Hillel is taking a break
@hillelwayne.com
Formal methods, software history, chocolatiering. DMs open and happy to meet up in Chicago. Currently writing *Logic for Programmers* (out Q1 2026)
Newsletter: https://buttondown.email/hillelwayne/
Newsletter: https://buttondown.email/hillelwayne/
6. CAVES OF QUD: The Citizen Kane of Dying Earth. Nobody could truly have liked the Dying Earth genre/setting before because, prior to Qud, nobody had truly experienced it. This game is a century-old idea finally reaching its real potential. Live and drink, traveler.
October 20, 2025 at 5:28 PM
6. CAVES OF QUD: The Citizen Kane of Dying Earth. Nobody could truly have liked the Dying Earth genre/setting before because, prior to Qud, nobody had truly experienced it. This game is a century-old idea finally reaching its real potential. Live and drink, traveler.
5. CASE OF THE GOLDEN IDOL: If this was around in 2005 Roger Ebert wouldn't have written that "video games aren't art" rant. This game is art by any conventional definition of "art". It's also proudly a game, telling its story in ways impossible in books or movies.
October 20, 2025 at 5:28 PM
5. CASE OF THE GOLDEN IDOL: If this was around in 2005 Roger Ebert wouldn't have written that "video games aren't art" rant. This game is art by any conventional definition of "art". It's also proudly a game, telling its story in ways impossible in books or movies.
4. HEAT SIGNATURE: the second closest you'll feel to John Wick. A game about leisurely unfolding 5-alarm crises, demanding clever solutions to problems accidentally created by clever solutions to previous problems
October 20, 2025 at 5:28 PM
4. HEAT SIGNATURE: the second closest you'll feel to John Wick. A game about leisurely unfolding 5-alarm crises, demanding clever solutions to problems accidentally created by clever solutions to previous problems
2. RETURN OF THE OBRA DINN: A therapist once told me that all anger comes from loss. I told her some anger came from joy, because one discovery in Obra Dinn was SO GOOD it made me physically angry. Emotion hysteresis is real
October 20, 2025 at 5:28 PM
2. RETURN OF THE OBRA DINN: A therapist once told me that all anger comes from loss. I told her some anger came from joy, because one discovery in Obra Dinn was SO GOOD it made me physically angry. Emotion hysteresis is real
1. FACTORIO: @r.whal.ing and I spent like 80 hours beating the space age expansion, the single most incredible experience I had playing a game. By the end of the factories and shipping lanes we built were a work of craftship, unclear where engineering ended and art began
October 20, 2025 at 5:28 PM
1. FACTORIO: @r.whal.ing and I spent like 80 hours beating the space age expansion, the single most incredible experience I had playing a game. By the end of the factories and shipping lanes we built were a work of craftship, unclear where engineering ended and art began
October 13, 2025 at 6:12 PM
If you ctrl click+drag on firefox you can select multiple independent sources of text and copy them all at once
bsky.app/profile/benj...
bsky.app/profile/benj...
October 10, 2025 at 3:13 PM
If you ctrl click+drag on firefox you can select multiple independent sources of text and copy them all at once
bsky.app/profile/benj...
bsky.app/profile/benj...
FYI not all the abalone barnacles were dead, this 'lil guy even survived a night in the fridge
October 7, 2025 at 4:35 PM
FYI not all the abalone barnacles were dead, this 'lil guy even survived a night in the fridge
Are Abalone the grossest-looking food in the sea?
100%, especially under 40x magnification
Still delicious tho
100%, especially under 40x magnification
Still delicious tho
October 7, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Are Abalone the grossest-looking food in the sea?
100%, especially under 40x magnification
Still delicious tho
100%, especially under 40x magnification
Still delicious tho
There's "I think AI is a net negative to society" anti-AI and there's "I wish your human son had died" anti-AI
October 3, 2025 at 5:19 PM
There's "I think AI is a net negative to society" anti-AI and there's "I wish your human son had died" anti-AI
I mean just look at how the cover evolved
July 1, 2025 at 4:04 AM
I mean just look at how the cover evolved
Picture of the vs screen, though I think it loses a bit without the animations and the music
(oh hey the lights turned yellow because the last race is with DuckDB)
They plan to release the program so you can make your own database races
(oh hey the lights turned yellow because the last race is with DuckDB)
They plan to release the program so you can make your own database races
June 20, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Picture of the vs screen, though I think it loses a bit without the animations and the music
(oh hey the lights turned yellow because the last race is with DuckDB)
They plan to release the program so you can make your own database races
(oh hey the lights turned yellow because the last race is with DuckDB)
They plan to release the program so you can make your own database races
June 20, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Tigerbeetle also had the ability to do full replication and durability checks, since it was fast enough to afford to spend cycles on that.
