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In 1957, IBM introduced the first mainstream compiler for the FORTRAN language and revolutionized software development. It allowed programmers to work at a higher level of abstraction, shifting from writing the individual instructions that the computer would execute to more human-readable expressions of intent. Similarly, modern AI tools like GitHub Copilot and Claude Code enable developers to…

 I made a toy 12-bit 8 ISA CPU. 
 4 bit op-code, 8 bit address, 8 bit ALU. 
 Implements LDA (load accumulator with value at address), STA (store accumulator at address), ADD (accumulator + register b), SUB (accumulator - register b), MBA (move accumulator to register b), JMP (jump to address), JZ (jump to address if zero flag set), HLT (halt), with op-codes 0001 to 0111 and 1111,…
From nothing to N2 in roughly three and a half years.

ドアが開き、賑やかなホームに降りた。後ろの満員電車から、人がざあざあと川の流れのように早く向こう側の各駅停車へ歩き出した。人の間を縫い、ついに改札に着いた。出口が見えると寒いビル風と戦うのに準備をしておいた。 
 夜の空は雲は一つも無かった。都内の真ん中は遠くで、いくつかキラキラ輝く星がみえる。商店街の方では、歩道に置いた商品を店の中に運んでいる店員の音がする。出口から左に曲がって、そして右に曲がって、また左に曲がると、一人もいない道に入る。ビル風はよりもっと強くなってきた。もう少しだ。あと３分歩いて温泉は目の前。 
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先週は予想より大変だったので、金曜日が終わったらフラフラするほど疲れていた。目が半分しかあいていない状態で映画を観始めた。知らない間に眠ってしまった。 
 今朝起きたらとても寒いことに気づいた。雨がしとしと降っていた。毛布に包まれた僕はぽかぽかベッドを出ないことにした。雨は降り続け、徐々に雪となった。嬉しいなと思いつつ、ゆっくり目が閉じてきてまた寝てしまった。
I feel completely comfortable saying that my daily routine of learning Kanji is entirely a habit now. If I miss a day, something feels really off - and I then have reviews piling up, which makes more work for the day or two afterwards. 
 Tonight I completely filled my first notebook with Kanji. The book includes my studies every day between November 3, 2017 and January 4, 2018, with the…
Since I began to teach myself Japanese, I have experimented with several workflows and resources in order to find a comfortable and efficient - if not optimal - self-teaching environment for myself. I have been fortunate to have a lot of time on my hands to dedicate to this endeavor, thanks in part to being between jobs and in part to having saved enough to float me for several months before…
I fell in love with Japan. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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It turned out, perhaps not surprisingly, that daily posts were just not going to happen. Once I met up with my friends in Hong Kong and began to put more time into Japanese, any remaining free time I wanted for writing up posts needed to be cut from my sleep, which I couldn’t do. But perhaps more importantly, there have been so many amazing people and incredible places that I’ve had…
This morning I got breakfast with Nicolas - an American visiting Hong Kong short-term - and Martin - a German teaching English in Hong Kong. Then I took a series of naps until waking up to the sound of brass instruments and drumming moving through the street below. From the bedroom window, it looked like a parade, so Lise and I were curious and checked it out. It was more apparent on the ground…
Woke up in the morning hungry again for dim sum, so for breakfast, Zach, Maja and I went to the place I discovered on my first day. And this time we ordered the charcoal buns with the egg yolk filling that I was hesitant to try the first time around (see the black buns in front of me on the right). After breakfast I decided I was going to walk from our hostel in Wan Chai to Victoria Peak. I wanted…
I slept for almost twelve hours after hiking Dragon’s Back, and when I woke up, I realized I hadn’t eaten anything in almost 24 hours. So I found this delicious Japanese restaurant on my street that was open at 7:15am and grabbed some food to go for myself and one of my hostel-mates. Then I took a nap. When I woke up, I bought my 21-day Japanese Rail Pass, was hungry for some lunch,…
I wake up at 5:30 or 6:00am here for some reason, regardless of how much sleep I get. Last night I got back late from the jazz club, then wrote up my post, and got to sleep at around 2:00am. Then of course I woke up at 5:30, ready to spend the day hiking. Winter, the girl living with us in our room on her last two days in this hostel, had planned a solo day hike at Dragon’s Back on the…
Today was my trip out of mainland China and into my ten-day stay in Hong Kong. The signs in the immigration area in the Hong Kong International Airport read “Travelers” instead of Shanghai’s “Foreigners”, which was an interesting change of perspective and set the tone for how I was going to be greeted by Hong Kong. From the moment I stepped off the plane, I stepped…
My flight left the ground from Chicago O’Hare yesterday afternoon and touched me down fourteen and a half hours later at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China. It was actually not a bad flight at all. We got three meals, the lavatories smelled amazing , and for such a long flight in economy, I only felt like I had deep vein thrombosis once. However, what really made the flight was…
It’s not often that anyone is given an opportunity for a voluntary and extended change of pace in their life. And I imagine it is even less often that anyone can create that opportunity for themself without assuming too much risk or burning bridges in the process. But I am fortunate enough at this point in my life to have almost nothing tying me down, and I have my brother to thank for…