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Neil Vass
@neil-vass.com
580 followers 470 following 260 posts
Helping software teams work well together
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Reposted by Neil Vass
ruthmalan.bsky.social
For those who want a systems focused advent to wind up the year, it’s begun!

Daily posts will refresh here: www.ruthmalan.com/Advent.html

And will be posted to the page for the day (which will also hold notes and links to work people share here or on their own blog, etc.).

#AdventOfSystemSeeing
December 1, 2025 at 12:53 PM
neil-vass.com
A post about one way I got a little better at tricky #AdventOfCode puzzles, and learned some lessons that come in handy outside of once-a-year Christmas themed coding puzzles too.

neil-vass.com/optimising-l...
Optimising Life, using advice from Quake - neil-vass.com
I’m a big fan of Advent of Code, it’s taught me about lots of topics. Maybe the most generally useful lesson I’ve taken from it followed the “should I stop and read a book” post I mentioned a few year...
neil-vass.com
December 1, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Neil Vass
lizthegrey.com
Corner cases, they suck! Got part A in seconds, and then part B had me stumped 20 minutes debugging! #AdventOfCode day 1: github.com/lizthegrey/a...
adventofcode/2025/day01.go at main · lizthegrey/adventofcode
Contribute to lizthegrey/adventofcode development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
December 1, 2025 at 5:26 AM
Reposted by Neil Vass
was.tl
Reminder: Please throttle your #AdventOfCode traffic

Please don't make frequent automated requests - avoid sending requests more often than once every 15 minutes (900 seconds).

www.reddit.com/r/adventofco...
From the adventofcode community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the adventofcode community
www.reddit.com
November 30, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Reposted by Neil Vass
gergely.pragmaticengineer.com
What are code security basics us devs should know about? I turned to Johannes Dahse, a security expert for 20+ years, for his thoughts and tactics

Watch or listen:

• YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=urVf...

• Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5cOk...

• Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...
November 26, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Neil Vass
rawx.bsky.social
Oh god this is sweet: vole.wtf/doctype/ "’80s BASIC type-in mags are back, but this time for HTML! 10 wonderful web apps, including games, toys, puzzles and utilities."

I spent days typing in Basic and Hex-code on the C64, and i will NEVER do it again. Still, this is sweet!
DOCTYPE magazine 🚀⌨️
’80s BASIC type-in mags are back, but this time for HTML!
vole.wtf
November 25, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Neil Vass
whitep4nth3r.com
looking for CSS animation experts for something fun in December 👀
November 24, 2025 at 2:15 PM
neil-vass.com
We keep trying to put this bird feeder somewhere squirrels can't get to it. Another failed attempt.

I wouldn't mind if squirrels just took a fair share, but they empty the whole thing every day! Apparently they hurt food and forget where 90% of it was so they need to stock up with loads.
Bird feeder broken open on garden steps, with seeds everywhere. Two squirrels are happily tucking in.
November 23, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Neil Vass
jukes.ie
No.447 is a bit of a DM special -->

newsletter.digitalbydefault.jobs/internet-of-...
Internet of Public Service Jobs - 22/11/2025
This is the 447th edition of Internet of Public Service Jobs - a weekly list of vacancies related to product management, agile and design in…you guessed it…‘public service’ curated by @jukesie [01] D...
newsletter.digitalbydefault.jobs
November 22, 2025 at 10:56 AM
neil-vass.com
#AdventOfCode season is nearly here!

I've decided to do this year's in Go, I've been taking a look at that language and would like to learn it more.

However, when I look around at some of the ambitious ways other people go about AoC, I wonder if I should do something more overcomplicated ...
Learning Go with Advent of Code - neil-vass.com
Advent of Code has been a December tradition for me for the last 5 years — I’ve posted before about why I like it so much — and I’m looking forward to 2025’s event starting soon. This year’s format ha...
neil-vass.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Neil Vass
kamikazecomic.bsky.social
The reason the Faewild is the Faewild is that it's a git repo where the owner just accepts every single pull request reflexively. The only thing which stops a Fae from getting accidentally poofed from existence is a contract with beings on another plane (it's a legacy dependency, can't delete).
November 20, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Reposted by Neil Vass
enginvir.bsky.social
"Microsoft warns that Windows 11's agentic AI could install malware on your PC: 'Only enable this feature if you understand the security implications.'"

bro what--
what are we doing here, exactly, how can you--anyone be okay with this?
November 18, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Neil Vass
debbiemoon.bsky.social
Oh
My
God
😂
November 18, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Neil Vass
alexiconman.bsky.social
"Let's hope it's a divorce", "He's NOT a rabbit, he's a little boy! We'll call him Jeffrey, okay?"

