rob pike
@robpike.io
Long career as a dilettante at Bell Labs Research and Google, mostly building weird stuff no one uses, but occasionally getting it right, such as with UTF-8 and Go.
Pinned
rob pike
@robpike.io
· Jan 19
In 1922 Alfred Stieglitz made a series of photographs of cloudy skies, calling them Equivalents because they matched an emotion or mood he was feeling.
This is my Equivalent for today.
This is my Equivalent for today.
That sounds almost exactly like my Cat5 story above. Check the connector wiring diagram. You probably got it right but please check.
January 11, 2026 at 8:21 PM
That sounds almost exactly like my Cat5 story above. Check the connector wiring diagram. You probably got it right but please check.
My house in Menlo Park came with CAT 5 everywhere, very nice, but the RJ45 connectors were wired in the classically obvious but incorrect way, so they mumbled along using crosstalk instead of actual signal wire. Borrowed some hardware from work and spent an evening redoing all the connectors. Speed!
January 11, 2026 at 2:07 AM
My house in Menlo Park came with CAT 5 everywhere, very nice, but the RJ45 connectors were wired in the classically obvious but incorrect way, so they mumbled along using crosstalk instead of actual signal wire. Borrowed some hardware from work and spent an evening redoing all the connectors. Speed!
I've always thought it would be nice to have a Turing Award. Perhaps my good friend Ken Thompson would give me his. He's got lots of other awards anyway.
(joke!)
(joke!)
The Norwegian Nobel Prize committee has been forced to make a statement, declaring that the prize cannot be transferred.
It's hard even to comprehend how stupid this has become
It's hard even to comprehend how stupid this has become
January 10, 2026 at 8:41 PM
I've always thought it would be nice to have a Turing Award. Perhaps my good friend Ken Thompson would give me his. He's got lots of other awards anyway.
(joke!)
(joke!)
Reposted by rob pike
N.I.C.E.
Be more like Canada 🇨🇦
Be more like Canada 🇨🇦
January 9, 2026 at 12:29 PM
N.I.C.E.
Be more like Canada 🇨🇦
Be more like Canada 🇨🇦
Not even counting the past month I've spent rewriting ivy for you.
January 10, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Not even counting the past month I've spent rewriting ivy for you.
Reposted by rob pike
“Pulling a New Proof from Knuth's Fixed-Point Printer”
Happy 88th Birthday to Don Knuth!
And thanks again to @robpike.io for Ivy.
research.swtch.com/fp-knuth
Happy 88th Birthday to Don Knuth!
And thanks again to @robpike.io for Ivy.
research.swtch.com/fp-knuth
research!rsc: Pulling a New Proof from Knuth’s Fixed-Point Printer
research.swtch.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:30 PM
“Pulling a New Proof from Knuth's Fixed-Point Printer”
Happy 88th Birthday to Don Knuth!
And thanks again to @robpike.io for Ivy.
research.swtch.com/fp-knuth
Happy 88th Birthday to Don Knuth!
And thanks again to @robpike.io for Ivy.
research.swtch.com/fp-knuth
Reposted by rob pike
I was a child, and we were crashing with friends after a cross-country move. Being the kid, I got to sleep in the living room on the couch, next to the loudest grandfather clock ever. Burned into my psyche.
Also in Vermont our B&B was next to a church that bonged every 15 minutes all night.😩
Also in Vermont our B&B was next to a church that bonged every 15 minutes all night.😩
January 9, 2026 at 1:14 AM
I was a child, and we were crashing with friends after a cross-country move. Being the kid, I got to sleep in the living room on the couch, next to the loudest grandfather clock ever. Burned into my psyche.
Also in Vermont our B&B was next to a church that bonged every 15 minutes all night.😩
Also in Vermont our B&B was next to a church that bonged every 15 minutes all night.😩
Those mimes are way tougher than they look, at least until late in the game.
January 7, 2026 at 8:16 PM
Those mimes are way tougher than they look, at least until late in the game.
Then what do you think of continued fractions?
January 7, 2026 at 8:15 PM
Then what do you think of continued fractions?
