The Curious Engineer

All blogs / Software / engineering practice

iRi

jerf.org/iri

Celebrating Over 10 Years Of Being Too Lazy To Pick A Tagline

Software / engineering practiceGoFunctional / PL theory

’05’10’15’20’25
Posts
635 from 11 Sep 2001 to 8 Sep 2026
Posting
monthly (6 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog
Feed
https://jerf.org/iri/rss.xml

2026 5

  1. Why Function Arguments Are Not Function Colors
  2. Please Don't Start An Open Source Project, Join One
  3. Programming Is Real Engineering, And AI Proves It
  4. When Code Guarantees Are Checked
  5. How Do We Value Code In A World Of Free Code?

2025 17

  1. The Uselessness of "Fast" and "Slow" in Programming
  2. AI and Programming Language Communities
  3. The Most Common Error In Consciousness Research
  4. On Boxes and Lines and Layered Design
  5. Layered Design in Go
  6. Functional Programming Lessons in Imperative Code
  7. Functional Programming Lessons Conclusion
  8. What Does Actual Functional Programming Look Like?
  9. The Imperative Programming Monad
  10. Types as Assertions
  11. Simplicity and Global Mutable Values
  12. Interface Normalization
  13. Half Constructed Objects Are Unnecessary
  14. Component Simplicity
  15. Applying Purity To The Imperative World
  16. Introduction to Applying Functional Programming Lessons in Imperative Code
  17. Some Programming Language Ideas

2024 7

  1. VR Has Had A Phase Change And I Didn't Know It
  2. Go FAQ: The Pipe Operator In Generics Is Not A Sum Type
  3. This Post Is Not About Python
  4. Addendum to "This Post Is Not About Python"
  5. A Definition of Magic in Programming Languages
  6. Goto Is Not A Horror
  7. Don't Repeat Yourself and the Strong Law of Small Numbers

2023 4

  1. The Universe's Most Advanced Aliens
  2. The Streampocalypse and the Importance of First Principles Thinking
  3. Understanding GPT A Bit Better
  4. Validity of Values In Programming Languages

2022 2

  1. Apologies for RSS Burst
  2. second-class citizens in the expression problem

2021 3

  1. Iri
  2. Iri
  3. Interfaces and Nil in Go, or, Don't Lie to Computers

2020 3

  1. Iri
  2. Why Go Getting Generics Will Not Change Idiomatic Go
  3. Why Duck Typing Is Safe

2019 1

  1. Stream Resolutions Are Quality Maximums, Not Minimums

2017 2

  1. Iri
  2. Aging in the 21st Century

2016 3

  1. XML Namespaces in a Nutshell
  2. Iri
  3. Iri

2015 5

  1. Iri
  2. Avoiding Reflection (And Such) In Go
  3. Iri
  4. Iri
  5. It's 2015. Why do we still write insecure software?

2014 11

  1. Iri
  2. Iri
  3. Iri
  4. Iri
  5. Iri
  6. Iri
  7. Go: More UNIX than UNIX
  8. Suture - Supervisor Trees for Go
  9. The Environment Object Pattern in Go
  10. So you want to write a Monad tutorial in Not-Haskell...
  11. Iri

2013 11

  1. Iri
  2. Iri
  3. Computer Security Haiku
  4. Parametricity in Go
  5. Mathematical Diversions: Producing Helium from Hydrogen
  6. Iri
  7. Iri
  8. Iri
  9. An Open Letter To Meijer
  10. Sum Types in Go
  11. The BOAC Fallacy

2012 2

  1. Iri
  2. The Definition Disclaimer

2011 7

  1. Iri
  2. On Leadership
  3. Iri
  4. Review: Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!
  5. why you should consider learning Haskell
  6. Tron: Legacy review
  7. Iri

