I didn't know you could mix and match (comic)

Compressing dictionaries with a DAWG

A practical, memory efficient way to store and search large sets of words.

Installing the Latest Debian on an Ancient Laptop

The challenge: Install Linux on a really old laptop. The catch: It has only 32 MB of RAM, no network ports, no CD-ROM, and the floppy drive makes creaking noises. Is it possible? Yes. Is it easy? No. Is is useful? Maybe...

Succinct Data Structures: Cramming 80,000 words into a Javascript file.

jQuery creator John Resig needs a little help storing lists of words in his side project. Let's go overkill and explore a little known branch of computer science called Succinct Data Structures.

A Quick Measure of Sortedness

How do you measure the "sortedness" of a list? There are several ways. In the literature this measure is called the "distance to monotonicity" or the "measure of disorder" depending on who you read. Here, I propose another measure for sortedness.

Email Etiquette

If you begin your emails with "Hi, <name>!" then they will seem less rude.

Five essential steps to prepare for your next programming interview

They put you in a room, give you a problem, and stare at you while you fumble around with markers on a whiteboard for 45 minutes. With a little preparation, you'll look like a pro.

Why Perforce is more scalable than Git

Branching on Perforce is kind of like performing open heart surgery. But here's why git can't hope to compete with it.

Four ways of handling asynchronous operations in node.js

Javascript was not designed to do asynchronous operations easily. If it were, then writing asynchronous code would be as easy as writing blocking code. Instead, developers in node.js need to manage many levels of callbacks. Today, we will examine four different methods of performing the same task asynchronously, in node.js.

What does your phone number spell?

Here, I explain a technique for figuring out which words are in which phone numbers. Full C source code is included.