Blog | Nate Meyvis

27 Apr, 2026 A tradeoff in defining database schemas
26 Apr, 2026 Reading notes: 'The Poisoned King'
25 Apr, 2026 Some data on the shape of the forgetting curve
24 Apr, 2026 Why is there so much bad code at big companies?
23 Apr, 2026 The case against LLM prose
22 Apr, 2026 Kirkby and Matuschak on making flashcards with LLMs
21 Apr, 2026 The case against worrying about your posts' analytics
20 Apr, 2026 Spaced repetition scheduling and categorization
19 Apr, 2026 Spaced repetition performance after long intervals
18 Apr, 2026 Some empirical spaced-repetition results
17 Apr, 2026 Consuming nonfiction audio
16 Apr, 2026 First impressions of Opus 4.7
15 Apr, 2026 Tacit knowledge follow-up
14 Apr, 2026 "Harness engineering" is not new
13 Apr, 2026 Are major AI tools diverging?
12 Apr, 2026 We're using more tacit knowledge than we think we are
11 Apr, 2026 Prompt maximalism
10 Apr, 2026 The Norton anthology lifestyle
09 Apr, 2026 Utilities I use
08 Apr, 2026 Catch-all post: April 8, 2026
07 Apr, 2026 Cognitive debt and optimism
06 Apr, 2026 Agentic coding and microservices
05 Apr, 2026 Notes on making small apps with AI
04 Apr, 2026 Not all of this is new
03 Apr, 2026 Justin Duke on film, writing, and consumption
02 Apr, 2026 My new basic stance
01 Apr, 2026 Another reason we can't measure our productivity with AI
31 Mar, 2026 (Why) do big-company engineers like AI less?
30 Mar, 2026 The Marco saga as a case for 10x engineering
29 Mar, 2026 Do managers really like generative AI more?
28 Mar, 2026 Notes on making 2,500 pancakes
27 Mar, 2026 The end of the beginning
26 Mar, 2026 Time estimates in software
25 Mar, 2026 Marco Arment did something awesome
24 Mar, 2026 The case for worrying about AI-specific cognitive debt
23 Mar, 2026 Why aren't we fine-tuning more?
22 Mar, 2026 A theory of LLM output and negativity
21 Mar, 2026 A catch-all post (and: why have catch-all posts?)
20 Mar, 2026 A straightforward AI optimization
19 Mar, 2026 On finding pure wins
18 Mar, 2026 Fix it how many times?
17 Mar, 2026 More on cognitive debt and AI
16 Mar, 2026 Reading notes: 'The Unexpected Professor'
15 Mar, 2026 Observability first
14 Mar, 2026 YAGNI in 2026
13 Mar, 2026 When the AI is usually good enough
12 Mar, 2026 Data modeling and organizational dynamics
11 Mar, 2026 Notes on blogging 100 days in a row
10 Mar, 2026 Get the data model right
09 Mar, 2026 What software knowledge will stay relevant?
08 Mar, 2026 Catch-all post
07 Mar, 2026 False alternatives and the economics of AI
06 Mar, 2026 A model of how simplicity gets rewarded
05 Mar, 2026 On rewarding simplicity
04 Mar, 2026 Codex, Poincare, and living through the early days
04 Mar, 2026 Terence Tao on doing math with AI
02 Mar, 2026 Amusing mistakes and what they teach us
01 Mar, 2026 A correction about bloated context
28 Feb, 2026 Generative AI tools really love fallbacks
27 Feb, 2026 A first guide to building APIs with AI
27 Feb, 2026 Reading notes: 'Open Socrates'
25 Feb, 2026 How many windows will we have open?
24 Feb, 2026 Migrations with AI, again
23 Feb, 2026 The delegation problem
22 Feb, 2026 The future of migrations
21 Feb, 2026 Reading notes: 'On the Calculation of Volume,' vol. 1
20 Feb, 2026 Accountability and AI
19 Feb, 2026 Catch-all post
19 Feb, 2026 Notes about this blog
18 Feb, 2026 On using Jules and making my own interface to it
17 Feb, 2026 How should less-technical people get started with agentic AI tools?
16 Feb, 2026 More experiments in monitoring Claude
15 Feb, 2026 On cognitive debt
14 Feb, 2026 On watching code fly by
13 Feb, 2026 What might an AI-first recipe site look like?
12 Feb, 2026 New technology in programming and poker
11 Feb, 2026 Link-checking with generative AI