2010 1

  1. Pedant's Note

2009 6

  1. Iri
  2. Iri
  3. Iri
  4. Iri
  5. Iri
  6. HR 1: Spreadsheet Breakdown of Division A

2008 37

  1. Non-atomic things are not illusions
  2. Iri
  3. Iri
  4. Complexity and Society
  5. Jeff Jarvis on Topics instead of Articles
  6. Iri
  7. Iri
  8. Iri
  9. Swoopo - An Amazingly Evil Con
  10. Iri
  11. Iri
  12. Iri
  13. Iri
  14. Iri
  15. "Fallout From the Fall of CAPTCHAs"
  16. teaching things other than trig
  17. Jerf to MSM: Links, Or It Didn't Happen!
  18. Please Stop with the HTML Replacements
  19. Iri
  20. "Web tripwires" reveal 1.3% of web pages altered in transit
  21. What Every Programmer Needs To Know About Encoding
  22. Iri
  23. Iri
  24. Iri
  25. Iri
  26. Iri
  27. Iri
  28. Learning to Lie
  29. Seeing Around Corners
  30. Superhero Economics
  31. Iri
  32. Iri
  33. Iri
  34. Iri
  35. Iri
  36. Iri
  37. Inevitable Backlash

2007 114

  1. Iri
  2. Iri
  3. Iri
  4. M-O-V, I-N-G, S-U-C-K-S
  5. Programming Wisdom
  6. The Money Value Function
  7. Iri
  8. late 2007 I predicted
  9. Iri
  10. Scientific Federalism
  11. Scientific Federalism
  12. Planning Fallacy
  13. Iri
  14. A New Marriage of Brain and Computer
  15. Iri
  16. Emotional Value
  17. Your Inner High School
  18. Iri
  19. Iri
  20. Iri
  21. Iri
  22. On Values
  23. my Mozilla suggestions
  24. Iri
  25. Iri
  26. What Is Programming?
  27. Prose over video or audio
  28. Judging Tradeoffs
  29. Higher Level Tradeoffs
  30. Language Design Tradeoffs
  31. Compression
  32. What's the "proper" environmental impact?
  33. Iri
  34. Iri
  35. Iri
  36. Rove Who?
  37. Threading is Useless
  38. Iri
  39. Iri
  40. Iri
  41. Iri
  42. Iri
  43. "The Future is Now"
  44. Government Myth #9: Checks And Balances Being Used Implies Broken Government
  45. California Livin'
  46. Risk and Reward
  47. Iri
  48. Iri
  49. Government Myth #8: Democracy Means I Always Get My Way
  50. Programming is not Uniquely Unique
  51. Iri
  52. Iri
  53. [Cheap] Good Practice is Unusually Hard to Create
  54. What Is Computer Science?
  55. How to Solve the Problem of High Gas Prices
  56. Iri
  57. Iri
  58. Iri
  59. Iri
  60. Iri
  61. Lies, Damn Lies, and...
  62. Copyrighting "Numbers"
  63. Iri
  64. Iri
  65. Software is Uniquely Chaotic
  66. Iri
  67. Software is Uniquely Complicated
  68. The Programming Construction Metaphor
  69. Iri
  70. Iri
  71. Programming is Uniquely Difficult
  72. Why Do We Care What's Special About Programming?
  73. Iri
  74. Worry About the Right Things
  75. quote by John Stossel
  76. Iri
  77. Iri
  78. Iri
  79. Iri
  80. Iri
  81. What is Programming Wisdom?
  82. Casus Belli and Iran
  83. The Laws of Grievances
  84. there's always another grievance
  85. About iRi
  86. Amazon Unbox + TiVo: Thumbs Down
  87. Iri
  88. Iri
  89. Big Haskell Projects List - iRi
  90. Blogging, the nihilist impulse
  91. Iri
  92. Announcing BlogBooks
  93. Iri
  94. Community Structure Cause and Effect
  95. Iri
  96. Iri
  97. My New Favorite Spam - iRi
  98. Iri
  99. Iri
  100. Iri
  101. Iri
  102. Iri
  103. Iri
  104. Iri
  105. HTML on iRi
  106. Iri
  107. Anger Management
  108. Iri
  109. Programming and the Gender "Gap"
  110. Iri
  111. Iri
  112. Iri
  113. Something's rotten in the state of [web] Devmark...
  114. Practical Closures