Reposted by rob pike
11pm 78% humidity
January 7, 2026 at 11:59 AM
11pm 78% humidity
Reposted by rob pike
If you are submitting an NIH grant in February, you will be required to use SciENcv to prepare you biosketch.
IT IS MUCH WORSE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.
Set aside *at least* 4 hours just to transfer an existing an biosketch into SciENcv.
IT IS MUCH WORSE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.
Set aside *at least* 4 hours just to transfer an existing an biosketch into SciENcv.
January 6, 2026 at 11:29 PM
If you are submitting an NIH grant in February, you will be required to use SciENcv to prepare you biosketch.
IT IS MUCH WORSE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.
Set aside *at least* 4 hours just to transfer an existing an biosketch into SciENcv.
IT IS MUCH WORSE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE.
Set aside *at least* 4 hours just to transfer an existing an biosketch into SciENcv.
Reposted by rob pike
Since ChatGPT came out in late 2022, over *half a million* tech workers have been laid off. That fact, and their voices, aren't really shaping the conversation about AI, and what "AI" really means in culture. So I started to get into it: www.anildash.com/2026/01/06/5...
500,000 tech workers have been laid off since ChatGPT was released - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
www.anildash.com
January 6, 2026 at 9:09 PM
Since ChatGPT came out in late 2022, over *half a million* tech workers have been laid off. That fact, and their voices, aren't really shaping the conversation about AI, and what "AI" really means in culture. So I started to get into it: www.anildash.com/2026/01/06/5...
Reposted by rob pike
PSA: go.sum is not a lockfile.
You never need to look at go.sum.
go.mod has everything you need.
You never need to look at go.sum.
go.mod has everything you need.
go.sum Is Not a Lockfile
In Go, go.mod acts as both manifest and lockfile. There is never a reason to look at go.sum.
words.filippo.io
January 5, 2026 at 8:25 PM
PSA: go.sum is not a lockfile.
You never need to look at go.sum.
go.mod has everything you need.
You never need to look at go.sum.
go.mod has everything you need.
There was once a Unix conference in the same hotel as a Mary Kay convention. Another good combination. But on the plane home, I was the only one not dressed in pink.
January 6, 2026 at 12:49 AM
There was once a Unix conference in the same hotel as a Mary Kay convention. Another good combination. But on the plane home, I was the only one not dressed in pink.
Dave just doesn't have your touch. 😀
January 6, 2026 at 12:47 AM
Dave just doesn't have your touch. 😀
Remember when I said 2026 hadn't even started yet?
Well, it's started now.
Well, it's started now.
January 5, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Remember when I said 2026 hadn't even started yet?
Well, it's started now.
Well, it's started now.
Reposted by rob pike
Do you have an idle cluster? Can you spare a couple core-years?
Help me bruteforce some test vectors for RSA key generation edge cases!
Here are the instructions, it's just a matter of running a single self-contained cross-compilable Go binary that will report the results autonomously.
Help me bruteforce some test vectors for RSA key generation edge cases!
Here are the instructions, it's just a matter of running a single self-contained cross-compilable Go binary that will report the results autonomously.
RSA test vector crowdsourcing instructions
gist.github.com
January 4, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Do you have an idle cluster? Can you spare a couple core-years?
Help me bruteforce some test vectors for RSA key generation edge cases!
Here are the instructions, it's just a matter of running a single self-contained cross-compilable Go binary that will report the results autonomously.
Help me bruteforce some test vectors for RSA key generation edge cases!
Here are the instructions, it's just a matter of running a single self-contained cross-compilable Go binary that will report the results autonomously.
Reposted by rob pike
not the creature from the black lagoon
January 2, 2026 at 3:19 PM
not the creature from the black lagoon
Reposted by rob pike
Tony Tyson first dreamt up the Vera Rubin Observatory more than 30 years ago
He is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/3N6lts8
He is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/3N6lts8
The visionary physicist who gave us a new way to view the cosmos
Nature - Tony Tyson is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025.
go.nature.com
January 2, 2026 at 11:52 AM
Tony Tyson first dreamt up the Vera Rubin Observatory more than 30 years ago
He is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/3N6lts8
He is part of Nature’s 10, a list of people who shaped science in 2025
go.nature.com/3N6lts8