Rebecca Skinner
@cercerilla.bsky.social
Programmer, Parrot Mom, Free Software Enthusiast, and author of Effective Haskell. https://www.pragprog.com/titles/rshaskell/effective-haskell/
I am so ready for this trend of fiction being written in present tense to be over. I’ve wasted so many credits on audio books that I listen to for all of 10 minutes before giving up because it’s yet another present tense story that confuses austerity for immediacy and immediacy for being good.
October 19, 2025 at 5:53 AM
I am so ready for this trend of fiction being written in present tense to be over. I’ve wasted so many credits on audio books that I listen to for all of 10 minutes before giving up because it’s yet another present tense story that confuses austerity for immediacy and immediacy for being good.
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
More than *anything* the people who actually know how technology works, who actually build things, wish that people would treat LLMs like every other technology, and be normal about them. Don't build a religion about them, don't force them on people, don't ignore the problems. Just be normal.
October 17, 2025 at 4:34 AM
More than *anything* the people who actually know how technology works, who actually build things, wish that people would treat LLMs like every other technology, and be normal about them. Don't build a religion about them, don't force them on people, don't ignore the problems. Just be normal.
Tonight I'm working on Haskell Brain Teasers while watching Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which was shot by Haskell Wexler.
You should check out the movie, and the book. I promise none of the puzzles are as hard as watching George and Martha play "Get The Guests"
pragprog.com/titles/haske...
You should check out the movie, and the book. I promise none of the puzzles are as hard as watching George and Martha play "Get The Guests"
pragprog.com/titles/haske...
Haskell Brain Teasers
Deepen your Haskell knowledge, sharpen your functional programming skills, and just have fun with 20 functional programming puzzles to tie your brain in knots.
pragprog.com
October 17, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Tonight I'm working on Haskell Brain Teasers while watching Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which was shot by Haskell Wexler.
You should check out the movie, and the book. I promise none of the puzzles are as hard as watching George and Martha play "Get The Guests"
pragprog.com/titles/haske...
You should check out the movie, and the book. I promise none of the puzzles are as hard as watching George and Martha play "Get The Guests"
pragprog.com/titles/haske...
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
"It was always difficult to recommend a single up-to-date learning resource. This book fills that niche perfectly, providing both a gentle introduction to the language and a deeper hands-on dive into the practical side..."
-- Tikhon Jelvis, Chair, Haskell.org Committee.
@cercerilla.bsky.social
-- Tikhon Jelvis, Chair, Haskell.org Committee.
@cercerilla.bsky.social
October 8, 2025 at 10:15 PM
"It was always difficult to recommend a single up-to-date learning resource. This book fills that niche perfectly, providing both a gentle introduction to the language and a deeper hands-on dive into the practical side..."
-- Tikhon Jelvis, Chair, Haskell.org Committee.
@cercerilla.bsky.social
-- Tikhon Jelvis, Chair, Haskell.org Committee.
@cercerilla.bsky.social
My favorite down-time/stress release activity lately has been making tabletop gaming maps. I haven't been active on bluesky for a while, but I thought it might be nice to share a couple of them.
July 2, 2025 at 3:30 PM
My favorite down-time/stress release activity lately has been making tabletop gaming maps. I haven't been active on bluesky for a while, but I thought it might be nice to share a couple of them.
I wish we could have more grown up nuanced discussions like this about AI. I find it useful, and recognize its limits and the social effort to adapt to a world where it exists.
Whew. I can confirm that the people who aren't ready to talk about it *really* don't wanna talk about it. Many people will only accept violent rejection of LLM tech. And if you're doing anything other than that, you must be either the enemy or an ignorant rube.
Anil gets it. A lot of critics are still in their "put the toothpaste back in the tube" phase with AI. We are well past that. We have to address what it is today.
But I also know that telling people this doesn't actually help them get past that phase.
But I also know that telling people this doesn't actually help them get past that phase.
June 19, 2025 at 10:24 PM
I wish we could have more grown up nuanced discussions like this about AI. I find it useful, and recognize its limits and the social effort to adapt to a world where it exists.
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
If you've thought about giving Haskell a try, this is a great opportunity to get Effective Haskell at a discount. Whether you check out Effective Haskell or not, I'm always happy to answer questions or help folks who are interested in functional programming.
Spring Best Sellers Sale Week 4
The Pragmatic Polyglot
40% Off – This Week Only!
Code: 2025POLYGLOT at checkout
Titles on sale this week - in 🧵
media.pragprog.com/n...
The Pragmatic Polyglot
40% Off – This Week Only!
Code: 2025POLYGLOT at checkout
Titles on sale this week - in 🧵
media.pragprog.com/n...
April 30, 2025 at 11:10 PM
If you've thought about giving Haskell a try, this is a great opportunity to get Effective Haskell at a discount. Whether you check out Effective Haskell or not, I'm always happy to answer questions or help folks who are interested in functional programming.
If you've thought about giving Haskell a try, this is a great opportunity to get Effective Haskell at a discount. Whether you check out Effective Haskell or not, I'm always happy to answer questions or help folks who are interested in functional programming.
