diff -r a04ca5a66178 -r 45ac54093c09 20231212.org --- a/20231212.org Tue Aug 27 21:35:44 2024 -0400 +++ /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 @@ -1,101 +0,0 @@ -* On Computers -:PROPERTIES: -:ID: 7845b0fb-b5d3-4488-bdba-4876d9c8816e -:END: -If you've met me in the past decade, you probably know that I am -extremely passionate about computers. Let me first explain why. - -On the most basic level computers are little (or big) machines that -can be programmed to do things, or /compute/ if we're being -technical.[fn:1] - -They host and provide access to the Internet, which is a pretty big -thing, but they do little things too like unlock your car door and -tell your microwave to beep at you. They solve problems. Big or small. - -They're also /everywhere/ - which can be scary to think about, but -ultimately helps propel us into the future. - -There's something pretty cool about that - when you look at the -essence of computation. There are endless quantities of these machines -which follow the same basic rules and can be used to solve /real/ -problems. - -** The Programmer -:PROPERTIES: -:ID: b17c853e-1728-4bd3-94c5-82e5b33d7398 -:END: -Now, let us consider the /programmer/. They have power. /real/ -power. They understand the language of computers, can whisper to them -in various dialects. It can be intimidating to witness until you -realize how often the programmer says the wrong thing - a bug. - -In reality, the programmer has a symbiotic relationship with -computers. Good programmers understand this relationship well. - -#+begin_annecdote -One day after I got my first job at a software company, I remember -being on an all-hands meeting due to a client service outage. We had -some management, our lead devs, product team, and one curious looking -man who happened to be our lead IT consultant who had just joined. He -was sitting up on a hotel bed, shirtless, vaping an e-cig, typing -away in what I can only imagine was a shell prompt. - -After several minutes he took a swig from a bottle of Coke and said -"Node 6 is sick." then a few seconds later our services were -restored. For the next hour on the call he explained what happened and -why, but that particular phrase always stuck with me. He didn't say -Node 6 was down, or had an expired cert - his diagnosis was that /it/ -was /sick/. -#+end_annecdote - -The more you work closely with computers, the more you start to think -of them this way. You don't start screaming when the computer does the -wrong thing, you figure out what's wrong and learn from it. With -experience, you start to understand the different behaviors of the -machines you work with. I like to call this /Machine Empathy/. - -** Programs -:PROPERTIES: -:ID: a297e5f9-a875-4512-b126-9a2b3e75c1d8 -:END: -I already mentioned bugs - I write plenty of those, but usually I try -to write /programs/. Programs to me are like poetry. I like to think -they are for the computer too. - -Just like computers, /computer programs/ come in different shapes and -sizes but in basic terms they are sets of instructions used to control -a computer. - -You can write programs to do anything - when I first started, my -programs made music. The program was a means to an end. Over time, I -started to see the program as something much more. I saw it as the -music itself. - -[fn:1] ... perform computations - - -* On Infra -:PROPERTIES: -:ID: 80d800de-d305-4b95-a28c-a6f19d6f7a11 -:END: -Something that is missing from many organizations big or large, is an -effective way to store and access information, even about their own -org. - -It can be difficult problem to solve - usually there's the official -one, say Microsoft Sharepoint and then the list of unofficial sources -which becomes tribal corporate hacker knowledge. Maybe the unofficial -ones are more current, or are annotated nicely, but their very -existence breaks the system. There's no longer a single source of -truth. - -My priority in this department is writing services which process and -store information from a variety of sources in a distributed knowledge -graph. The graph can later be queried to access information on-demand. - -My idea of infrastructure is in fact to build my own Cloud. Needless -to say I don't have an O365 subscription, and wherever possible I'll -be relying on hardware I have physical access to. I'm not opposed to -cloud services at large but based on principle I like to think we -shouldn't be built on them.