Arnaud Spiwack
@aspiwack.bsky.social
Multi-classed Software Engineer/Constructive Mathematician. Sometimes plays video games sort of fast. Puts topoi in your computer.
Pinned
Arnaud Spiwack
@aspiwack.bsky.social
· Nov 17
👋 Welcome (numerous) newcomers.
I'm a Tokyo-based, French, polyglot software engineer, computer scientist, mathematician, and hobbyist speedrunner.
I generally speak of programming languages and their theory, linguistics, science, video games, movies, books. And how the world is very funny indeed.
I'm a Tokyo-based, French, polyglot software engineer, computer scientist, mathematician, and hobbyist speedrunner.
I generally speak of programming languages and their theory, linguistics, science, video games, movies, books. And how the world is very funny indeed.
One thing that modern language models show is that there can be a useful notion of lossy compression for text.
In a sense, these language models are the jpeg of text.
In a sense, these language models are the jpeg of text.
January 28, 2026 at 7:15 AM
One thing that modern language models show is that there can be a useful notion of lossy compression for text.
In a sense, these language models are the jpeg of text.
In a sense, these language models are the jpeg of text.
It makes me shudder every time. Maybe it's a French thing to dislike this pronunciation, I don't know. But I truly hate it.
✱ PSA: If you pronounce “bona fide” pretty much like “bonified”, you are a bunch of ignorami. 😜
No, seriously, “fide” has two syllables in Latin. Say it like “fee-day” in English. I can tolerate “feye-dee” on a good day, but if you think it rhymes with “mystified”, please don't say this around me.
No, seriously, “fide” has two syllables in Latin. Say it like “fee-day” in English. I can tolerate “feye-dee” on a good day, but if you think it rhymes with “mystified”, please don't say this around me.
Ah oui, j'ai beau ne pas être prescriptiviste en général, les anglophones qui prononcent «bona fide» en faisant une seule syllabe (😱) du second mot, ça me donne des pulsions de violence. J'ai longtemps cru qu'ils disaient «bonified» (participe passé de «bonify»).
January 28, 2026 at 12:03 AM
It makes me shudder every time. Maybe it's a French thing to dislike this pronunciation, I don't know. But I truly hate it.
I'm furious at myself.
I've discovered just this instant that Emacs's Reftex has a command to insert Cleveref's \cref commands. For *years* I've been inserting \ref and manually fixing. I discovered it by mistakenly typing cref in my completion engine.
Don't mind me, I'll be weeping in a corner.
I've discovered just this instant that Emacs's Reftex has a command to insert Cleveref's \cref commands. For *years* I've been inserting \ref and manually fixing. I discovered it by mistakenly typing cref in my completion engine.
Don't mind me, I'll be weeping in a corner.
January 27, 2026 at 7:14 AM
I'm furious at myself.
I've discovered just this instant that Emacs's Reftex has a command to insert Cleveref's \cref commands. For *years* I've been inserting \ref and manually fixing. I discovered it by mistakenly typing cref in my completion engine.
Don't mind me, I'll be weeping in a corner.
I've discovered just this instant that Emacs's Reftex has a command to insert Cleveref's \cref commands. For *years* I've been inserting \ref and manually fixing. I discovered it by mistakenly typing cref in my completion engine.
Don't mind me, I'll be weeping in a corner.
J'avoue, ça donne envie.
On est bien chez les matheux y'a des tableaux dans le jardin
January 25, 2026 at 11:05 PM
J'avoue, ça donne envie.
What a time we live in. On Twitter, what appears to be an official account of French diplomacy seems to be mostly shittposting. x.com/FrenchResponse
I'm torn between “this is no way for a government to behave” and “this is the right way to deal with international trolls in this and that place”.
I'm torn between “this is no way for a government to behave” and “this is the right way to deal with international trolls in this and that place”.
French Response (@FrenchResponse) / X
French Response (@FrenchResponse) / X
x.com
January 20, 2026 at 12:35 AM
What a time we live in. On Twitter, what appears to be an official account of French diplomacy seems to be mostly shittposting. x.com/FrenchResponse
I'm torn between “this is no way for a government to behave” and “this is the right way to deal with international trolls in this and that place”.
I'm torn between “this is no way for a government to behave” and “this is the right way to deal with international trolls in this and that place”.
I'm reminded of the French 2012 presidential election. I felt that even those who voted for him were relieved that Nicolas Sarkozy lost. His constant presence and occupation of the media landscape was positively exhausting.
