Things I read this week

I really want to post more on this blog, but I have to admit that I’m reading way more than I write. But I said it several times, on this blog and in person: writing is a skill that needs to be honed, so any opportunity should be used. So I was thinking I could just write smaller posts about what I read this week. Who knows: it may become habit-forming. ;)

Nobody cracks open a programming book anymore by Cyrus @ unix.foo spoke to me. Having been a kid that grew up with a C64 typing endless DATA listings into the checksummer of the 64er magazine of the era. There’s a warm feeling of nostalgia. Colleagues around me know that I have stacks of books, but Cyrus is right: it’s becoming fewer programming books. Most of my books discuss general engineering practices, patterns maybe leadership. Rarely programming languages. I really should read that Rust book.

Another interesting read this week was Use boring languages with LLMs - which I read only a few hours after I had a discussion on the exact topic with colleagues at my company. Having used Claude Code with subscription in private Java projects for a while and seeing the results with the same approach just with TypeScript and Node at work I couldn’t agree more. But Jacob is much better at putting these thoughts into writing. Great read.

I can remember exactly who it was and about what it was the day I received my first ever slop grenade. Now I know what to do if it every happens again. Send people that do that to: noslopgrenade.com

This week I also pondered Sales-led organizations vs Product-led organizations and the conflict inherent in transitioning between them. Houman Faroud’s Medium post on Product-Led vs. Sales-Led Organizations was a solid reminder of the importance of building first - free of sales pitches and finding product market fit before starting to sell.

And the last one - I re-read grugbrain.dev and shared it with a colleague. This thing lives rent-free in my head. A Must-read for every developer.