Hello World: A Decade of Notes and the Next Chapter
Without quite realizing it, I have been building software for a full decade now.
Alongside these ten years has been a steady habit of note-taking—debugging logs, architectural designs, edge-case workarounds, and occasional reflections on work and life. Over the years, my toolchain went through multiple iterations: starting with the lightweight simplicity of Apple Notes, transitioning to MWeb for focused Markdown writing, and eventually settling into Obsidian to build an interconnected personal knowledge base.
Looking through the local archives, engineering notes make up the vast majority. Most were originally written as private "field manuals" and problem-solving logs. I have long wanted to build an independent space to curate, refine, and share these learnings with the wider world. Launching this personal site at the ten-year mark feels like the right way to begin the next chapter.
Talking Low-Level Tech in the Age of AI
The tech landscape today is loud and relentless. Nearly all attention is drawn to AI, LLMs, and autonomous agents, to the point where anything without an "AI" label can feel out of fashion.
Yet beneath the hype, the foundational disciplines of software engineering—3D rendering pipelines, shader optimizations, audio/video codec internals, container formats, and low-level performance tuning—remain the bedrock of the digital world.
Tinkering in these spaces, whether tracking down a subtle memory leak, deciphering a color space mismatch, or fixing frame drops and compression artifacts, is undeniably challenging, but the joy of mastering these mechanics is something generative tools cannot replicate. The rabbit holes and hard-earned lessons along the way are genuinely fascinating.
Even in this fast-moving era, detailed and honest engineering still matters. If these write-ups can offer a spark of insight to anyone walking a similar path, it is well worth the effort.
What You’ll Find Here
I won't box this space into narrow boundaries, but you can expect writing around:
- Low-Level, Graphics & Media Engineering: Real-world experiences with 3D rendering, OpenGL / Vulkan development, media compression algorithms, and performance profiling.
- Tools & Workflows: Note-taking systems refined over ten years, developer ergonomics, and indie software crafting.
- Thoughts & Life: Perspectives on career evolution, shifting technologies, and everyday life seen through the lens of a seasoned engineer.
To kick off this new beginning, there is no better phrase than the classic: Hello World.
One step at a time, slowly and thoughtfully. Welcome along for the ride.