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Register Spill

registerspill.thorstenball.com

Thoughts about software engineering I can't keep in my head. Too ephemeral for blog posts, too long for social media. It's the messages I'd send if you'd asked me what's on my mind. Click to read Register Spill, by Thorsten Ball, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

Software / engineering practiceEssays / personal

’23’24’25’26
Posts
178 from 2 Apr 2023 to 25 Oct 2026
Posting
weekly (46 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog
Feed
https://registerspill.thorstenball.com/feed

2026 35

  1. Joy & Curiosity #103
  2. Joy & Curiosity #102
  3. Joy & Curiosity #101
  4. Joy & Curiosity #97
  5. Joy & Curiosity #96
  6. Joy & Curiosity #95
  7. Joy & Curiosity #94
  8. Joy & Curiosity #93
  9. Joy & Curiosity #92
  10. Joy & Curiosity #91
  11. Ownership
  12. Joy & Curiosity #90
  13. Joy & Curiosity #89
  14. Building Software Is Learning
  15. Joy & Curiosity #88
  16. Joy & Curiosity #87
  17. Joy & Curiosity #86
  18. Joy & Curiosity #85
  19. Joy & Curiosity #84
  20. Joy & Curiosity #83
  21. Joy & Curiosity #82
  22. Joy & Curiosity #81
  23. Joy & Curiosity #80
  24. Joy & Curiosity #79
  25. Joy & Curiosity #78
  26. Joy & Curiosity #77
  27. Joy & Curiosity #76
  28. Joy & Curiosity #75
  29. Joy & Curiosity #74
  30. Joy & Curiosity #73
  31. Joy & Curiosity #72
  32. Joy & Curiosity #71
  33. Joy & Curiosity #70
  34. Joy & Curiosity #69
  35. Joy & Curiosity #68

2025 51

  1. Joy & Curiosity #67
  2. Joy & Curiosity #66
  3. Joy & Curiosity #65
  4. Joy & Curiosity #64
  5. Joy & Curiosity #63
  6. Joy & Curiosity #62
  7. Joy & Curiosity #61
  8. Joy & Curiosity #60
  9. Joy & Curiosity #59
  10. Joy & Curiosity #58
  11. Joy & Curiosity #57
  12. Joy & Curiosity #56
  13. Joy & Curiosity #55
  14. A New Kind of Code
  15. Joy & Curiosity #54
  16. Joy & Curiosity #53
  17. Joy & Curiosity #52
  18. Joy & Curiosity #51
  19. Joy & Curiosity #50
  20. Joy & Curiosity #49
  21. Joy & Curiosity #48
  22. Joy & Curiosity #47
  23. Joy & Curiosity #46
  24. Joy & Curiosity #45
  25. Joy & Curiosity #44
  26. Joy & Curiosity #43
  27. Joy & Curiosity #42
  28. Joy & Curiosity #41
  29. Joy & Curiosity #40
  30. Joy & Curiosity #39
  31. There's Beauty in AI
  32. Joy & Curiosity #38
  33. Joy & Curiosity #37
  34. Joy & Curiosity #36
  35. Joy & Curiosity #35
  36. Joy & Curiosity #34
  37. Joy & Curiosity #33
  38. Joy & Curiosity #32
  39. Joy & Curiosity #31
  40. Joy & Curiosity #30
  41. Joy & Curiosity #29
  42. Joy & Curiosity #28
  43. Joy & Curiosity #27
  44. Joy & Curiosity #26
  45. Joy & Curiosity #25
  46. How might AI change programming?
  47. Joy & Curiosity #24
  48. Judging Code
  49. Joy & Curiosity #23
  50. Joy & Curiosity #22
  51. Joy & Curiosity #21

2024 54

  1. Joy & Curiosity #20
  2. Surely not all code's worth it
  3. Joy & Curiosity #19
  4. Joy & Curiosity #18
  5. Joy & Curiosity #17
  6. Joy & Curiosity #16
  7. They all use it
  8. Joy & Curiosity #15
  9. Joy & Curiosity #14
  10. Joy & Curiosity #13
  11. In Conversation: David Albert
  12. Joy & Curiosity #12
  13. Rust Prism
  14. Joy & Curiosity #11
  15. How I use git
  16. Joy & Curiosity #10
  17. Use data that looks like data
  18. Joy & Curiosity #9
  19. Glad I did it in Go
  20. Skin-Shedding Code
  21. Joy & Curiosity #8
  22. Joy & Curiosity #7
  23. Joy & Curiosity #6
  24. Leave something for tomorrow
  25. No, really: YAGNI
  26. Second's an Eternity
  27. It's in the stories
  28. Things you can do with codebases
  29. Database Indexes & Phone Books
  30. Did you know about Instruments?
  31. Matrix Theory of Mind
  32. With Nothing to Do
  33. Note From the Bouncy Castle
  34. Be findable
  35. From Any Spot on the Field
  36. Exploring the c4... compiler?
  37. My favorite teacher
  38. My Setup, April 2024
  39. Glitching on the Sea
  40. A Feat of Engineering
  41. From Vim to Zed
  42. Noticing & Writing
  43. The Basics
  44. A Few Words on Testing
  45. How to Lose Control of your Shell
  46. How I Use AI
  47. Oh, to turn off your mind!
  48. From 1s to 4ms
  49. The Lightness of Unscheduled Calls
  50. Education of a Typing Man
  51. 63 Unpopular Opinions
  52. Which command did you run 1731 days ago?
  53. How fast is your shell?
  54. New year, new job, new machine

2023 38

  1. The Hum of the Machine
  2. Leaving Sourcegraph
  3. It's a Negotiation
  4. Polishing Forks
  5. Watching A Pathological System
  6. It's not up to you
  7. Playful Programming
  8. Zig Zaggin'
  9. Laying Siege to a Bug
  10. Notes From the Field: Learning Zig
  11. One Week of Nothing to Do
  12. Who removes rules?
  13. Someone on the Other End
  14. Learning from Bellard
  15. You don't need an opinion
  16. Has Software Development Become Slower?
  17. Momentum
  18. Every Line a Chance for Greatness
  19. Is looking cool underrated in education?
  20. Programming in a Well-Tested System
  21. To truly fix a bug, one must truly know the bug
  22. Software is like Coca-Cola
  23. Allergic to Waiting
  24. Nothing in My Way Except Myself
  25. The Most Powerful Law in Software
  26. Stumbling in the Dark
  27. Cadence of Code
  28. Making a plan
  29. What do others do without tests?
  30. When the cymbals come in
  31. The Age of a Software Project
  32. The Messy Page
  33. Do papercuts matter?
  34. Best practices and an elephant
  35. A series of ever-bigger problems
  36. Two types of software engineers
  37. Flipping the switch
  38. What is Register Spill?