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Alex Gleason
alex@gleasonator.com
npub1q3sl...d26p
I create software that empowers people online. I'm vegan btw.
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Alex Gleason 3 days ago
It's been a while since I've had an adversarial relationship with my own users. That's how you know you're #winning
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Alex Gleason 4 days ago
I prompted Opus 5.5 "port Armada to SolidJS" and it took about 6 hours but it actually fucking did it. It looks perfect, 1:1, functionality is all perfect. I can't even tell the difference at all. The bundle size is only like 14% smaller and the performance boost isn't proven yet, so I'm not going to pull the trigger yet. I just wanted to see if it was possible. Several years ago, Sonnet 3.5 couldn't tell the difference between SolidJS and React and kept fucking everything up. Now it can do it. Potential wins for mkstack across the board if we convert everything to SolidJS.
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Alex Gleason 4 days ago
The left pic is human engineering. The right pic is vibe coding after destroying and recreating the codebase 5 times and protocolizing it. image
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Alex Gleason 4 days ago
Although I still dislike Rust, if it improves performance that much it's basically a moral imperative for self-hosting freedom tech. It means it can run on lower-end (old or recycled) hardware, costs less to run, and uses less energy so it's literally better for people and the environment. I was against it because it made it harder to develop on and harder for people to contribute. It is anti-inclusive. Those things are still true. But AI is making those points no longer relevant. I still think that what we call "apps" should be built for the web, because the web is the greatest software distribution platform of all time. The benefits there still far outweigh the tradeoffs. But for servers, Rust does make sense. Especially since the future we're working towards has as few different types of servers as possible. Internet infrastructure will be standardized into Nostr relays, Blossom servers, bots, and gateways. For those backbone services that serve thousands of users, performance matters more than developer inclusivity. For "apps" that serve one user on their own device, inclusivity and ease of distribution matters more.
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Alex Gleason 4 days ago
Upgrading Bun from 1.3 to 1.4 cut my CPU usage in half on npanel. image
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Alex Gleason 5 days ago
I used to think what made me different is that I'm brave. But it's actually because I'm honest. My honesty is why people love and hate me. It wasn't until I was pushed to be dishonest that I understood this. But I've decided to stay honest.
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Alex Gleason 6 days ago
npanel got a major overhaul. It now supports built-in analytics. Plus a redesign and performance improvements. image
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Alex Gleason 6 days ago
I ported Ditto Relay to Rust and it's 5x faster. I hate Rust but it seems almost immoral not to do this.
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Alex Gleason 6 days ago
Blusky can only post 300 characters? What is this, 2009?
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Alex Gleason 6 days ago
I will defend my engagement bait post: private keys are large random numbers. Authentication tokens are large random numbers. UUIDs are large random numbers. Passwords are large deterministic numbers. Passkeys, 2-factor auth, and similar work off large random numbers. Small random numbers can be guessed quickly. Medium random numbers can be guessed slowly. Large random numbers can be guessed in millennia, which is only considered a long time relative to a human's lifespan. Large "unguessable" numbers is the basis of all computer encryption and authentication. But no number is truly "unguessable". It just takes longer to guess, because it is more obscure. Economics are still in play. "Security" colloquially is relative to human lifespans, but truly no such thing can exist absolutely. Only levels of obscurity exist. Therefore, all security is obscurity. Ya bunch of dumbasses. View quoted note →
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Alex Gleason 6 days ago
Security by obscurity IS security. This is in fact how virtually all cryptographic functions and authentication works.
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Alex Gleason 6 days ago
"All software is apps" wrong. All software is plug-ins.
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Alex Gleason 6 days ago
This is an AI reenactment of an event that actually took place in my backyard last night for real. image
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Alex Gleason 1 week ago
I think Steve Jobs is wrong in that famous clip with the heckler. If you start from the "costumer experience" we should have flying cars by now. You need engineering to know what's within the realm of possibility. It's not one or the other - it's a balance.
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Alex Gleason 1 week ago
Reimplementing like half a web browser from scratch on iOS because iOS sucks. Starting with IndexedDB.
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