The Forum Retrospective: Why We Miss the 'Crappy' Web
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Web forums offered a sense of niche community and belonging that modern, algorithm-driven social media has failed to replicate.
Computing History
The history of computing, including early personal computers, programming languages, hardware, and the cultural impact of early computing eras.
Reading List
Hacker Trends: Visualizing 18 Years of Tech History
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An interactive data tool that maps the 18-year history of tech trends and discussions on Hacker News.
The Simplification Myth: Why AI is the Latest Chapter in a 60-Year Cycle
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History shows that tools designed to eliminate programmers actually increase the demand for human expertise by enabling more complex and ambitious software projects.
Before Wordle: DEC’s 1973 BASIC “WORD” and the Roots of Guessing Games
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Wordle’s core idea dates back to DEC’s 1973 BASIC game WORD, part of a broader, influential era of simple yet clever guessing games.
Reviving a 1990s Linux Tape Driver with AI in Two Evenings
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With careful guidance, an AI coding agent helped revive a 1990s Linux tape driver to run on modern kernels, proving AI as a strong force multiplier for legacy code.