Blog

Posts about memory safety, the Rust programming language, and software supply chain security, among other things.

  • The Problem is New Code 2024 / 09 / 26

    Folks at Google explain how to think about the move to memory safe languages: “the problem is new code.”

  • C++ Must Become Safer 2024 / 07 / 16

    Not everything will be rewritten in Rust, so C++ must become safer, and we should all care about C++ becoming safer.

  • Softlocking APIs 2024 / 04 / 04

    We can learn from case studies of APIs forever trapped by past decisions. Just like a video game can softlock and become impossible to progress, so too can APIs become softlocked by technical and social commitments.

  • The “xz” Backdoor 2024 / 03 / 29

    Reduction is seductive in the information-sparse environment immediately after a security event. Resisting reduction, gathering facts, and breaking down multivariate causes and responses is more productive.

  • Renegotiating C 2024 / 02 / 19

    Amid the move to memory safe languages, the people who build and build on C and C++ ought to be recognized. Any of us could be hit by an upheaval of technology in which we’ve invested.

  • “Implementation Selection” in Rust 2024 / 01 / 23

    Rust types offer four ways to decide what happens next, along two axes: deciding at runtime vs. compile time, and permitting a closed or open set of types.

  • Technostructuralism 2019 / 04 / 03

    The systems we build are manifestations of our politics. So what is the philosophy of Rust and what does it offer for the state of software?

  • Monomorphization Bloat 2016 / 12 / 03

    Rust generics can trade off binary size for expressiveness. Learning to identify when the trade isn’t worth it is a valuable skill that can help you write better code.

  • String Types in Rust 2016 / 03 / 27

    Rust has many pairs of string types, each with a distinct purpose. Understanding those purposes helps with understanding Rust itself.

Copyright Andrew Lilley Brinker. Made with ❤ in California