I'm perfectly aware this is by far not the worst thing he's done, but Trump's constant presence - day after day after day - in the lives and headspaces of hundreds of millions of people (billions?), in the US and outside, is so taxing. Every morning, we wake up and have to think about this asshole.
January 20, 2026 at 12:00 AM
I'm reminded of the French 2012 presidential election. I felt that even those who voted for him were relieved that Nicolas Sarkozy lost. His constant presence and occupation of the media landscape was positively exhausting.
Reposted by Arnaud Spiwack
Followed by The Final Countdown played on assorted junk.
youtu.be/B4PSvN3VSyI?...
youtu.be/B4PSvN3VSyI?...
The Final Countdown (Europe) - Les Fo'Plafonds
YouTube video by Les Fo'Plafonds
youtu.be
January 16, 2026 at 10:19 PM
Followed by The Final Countdown played on assorted junk.
youtu.be/B4PSvN3VSyI?...
youtu.be/B4PSvN3VSyI?...
Reposted by Arnaud Spiwack
What your TL needs right now is the Star Wars Imperial March played on rubber chickens: www.youtube.com/shorts/PQhVt...
Imperial March on Rubber Chicken
YouTube video by Vinheteiro
www.youtube.com
January 16, 2026 at 9:49 PM
What your TL needs right now is the Star Wars Imperial March played on rubber chickens: www.youtube.com/shorts/PQhVt...
Reposted by Arnaud Spiwack
Reposted by Arnaud Spiwack
Reposted by Arnaud Spiwack
🧪 Here's a science mystery to start the year.
Why are species names for fish and plants appearing in the scientific literature in papers about firefighter injuries, hearing loss and heart attack?
Is it AI? Translation tools? Something else?
nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/is-this-fi...
Why are species names for fish and plants appearing in the scientific literature in papers about firefighter injuries, hearing loss and heart attack?
Is it AI? Translation tools? Something else?
nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/is-this-fi...
January 11, 2026 at 11:34 PM
🧪 Here's a science mystery to start the year.
Why are species names for fish and plants appearing in the scientific literature in papers about firefighter injuries, hearing loss and heart attack?
Is it AI? Translation tools? Something else?
nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/is-this-fi...
Why are species names for fish and plants appearing in the scientific literature in papers about firefighter injuries, hearing loss and heart attack?
Is it AI? Translation tools? Something else?
nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/is-this-fi...
Diminish a band
Rage Against the Machinima
Rage Against the Machinima
Diminish a band
Police (Municipale)
Police (Municipale)
Diminish a band
The Placo Maiden
The Placo Maiden
January 12, 2026 at 2:20 AM
Diminish a band
Rage Against the Machinima
Rage Against the Machinima
I'm quite happy about how this library turned out. I have good hope that it's going to be useful to you. Yes. You.
New year, new blog post. Arnaud Spiwack announces the Pup library. A Haskell library for combinators that do both parsing and pretty printing in a single grammar description. Read and discover the big ideas behind the library's design. www.tweag.io/blog/2026-01...
The quest for grammar combinators: introducing the Pup library
Announcing the Pup library.
www.tweag.io
January 9, 2026 at 7:39 AM
I'm quite happy about how this library turned out. I have good hope that it's going to be useful to you. Yes. You.
I'd like to contrast this to Dept Q, which I recently watched too. It has a very similar premise: the main character is typically described as “an arrogant prick”. But this series is fantastic, not in small part because the characters feel like characters.
The result is that the season consists mostly of Wednesday being angry and claiming herself perfect, and the rest of the cast lecturing her about it. Over, and over. And it doesn't even amount to anything. If other characters are allowed a modicum of growth, not Wednesday. 2/15
January 8, 2026 at 6:50 AM
I'd like to contrast this to Dept Q, which I recently watched too. It has a very similar premise: the main character is typically described as “an arrogant prick”. But this series is fantastic, not in small part because the characters feel like characters.
Reposted by Arnaud Spiwack
This etymology is wild!
#TIL The English word “average”, originally “custom duty” or “loss in transported goods”, comes from the French “avarie” (meaning “damage to a ship or cargo”) from the Italian “avaria” (same meaning), …
#TIL The English word “average”, originally “custom duty” or “loss in transported goods”, comes from the French “avarie” (meaning “damage to a ship or cargo”) from the Italian “avaria” (same meaning), …
January 7, 2026 at 12:34 AM
This etymology is wild!
#TIL The English word “average”, originally “custom duty” or “loss in transported goods”, comes from the French “avarie” (meaning “damage to a ship or cargo”) from the Italian “avaria” (same meaning), …
#TIL The English word “average”, originally “custom duty” or “loss in transported goods”, comes from the French “avarie” (meaning “damage to a ship or cargo”) from the Italian “avaria” (same meaning), …
There are more nuances to this story that I still don't get either.
