

Composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and engineer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iannis_Xenakis (I love multi potential people). Known for his studies on Music generation software : author of UPIC, which inspired many other tools like Iannix, HighC, UPISketch. I was able to run HighC …

Tz0, a video game made to listen music

The first ecologist ? https://www.rachelcarson.org/

Clearness when she explains, clearness of vision, clearness of thinking : Mariana Mazzucato

Back to untargeted adv ?

https://projecteuler.net/ take some time to solve math things

The importance of Rubber Ducking : a funny tool to do it alone ..

Ethical resources : sustainable, mindful, transparent, open and much more. Here’s a list of tools (browsers, search engines, email services, web hosting, tools for team collaboration, messaging, and a lot more) for a more ethical internet.