That was at 10% contention. Now benchmarking 50% contention with the proprietary postgres million-dollar cluster. Gets 2 minute headstart vs tigerbeetle
That was at 10% contention. Now benchmarking 50% contention with the proprietary postgres million-dollar cluster. Gets 2 minute headstart vs tigerbeetle
June 20, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Tigerbeetle also had the ability to do full replication and durability checks, since it was fast enough to afford to spend cycles on that.
That was at 10% contention. Now benchmarking 50% contention with the proprietary postgres million-dollar cluster. Gets 2 minute headstart vs tigerbeetle
That was at 10% contention. Now benchmarking 50% contention with the proprietary postgres million-dollar cluster. Gets 2 minute headstart vs tigerbeetle
June 20, 2025 at 3:04 PM
bufstreamIO [uses/is Kafka?]
Kafka has some wierd properties, like you can insert a write in the middle of a read. Going through some of the bugs he found with jepsen, like a lease expiration never getting transmitted
These slides are v good btw
Kafka has some wierd properties, like you can insert a write in the middle of a read. Going through some of the bugs he found with jepsen, like a lease expiration never getting transmitted
These slides are v good btw
June 20, 2025 at 1:31 PM
bufstreamIO [uses/is Kafka?]
Kafka has some wierd properties, like you can insert a write in the middle of a read. Going through some of the bugs he found with jepsen, like a lease expiration never getting transmitted
These slides are v good btw
Kafka has some wierd properties, like you can insert a write in the middle of a read. Going through some of the bugs he found with jepsen, like a lease expiration never getting transmitted
These slides are v good btw
It's day two of Systems Distributed, hosted by @tigerbeetle.com! I'll be liveskeeting all of the talks, except mine (at 11 AM). Since the venue is a film museum, they're setting up special posters for each talk.
#sd25
#sd25
June 20, 2025 at 6:36 AM
It's day two of Systems Distributed, hosted by @tigerbeetle.com! I'll be liveskeeting all of the talks, except mine (at 11 AM). Since the venue is a film museum, they're setting up special posters for each talk.
#sd25
#sd25
the claim / the proof
May 27, 2025 at 6:13 PM
the claim / the proof
Messing around with laminated candies. These are molasses brittles with a chocolate shell
May 24, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Messing around with laminated candies. These are molasses brittles with a chocolate shell
11 (for real)/ #Excel has "spillover arrays", where you put the formula in one cell and it creates an array over many cells. Operations on the formula cell act on the whole array. This makes Excel an APL and yes, you can tersely implement Game of Life in it
May 23, 2025 at 7:39 PM
11 (for real)/ #Excel has "spillover arrays", where you put the formula in one cell and it creates an array over many cells. Operations on the formula cell act on the whole array. This makes Excel an APL and yes, you can tersely implement Game of Life in it
Tweaking the design of *Logic for Programmers* always seems to take so much more time than writing or editing it. Changing the title design took three hours and changing the tables took another three
May 22, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Tweaking the design of *Logic for Programmers* always seems to take so much more time than writing or editing it. Changing the title design took three hours and changing the tables took another three
Hooray for SMT solvers, a real useful tool for doing real useful work
![mymax([1, 2, 3]) = 3
mymax([4, 2, 2]) = 4
mymax([1, 1, 1]) = 1
mymax([8, 0, 9]) = 9
mymax([-1, -2, -3]) = -1
mymax([x, y, z]) = -443x + 1148y + -617z + 0xy + 129xz + -34yz + -182](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rvlyeda73kxm7l2weegk73pa/bafkreifmqzedeacihhbmyhmn6ow5d23jl5leupps5lbepk44m4vfehtdoy@jpeg)
![from z3 import * # type: ignore
solver = Solver()
a0, a, b, c, d, e, f = Consts('a0 a b c d e f', IntSort())
t = "a*x+b*y+c*z+d*x*y+e*x*z+f*y*z+a0"
x, y, z = Ints('x y z')
# use_z3_func = True
use_z3_func = False
if use_z3_func:
mymax = Function('mymax', IntSort(), IntSort(), IntSort(), IntSort())
solver.add(ForAll([x, y, z], mymax(x, y, z) == eval(t)))
else:
mymax = lambda x, y, z: eval(t)
gags = [(1,2,3), (4, 2, 2), (1, 1, 1), (8,0,9), (-1, -2, -3)]
for g in gags:
solver.add(mymax(*g) == max(*g))
if solver.check() == sat:
m = solver.model()
for x, y, z in gags:
print(f"mymax([{x}, {y}, {z}]) =", m.evaluate(mymax(x, y, z)))
print(f"\nmymax([x, y, z]) = {m[a]}x + {m[b]}y + {m[c]}z + {m[d]}xy + {m[e]}xz + {m[f]}yz + {m[a0]}")](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rvlyeda73kxm7l2weegk73pa/bafkreic3oeul6fhrq5vik7m22t2mmjncj3rqe4e4nllcpxx6yfvbpq22ka@jpeg)
May 17, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Hooray for SMT solvers, a real useful tool for doing real useful work