October 2025
Time for another monthly post sharing some of the IT discoveries that crossed my path lately. Below you'll find a mix of articles, links, and resources, some of which tie into my current activities and areas of interest.
Some thoughts
AI House OpenAI meetup
The highlight of the month was the AI House OpenAI meetup in Amsterdam. It was a great event focused on "Vibe Coding" and getting the most out of OpenAI's coding assistant.
Anouk Muis from OpenAI gave a workshop on ChatGPT's Codex, followed by a panel discussion with Vladislav Tankov (Director of AI at JetBrains) and Jelmer Borst (Head of Analytics & AI at Picnic Technologies). It was great to explore practical strategies for effective AI-assisted coding at the new AI House hub.
Tools updates
I finally switched terminal emulators. I had been struggling with some random key binding issues in iTerm2, but I managed to recreate my preferred workflow with a hotkey window in Ghostty using its quick terminal feature:
keybind = global:cmd+enter=toggle_quick_terminal
I also enabled Touch ID for sudo commands, so I no longer need to type my password all the time (link1, link2).
On the window management front, I started using Alt-Tab for better windows switching and Rectangle for snapping windows. Both have significantly improved my workflow.
Life
I watched a lot of Graham Weaver videos this month. His "Last Lecture" series gave me a lot of inspiration and motivation.
- Last Lecture Series: How to Design a Winnable Game – Graham Weaver
- Last Lecture Series: “How to Live an Asymmetric Life” Graham Weaver
- Last Lecture Series: “Your Life as the Hero’s Journey” Graham Weaver
- Last Lecture Series: "How to Live your Life at Full Power" Graham Weaver
Articles
Crafting Software: Writing Maintainable Code
Maintainable code can easily be the difference between long-lived, profitable software, and short-lived money pits.
The Software Essays that Shaped Me · Refactoring English
AI generated summary
The page explores influential essays that shaped the author's software development philosophy, emphasizing clear test code, the benefits of plain JavaScript, choosing reliable technologies, digital disaster preparedness, and user-friendly input validation.
Advice I Wish I Knew as a Junior Developer
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The blog post provides advice for junior developers based on the author's experiences in software development. Key points include the importance of working with legacy code, managing expectations by underpromising and overdelivering, maintaining professional relationships for career advancement, and understanding that all code is temporary.
The Productive Discomfort Zone: Why Real Career Growth Feels Awful
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The article explores the 'productive discomfort zone,' a phase where career growth feels challenging and uncomfortable, yet is essential for achieving exceptional success. It contrasts this with the 'flow state,' highlighting the importance of persevering through difficult periods.
A One-Pager Is All You Need - by Jordan Cutler
The highly valuable tool for influence and moving solutions forward as an engineer
Distributing your own scripts via Homebrew
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This article by Justin Searls explains how to distribute CLI tools via Homebrew. It covers setting up a GitHub repository, creating a Homebrew tap, and automating updates with GitHub Actions, highlighting the benefits and challenges of using Homebrew.
An Engineer's Guide To Cultivating Confidence
You don't need to "feel" confident to be confident. Here's how.
What is "good taste" in software engineering?
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The article discusses the concept of 'good taste' in software engineering, emphasizing that it is distinct from technical skill and involves selecting the right engineering values for a project. It highlights the importance of flexibility and understanding trade-offs in design decisions, and how personal values shape an engineer's taste.
Firefox is the best mobile browser | Kelvin's personal website
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Firefox is praised as the best mobile browser due to its open-source nature, privacy features, and support for powerful extensions on Android. The article highlights extensions that block ads and pop-ups, improve user experience on Medium and Twitter/X, and more. It also discusses Firefox's sync feature and customizable homepage.
Examples are the best documentation
AI generated summary
The article emphasizes the value of examples in technical documentation, arguing that they help developers quickly understand complex concepts without needing to delve into detailed explanations. It highlights the challenges developers face with formal documentation and suggests that examples can make documentation more accessible and practical.
AI
Neural Networks: Simpler Than You Think | Hamza's Blog
A walkthrough of implementing a neural network from scratch in Python, exploring what makes these seemingly complex systems actually quite straightforward.
Python MCP Server: Connect LLMs to Your Data – Real Python
Learn how to build a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server in Python. Connect tools, prompts, and data to AI agents like Cursor for smarter assistants.
Pairing with Claude Code to Rebuild My Startup’s Website
Adventures using AI agents, especially Claude Code, and MCP Servers
Effective context engineering for AI agents \ Anthropic
AI generated summary
The article explores context engineering as a critical aspect of AI development, focusing on optimizing the information used by AI models to achieve desired behaviors. It emphasizes the need for careful token curation due to the limitations of large language models and provides strategies for effective context management.
Vibing a Non-Trivial Ghostty Feature – Mitchell Hashimoto
AI generated summary
The article explores the creation of a macOS unobtrusive update notification feature using AI and agentic coding tools. It emphasizes the importance of human intervention in refining AI-generated code and overcoming challenges, showcasing AI as an assistant in software development.
The rise of "context engineering"
AI generated summary
Context engineering involves creating dynamic systems to provide the right information and tools for LLMs to perform tasks effectively. It is crucial as LLM applications become more complex, focusing on structured context over clever prompt phrasing. LangGraph and LangSmith are tools that facilitate context engineering.
GitHub - alvinunreal/tmuxai: AI-Powered, Non-Intrusive Terminal Assistant
AI-Powered, Non-Intrusive Terminal Assistant.
