Nobody Gets Fired for Picking JSON, but Maybe They Should?

I will often say that the so-called “C ABI” is a very bad one, and a relatively unimaginative one when it comes to passing complicated types effectively. A lot of people ask me “ok, what would you use instead”, and I just point them to the Go register ABI, but it seems most people have trouble filling in the gaps of what I mean. This article...

Another explainer on a fun, esoteric topic: optimizing code with SIMD (single instruction multiple data, also sometimes called vectorization). Designing a good, fast, portable SIMD algorithm is not a simple matter and requires thinking a little bit like a circuit designer. Here’s the mandatory performance benchmark graph to catch your eye. ...

Linear algebra is undoubtedly the most useful field in all of algebra. It finds applications in all kinds of science and engineering, like quantum mechanics, graphics programming, and machine learning. It is the “most well-behaved” algebraic theory, in that other abstract algebra topics often try to approximate linear algebra, when possible. For...

I write compilers for fun. I can’t help it. Consequently, I also write a lot of parsers. In systems programming, it’s usually a good idea to try to share memory rather than reuse it, so as such my AST types tend to look like this. pub enum Expr'src> { Int(u32) Ident(&'src str), // ... }Rust Whenever we parse an identifier, rather than copy its...

The other day, I saw this tweet. In it, Andrew Gallant argues that reaching for LLVM IR, instead of assembly, is a useful tool for someone working on performance. Unfortunately, learning material on LLVM is usually aimed at compiler engineers, not generalist working programmers. Now, I’m a compiler engineer, so my answer is of course you should...