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“All non-trivial abstractions, to some degree, are leaky.” — Joel Spolsky

“All non-trivial abstractions, to some degree, are leaky.” — Joel Spolsky

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Engineering writing for people who'd rather pry the abstraction open than read about it. One question per post. Ten minutes of prose, twenty of widgets you can poke at.

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© 2026

course · 9 chapters · 123 lessons · ~17h

Inference Engineering

111 lessons and 12 checkpoints across 9 chapters. every layer of the inference stack, built up from the math, taken down to production.

series ·

Evals for AI Products

a 9-part series on testing LLM products, from why-evals to multi-turn agents.

shelf · 8 volumes

Amartya's recommendations

Books I actually read as a software engineer. Sit with each of them at least once.

Quantization, explained from scratch: how AI models get smaller without getting dumber
May 13, 2026
an inference-engineering primer. what quantization is, why it works, which formats matter in 2026 (fp8, fp4, mxfp8, nvfp4, nf4), the five mainstream techniques with working code, kv-cache quantization, the sensitivity hierarchy, and a safe production recipe for h100 / b200.
an inference-engineering primer. what quantization is, why it works, which formats matter in 2026 (fp8, fp4, mxfp8, nvfp4, nf4), the five mainstream techniques with working code, kv-cache quantization, the sensitivity hierarchy, and a safe production recipe for h100 / b200.

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course · 1 series

course
9 chapters · 123 lessons · ~17h

Inference Engineering

111 lessons and 12 checkpoints across 9 chapters. every layer of the inference stack, built up from the math, taken down to production.

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How the JavaScript event loop, microtasks, and the call stack work

April 25, 2026

why setTimeout(0) is never zero, why await feels seamless, and why one runaway Promise can stall a tab.

why setTimeout(0) is never zero, why await feels seamless, and why one runaway Promise can stall a tab.

JavaScript Hoisting, the TDZ, and the Call Stack Explained

before line 1 runs, the engine has already walked your file — and that walk is why hoisting, the TDZ, and the call stack are one mechanism, not three quirks.

before line 1 runs, the engine has already walked your file — and that walk is why hoisting, the TDZ, and the call stack are one mechanism, not three quirks.

AI agent traps & prompt injection on the open web

you don't break the model — you break the page it reads. six ways the open web learned to trap an AI agent.

you don't break the model — you break the page it reads. six ways the open web learned to trap an AI agent.

Why fetch fails in browser but works in curl (CORS)

the server did answer — your browser is just holding the response back from your JavaScript.

the server did answer — your browser is just holding the response back from your JavaScript.

WebSockets, SSE, and long-polling: how real-time web works

real-time apps didn't teach the server to speak first — they taught the browser to stop hanging up.

real-time apps didn't teach the server to speak first — they taught the browser to stop hanging up.

How instant email-availability checks work

the pipeline that tells you 'already taken' before your finger lifts.

the pipeline that tells you 'already taken' before your finger lifts.

JavaScript closures, var vs let, and the loop bug

how a function outlives the scope it was born in — and why half of your JS bugs start there.

how a function outlives the scope it was born in — and why half of your JS bugs start there.

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