2006 56

  1. Iri
  2. set top boxes would do just that
  3. Iri
  4. previous post
  5. Power-user Configuration Files Should Be Programs
  6. Iri
  7. No Thin Clients Anytime Soon
  8. Why Digital TV Won't Kill Discs Soon
  9. Iri
  10. Iri
  11. Iri
  12. Iri
  13. Iri
  14. Iri
  15. Iri
  16. Iri
  17. NonMockObjects 0.2.0 Released
  18. Iri
  19. Legal Fallacies of Antipsychotic Drugs
  20. Please Stop with the HTML Replacements
  21. Weblog Deployed
  22. The War On Spam - I Was Wrong
  23. Iri
  24. Iri
  25. More keyboard experimentation
  26. Iri
  27. previously alluded to
  28. Iri
  29. Iri
  30. Banking Program NYT correction
  31. Iri
  32. Iri
  33. "Why I Hate Advocacy"
  34. "Mismanagement"
  35. Iri
  36. Iri
  37. Iri
  38. Iri
  39. Iri
  40. Iri
  41. Iri
  42. Iri
  43. Conservation Laws
  44. Iri
  45. Iri
  46. dream I once described here
  47. Iri
  48. Wart removal testimonial
  49. A Lieberman Scenario
  50. Leiberman Scenario
  51. Iri
  52. Iri
  53. summer of the SHARK!
  54. Domain Swiping
  55. Iri
  56. Iri

2005 40

  1. Quantum Trickery in the New York Times
  2. Iri
  3. Iri
  4. When has a policy discussion been politicized?
  5. French Riots
  6. Political Spectrum
  7. Annual Free Credit Report - iRi
  8. My Adjective Test
  9. Iri
  10. Government Myths #6 & #7
  11. Government Myths
  12. Iri
  13. Expanding Brain (ExBr), an outlining blog
  14. Google Accelerator Breaks The Web?
  15. Iri
  16. Iri
  17. On Evolution
  18. XBLinJS 0.4 Released
  19. Television Not So Dumb As Television Tells Us To Think It Is
  20. Iri
  21. Iri
  22. Iri
  23. XBLinJS 0.4 Release Plans
  24. XBLinJS Version 0.3 Released
  25. Why Should I Learn Math?
  26. Iri
  27. Iri
  28. Here we go again; Google "Smart Tags"
  29. Iri
  30. JSON counterpoint
  31. Clinton on Social Security
  32. Iri
  33. Stupid Students of Michigan State University upset that potential ban on public urination will affect the school's party status
  34. Iri
  35. Referrer spam half my bandwidth??? [update - nope] [update - false positives addressed]
  36. Myth #5: "Liberal" and "Conservative" Have Some Sort Of Meaning
  37. Iri
  38. Meta-coalitions as a Cultural Tendency
  39. In tonight's episode, the FCC learns about giving in to bullies...
  40. XBLinJS 0.2 released

