Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book, Abundance, makes a compelling case that American government has systematically eroded its own capacity to build things. Through decades of well-intentioned regulations, environmental reviews, and bureaucratic ...
Twenty years ago, I was working on Visual Studio at Microsoft when I had an encounter that still sticks with me today. I was manning a booth at a trade show, demonstrating new IDE features in Visual Studio 2005, when a developer approached me with...
I’ve been using agentic coding tools like Claude Code for a few months now, and I keep thinking about how to explain what this feels like to other developers. It’s not the stochastic parrot that critics dismiss it as, but it’s also not the Skynet ...
Software engineers have a unique opportunity: we can build things that millions of people use daily. This isn’t about ego or chasing the next big tech trend. It’s about recognizing our potential impact and using it wisely. Think about other skill...
(Note: because “prospective GSoC participant” is a mouthful, I refer to these folks as “students” throughout the rest of this post, even though you no longer have to be a student to participate in GSoC!) You may have heard that the Open Transit S...
On July 20, 2020, I decided to start tracking my TODO items in Apple’s Notes app on my Mac. I had just agreed to build a web application for a non-profit on behalf of a friend, and it was about four months since the initial COVID-19 lockdowns had ...
My conceptual photography project, Simulacra and Simulation, is featured in the latest issue of the photographic and literary journal, Dear Dave,. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dear Dave, magazine (@deardavemag)
GeekWire published an article about the state of financial precariousness that OneBusAway finds itself in today. I spoke to the author, Kurt Schlosser, for his story: One of those volunteers is Aaron Brethorst, the Seattle-based director of us...
I recently did some research into what is required for nonprofits accept donations in their iOS and Android apps. I document my findings here. Are you a fan of open source software and public transit? Make a tax-deductible donation to the volu...
I think there is an inexorable shift towards the simplification of building web apps underway today. For the past decade, the only ’correct’ way to make a great web app was to actually build two: your backend in Ruby, Python, Java, PHP, or what ha...