I thought I would try adding Windows support to a Python package after a decade of people asking, and I am now filled with regret.

If anyone understands why a command in a makefile with redirection strips a layer of escaping, but only in Windows, and only if there's a redirection, your illumination would be much appreciated!

https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/75199

This is a delightful read on the early days of Linux.

https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/928581/841b747332791ac4/

"One day, Linus accidentally attempted to use his hard drive to dial the university, resulting in his master boot sector starting with "ATDT" and the university modem-pool phone number. After recovering from this, he implemented file permissions in his kernel."

I've written about the particular awkwardness of testing predicates: https://mike.zwobble.org/2023/01/testing-predicates/

Or, to be more precise, the particular awkwardness of making sure tests for predicates reliably fail if the behaviour under test stops working.

I've written up my reflections on James Shore's excellent "Testing without Mocks" article, and specifically the answers it provides to three key questions compared to other testing approaches. Mixing and matching answers then lets us explore yet more alternatives.

https://mike.zwobble.org/2023/01/reflections-on-testing-without-mocks/

I think Bird and Fortune's Long Johns might my favourite bits of satire ever. Sublime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0jgZKV4N_A