GitHub - PicoTrex/Awesome-Nano-Banana-images
A curated collection of fun and creative examples generated with Nano Banana🍌, Gemini-2.5-flash-image based model.
Void
Void is an open source Cursor alternative. Full privacy. Fully-featured.
v0 by Vercel
Your collaborative AI assistant to design, iterate, and scale full-stack applications for the web.
Security
How I Almost Got Hacked By A 'Job Interview'
I was 30 seconds away from running malware, Here's how a sophisticated scam operation almost got me, and why every developer needs to read this.
Weak password allowed hackers to sink a 158-year-old company
Transport company KNP forced to shut down after international hacker gangs target thousands of UK businesses.
Python
Python lazy imports you can use today | PythonTest
There's a proposal for Python to natively support lazy importing starting in Python 3.15. However, there are techniques covered in this post that allow you to use lazy importing now with 3.13, 3.12, ... really every version of Python.
Beyond the AI Hype: Guido van Rossum on Python’s Philosophy, Simplicity, and the Future of Programming. | ODBMS Industry Watch
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Guido van Rossum discusses Python's philosophy of simplicity and its role in AI, the importance of type hints, and the challenges of transitioning from Python 2 to 3. He expresses concerns about the ethical implications of AI and hopes for Python's legacy to empower individual developers.
Python 3.14: Cool New Features for You to Try – Real Python
Learn what's new in Python 3.14, including an upgraded REPL, template strings, lazy annotations, and subinterpreters, with examples to try in your code.
Django
Python and then some: Using Async Functions in Celery with Django Connection Pooling
The blog post discusses the challenges and solutions for using asynchronous functions in Celery tasks within a Django application, particularly when using Django's connection pooling feature introduced in version 5.1. It explains that Celery does not natively support async functions, which can lead to issues with database connection pooling. The post details how Django's async ORM works, highlighting the use of
ThreadSensitiveContextto manage database connections in async contexts. It provides a solution for wrapping async functions in Celery tasks using a custom decorator and handling connection cleanup. Additionally, it addresses issues related to Celery's prefork mode and provides code snippets for implementing the solutions.
DjangoCon US 2025 Recap — Portfolio documentation
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The DjangoCon US 2025 recap covers key presentations, including Will Vincent's insights on Django's limitations for LLMs, Paolo Melchiorre's GeneratedField feature, and Dwayne McDaniel's talk on AI security risks. The event celebrated Django's 20th anniversary with social gatherings and highlighted the importance of community and innovation in the Django ecosystem.
Django bulk_update memory issue | Anže’s Blog
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The blog post addresses a memory issue with Django's bulk_update method during a migration involving a large number of database objects. The author experienced a memory spike that led to a SIGTERM and resolved it by implementing custom batching. The issue was reported, but the proposed fix was rejected, leading to a documentation update warning about potential memory usage.
Adding imports to the Django shell · Applied Cartography
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The author explains how to customize the Django shell to automatically import specific modules, a feature they missed after removing django-extensions due to Django 5.2's new capabilities.
Python libraries
GitHub - feldroy/air: The new Python web framework by the authors of Two Scoops of Django
Air 💨: The new web framework that breathes fresh air into Python web development. Built with FastAPI, Starlette, and Pydantic.
Tools
Tilt | Kubernetes for Prod, Tilt for Dev
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Tilt is an open-source toolkit that simplifies microservice development by providing smart rebuilds, live updates, and a user-friendly interface for Kubernetes. It enhances productivity through features like holistic app visibility, fast live updates, and built-in best practices.
GitHub - tw93/Mole: 🐹 Dig deep like a mole to clean you Mac.
AI generated summary
Mole is a terminal-based tool for cleaning and optimizing Mac systems, offering deep cleanup, app uninstallation, and system optimization features.
GitHub - lwouis/alt-tab-macos
Windows alt-tab on macOS
GitHub - slackhq/nebula
A scalable overlay networking tool with a focus on performance, simplicity and security
ZeroTier | Next-Generation Connectivity and Cybersecurity
Connect everything, from cloud to IoT, with the next-generation global network solution. Simple, resilient, and secure networking in minutes.
Cloud
Every Developer Needs to Self-Host
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This article argues that self-hosting is a valuable practice for developers, offering insights into hardware and network management while potentially saving costs compared to cloud services.
Other stuff
Indefinite Backpack Travel – Jeremy Maluf
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This page explores the author's minimalist lifestyle of indefinite travel with only a laptop backpack. It highlights the benefits of onebag travel, such as reduced travel hassles and a focus on essentials. The author provides a detailed list of possessions and emphasizes practicality over consumerism, allowing for spontaneous travel and maintaining social connections.
grug.design
The Grug Brained Designer
Videos
Last Lecture Series: How to Design a Winnable Game – Graham Weaver
Last Lecture Series: “How to Live an Asymmetric Life,” Graham Weaver
Last Lecture Series: “Your Life as the Hero’s Journey,” Graham Weaver
Last Lecture Series: How to Live your Life at Full Power — Graham Weaver
The Holy Grail of Neovim Note Taking
Lecture #9: How to Read so that you Retain Information
n8n Now Runs My ENTIRE Homelab
DEF CON 33 - Kill List: Hacking an Assassination Site on the Dark Web - Carl Miller, Chris Monteiro
What Big Tech Still Gets WRONG about Great Programmers | Casey Muratori
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Casey Muratori addresses the common misconceptions held by big tech companies regarding the qualities of great programmers, highlighting the disconnect between industry hiring practices and the true skills that define exceptional programming talent.