If you look at the definition of realisers of A->B, it's not the function space of A to B: it's only those function which are represented by a term. 1/3
If you look at the definition of realisers of A->B, it's not the function space of A to B: it's only those function which are represented by a term. 1/3
I keep thinking about realisability for linear types, and how it seems important that it takes semantics in every presheaf category. Or maybe not all, but all those where the base category admits is a product with a certain category. 1/2
January 7, 2026 at 1:52 PM
There are more nuances to this story that I still don't get either.
If you look at the definition of realisers of A->B, it's not the function space of A to B: it's only those function which are represented by a term. 1/3
If you look at the definition of realisers of A->B, it's not the function space of A to B: it's only those function which are represented by a term. 1/3
I keep thinking about realisability for linear types, and how it seems important that it takes semantics in every presheaf category. Or maybe not all, but all those where the base category admits is a product with a certain category. 1/2
January 6, 2026 at 12:18 PM
I keep thinking about realisability for linear types, and how it seems important that it takes semantics in every presheaf category. Or maybe not all, but all those where the base category admits is a product with a certain category. 1/2
Reposted by Arnaud Spiwack
A back-to-work cartoon for @newscientist.com
January 5, 2026 at 11:32 AM
A back-to-work cartoon for @newscientist.com
I watched Wednesday season 2. It's not very good.
Mostly it's very boring. It's not that the story is bad, it's pretty ok. But other series or film would run this story in 2 to 3 hours, not 8. 1/15
Mostly it's very boring. It's not that the story is bad, it's pretty ok. But other series or film would run this story in 2 to 3 hours, not 8. 1/15
December 31, 2025 at 8:33 AM
I watched Wednesday season 2. It's not very good.
Mostly it's very boring. It's not that the story is bad, it's pretty ok. But other series or film would run this story in 2 to 3 hours, not 8. 1/15
Mostly it's very boring. It's not that the story is bad, it's pretty ok. But other series or film would run this story in 2 to 3 hours, not 8. 1/15
So, Wake up Dead Man, yeah?
It's a very good movie. It's biggest weak point is, ironically, the murder mystery🧵 1/11
It's a very good movie. It's biggest weak point is, ironically, the murder mystery🧵 1/11
December 27, 2025 at 6:52 AM
So, Wake up Dead Man, yeah?
It's a very good movie. It's biggest weak point is, ironically, the murder mystery🧵 1/11
It's a very good movie. It's biggest weak point is, ironically, the murder mystery🧵 1/11
Reposted by Arnaud Spiwack
Ça vient d'ouvrir ! Ils avaient planqué l'adresse jusque-là, on savait juste que c'est à Arcueil, RER Laplace. J'irai dès que possible. museedujeuvideo.org/fr
Le musée du jeu vidéo
Préserver, comprendre, transmettre : l'héritage du jeu vidéo
museedujeuvideo.org
December 19, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Ça vient d'ouvrir ! Ils avaient planqué l'adresse jusque-là, on savait juste que c'est à Arcueil, RER Laplace. J'irai dès que possible. museedujeuvideo.org/fr
I'd say Capras are kind of the GOAT of the animal kingdom.
December 16, 2025 at 11:48 AM
I'd say Capras are kind of the GOAT of the animal kingdom.
After 6 years of sitting on the GHC steering committee, my second term is officially over and I haven't sought re-election. It's been a demanding engagement, certainly, but one that I enjoyed a lot. 🙇
December 10, 2025 at 7:26 AM
After 6 years of sitting on the GHC steering committee, my second term is officially over and I haven't sought re-election. It's been a demanding engagement, certainly, but one that I enjoyed a lot. 🙇
Reposted by Arnaud Spiwack
A couple years (!) in the making: we’re releasing a new corpus of embodied, collaborative problem solving dialogues. We paid 36 people to play Portal 2’s co-op mode and collected their speech + game recordings.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2512.03381
Website: berkeley-nlp.github.io/portal-dialo...
1/n
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2512.03381
Website: berkeley-nlp.github.io/portal-dialo...
1/n
December 5, 2025 at 6:54 PM
A couple years (!) in the making: we’re releasing a new corpus of embodied, collaborative problem solving dialogues. We paid 36 people to play Portal 2’s co-op mode and collected their speech + game recordings.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2512.03381
Website: berkeley-nlp.github.io/portal-dialo...
1/n
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2512.03381
Website: berkeley-nlp.github.io/portal-dialo...
1/n