Up: Ideas

Write an article on operator precedence parsing

Details: Write an article on expression parsing

I think I can do a good job at writing a very good article on operator precedence parsing. Something that explores the technique more on a conceptual level, perhaps.

Write a “pedant’s guide to punctuation” article

Details: Write the “the Pedant’s Guide to Punctuation” article

Quotation marks, apostrophes, primes, hyphens, minuses, dashes, oh my. They’re often used incorrectly, both grammatically and typographically. It could be interesting to write up a comprehensive article that covers them end to end.

Write an article on modern CSS I use

Do a write-up of the fancy new CSS features I’m using on my web site. Practical usage with direct examples.

Write an article on modern print CSS

Related to the previous. What print CSS features can you use (e.g. with WeasyPrint) to construct something really nice?

Write a “dark mode done right” article

Dark mode is difficult to get right. There are dos and don’ts. There are semi-automatic ways to create dark mode, too. Plenty of useful advice to give here, I think. See also: Dark mode.

Write a “how to code review” article

It is an established practice to do code reviews, but there is a lack of clarity on how to do it, and why to do it. Some practices are counterintuitive (e.g. the purpose of code review is not to find defects).

This might be part of a larger collection of writing on software engineering principles.

Write down my software engineering principles
This is an extension of the previous idea on writing down my practices on doing code reviews. See also: software engineering principles.

Write a “programming language patterns” article

This is similar to a “build a programming language” article, but would focus on specific technical implementation patterns.

There would be some overlap with Crafting Interpreters and with Language Implementation Patterns.

Write a “game development patterns” article

Having written a few (simple) games before, I have noticed specific patterns that are often not explicitly documented or talked about, but which I have often found in source code of real games.

Documenting these, perhaps using examples in LÖVE, could be particularly helpful for people who are new to game development.

There would be some overlap with Game Programming Patterns.

Write a “capability-based security” article

At RUG::B a while ago, I gave a talk about creating a programming language built around the idea of capability-based security. It is a unique idea, and it would be great to document my own findings in the form of an article.

See also:

• RUG::B topic “A language built with third-party code reuse in mind”
• Week­notes 2022 W22: Resignation
• Week­notes 2022 W24: Near-infinite
• Week­notes 2022 W26: Funemployed
• Week­notes 2023 W13: Dentist
• Week­notes 2023 W14: Talk

Write a “old-school MVC” article

MVC (model-view-controller) is an old concept that has been implemented in various ways, including some bad ones. Rails’ implementation of MVC is bizarre, for instance, and it would be interesting to present what MVC genuinely is about.

It could be interesting to write an old-school MVC framework, perhaps with modern JavaScript. Or Lua, with LÖVE perhaps.

This could also be a talk.