11 Feb, 2026 Thinking about context
09 Feb, 2026 On making one's own environment
08 Feb, 2026 Coverage tooling for AI
07 Feb, 2026 Reflections on keeping a top-books list
06 Feb, 2026 Humane, adaptive AI bootstrapping
05 Feb, 2026 Beware fake code
04 Feb, 2026 Claude Code's /insights
03 Feb, 2026 Scripting, testing, and dry runs
02 Feb, 2026 Is coding getting much more empirical?
01 Feb, 2026 Initial reading notes: 'Agentic Design Patterns'
31 Jan, 2026 Human personality and generative AI
30 Jan, 2026 Glassman on hockey and process
29 Jan, 2026 The future of 10x engineering
28 Jan, 2026 Setting up a Claude-specific AWS profile
27 Jan, 2026 Notes on using generative AI securely
26 Jan, 2026 Learning math with generative AI
25 Jan, 2026 Generative AI and the texture of life
24 Jan, 2026 Don't sleep on Codex
23 Jan, 2026 The dissertation benchmark
22 Jan, 2026 Hofstadter's Law, but for generative AI
21 Jan, 2026 Notes on measuring child care time
20 Jan, 2026 Notes on burnout
19 Jan, 2026 More on MCP in 2026
18 Jan, 2026 Reading notes: 'Impossible Creatures'
17 Jan, 2026 The 'hey, this seems right' post
16 Jan, 2026 MCP? In 2026?
15 Jan, 2026 On vibecoding a reading-management webapp
14 Jan, 2026 On getting better every day
13 Jan, 2026 Reading notes: 'The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny'
12 Jan, 2026 The new cost of coffee
11 Jan, 2026 The new intellectual athletes
10 Jan, 2026 Notes on integration testing
09 Jan, 2026 On the environmental costs of generative AI
08 Jan, 2026 You can just try harder
07 Jan, 2026 Making the Cate Hall Machine
07 Jan, 2026 On (not) using Django in 2026
06 Jan, 2026 Don't confuse total and marginal correctness rates
05 Jan, 2026 22 reasons I did 301,432 flashcard reviews in 2025
05 Jan, 2026 Matt Glassman is Bear-blogging
04 Jan, 2026 On messy jobs
03 Jan, 2026 Getting metrics by logging
03 Jan, 2026 Software I'm using and how I'm using it
02 Jan, 2026 I did 301,432 flashcard reviews in 2025
01 Jan, 2026 Jonathan Franzen on writing sequentially
31 Dec, 2025 On boiling water
30 Dec, 2025 Productivity systems and perverse incentives
29 Dec, 2025 On designing software you aren't working on
28 Dec, 2025 My favorite TV of 2025
27 Dec, 2025 Databases make good databases, again
27 Dec, 2025 Making a book queue
26 Dec, 2025 Helix, two months later
25 Dec, 2025 My Advent of blogging
24 Dec, 2025 On zero outputs
23 Dec, 2025 Against SemVer
22 Dec, 2025 Kitchen optimizations
21 Dec, 2025 Frequent corrections I make to LLM code
20 Dec, 2025 Why use a generative AI browser?
19 Dec, 2025 On improving at LearnedLeague
18 Dec, 2025 How much data do you really have?
18 Dec, 2025 Matthew Hawthorne on tradeoffs
16 Dec, 2025 Databases make good databases
16 Dec, 2025 What follows from Gall's Law?
14 Dec, 2025 What happened to Quantified Self?
13 Dec, 2025 Dutch fiction
13 Dec, 2025 Front-end maximalism: objections and replies
12 Dec, 2025 Scaling down
10 Dec, 2025 Software, philosophy, and skepticism
09 Dec, 2025 Error-handling and locality
09 Dec, 2025 Common errors in flashcard set composition
07 Dec, 2025 A conjecture about communication in software systems
06 Dec, 2025 Ingestion
06 Dec, 2025 Reading notes: 'Cruciverbalism'
04 Dec, 2025 Common errors in flashcard composition
04 Dec, 2025 The long run comes quickly
02 Dec, 2025 Reading notes: 'Making a Point'
01 Dec, 2025 Notes on optional booleans
20 Nov, 2025 On responding to email quickly
06 Nov, 2025 Beard's Law
27 Oct, 2025 On having a data object
21 Oct, 2025 Notes on buying a basic laptop
19 Oct, 2025 Front-end maximalism
16 Oct, 2025 The Helix text editor
05 Oct, 2025 TJ Fisher: good on the buzzer
02 Oct, 2025 Game theory and the willingness to look bad
