Ian
@isuffix.com
🤓 Programming language nerd
📝 Typst stan
🦞 Avid lobster
♠️ Board game enthusiast
😤 Prefix hater
📝 Typst stan
🦞 Avid lobster
♠️ Board game enthusiast
😤 Prefix hater
Typst builds on the foundation of purity with mutability (+=, dict.insert, array.pop), but only for scope-local variables. This leaves functions fully pure: they can’t modify values from outside their scope. I love this tradeoff and think it perfectly balances local reasoning and expressivity.
A pure functional programming language has long been a utopian dream.
We suddenly have 3 strong contenders:
* @haskell.org with better tooling
* Lean 4, adopted by mathematicians
* @unison-lang.org out in v 1.0
Good time to revisit pure.
We suddenly have 3 strong contenders:
* @haskell.org with better tooling
* Lean 4, adopted by mathematicians
* @unison-lang.org out in v 1.0
Good time to revisit pure.
November 29, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Typst builds on the foundation of purity with mutability (+=, dict.insert, array.pop), but only for scope-local variables. This leaves functions fully pure: they can’t modify values from outside their scope. I love this tradeoff and think it perfectly balances local reasoning and expressivity.
Reposted by Ian
OH. MY. GOD. TYPST IS SO SMOOOOOTHHH.
100ms recompiles on save, by the time my eyes move from Emacs to pdf viewer it's already updated. I'm literally too slow to even see it update.
Also, this is why escape now maps to save. Saving allll the time. And Lshift-># (alongside much older Rshift->$).
100ms recompiles on save, by the time my eyes move from Emacs to pdf viewer it's already updated. I'm literally too slow to even see it update.
Also, this is why escape now maps to save. Saving allll the time. And Lshift-># (alongside much older Rshift->$).
Unrelated to mim itself, but this is also the first preprint I've prepared in @typst.app rather than LaTeX. It was soooo much nicer. Folks; what are we doing? Why don't our journals accept manuscript sources in Typst!
Ok; mim (github.com/COMBINE-lab/...) preprint submitted! Excited for folks to see it and share thoughts. The key takeaway; mim allows the quick, one-time, building of a small auxiliary index that then allows scaling gzipped FASTQ parsing linearly in # of threads. 1/2
November 25, 2025 at 2:43 PM
OH. MY. GOD. TYPST IS SO SMOOOOOTHHH.
100ms recompiles on save, by the time my eyes move from Emacs to pdf viewer it's already updated. I'm literally too slow to even see it update.
Also, this is why escape now maps to save. Saving allll the time. And Lshift-># (alongside much older Rshift->$).
100ms recompiles on save, by the time my eyes move from Emacs to pdf viewer it's already updated. I'm literally too slow to even see it update.
Also, this is why escape now maps to save. Saving allll the time. And Lshift-># (alongside much older Rshift->$).
This article by Philipp Hagenlocher is a good reference for some of the real usability problems in LaTeX that are part of why I love @typst.app so much. Typst is able to lose the legacy baggage and design an actually ergonomic system from the start.
Is LaTeX worth it?
A critique of academia's typesetting darling, LaTeX. Is its widespread usage really evidence of its inherent superiority?
philipphagenlocher.de
November 24, 2025 at 8:21 PM
This article by Philipp Hagenlocher is a good reference for some of the real usability problems in LaTeX that are part of why I love @typst.app so much. Typst is able to lose the legacy baggage and design an actually ergonomic system from the start.
Unlike woodworking, in software it’s good to remember that you can often measure once and end up making zero cuts.
This is for the simple reason that it’s easy to imagine a performance problem that isn’t your program’s true bottleneck
This is for the simple reason that it’s easy to imagine a performance problem that isn’t your program’s true bottleneck
November 17, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Unlike woodworking, in software it’s good to remember that you can often measure once and end up making zero cuts.
This is for the simple reason that it’s easy to imagine a performance problem that isn’t your program’s true bottleneck
This is for the simple reason that it’s easy to imagine a performance problem that isn’t your program’s true bottleneck
Reposted by Ian
November 7, 2025 at 6:43 AM
I would like to publicly apologize to @typst.app for posting the 1000th open issue today 🫂. But I would also like to congratulate the Typst team on building a product that's worth this much discussion and improvement!