Spring Best Sellers Sale Week 4
The Pragmatic Polyglot
40% Off – This Week Only!
Code: 2025POLYGLOT at checkout
Titles on sale this week - in 🧵
media.pragprog.com/n...
The Pragmatic Polyglot
40% Off – This Week Only!
Code: 2025POLYGLOT at checkout
Titles on sale this week - in 🧵
media.pragprog.com/n...
April 30, 2025 at 11:10 PM
If you've thought about giving Haskell a try, this is a great opportunity to get Effective Haskell at a discount. Whether you check out Effective Haskell or not, I'm always happy to answer questions or help folks who are interested in functional programming.
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
I’m really excited to announce my first chapbook, “Trans Artifacts: Bones Between My Teeth,” will be published by Porkbelly Press in 2026/7!
forthcoming in 2026/7 to Porkbelly Press. ✨ Chapbooks by Hilda Downer, Debbie Feit, Audrey Gidman, Fay L. Loomis, Trinity Tibe, Sasha Weiss, Ren Wilding, and Juliette Zhu.
April 6, 2025 at 11:01 PM
I’m really excited to announce my first chapbook, “Trans Artifacts: Bones Between My Teeth,” will be published by Porkbelly Press in 2026/7!
I’m working on my second book right now, Haskell Brain Teasers. It’s shorter and more structured than Effective Haskell, but writing is still a lot of work.
One thing that helps keep me motivated is the belief that kind and empathetic technical writing that celebrates the reader is important.
One thing that helps keep me motivated is the belief that kind and empathetic technical writing that celebrates the reader is important.
March 23, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I’m working on my second book right now, Haskell Brain Teasers. It’s shorter and more structured than Effective Haskell, but writing is still a lot of work.
One thing that helps keep me motivated is the belief that kind and empathetic technical writing that celebrates the reader is important.
One thing that helps keep me motivated is the belief that kind and empathetic technical writing that celebrates the reader is important.
I’ve been working for a while on an article that aims to explain pure functions in terms of dictionaries. It’s been slow to write so I decided to release part 1 now and I’ll follow up with a part 2 soon:
rebeccaskinner.net/posts/2024-1...
rebeccaskinner.net/posts/2024-1...
Dictionaries are Pure Functions (Part 1)
Part 1 of 2: An introduction to functions in a functional programming style using python
rebeccaskinner.net
March 22, 2025 at 10:51 PM
I’ve been working for a while on an article that aims to explain pure functions in terms of dictionaries. It’s been slow to write so I decided to release part 1 now and I’ll follow up with a part 2 soon:
rebeccaskinner.net/posts/2024-1...
rebeccaskinner.net/posts/2024-1...
As an example:
rebeccaskinner.net/posts/2025-0...
rebeccaskinner.net/posts/2025-0...
March 22, 2025 at 8:21 PM
As an example:
rebeccaskinner.net/posts/2025-0...
rebeccaskinner.net/posts/2025-0...
One of my favorite things is writing completely unhinged code that should never exist.
March 21, 2025 at 11:34 PM
One of my favorite things is writing completely unhinged code that should never exist.
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
The fact congressional Democrats have not hired three dozen D&D rules lawyers with oppositional defiant disorder and turned them loose on parliamentary procedure with the goal of maximum obstruction is such a fucking missed opportunity
I’m bringing this up because this is a simple procedural way to fuck with republicans even if they’re in the majority. Call them out of order, rise to a point of personal privilege, use the very procedural rules that organize their meetings to strangle them. It fucking works.
March 12, 2025 at 8:55 PM
The fact congressional Democrats have not hired three dozen D&D rules lawyers with oppositional defiant disorder and turned them loose on parliamentary procedure with the goal of maximum obstruction is such a fucking missed opportunity
I’ve been studying middle Egyptian lately, for no particular reason. I’m pretty early on, but here are some of my big takeaways so far…
March 13, 2025 at 3:35 AM
I’ve been studying middle Egyptian lately, for no particular reason. I’m pretty early on, but here are some of my big takeaways so far…
Did you know that a lot of middle Egyptian words written using hieroglyphic are valid Haskell identifiers? You can just use Unicode in your programs, nobody can stop you.
March 12, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Did you know that a lot of middle Egyptian words written using hieroglyphic are valid Haskell identifiers? You can just use Unicode in your programs, nobody can stop you.
I don’t know how to explain it, but Q feels like it should come later in the alphabet than it actually does.
March 12, 2025 at 3:45 AM
I don’t know how to explain it, but Q feels like it should come later in the alphabet than it actually does.
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
I actually have a mug I made for myself that says “I would rather be wrong” because truly, being a member of the Cassandra Corps is awful. But being right isn’t about my emotional needs; it’s about supporting material improvements. People who reverse that purpose aren’t allies.
February 17, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I actually have a mug I made for myself that says “I would rather be wrong” because truly, being a member of the Cassandra Corps is awful. But being right isn’t about my emotional needs; it’s about supporting material improvements. People who reverse that purpose aren’t allies.
