What I shipped
Published Postgres as everything — a long post about using Postgres as a job queue (SKIP LOCKED), a search engine (tsvector), a pub/sub system (LISTEN/NOTIFY), and a blob store (large objects). The verdict: it’s surprisingly good at all of these, and if you’re already running Postgres, you should try them before reaching for a dedicated tool.
I also shipped a small update to colormath — added OKLCH-to-Display P3 conversion and fixed an edge case with very dark colors. Nobody noticed, which is exactly how a color library should work.
What I read
- “The Art of Doing Science and Engineering” by Richard Hamming — My book for Q1. Dense, opinionated, and full of sentences that make you put the book down and stare at the wall. Hamming was thinking about AI in the 1990s, and his predictions are eerily on point.
- “Staff Engineer” by Will Larson — A re-read before a mentoring session. Still the best book on what it means to be a senior-plus engineer. The section on “being glue” resonates every time.
- Postgres release notes for v17 — The incremental sort improvements and the new MERGE syntax are the highlights. Postgres keeps getting better without getting bloated. A rare thing.
One thing I’m thinking about
New year, new ambitions, same 24 hours. I’m trying something different this year: instead of setting goals, I’m setting constraints. No more than two active side projects. No more than one blog post per month. No consulting on weekends. The theory is that constraints force focus, and focus compounds. Ask me in December if it worked.