My name is Jimmy Hartzell. I am a programmer (with an emphasis on Rust and systems programming), and a human being, with an abundance of thoughts and opinions to share.
This is my website, where I organize them and share them, as a garden. I hope they are useful to you! This is a new structure for the website than I used to have.
I hope you like my website. Let me know! You can anonymously admonish me with admonymous for that precious gift of feedback! It can even be a compliment, if you want!
Programming and Computers
I am a programmer, and though this is my personal website, it is also a technical website, so I’ve written mostly about programming, computers, and other technical topics.
I have written a fair amount about Rust, especially on the topic of how Rust is a Better C++ than C++ and how Rust is Beyond OOP. My takes on Rust are sizzling-hot, but I generally stand by them.
Besides Rust, I also take an interest in other programming languages, like Haskell, and the general topic of Programming Language Design. I have opinions about Running a Good Dev Shop. And of course, like any programmer---or really, anyone alive right now---I have opinions about AI. Many of those articles will be accessible to non-technical readers as well.
I have opinions about Hardware as well, but these tend to be very lukewarm takes.
I have some more abstract educational materials. Non-programmers with a math/engineering background and a drive to learn should be able to follow these. Let me know if you find that to be true, or if you find that to be useful! These are educational in the sense that they will help you understand how computers work, but they are not tutorials and they do not teach “practical” skills:
- What do bits mean?, an explanation of how computers encode information into binary, on a metaphysical and practical level.
- Operating Systems, an explanation of what operating systems are.
I have a few summary resources for programmers, as well, and I’m not sure where else to put them:
The code on this blog is published under the MIT License. I have written about my decision not to license the text of this blog under Copyright and Licenses: A Difference of Opinion.
Other Interests!?
Strangely---really quite shockingly---I have other interests besides computers.
I am a human after all, and as a human I like to reflect sometimes, and so I have some Personal Reflections, some journal entries I have shared.
For example, I have ADHD, and have developed complicated mechanisms to cope with it, both directly and also my feelings about it. My blog series about organization has been extremely popular. I also have Complexities of Defining ADHD, an essay I’m very proud of, which tries to grapple with some of the complicated issues of neurodivergent diagnosis.
A Grab Bag of Material
- I have a number of opinions about Politics, which you may read if you’d like.
- I also enjoy talking about writing and language for your reading pleasure!
- I have Reviews of a thing or two, mostly other people’s fiction.
- I have written some of my own Fiction, if that’s your jam.
- You can just look at what I’ve been reading in my Reading Log
- And, for posts I haven’t figured out where else to put, I can always deem them to be Essays
One-Line Essays
“If you put a blindfold on, you will understand everything you see.”
— me, trying to be clever
“What does it mean to overthink something, and how can you tell if you are doing so?”
— me, completely in earnest