AI Refined: From 1 BRC Challenge to Production‑Grade Rust with o3-mini
by Kyluke McDougall on 4 February 2025When I first sat down to tackle the infamous 1 BRC challenge—a challenge that forces you to process a massive 10GB text file with one billion rows—I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see the day when an AI would be capable of generating a production‐grade Rust implementation. But here we are. Let me take you through the story of how o3‑mini, the current latest reasoning model from OpenAI, tackled this problem and iteratively improved on its own work.
Bringing AI to Your Terminal: Meet Termai
by Kyluke McDougall on 6 October 2024Ever wanted a smart helper right in your terminal? Termai makes that possible.
Built with Rust, it brings AI capabilities directly to your command line,
turning your terminal into an interactive and intelligent workspace.
The difference a small splash of fresh paint can make
by Cornelius Weidmann on 6 May 2024Sometimes all we need is just a little bit of fresh paint. And when it comes to websites and apps this is equally true. Sometimes a small dash of fresh "paint" can make an old and never-changing UI feel fresh and modern.
How to backup Universal Analytics data?
by Cornelius Weidmann on 19 April 2024Google Analytics allows you to export your data in several formats including PDF, Google Sheets, Excel and CSV through its user interface. While there are plenty of guides out there that cover these methods, they all seem to assume that you love spending hours on end laboriously exporting your data manually. We can skip these time-consuming approaches and use a smarter, more streamlined, automated approach.
Simple made easy
by Cornelius Weidmann on 16 March 2024Have you ever written code which you then had the joy of revisiting a few months or even years later and found yourself asking, "What the fruit cake is going on here?"
A story about fishermen
by Cornelius Weidmann on 25 November 2023The following is a short story I read many years ago while I was at university studying to become an engineer. It is a story which I think about quite often, even to this day.
Private Entities and the Creation of Commons
by Kyluke McDougall on 20 August 2023In the realm of public spaces, the concept of a 'commons' bears versatile significance. Essentially, a commons is an open, publicly available space, inviting everyone without any discrimination. This age-old idea of a common ground, a place for civic discourse, collaboration and co-creation, remains as relevant today as it ever was. But what happens when private entities step into this traditionally public domain? Can a private entity create a true 'commons'? If so, what does it look like, and is it really a commons?
Software Architectural Minimalism: Simplicity and Efficiency in Development
by Kyluke McDougall on 7 June 2023In the rapidly evolving realm of software architecture, it is all too easy to become overwhelmed by the complexities and intricacies of numerous features, tools, and frameworks. As a developer, prioritising software minimalism – the practice of implementing only what is necessary while maintaining simplicity and efficiency in your code – can significantly bolster your productivity and ensure long-term scalability & maintainability. In this article, we delve into the essential aspects of software minimalism.
What managers need to know about writing features
by Cornelius Weidmann on 30 May 2023When it comes to writing a feature, and when it comes to getting that feature out the door, and usually when that feature should have been out the door yesterday, managers very often tend to "solve the problem" by adding more "resources" or by adding more "senior resources" to the problem.
Rust Testing Context
by Kyluke McDougall on 2 March 2021Rust is not trivial and neither is testing your code. How you approach your testing can depend on your perspective.