Side Projects

It took two years, but I finally finished building an interpreter.

Sometimes when you’re searching for a digital record, you don’t remember the precise wording of the original entry…. Semantic search attempts to compare the meanings of words and phrases instead of the characters.

My life is held together with the Todoist app … but it’s just not a good fit for work in the corporate world. And that led me to a practical side project.

For the last year or so, I’ve been chipping away at a side project: a weightlifting-tracking app. The ostensible purpose is to store the metrics I want and make data entry as convenient as possible, but in practice it’s mainly a way for me to become more familiar with the development of a “large” web application and the challenges that come with it.

In January, during some time off between jobs, I started working through Crafting Interpreters by Robert Nystrom. I think I originally discovered the book via r/ProgrammingLanguages. There aren’t that many accessible books for programming language design and implementation, so discovering the book (and that it was free to read online!1) was very exciting. The awesome book cover It’s an absolutely incredible book, in which you learn about programming languages while implementing your own.

I recently crossed the 9-month mark as a Chicago resident. The time has come for a big decision: renew my lease, or make the move to a new apartment?

I really like my current home. Two bedrooms, a back porch, a garage, and more grounded outlets than even a tech nerd like me could want. It’s in Little Italy, which is not a popular choice for Chicago young professionals, but is comfortable and has a decent set of restaurants. I suspect that a similar unit in a more “hip” neighborhood might be out of my price range. And my real office (as opposed to my extra bedroom, which has been serving in that capacity since I moved here) is a 10-minute bike ride away. The north side, home of many of those hip neighborhoods, would bring with it a commute at least twice as long.

On the other hand, my primary motivation in moving to a big city was exploration and experience. I wanted to get to know Chicago, particularly its neighborhoods. Moving would offer me a change of location, unlocking many new walkable or bikable destinations. Additionally, none of my friends live near my current apartment; most are in various parts of the northern neighborhoods, while I live somewhat south and west of the Loop (the downtown area of Chicago). Seeing most friends requires a 15+ minute drive or 30+ minute train ride.