There are things about very large LLMs that concern me. Centralized control of them is the big one, but also the risk of hallucinations in critical systems, their utility in propaganda and misinformation campaigns, and how they’re used to launder responsibility.
February 17, 2025 at 3:25 PM
There are things about very large LLMs that concern me. Centralized control of them is the big one, but also the risk of hallucinations in critical systems, their utility in propaganda and misinformation campaigns, and how they’re used to launder responsibility.
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
i ask this question of every member of the @democrats.org claiming to fight for us: we are in unprecedented times. what unprecedented actions will you be taking?
what does aggressively pushing back look like in contrast to your normal standard operating procedures? is there a marked difference?
February 1, 2025 at 7:33 PM
i ask this question of every member of the @democrats.org claiming to fight for us: we are in unprecedented times. what unprecedented actions will you be taking?
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
Gonna put some more fire on this take.
Many publishers are not manually going through each and every review when they are looking at reviews to determine if they want to re-sign an author or acquire an author previously published elsewhere. They just see that Paige O'Woord's last book has a 3.5 on
Many publishers are not manually going through each and every review when they are looking at reviews to determine if they want to re-sign an author or acquire an author previously published elsewhere. They just see that Paige O'Woord's last book has a 3.5 on
I cannot emphasize how important it is to leave reviews for marginalized authors.
Fash and conservatives OFTEN leave negative reviews just to purposefully tank a book and give "validity" to their argument that "diverse books are badly written."
Fash and conservatives OFTEN leave negative reviews just to purposefully tank a book and give "validity" to their argument that "diverse books are badly written."
January 25, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Gonna put some more fire on this take.
Many publishers are not manually going through each and every review when they are looking at reviews to determine if they want to re-sign an author or acquire an author previously published elsewhere. They just see that Paige O'Woord's last book has a 3.5 on
Many publishers are not manually going through each and every review when they are looking at reviews to determine if they want to re-sign an author or acquire an author previously published elsewhere. They just see that Paige O'Woord's last book has a 3.5 on
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
There are more and more shows on streamers that did put out physical releases (Harley Quinn, The Boys, etc.) that have decided to just stop partway through the show and I will never not be DEEPLY annoyed by this
What do you MEAN you'll sell me 3 seasons of a 5 season show
What do you MEAN you'll sell me 3 seasons of a 5 season show
January 18, 2025 at 5:53 PM
There are more and more shows on streamers that did put out physical releases (Harley Quinn, The Boys, etc.) that have decided to just stop partway through the show and I will never not be DEEPLY annoyed by this
What do you MEAN you'll sell me 3 seasons of a 5 season show
What do you MEAN you'll sell me 3 seasons of a 5 season show
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
We are pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the Haskell.org committee. You can nominate yourself or a friend for a three-year term (2025-2028) by sending an email to [committee at haskell.org] by January 31, 2025. More info below:
discourse.haskell.org/t/call-for-n...
discourse.haskell.org/t/call-for-n...
Call for Nominations: Haskell.org Commitee (2025-2028)
Dear Haskellers, We are pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the Haskell.org committee. You can nominate yourself or a friend for a three-year term (2025-2028) by sending an email to...
discourse.haskell.org
January 18, 2025 at 12:08 AM
We are pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the Haskell.org committee. You can nominate yourself or a friend for a three-year term (2025-2028) by sending an email to [committee at haskell.org] by January 31, 2025. More info below:
discourse.haskell.org/t/call-for-n...
discourse.haskell.org/t/call-for-n...
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
And can the “class only leftists” actually shut the fuck up?
Yall have multiple think tanks and editorial boards who were giggling about “anti identitarian politics” and “pro gentrification”
And that includes the non white ones who capitalized or just rested on transphobia nd misogyny
Yall have multiple think tanks and editorial boards who were giggling about “anti identitarian politics” and “pro gentrification”
And that includes the non white ones who capitalized or just rested on transphobia nd misogyny
January 14, 2025 at 2:19 PM
And can the “class only leftists” actually shut the fuck up?
Yall have multiple think tanks and editorial boards who were giggling about “anti identitarian politics” and “pro gentrification”
And that includes the non white ones who capitalized or just rested on transphobia nd misogyny
Yall have multiple think tanks and editorial boards who were giggling about “anti identitarian politics” and “pro gentrification”
And that includes the non white ones who capitalized or just rested on transphobia nd misogyny
Reposted by Rebecca Skinner
After a few months taking a break from work, I'm looking for a job again. Anyone hiring a software engineer with a penchant for low-level stuff? I'm looking for something remote in the US (or, at the very least, something in the Seattle area).
(Reskeet for reach? Thanks!)
(Reskeet for reach? Thanks!)
January 9, 2025 at 6:16 PM
After a few months taking a break from work, I'm looking for a job again. Anyone hiring a software engineer with a penchant for low-level stuff? I'm looking for something remote in the US (or, at the very least, something in the Seattle area).
(Reskeet for reach? Thanks!)
(Reskeet for reach? Thanks!)