Alan Donovan
@adonovan.bsky.social
Software engineer at Google in New York, developing analysis and refactoring tools for Go (#golang). Co-author of "The Go Programming Language" (gopl.io).
Now that we have AI, no-one reads the middle these days.
November 21, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Now that we have AI, no-one reads the middle these days.
Act II:
Diner: Yes. It is. Trust me, I can tell a shit when I see one.
Waiter: You're absolutely right. Let me fix that again.
Diner: [shakes head] Why do I keep coming to this restaurant?
This is my every experience of coding with LLMs.
Diner: Yes. It is. Trust me, I can tell a shit when I see one.
Waiter: You're absolutely right. Let me fix that again.
Diner: [shakes head] Why do I keep coming to this restaurant?
This is my every experience of coding with LLMs.
November 21, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Act II:
Diner: Yes. It is. Trust me, I can tell a shit when I see one.
Waiter: You're absolutely right. Let me fix that again.
Diner: [shakes head] Why do I keep coming to this restaurant?
This is my every experience of coding with LLMs.
Diner: Yes. It is. Trust me, I can tell a shit when I see one.
Waiter: You're absolutely right. Let me fix that again.
Diner: [shakes head] Why do I keep coming to this restaurant?
This is my every experience of coding with LLMs.
Huh. I thought it was ok. Can you give a one tweet critique?
November 21, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Huh. I thought it was ok. Can you give a one tweet critique?
The poets always knew they were the AI resistance!
November 21, 2025 at 12:00 AM
The poets always knew they were the AI resistance!
gopls maintainer here. Please file a bug report; it should not be slow. Attaching a CPU profile would really help. Thanks!
November 14, 2025 at 7:51 PM
gopls maintainer here. Please file a bug report; it should not be slow. Attaching a CPU profile would really help. Thanks!
Its pride style could called “continuation passing”: all gotos, no need to return.
November 10, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Its pride style could called “continuation passing”: all gotos, no need to return.
He sounds like China did in fact hit him with a magnet.
November 10, 2025 at 11:53 PM
He sounds like China did in fact hit him with a magnet.
Are we in a viral surge? Which one? Where does one even get this data today?
November 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Are we in a viral surge? Which one? Where does one even get this data today?
Interesting; most takes I hear in my PL bubble are the opposite: that not having an existing corpus means that LLMs will generate worse output for new languages, making it hard for such projects to get a foothold.
November 7, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Interesting; most takes I hear in my PL bubble are the opposite: that not having an existing corpus means that LLMs will generate worse output for new languages, making it hard for such projects to get a foothold.
Also works should you find yourself planning an as-yet-untitled drag event.
November 7, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Also works should you find yourself planning an as-yet-untitled drag event.
Also more car volume than house volume. And mass too.
November 3, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Also more car volume than house volume. And mass too.
yeah. Sometimes you have grudgingly admit that the recommended fingerings in the even numbered positions (for violin) are actually easier to play if harder to read.
November 3, 2025 at 3:58 AM
yeah. Sometimes you have grudgingly admit that the recommended fingerings in the even numbered positions (for violin) are actually easier to play if harder to read.
This happens so often with music! The next day your fingers know what to do, no struggle.
November 3, 2025 at 3:16 AM
This happens so often with music! The next day your fingers know what to do, no struggle.
I’m still digesting the bulldozing of the White House. So many metaphors!
October 29, 2025 at 3:06 AM
I’m still digesting the bulldozing of the White House. So many metaphors!
He couldn’t have chosen a better architectural metaphor for his whole administration: bulldozing the government in a hastily planned vanity project that it now appears will come in at triple the original cost
October 23, 2025 at 12:47 PM
He couldn’t have chosen a better architectural metaphor for his whole administration: bulldozing the government in a hastily planned vanity project that it now appears will come in at triple the original cost
I was alluding to computers being better than ever at taking money from us, but apparently I was too obscure/unfunny.
October 18, 2025 at 7:46 PM
I was alluding to computers being better than ever at taking money from us, but apparently I was too obscure/unfunny.
Oh, that's not fair. It's so much easier to pay for things online today.
October 17, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Oh, that's not fair. It's so much easier to pay for things online today.
Is that so wrong? Minds (i.e. consciousness) remain perhaps the greatest mystery in the universe, but one could at least in principle build a socially useful intelligence without a mind, no?
October 17, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Is that so wrong? Minds (i.e. consciousness) remain perhaps the greatest mystery in the universe, but one could at least in principle build a socially useful intelligence without a mind, no?
Have you read Blood in the Machine? The Luddites were perfectly rational and reasonable.
October 14, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Have you read Blood in the Machine? The Luddites were perfectly rational and reasonable.
Lamborghini was originally a tractor maker, as Ferrari delighted to point out.
October 12, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Lamborghini was originally a tractor maker, as Ferrari delighted to point out.
For his next piece, I think he should write 20,000 words in 24 hours on a typewriter with a continuous paper roll, drinking nothing but tea made from a Benzedrine inhaler.
October 12, 2025 at 3:47 AM
For his next piece, I think he should write 20,000 words in 24 hours on a typewriter with a continuous paper roll, drinking nothing but tea made from a Benzedrine inhaler.