19 Sep, 2025 Hello!
19 Sep, 2025 On naming variables
17 Jul, 2025 Notes on spaced repetition scheduling
03 Feb, 2025 Ancient philosophy and software
23 Dec, 2024 How to ramp up
19 Oct, 2024 Why use spaced repetition?
29 Oct, 2023 Reading notes: There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather
27 Oct, 2023 Andrew Brokos on a poker hypothetical
26 Oct, 2023 Bill Deresiewicz on art
02 Oct, 2023 Notes on Cole South's notes about software
22 Aug, 2023 Paul Graham, ambition, and creativity
19 Aug, 2023 Movie notes: 'The Help'
26 Jun, 2023 A note on 10x engineering
28 Apr, 2023 Testing decorated functions in Python web frameworks
04 Apr, 2023 A quick argument for naming all software prototypes after birds
23 Mar, 2023 Reading notes: Get Ready
20 Mar, 2023 Reading notes: My Losing Season
18 Mar, 2023 On middlebrow books
26 Feb, 2023 On improving data-adjacent code
23 Feb, 2023 On Anki's database
02 Dec, 2022 Reading notes: The Last Days of Roger Federer
13 Nov, 2022 On ranking things
10 Nov, 2022 Viewquake: making meaning after the fact
30 Oct, 2022 Reading notes: Crossroads
27 Oct, 2022 Notes on Tyler Cowen on relearning the Internet
25 Oct, 2022 Notes on being the Day One chipleader
24 Oct, 2022 Code correctly by conforming to the real world
20 Oct, 2022 An argument from Jimmy Koppel
18 Oct, 2022 What is America's epic?
18 Oct, 2022 Why events?
17 Oct, 2022 Reading notes: Of Boys and Men
13 Oct, 2022 On the scarcity of context
12 Oct, 2022 Code review reference
05 Oct, 2022 Why my priors about cheating at poker are so high
21 Sep, 2022 Reading notes: The Baseball 100
10 Sep, 2022 On stop-losses
04 Sep, 2022 Reading notes: The End of Solitude
27 Jul, 2022 A Shapley example
15 Jul, 2022 15 claims about software testing
14 Jul, 2022 Why don't people talk about the Shapley value more?
24 Jun, 2022 On poker's comparative advantage
24 Jun, 2022 On studying for your upcoming job: objections and replies
23 Jun, 2022 A common trap for people entering programming jobs
19 Jun, 2022 Reading notes: A Widow for One Year
12 Jun, 2022 On having philosophy in your life
11 Jun, 2022 Viewquake: interpreting obvious mistakes
07 Jun, 2022 On poker's comparative disadvantage
06 Jun, 2022 Listening notes: 'The Pragmatic Programmer'
03 Jun, 2022 Reading notes: Talent
31 May, 2022 Viewquake: Decisionmaking is overrated
31 May, 2022 On viewquakes
29 May, 2022 On winning auctions
29 May, 2022 On actually reading the book
01 May, 2022 The 100 books nearest to my heart
29 Apr, 2022 On preparing for coding interviews
08 Apr, 2022 Reading notes: 'The Manager's Path'
03 Apr, 2022 Books I like more than other people do
24 Mar, 2022 On quadratic complexity
12 Feb, 2022 Reading notes: The Score Takes Care of Itself
12 Feb, 2022 On scarcity and regionality
11 Feb, 2022 On distributing reading time
02 Feb, 2022 On parenting
31 Jan, 2022 On productivity
31 Jan, 2022 Reading notes: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big
24 Jan, 2022 On talking to think better
19 Jan, 2022 12 rules for living
15 Jan, 2022 Reading notes: The Tim Tebow CFL Chronicles
10 Jan, 2022 On recovering
31 Dec, 2021 On Conversations with Tyler
15 Nov, 2021 Reading notes: A Philosophy of Software Design
08 Nov, 2021 Reading notes: How to Change
01 Sep, 2021 The ideal of the open mind
17 Nov, 2020 On reading The Diff
10 Jun, 2020 On dependencies
01 Jan, 2020 Reading notes: 'What You Do Is Who You Are'
24 Nov, 2019 In memoriam: Frances Alvin
25 Oct, 2019 On long books
16 May, 2019 Podcasting FAQ
05 Feb, 2018 How academics can find non-academic work
10 Nov, 2016 On solving the wrong problem
06 Jun, 2015 The lawnmower essay and the problems of philosophy

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