Happy Wednesday nautical history fans!
Not a lot of product news to share with you this fortnight. It’s just been heads down, bums up working on Heartbeat and things are coming along nicely. I’m really looking forward to sharing the next version a bit more widely!
Tech
Hash Rockets are good actually
It’s been more than ten years since we got the “new” hash syntax in ruby and I’m glad to have discovered someone else willing to die on that hill. Welcome, brother.
An Error Wrapping Strategy for Go
Cool approach to wrapping Go errors for easier debugging. I’ll be adopting this style in new Go code from here on out.
Post-REST
Some interesting ideas about the post-REST world that is mostly about things other than GraphQL, which I’m still on the fence about.
C Portability Lessons from Weird Machines
I don’t know that I learned any actual lessons about C portability, but I do enjoy wacky trivia about old computers.
Why React Hooks, and how did we even get here?
My favourite of the explainer posts kicking around right now about React Hooks. Something for all React devs to get a handle on before they’re ready for production use.
Business & Management
Headcount dilemmas
I should just keep a standing slot for Will Larson posts open for every issue of the newsletter. A big part of managing in a larger org is horse trading for people on teams and this is a great post exploring the problem.
What I’m up to: tech leadership
Former CTO of Etsy shares a few FAQs that have come up in the management coaching he’s been doing recently. A few good tips in there.
How to tell if you’re a good manager
Every time I’ve coached a new manager this is the number one challenge they’re dealing with. This is a good starting point for how to make that assement.
No More “Struggle Porn”
Less of this would be rad. Hard work is important, but making a fetish out of it is harmful.
Culture
Ravens have paranoid, abstract thoughts about other minds
Me too ravens, me too. Pairs well with the related post “Calculating, plotting ravens make plans for their future”.
How the World’s Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made
How a three year old post about a niche sport made the front page of hackernews this week is beyond me, but I’m an avid boulderer and am morally obliged to share.
A Brand New Interview with David Foster Wallace
Because I’m a medium-to-upper pretentious white guy in his mid thirties naturally I love David Foster Wallace’s writing and will read literally any interview with him on any topic.
Guide to Computing
Absolutely gorgeous stylized photographs of old computers and peripherals. New computers are boring and crap, bring back the bright colour and fridge like shapes!
Contractually Obligated Nautical Fact
Humans are about to touch the deepest corners of the ocean for the first time
Aussie scientist is on a mission to take a fancy submarine to the deepest parts of all five oceans. Left over script from SeaQuest DSV or real thing that is happening? It’s a real thing that is happening. Also, we have five oceans apparently. I guess I never counted them up before.
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