https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/ Recent content on Lucida Blog Hugo en Sat, 02 May 2026 12:15:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/computing-machinery-and-intelligence/ Sat, 02 May 2026 12:15:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/computing-machinery-and-intelligence/ Turing reframes “Can machines think?” through the imitation game, answers major objections, and turns the discussion toward learning machines. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/the-use-of-knowledge-in-society/ Sat, 02 May 2026 11:30:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/the-use-of-knowledge-in-society/ Hayek argues that the central economic problem is not centralized calculation, but how to use dispersed local knowledge; the price system is the mechanism that does it. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/time-clocks-and-ordering-of-events/ Thu, 30 Apr 2026 22:00:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/time-clocks-and-ordering-of-events/ Lamport’s classic paper models event order with happened-before, then builds logical clocks, total ordering, mutual exclusion, and physical clock synchronization from it. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/end-to-end-arguments-in-system-design/ Thu, 30 Apr 2026 13:00:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/end-to-end-arguments-in-system-design/ Saltzer, Reed, and Clark formulate the end-to-end argument: many functions can only be implemented correctly at the endpoints, with lower layers serving mainly as performance optimizations. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/the-strength-of-weak-ties/ Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:30:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/the-strength-of-weak-ties/ Granovetter argues that weak ties, not strong ones, are often what connect groups and let information, opportunities, and coordination travel across social boundaries. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/on-the-criteria-to-be-used-in-decomposing-systems-into-modules/ Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/on-the-criteria-to-be-used-in-decomposing-systems-into-modules/ Using the KWIC example, Parnas shows that good modular decomposition hides change-prone design decisions rather than mirroring processing steps. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/ai-translation-notes/ Tue, 28 Apr 2026 22:06:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/ai-translation-notes/ Notes from translating 11 classic CS papers with Codex. What changed the economics was not one-click translation, but a checked pipeline that pulled PDFs, OCR, terminology, citations, code, formulas, and web layout into the same workflow. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/unix-time-sharing-system/ Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:54:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/unix-time-sharing-system/ Ritchie and Thompson explain early UNIX: its file system, process model, shell, unified I/O abstraction, and why the system stayed small yet powerful. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/axiomatic-basis-for-computer-programming/ Mon, 27 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/axiomatic-basis-for-computer-programming/ Hoare presents an axiomatic framework for proving partial program correctness, then uses it to discuss proofs, language definition, documentation, and portability. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/unreasonable-effectiveness-of-data/ Sun, 26 Apr 2026 23:29:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/unreasonable-effectiveness-of-data/ Halevy, Norvig, and Pereira argue that for language and web-scale problems, large real-world datasets plus simple scalable models often beat elegant small-data theories. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/you-and-your-research/ Sun, 26 Apr 2026 23:28:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/you-and-your-research/ Drawing on Bell Labs and the history of science, Hamming discusses how to choose important problems, manage yourself, build courage and habits, and do work of lasting value. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/programming-as-theory-building/ Sun, 26 Apr 2026 22:51:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/programming-as-theory-building/ Naur argues that programming is not mainly producing text, but building a theory around the problem and solution that can be explained, extended, and revised. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/the-bitter-lesson/ Sun, 26 Apr 2026 22:50:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/the-bitter-lesson/ Sutton distills a recurring lesson from AI: in the long run, methods that scale with computation beat hand-coded human knowledge. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/reflections-on-trusting-trust/ Sun, 26 Apr 2026 22:11:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/reflections-on-trusting-trust/ Through self-reproducing programs and a backdoored compiler, Thompson shows why source review alone cannot fully establish trust in a toolchain or software supply chain. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/computer-programming-as-an-art/ Sun, 26 Apr 2026 22:10:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/computer-programming-as-an-art/ Knuth argues that programming is both science and art: it needs formal foundations, but also taste, style, and aesthetic judgment. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/no-silver-bullet-essence-and-accidents-of-software-engineering/ Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:40:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/no-silver-bullet-essence-and-accidents-of-software-engineering/ Brooks distinguishes essential from accidental difficulties in software engineering and explains why no single technology can deliver an order-of-magnitude productivity jump. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/the-rise-of-worse-is-better/ Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:30:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/the-rise-of-worse-is-better/ Explains why “worse is better” wins in practice: simple implementations, rapid spread, and evolvability often beat perfect design. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/ai-technical-translation/ Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/ai-technical-translation/ To read classic papers more comfortably, I used Codex to build an agentic translation flow: PDF -> Markdown -> Chinese translation -> terminology cleanup -> cross-references. AI translation is not magic. It is closer to putting translation, editing, proofreading, and layout into one pipeline. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/hints-for-computer-system-design/ Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/paper/hints-for-computer-system-design/ A set of system design heuristics on keeping interfaces simple, making systems faster, and balancing fault tolerance against complexity. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/worse-is-better/ Sat, 25 Apr 2026 19:20:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/worse-is-better/ A reread of Richard Gabriel’s Worse Is Better: why systems that are less perfect but easier to implement and spread often win adoption first, and why mature ecosystems later need The Right Thing to repair them. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/ai-surge-programmers-cut/ Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:00:00 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/ai-surge-programmers-cut/ Now that AI coding has crossed into production, programmers are becoming one of the earliest white-collar groups facing large-scale replacement. Productivity is surging, headcount is shrinking, and behind the excitement there is not just a growth story but a quieter elimination process. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/migration-back-to-static-blog/ Sun, 12 Apr 2026 23:36:53 -0700 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/migration-back-to-static-blog/ Four years ago I moved the blog from Hexo to WordPress out of laziness. Four years later, out of a different kind of laziness, I moved it back to a static site. Even more absurdly, this migration write-up itself was also generated on the side during the migration conversation. https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/about/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://406a042a.blog-yq6.pages.dev/about/