2004 115

  1. Iri
  2. Government Myths Interlude: Making Sense Of The Election
  3. Making Sense Of The 2004 Election
  4. Myth #4: My Vote Doesn't Count
  5. My Vote Doesn't Count
  6. Myth #3: The Purpose Of Voting Is To Determine A Winner
  7. This is a test
  8. The Purpose Of Voting Is To Determine A Winner
  9. Myth #2: The U.S. Is Formally A Two-Party System
  10. The US is Formally A Two-Party System
  11. Myth #1: The US Is A Two Party System, Not A Coalition System
  12. The US Is A Two Party System, Not A Coalition System
  13. Government Myths - Introduction and Index
  14. Government Myths
  15. Iri
  16. Bias In The News
  17. Iri
  18. Iri
  19. RSS Bandwidth Problem already solved?
  20. New Guard Documents Forgeries
  21. Iri
  22. Iri
  23. Slashdot: Are we alone in the Universe?
  24. Comparing Blogging to Journalism Fairly
  25. US Congress declares "genocide" in Darfur, Sudan
  26. Iri
  27. Iri
  28. Zany Paraclete explains international terminology
  29. Comment Spam and tcp.im
  30. Step one of hawking your identity theft solution is...
  31. Mixing morals with education on dangerousmeta
  32. Reverse Compatibility as a Pernicious Software Trap
  33. post on switching to Dvorak
  34. A Bold Move
  35. A Question of Sustainability
  36. I disagree that's the solution
  37. while ago
  38. Viruses and Valuing Human Lives
  39. when I use the word "economic" I automatically mean "potentially costing lives"
  40. Jerf Answers Your Mail
  41. Frontier Open Sourcing
  42. Theories As Exclusion
  43. Iri
  44. Left Bias in the News
  45. nigritude ultramarine
  46. Modes of Thought and Development
  47. Top 5 Stupidities in the Second Part 10.5
  48. Iri
  49. <font face="Courier"><b>Ten Point Five <font size="-1">Five</font> <font size="-2">Five</font></b></font>
  50. Mozilla Development
  51. Bush & the Press
  52. Iri
  53. California Decertifies Diebold Paperless Voting Machines
  54. Iri
  55. 2004
  56. Microsoft's "Caller ID" non-solution to spam
  57. How To Win Apprentice 2
  58. Broken Windows and Policing
  59. Iri
  60. How To Determine Motivation From Actions
  61. Post-modern Narratives: A Definition for My Use
  62. On the GMail Controversy
  63. Iron Lute back burnered
  64. XML Mapping to and from Objects
  65. "A Pail of Air" (Fritz Leiber) + "Out In The Country" (Three Dog Night)
  66. SF New Mexican: Scientists help with border protection
  67. The iRi downside
  68. Getting Off Microsoft
  69. NY Times: U.S. Will Give Cold Fusion Second Look, After 15 Years
  70. Iri
  71. "Distractions" post on Iron Lute
  72. The UN and the Community of Democracies
  73. Iri
  74. Iron Lute progress update
  75. Computers in Education
  76. Linux vs. Windows: The Real Difference
  77. Yes, I Am A Number...
  78. Destimulating the Journalism Laser
  79. Outlines, Part 6
  80. HR3261 - Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act
  81. Why I don't believe in Government Conspiracies About Aliens
  82. Telephone Rings
  83. On Holding Together This Structure
  84. Storing My Outlines
  85. Dos and Don'ts for DVD commentaries
  86. Iri
  87. Legality of do-not-call list upheld
  88. I Support Dave
  89. Iri
  90. Seeing the Forest for the Trees
  91. Iri
  92. Atkins, Nutrasweet, and Sucralose
  93. Signing Weblog Comments with PGP or GPG
  94. Iri
  95. Iri
  96. What is an Outline, Part 4
  97. Iri
  98. Leo and Iron Lute
  99. Iron Lute License
  100. What Is An Outline, part 3
  101. What Is An Outline, part 2
  102. Crashing hard drives
  103. Joe Job
  104. What Is an Outline?, part 1
  105. Bowers' Law
  106. Journalism idea
  107. Nation-Building 101
  108. Bayesian Filters
  109. here
  110. Snopes Gets RSS Feed
  111. Postel's Law
  112. Public Announcement: Iron Lute, a Python/TK Outliner
  113. previous post
  114. Google love
  115. Wall Nuts