Here's to finding (and fixing) 1000 more! 🥂
Here's to finding (and fixing) 1000 more! 🥂
November 6, 2025 at 9:52 PM
I would like to publicly apologize to @typst.app for posting the 1000th open issue today 🫂. But I would also like to congratulate the Typst team on building a product that's worth this much discussion and improvement!
Here's to finding (and fixing) 1000 more! 🥂
Here's to finding (and fixing) 1000 more! 🥂
Code formatting is like the alphabet: it doesn’t matter what the standard is, it just matters that there is one
October 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Code formatting is like the alphabet: it doesn’t matter what the standard is, it just matters that there is one
Reposted by Ian
doing that thing where i slouch deep into my chair, brooding, one arm on the armrest holding a can of beer, except instead of slouching i have perfect posture, and instead of beer i have a glass of water
October 1, 2025 at 12:49 AM
doing that thing where i slouch deep into my chair, brooding, one arm on the armrest holding a can of beer, except instead of slouching i have perfect posture, and instead of beer i have a glass of water
Firefox… no. Please please no
September 24, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Firefox… no. Please please no
IMO it’s a mistake to use ”...” as syntax in a programming language for the simple reason that ”...” is incredibly useful when writing examples of syntax In prose.
September 19, 2025 at 7:48 PM
IMO it’s a mistake to use ”...” as syntax in a programming language for the simple reason that ”...” is incredibly useful when writing examples of syntax In prose.
@samwho.dev you inspired me to post my ”family“ recipe for corn casserole aka corn pudding:
2x jiffy corn mix
8oz sour cream
1 egg
1 can corn kernels (drain the water)
1 can creamed corn
1. Mix egg, sour cream, and both cans
2. Add jiffy
3. Bake in small pan at 400 for 45min
Slaps at any gathering
2x jiffy corn mix
8oz sour cream
1 egg
1 can corn kernels (drain the water)
1 can creamed corn
1. Mix egg, sour cream, and both cans
2. Add jiffy
3. Bake in small pan at 400 for 45min
Slaps at any gathering
September 8, 2025 at 7:30 PM
@samwho.dev you inspired me to post my ”family“ recipe for corn casserole aka corn pudding:
2x jiffy corn mix
8oz sour cream
1 egg
1 can corn kernels (drain the water)
1 can creamed corn
1. Mix egg, sour cream, and both cans
2. Add jiffy
3. Bake in small pan at 400 for 45min
Slaps at any gathering
2x jiffy corn mix
8oz sour cream
1 egg
1 can corn kernels (drain the water)
1 can creamed corn
1. Mix egg, sour cream, and both cans
2. Add jiffy
3. Bake in small pan at 400 for 45min
Slaps at any gathering
Not me reading this line in the MathML spec: “While MathML is human-readable, …”
😂😂😭😭😔😂
😂😂😭😭😔😂
September 5, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Not me reading this line in the MathML spec: “While MathML is human-readable, …”
😂😂😭😭😔😂
😂😂😭😭😔😂
With Typst marketing itself as a a "new foundation for documents", we have a great example of @nikomatsakis.com vision of Rust as "making it dramatically more accessible to author and maintain foundational software."
typst.app/home
smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
typst.app/home
smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
Rust in 2025: Targeting foundational software · baby steps
smallcultfollowing.com
August 20, 2025 at 5:51 PM
With Typst marketing itself as a a "new foundation for documents", we have a great example of @nikomatsakis.com vision of Rust as "making it dramatically more accessible to author and maintain foundational software."
typst.app/home
smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
typst.app/home
smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
Typst's new landing page looks so good! I love the illustrations for the different use cases, and the "new foundation for documents" tagline is exactly how I see Typst myself. Great work guys
In the past two years, Typst has become the foundation to base document writing on for so many people. With the lessons from their experience, we are launching our new website today.
August 20, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Typst's new landing page looks so good! I love the illustrations for the different use cases, and the "new foundation for documents" tagline is exactly how I see Typst myself. Great work guys
Me trying to implement runtime math parsing in Typst
August 6, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Me trying to implement runtime math parsing in Typst
AI enthusiasts are wildly unrealistic at estimating how quickly humans change their behaviors. “90% of code will be written by AI in 3 months” — statements dreamed up by the utterly deranged.
Heck, we haven't even settled our argument over what to call it.
