20 random bookmarks

2025-09-04

133.

Beacon API

developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Beacon_API

The Beacon API is used to send an asynchronous and non-blocking request to a web server. The request does not expect a response. Unlike requests made using XMLHttpRequest or the Fetch API, the browser guarantees to initiate beacon requests before the page is unloaded and to run them to completion.

2025-06-26

123.

Box combinators

mmapped.blog/posts/41-box-combinators.html

In functional programming,
combinator libraries refer to a design style that emphasizes bottom-up program construction.
Such libraries define a few core data types
and provide constructors—functions that create initial objects—and combinators—functions that build larger objects from smaller pieces.

Combinators enable the programmer to use intuitive visual and spatial reasoning
that’s vastly more powerful than linear language processing.
As a result, solving problems with combinators feels like playing with lego pieces.

2025-06-18

120.

zb beta released

www.zombiezen.com/blog/2025/06/zb-beta-release

zb is a tool for reproducibly building software, similar to Bazel.
(See the comparison page if you’re curious to know the differences.)
When a software build process is reproducible,
it will produce the exact same output
when given the same inputs.
Reproducibility is a desirable property for a software build process to have:
it simplifies debugging,
it enables build speed-ups,
and it is essential for digital supply chain security.
However, reproducibility is a difficult goal to achieve.

2025-05-30

115.

The PGP Problem

www.latacora.com/blog/2019/07/16/the-pgp-problem

Why do people keep telling me to use PGP? The answer is that they shouldn’t be telling you that, because PGP is bad and needs to go away.

2025-05-23

110.

honk

humungus.tedunangst.com/r/honk

Take control of your honks and join the federation.
An ActivityPub server with minimal setup and support costs.
Spend more time using the software and less time operating it.

2024-12-31

95.

Idiosyncra

exple.tive.org/blarg/2024/12/29/idiosyncra

Interesting setup for pet computers. Debian + sway + cage

2024-12-20

94.

Visitor Pattern Considered Pointless - Use Pattern Switches Instead

nipafx.dev/java-visitor-pattern-pointless

In modern Java, the visitor pattern is no longer needed. Using sealed types and switches with pattern matching achieves the same goals with less code and less complexity.

2024-09-18

76.

Typescript is surprisingly ok for compilers

matklad.github.io/2023/08/17/typescript-is-surprisingly-ok-for-compilers.html

2024-08-28

69.

There can't be only one

www.b-list.org/weblog/2024/aug/27/highlander-problem

There's a concept that I've heard called by a lot of different names, but my favorite name for it is …

2024-08-15

67.

Writing a C Compiler

nostarch.com/writing-c-compiler

A fun, hands-on guide to writing your own compiler for a real-world programming language.

2024-08-09

64.

Store Code Discussions in Git using Git Notes

wouterj.nl/2024/08/git-notes

Code discussions contain relevant information. Isn’t it a shame that we
keep these in the centralized GitHub/GitLab servers, far away from our
decentralized Git code? As soon as we move provider, we’ll lose all old
discussions! And how do you ever find the pull requests back from 5
years ago? Symfony has implemented a lightweight solution to this problem
years ago using a less-known feature of Git: Git Notes.

2024-06-20

47.

Go's 'range over function' iterators and avoiding iteration errors

utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/programming/GoIteratorsAndAvoidingMistakes

2024-06-18

41.

Comparing Objective Caml and Standard ML

adam.chlipala.net/mlcomp
39.

Understanding a Python closure oddity

utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/python/UnderstandingClosureOddity

2024-06-17

35.

OpenBSD, the computer appliance maker's secret weapon

hiandrewquinn.github.io/til-site/posts/openbsd-the-computer-appliance-maker-s-secret-weapon

Between our ESP32 prokaryotic organisms and our 24/7 Internet-enabled megafauna servers, there exists a vast and loosely-defined ecosystem of things the B2B world likes to call computer appliances. Picture a bespoke Pi 4 packaged up neatly with some Python scripts, a little fancy plastic embossing, and maybe a well-guarded id_ed25519.pub in case you end up in hot water during the (long - very long, stable cash flow for generations long) maintenance contract, and you’re in the ballpark.

2024-06-14

34.

Nix as a WebAssembly build tool

determinate.systems/posts/nix-wasm

2024-06-13

26.

The magic of dependency resolution

ochagavia.nl/blog/the-magic-of-dependency-resolution
20.

My personal C coding style as of late 2023

nullprogram.com/blog/2023/10/08
18.

An easy-to-implement, arena-friendly hash map

nullprogram.com/blog/2023/09/30

2024-06-11

9.

Exploring Gleam, a type-safe language on the BEAM!

christopher.engineering/en/blog/gleam-overview

From Erlang, to Elixir and now, GLEAM!?