2003 176

  1. Big Number Fallacy
  2. Big Number Fallacy
  3. The End of the Microsoft Era
  4. Emergent Weblog Behavior
  5. Crichton on the Environment
  6. Dean is Doomed
  7. Padilla Released from Military Custody
  8. The draft - a sick joke?
  9. Microsft Wins HTML App Patent
  10. Philosophical Musings
  11. Christmas Music as The Most Innovative of the Year
  12. iRights is dead... long live iRights
  13. Atkins Update
  14. The ''Second Superpower' in the US' is conservative...
  15. Beaten to the punch
  16. The Power of the Little Details
  17. The Ethics of Modern Communication
  18. Iri
  19. Iri
  20. Iri
  21. Iri
  22. Iri
  23. Unreason's seductive charms
  24. FCC Adopts Hollywood "Broadcast Flag" Mandate
  25. Iri
  26. Iri
  27. Remainder of The Ethics of Modern Communication posted
  28. Iri
  29. Arcane Copyright
  30. Iri
  31. Iri
  32. Iri
  33. Iri
  34. Iri
  35. Iri
  36. Iri
  37. Iri
  38. Iri
  39. Iri
  40. Server working, I think
  41. Iri
  42. Iri
  43. Iri
  44. Iri
  45. Iri
  46. Iri
  47. Iri
  48. Iri
  49. Iri
  50. Iri
  51. Iri
  52. Iri
  53. Iri
  54. Iri
  55. Iri
  56. Iri
  57. Iri
  58. Iri
  59. Big News (for me)
  60. Iri
  61. Iri
  62. Iri
  63. Iri
  64. Iri
  65. Iri
  66. Iri
  67. Iri
  68. Iri
  69. Is the <i>real</i> TiVolution beginning?
  70. Iri
  71. Iri
  72. Iri
  73. Request for Help
  74. Iri
  75. E-mail straightened away... spammer who doesn't get it...
  76. Iri
  77. Iri
  78. Iri
  79. Iri
  80. Iri
  81. Iri
  82. Iri
  83. Iri
  84. Iri
  85. My Email is Down
  86. Ideological Axes
  87. Iri
  88. It's all about the Benjamins...
  89. Iri
  90. this later posting
  91. Bandwidth efficiency idea for RSS - rproxy
  92. Why I Prefer Weblogs For My News, Pt. 1,285
  93. Iri
  94. I said it would almost exactly a year ago
  95. Iri
  96. Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson
  97. Iri
  98. Iri
  99. Iri
  100. Iri
  101. Iri
  102. IRS Can't Even Get Tax Law Right
  103. Iri
  104. Iri
  105. Iri
  106. Iri
  107. Iri
  108. Ignorance of the Law <i>should</i> be an excuse
  109. Patent Protest
  110. ignorance should be a defense claim
  111. Iri
  112. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California TV
  113. Iri
  114. Message Integrity - Next Chapter for Communication Ethics
  115. Iri
  116. Iri
  117. Iri
  118. Iri
  119. Iri
  120. Iri
  121. Iri
  122. Iri
  123. Iri
  124. Blame Game
  125. Iri
  126. Iri
  127. Iri
  128. Iri
  129. Toodles, Poindexter
  130. Iri
  131. Iri
  132. Iri
  133. Iri
  134. Iri
  135. Iri
  136. Iri
  137. Iri
  138. Iri
  139. Iri
  140. Iri
  141. Iri
  142. Iri
  143. Addendum to privacy chapter
  144. Iri
  145. Chapter 8 - Privacy
  146. Iri
  147. Chapter 7 - A New Model for Copyright
  148. An excellent sign
  149. Iri
  150. Iri
  151. Iri
  152. Iri
  153. Defeating Bayes Filters
  154. Iri
  155. Voting Machine Analysed, Found Wanting
  156. Iri
  157. Iri
  158. Iri
  159. Iri
  160. Iri
  161. Iri
  162. Iri
  163. Chapter 6 of the Ethics of Modern Communication
  164. Iri
  165. Iri
  166. Iri
  167. Iri
  168. Iri
  169. Iri
  170. Iri
  171. Iri
  172. Iri
  173. Iri
  174. Iri
  175. Iri
  176. Iri

2002 1

  1. August 2002

2001 1

  1. Edge: Learning to expect the unexpected - iRi

Undated 5

  1. post index
  2. human perception integrity
  3. blogbook
  4. attempting to legislate technology, rather than people
  5. Programming Wisdom