As much as I love the deck, these prices are way too insane. Might as well just hold off for a while on PC stuff.

I have written so much software in my life, half the things I thought were throw away ended up sticking around for years, and half the things I thought were permanent were thrown away within the month. I largely think the reason why we see so much crap software is because people think software they are writing will only be around for a moment.

trying to remember what it was like to code before codex

Cooking up something new 🧑‍🍳 Join the waitlist for early access to technical preview of the GitHub Copilot app 👇 gh.io/github-copilot-app?utm…

I've been coding for 40 years. Here are the top 5 things I wish I knew when I started. 1. 90% of the job is debugging and fixing, not creating new code. Which is still fun if you're good at it. I used to think programming was mostly writing fresh, clever stuff. In reality, most of your time is spent in other people's (or your own past self's) messy code, chasing down why something that "should" work doesn't. Get really good at debugging early. Learn assembly reading, call stacks, and kernel debuggers. It pays off hugely. The best engineers I saw were absolute magicians at this. 2. Manage complexity from day one (ie: don't write slop and "fix it later" if it goes somewhere). Very early on, I'd hammer out code and refactor afterward. Big mistake. Now I start with clean, skeletal structure (minimalism first) and flesh it out carefully, with AI or not. Messy code compounds and becomes unfixable. Upfront discipline on architecture, naming, and simplicity saves enormous pain later, especially in large systems like Windows. 3. Tools and processes matter more than you think We suffered with basic diff/manual deltas instead of modern source control like Git. Branching, testing, and good tooling would have made porting and collaboration way smoother. Invest in your environment, automation, and reproducible builds early. Good tools amplify your output; bad ones (or none) drag everything down. 4. Understand the problem and existing code deeply before writing Don't jump straight to coding. Map out the problem, study what's already there (you'll inherit a lot), and plan. Low-level knowledge (hardware quirks, alignment issues on different architectures like MIPS/Alpha) was crucial. Also: assert early and often. It forces clarity. 5. People, politics, and "the right tool for the job" beat pure tech arguments. Brilliant engineers still argue endlessly. Sometimes it's about ego, not merit. Learn to spot the difference and "steer" the conversation rather than "winning" it. Bonus from experience: Side projects like Task Manager (started at home because I wanted the tool) can become your biggest hits. Ship small, useful things often. If you're just starting, focus on fundamentals, patterns over syntax, and building resilience for the long haul. It's going to be a wild ride, but the fundamentals still matter.

10 DAYS left until GAMEOVERSE lands

🚨#BREAKING: According to reports, a Claude powered coding agent using the Cursor tool allegedly went rogue, wiping a company’s production database along with its backups in just 9 seconds, raising serious concerns

I am slowly coming around to AI assisted programming. I am genuinely trying to codify every rule about programming that I have and using that several stages to build out small changes. Not sure the productivity changes, but I think I can see a modest gain in speed. I am also trying to be concerned about every line produced, not just slop trebucheting code over the wall.