nikomatsakis
@nikomatsakis.com
Weird Al meets Grace Hopper. Rustacean. He/him.
I work for @AWSCloud. Opinions on twitter and elsewhere are my own.
I work for @AWSCloud. Opinions on twitter and elsewhere are my own.
Pinned
New Dada blog post smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl... -- things start to diverge from Rust in a deep way and I think the first where we start to see some real advantages to the Dada way of doing things (and some of the tradeoffs I made to achieve those advantages).
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
February 14, 2026 at 12:24 PM
New Dada blog post smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl... -- things start to diverge from Rust in a deep way and I think the first where we start to see some real advantages to the Dada way of doing things (and some of the tradeoffs I made to achieve those advantages).
Third popcorn-sized Dada blog post: smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
Dada: moves and mutation · baby steps
smallcultfollowing.com
February 11, 2026 at 12:42 AM
Third popcorn-sized Dada blog post: smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
Reposted by nikomatsakis
February 9, 2026 at 3:09 AM
I've learned by now not to make promises about my posting schedule, but I do find that posting things on my blog makes me happier. I'm going to see if I can bang out short posts that cover the things on my mind on a more regular basis.
February 9, 2026 at 11:16 AM
I've learned by now not to make promises about my posting schedule, but I do find that posting things on my blog makes me happier. I'm going to see if I can bang out short posts that cover the things on my mind on a more regular basis.
New (very short) Dada post: smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
Hello, Dada! · baby steps
smallcultfollowing.com
February 9, 2026 at 11:15 AM
New (very short) Dada post: smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
Side projects keep me sane: smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
Fun With Dada · baby steps
smallcultfollowing.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:07 AM
Side projects keep me sane: smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
Any lean-fanatics who can recommend a book that walks through building a prog lang in lean?
February 7, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Any lean-fanatics who can recommend a book that walks through building a prog lang in lean?
Things that suck: the UK ETA app. I mean, the concept, well whatever, they want to tax me and call it "security" fine, but can they at least make an app that doesn't take 5-10 minutes to proceed through each stage?
February 7, 2026 at 3:26 PM
Things that suck: the UK ETA app. I mean, the concept, well whatever, they want to tax me and call it "security" fine, but can they at least make an app that doesn't take 5-10 minutes to proceed through each stage?
Reposted by nikomatsakis
Scripting Agents without the Cliff: dherman.dev/notes/script...
Scripting Agents Without the Cliff
I tried coding in English. It was fun attempting to build real software with nothing but natural language and the primitives of a CLI agent. I learned a lot, but I also hit some walls.
dherman.dev
January 27, 2026 at 10:05 PM
Scripting Agents without the Cliff: dherman.dev/notes/script...
I'm having an incomprehensible problem: I WANT to open VsCode's Chat UI, and I can't figure out how! When was the last time that the problem was not being able to figure out how to get an AI extension to appear, rather than the reverse??
January 1, 2026 at 10:56 AM
I'm having an incomprehensible problem: I WANT to open VsCode's Chat UI, and I can't figure out how! When was the last time that the problem was not being able to figure out how to get an AI extension to appear, rather than the reverse??
Second blog post from the Rust vision doc effort:
blog.rust-lang.org/2025/12/19/w...
Working through the data we gathered really helped sharpen my understanding here.
blog.rust-lang.org/2025/12/19/w...
Working through the data we gathered really helped sharpen my understanding here.
What do people love about Rust? | Rust Blog
Empowering everyone to build reliable and efficient software.
blog.rust-lang.org
December 19, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Second blog post from the Rust vision doc effort:
blog.rust-lang.org/2025/12/19/w...
Working through the data we gathered really helped sharpen my understanding here.
blog.rust-lang.org/2025/12/19/w...
Working through the data we gathered really helped sharpen my understanding here.
Reposted by nikomatsakis
Are you in a safety-critical industry? Using the Rust programming language (@rust-lang.org) or would like to? Make your voice heard when it comes to what you'd like to see for Rust Project Goals!
(survey link below)
(survey link below)
December 9, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Are you in a safety-critical industry? Using the Rust programming language (@rust-lang.org) or would like to? Make your voice heard when it comes to what you'd like to see for Rust Project Goals!
