AI-first Software Engineering Playbook
Tips and tricks for enforcement and control against LLMs going off the hinges!
Alex Ragalie
Thoughts on Coding and Art
Latest posts
"Game Programming Patterns" by Robert Nystrom
From the lovingly written humorous side notes on most pages, to the final sections of each chapter, you can clearly feel at the end of the book that this was the labour of love from someone deeply knowledgeable and passionate about sharing their knowledge in the best way possible.
"Idiomatic Rust" by Brenden Matthews
I liked the book overall, and I'm very grateful and appreciative for the efforts of the author. But somehow the book feels confused as to whom is the reader that it targets, and to whom should it add most value.
"Tidy First?" by Kent Beck
You need a few years of deep software development expertise, especially in a team and on several projects, before you can really appreciate the deep wisdom of the suggestions which Kent Beck shares in this book.
"Docker Up & Running" by Kane & Matthias
A very good book for those starting with Docker, as well as the more advanced dev who feels that they're missing a strong foundation. Highly recommended!
"Designing Games" by Tynan Sylvester
I've learned a great deal from this book, so I'm very much recommending it! I also wish there were more titles of this calibre in the "Game Design" section of technical books.
"Extreme C" by Kamran Amini
I find it very hard to recommend this book, as I've had to stop reading it quite early on, because I was getting quite worried about the accuracy of what I'm reading.
"The Rust Programming Language" by Steve Klabnik and Carol Nichols
The content is very good, rightfully so as the first recommended resource for learning Rust 🦀. I don't think it's worth spending the money on the physical book though, considering it's the same exact content as the free version online, unless you really like to hold paper in your hands.
Get faster: my 2024 resolution
In 2024 I want to become significantly faster at developing software in the main ecosystems I spend my working hours on: JavaScript + TypeScript with Node on backend and React on frontend, Rust 🦀 for all performance-intensive workloads.
"Understanding and Using C Pointers" by Richard Reese
An absolute must-read in my view for any novice or mid-level C programmer, highly recommended!
"Let us C" by Yashavant Kanetkar
Even though the author has done a decent job at synthesizing a complex topic in a small handbook, this process of reduction has come at the significant expense of over-simplification and even confusing wishy-washy top level explanations.
"Head First C" by David & Dawn Griffiths
Interesting concept, though not for me. I believe one can get much more bang for their buck in 2023 if one just takes a C course on Udemy or on YouTube.
"C Primer Plus" by Stephen Prata
One of the best beginner programming books I’ve ever read. I wish this would have been the first book I read when I started programming!
"The Software Engineer's Guidebook" by Gergely Orosz
There might not be such a thing as a 10x engineer, but if you follow Gergely’s advice in this book you’re guaranteed to 10x your chances of having a great career in tech.
"Learning JavaScript Design Patterns" by Addy Osmani
A very good birds-eye view of design patterns for the mid to advanced level JavaScript developer. I learned quite a few things from the book, and I highly recommend it as a weekend read.