(Photo is Quinn Slack, speaking at HeavyBit DevGuild. I sent him an invite. Photo by @mikejulian.com.)
(Photo is Quinn Slack, speaking at HeavyBit DevGuild. I sent him an invite. Photo by @mikejulian.com.)
August 1, 2025 at 3:49 AM
AI enthusiasts are wildly unrealistic at estimating how quickly humans change their behaviors. “90% of code will be written by AI in 3 months” — statements dreamed up by the utterly deranged.
Randomly got asked why courtroom sketches are still a thing and really enjoyed this article!
www.artsy.net/article/arts...
www.artsy.net/article/arts...
Why Do We Still Need Courtroom Artists?
When Michael Jackson, Lindsay Lohan, and Tupac Shakur went on trial, sketch artists—not cameras—captured the most memorable moments.
www.artsy.net
July 3, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Randomly got asked why courtroom sketches are still a thing and really enjoyed this article!
www.artsy.net/article/arts...
www.artsy.net/article/arts...
Pokéxec, gotta run em all!
no you dont understand i dont “steal” programs, i pocket executables
June 13, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Pokéxec, gotta run em all!
Man. Feels like we say "API" more often than "interface" just because it's shorter, even if interface is what we really intend
May 28, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Man. Feels like we say "API" more often than "interface" just because it's shorter, even if interface is what we really intend
Reposted by Ian
the computers have many ways to make fun little shapes on your screen, be a little curious, press buttons, see what happens
May 24, 2025 at 9:39 PM
the computers have many ways to make fun little shapes on your screen, be a little curious, press buttons, see what happens
Oy' mate, it's a lovely day to wrangle some Pythons. Here in Australia, we call __name__ == "__main__" a use of down-underscores.
May 10, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Oy' mate, it's a lovely day to wrangle some Pythons. Here in Australia, we call __name__ == "__main__" a use of down-underscores.
A #rustlang talk about masking ugly lifetime requirements with an option type to sate the nightly borrow checker's obsessions: The PhantomData of the Option
May 1, 2025 at 12:27 AM
A #rustlang talk about masking ugly lifetime requirements with an option type to sate the nightly borrow checker's obsessions: The PhantomData of the Option
Took me two tries :)
It's so interesting to me how git has this stickiness to it that requires multiple tugs to escape. My headcanon is that half of git commands are low-level and half are high-level, so jj replacing the low-level commands makes your brain hurt itself in confusion
It's so interesting to me how git has this stickiness to it that requires multiple tugs to escape. My headcanon is that half of git commands are low-level and half are high-level, so jj replacing the low-level commands makes your brain hurt itself in confusion
It took me three tries to “get it.” In the first attempt I couldn’t get through my head that you start changes and then change files. Git always felt the other way for me. `jj undo` feels like magic.
April 29, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Took me two tries :)
It's so interesting to me how git has this stickiness to it that requires multiple tugs to escape. My headcanon is that half of git commands are low-level and half are high-level, so jj replacing the low-level commands makes your brain hurt itself in confusion
It's so interesting to me how git has this stickiness to it that requires multiple tugs to escape. My headcanon is that half of git commands are low-level and half are high-level, so jj replacing the low-level commands makes your brain hurt itself in confusion
Reposted by Ian
I goes to chatgpt. Say I'm depressed. Say life seems harsh and cruel. Says I feel all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain.
April 8, 2025 at 5:46 PM
I goes to chatgpt. Say I'm depressed. Say life seems harsh and cruel. Says I feel all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain.
@felienne.bsky.social I just finished reading "A Case for Feminism in Programming Language Design" and really enjoyed the paper!
But I saw this endnote and wanted to share that there are greener pastures for typesetting languages on the horizon: @typst.app handles arabic by default!
But I saw this endnote and wanted to share that there are greener pastures for typesetting languages on the horizon: @typst.app handles arabic by default!
February 8, 2025 at 10:09 PM
@felienne.bsky.social I just finished reading "A Case for Feminism in Programming Language Design" and really enjoyed the paper!
But I saw this endnote and wanted to share that there are greener pastures for typesetting languages on the horizon: @typst.app handles arabic by default!
But I saw this endnote and wanted to share that there are greener pastures for typesetting languages on the horizon: @typst.app handles arabic by default!