(survey link below)
(survey link below)
Why can't contributors to Rust treat me like Claude does? Claude always has nice things to say about my brilliant insights.
December 19, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Why can't contributors to Rust treat me like Claude does? Claude always has nice things to say about my brilliant insights.
OH: "weird and confusing compilation errors but not wrong runtime behavior" is the rust motto
December 5, 2025 at 12:10 PM
OH: "weird and confusing compilation errors but not wrong runtime behavior" is the rust motto
First of many blog posts about the Rust vision doc process: blog.rust-lang.org/2025/12/03/l...
Lessons learned from the Rust Vision Doc process | Rust Blog
Empowering everyone to build reliable and efficient software.
blog.rust-lang.org
December 4, 2025 at 1:01 AM
First of many blog posts about the Rust vision doc process: blog.rust-lang.org/2025/12/03/l...
Here's the thing about "Find my Phone" alerts on iPhone. Until I have found the phone, I can't see it. Once I have found it, I don't want to see it. So why do they stay on there for an absurdly long time, despite my attempts to click them away? WHY?
December 3, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Here's the thing about "Find my Phone" alerts on iPhone. Until I have found the phone, I can't see it. Once I have found it, I don't want to see it. So why do they stay on there for an absurdly long time, despite my attempts to click them away? WHY?
New #rustlang blog post, about "move expressions", an idea that came up after my last post on ergonomic ref counting:
smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
Move Expressions · baby steps
smallcultfollowing.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM
New #rustlang blog post, about "move expressions", an idea that came up after my last post on ergonomic ref counting:
smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/bl...
How did I go through the last 28 years without ever seeing the music video for "The World Around" by Daft Punk? Amazing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0HS...
Daft Punk - Around The World (Official Music Video Remastered)
YouTube video by Daft Punk
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:14 PM
How did I go through the last 28 years without ever seeing the music video for "The World Around" by Daft Punk? Amazing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0HS...
Pretty cool that Rust is big enough to take down the internet. :D
November 20, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Pretty cool that Rust is big enough to take down the internet. :D
Bikeshedding `Handle` and other follow-up thoughts · baby steps
smallcultfollowing.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Congratulations Michele! Nobody worked harder than you. I don't envy you the challenge of figuring out how to navigate school funding in our current political environment, but I'm glad it'll be you helping to do it.
November 5, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Congratulations Michele! Nobody worked harder than you. I don't envy you the challenge of figuring out how to navigate school funding in our current political environment, but I'm glad it'll be you helping to do it.
Reposted by nikomatsakis
happy to share another production of the Rust Project Content Team. this time we sat down with Jack Huey and @nikomatsakis.com to learn more about what the Vision doc is!
(link to video in next post)
(link to video in next post)
October 31, 2025 at 5:35 PM
happy to share another production of the Rust Project Content Team. this time we sat down with Jack Huey and @nikomatsakis.com to learn more about what the Vision doc is!
(link to video in next post)
(link to video in next post)
Reposted by nikomatsakis
Exciting news!
Today, we announced the Rust Foundation Maintainers Fund: an initiative to provide consistent, transparent, long-term support for the developers who make Rust possible.
Supporting maintainers = supporting Rust’s future.
Learn more: rustfoundation.org/media/announ...
Today, we announced the Rust Foundation Maintainers Fund: an initiative to provide consistent, transparent, long-term support for the developers who make Rust possible.
Supporting maintainers = supporting Rust’s future.
Learn more: rustfoundation.org/media/announ...
Announcing the Rust Foundation Maintainers Fund
rustfoundation.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Exciting news!
Today, we announced the Rust Foundation Maintainers Fund: an initiative to provide consistent, transparent, long-term support for the developers who make Rust possible.
Supporting maintainers = supporting Rust’s future.
Learn more: rustfoundation.org/media/announ...
Today, we announced the Rust Foundation Maintainers Fund: an initiative to provide consistent, transparent, long-term support for the developers who make Rust possible.
Supporting maintainers = supporting Rust’s future.
Learn more: rustfoundation.org/media/announ...