Brilliant
November 18, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Reposted by Neil Vass
captainhowdy.bsky.social
Calvin & Hobbes made their debut on this day in 1985. With the exception of collected editions, and despite lucrative offers, Bill Watterson refused any attempt to license the characters for merchandise.
Although there's no Hobbes in this strip, I've always loved the artistic range on this one.
One of Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes full-colour Sunday strips. The first panel shows the title against a white background with the words "First there was nothing... ". The 2nd panel shows a closeup of an angry eye with the words "... then there was Calvin!". The third panel shows a god-like figure throwing its head back as it raises its arms. The words read "Calvin, the mighty god, creates the universe with pure will!". The fourth panel shows an open hand, around which swirls a series of planets and stars with the words "From utter nothingness comes swirling form. Life begins where once was void!" The 5th panel shows a vast, angry face with flame in its mouth with the words "But Calvin is no kind and loving god! He is one of the old gods! He demands sacrifice!". The sixth panel shows the god with his back to us as flames reach up to his waist. His hand is reaching towards a tiny planet Earth. The words on this panel read "Yes, Calvin is a god of the underworld! And the puny inhabitants of earth displease him!". The seventh panel shows the people of Earth being sucked into a flaming hellzone with the words "The great Calvin ignores their pleas for mercy and the doomed writhe in agony!". The last panel shows Calvin's mum and dad talking. Calvin's dad is pointing his thumb back towards Calvin, who is oblivious to both them and us as he continues his imaginary destruction in another room. Calvin's dad is saying "Have you seen how absorbed Calvin is with those tinkertoys? He's creating whole worlds over there!" to which Calvin's mum replies "I'll bet he grows up to be an architect."
November 18, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Neil Vass
galaxykate.bsky.social
Doctor says, 'Dont worry, parser design is simple. Great programmer Kate Compton has written the parser you seek’
Conversation with Claude about tracery parsers, and it advises me to look at kate comptons parser, to which i reply “but Doctor i am kate compton”
November 16, 2025 at 2:44 PM
neil-vass.com
Pavement poetry in Manchester
Iron rectangle embedded in the pavement says "the cracks the cracks the cracks, the world between the windswept flags" Iron rectangle embedded in the pavement says "and perhaps these pavement cracks hold the Manchester myriad"
November 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
neil-vass.com
I just completed all 25 days of Advent of Code 2015! #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com

10 years after the challenge deadline but I'm still delighted
Advent of Code 2025
adventofcode.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:06 PM
neil-vass.com
Having a go at some old #AdventOfCode puzzles while I excitedly wait for this year's. One day I hope to collect all the stars!

Latest: My solution for 2015 day 24 part 1 got the right answer (yay!), but it took 10 seconds to run...
Ralph Wiggum from The Simpsons on a school bus. Caption says "(chuckles) I'm in danger."
November 12, 2025 at 6:10 PM
neil-vass.com
Always appreciate a @b0rk.jvns.ca post. Thank you!

jvns.ca/blog/2024/08...
Go structs are copied on assignment (and other things about Go I'd missed)
Go structs are copied on assignment (and other things about Go I'd missed)
jvns.ca
November 11, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Neil Vass
ianzpotter.bsky.social
Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.
It's an artistic representation of a circulatory system walking through a kitchen, as drawn by Dave Gibbons and written about by Alan Moore. It happens a lot 'round here.
November 10, 2025 at 10:54 AM
neil-vass.com
I've been baking! Incredibly impressed with this lot.
4 magnificent sourdough loaves cooling on a rack
November 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Neil Vass
stevefenton.co.uk
Transformations never work. Even when they do.

Find out why transformations are a fundamentally flawed approach to organizational change:
Why Transformations Never Succeed: Even When They Do
A fundamentally flawed approach to change
medium.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:45 PM
neil-vass.com
@was.tl I'm looking at some old puzzles while I excitedly wait for this year's #AdventOfCode.

I don't think anyone ever worked out the "full" story behind 2015 day 19 - in a thread you said you would reveal it once you got over the flu.

Hope you're better now! Did the story ever get shared?
topaz2078's comment on "--- Day 19 Solutions ---"
Explore this conversation and more from the adventofcode community
www.reddit.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:32 PM