Hunter
@hdemeyer.bsky.social
Informatics PhD student @ UIUC
Interested in interoperability, type systems, wasm, OCaml, version control, and the sociotechnical assemblage surrounding Research Software Engineering
https://researchsoftware.engineer
Interested in interoperability, type systems, wasm, OCaml, version control, and the sociotechnical assemblage surrounding Research Software Engineering
https://researchsoftware.engineer
still in shock that I got this book, which was published this year, for $6 in a coffee shop & used book store in Maryland this weekend
December 16, 2025 at 12:58 AM
still in shock that I got this book, which was published this year, for $6 in a coffee shop & used book store in Maryland this weekend
UIUC CS is offering at least two "applied AI" courses in the spring, targeted at non-majors. Adapting curricula in this way makes sense in the current moment, but a CS department is the last place I'd want to take this kind of course. Urban planners don't learn about vehicles in a MechE class. 1/
December 10, 2025 at 12:45 AM
UIUC CS is offering at least two "applied AI" courses in the spring, targeted at non-majors. Adapting curricula in this way makes sense in the current moment, but a CS department is the last place I'd want to take this kind of course. Urban planners don't learn about vehicles in a MechE class. 1/
I'm editing a final paper for one of my classes and got stuck so many times on sentence-level edits. Yesterday I printed it and did read-only marking of changes I wanted to make and its helped me make progress but also gave me a better idea of structural changes that would enhance clarity
December 9, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I'm editing a final paper for one of my classes and got stuck so many times on sentence-level edits. Yesterday I printed it and did read-only marking of changes I wanted to make and its helped me make progress but also gave me a better idea of structural changes that would enhance clarity
Sony is trying to use digital signatures and depth information from camera sensors to prove authenticity of images
authenticity.sony.net/camera/en-us...
authenticity.sony.net/camera/en-us...
Camera Authenticity Solution | Sony
authenticity.sony.net
December 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Sony is trying to use digital signatures and depth information from camera sensors to prove authenticity of images
authenticity.sony.net/camera/en-us...
authenticity.sony.net/camera/en-us...
did google replace their entire web presence with vibe code because so much stuff has been broken in the last two weeks
December 4, 2025 at 3:03 AM
did google replace their entire web presence with vibe code because so much stuff has been broken in the last two weeks
updating my CV requires writing OCaml. I've built a library that "compiles" my various experiences and skills into a self-contained HTML document with a nice visualization of how my previous work has contributed to my competencies. The PDF version I get by printing the web page is much less nice tho
November 22, 2025 at 5:14 PM
updating my CV requires writing OCaml. I've built a library that "compiles" my various experiences and skills into a self-contained HTML document with a nice visualization of how my previous work has contributed to my competencies. The PDF version I get by printing the web page is much less nice tho
proud of myself for getting through the ~60 papers assigned in my first grad-level humanities class. that is probably less than a real humanities person would read in a semester but as someone who didn't consider a reality other than technological determinism in august, I feel accomplished
November 12, 2025 at 7:56 PM
proud of myself for getting through the ~60 papers assigned in my first grad-level humanities class. that is probably less than a real humanities person would read in a semester but as someone who didn't consider a reality other than technological determinism in august, I feel accomplished
description list is is my favorite html element
November 4, 2025 at 9:55 PM
description list is is my favorite html element
Halloween decreases the amount of social media posts that I understand to basically zero
November 1, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Halloween decreases the amount of social media posts that I understand to basically zero
why do I need to restart my wifi driver every time I send an email
October 31, 2025 at 10:59 PM
why do I need to restart my wifi driver every time I send an email
And all new programming languages that contain abstractions to help humans reason about computation need to provide a huge corpus of correct programs covering a wide range of use cases if they want to succeed, because why should we have to know how to use the language if we want to use the language?
There's relatively little LLM training data for niche languages and this causes poorer coding agent performance. I think this is an existential threat for smaller language communities like OCaml.
My talk at the OCaml workshop gave some actionable steps to mitigate that: toao.com/blog/ai-exis...
My talk at the OCaml workshop gave some actionable steps to mitigate that: toao.com/blog/ai-exis...
Three Steps for OCaml to Crest the AI Humps
- Sadiq Jaffer
toao.com
October 25, 2025 at 3:07 PM
And all new programming languages that contain abstractions to help humans reason about computation need to provide a huge corpus of correct programs covering a wide range of use cases if they want to succeed, because why should we have to know how to use the language if we want to use the language?
some of my reading in the past week (Braverman, Noble, Zuboff) focused on the impact of automation in the mid/late 20th century and in addition to rhyming with AI discourse, it made me nostalgic for when blue collar work meant skilled machinists and wasnt just a euphemism for amazon delivery serf
October 25, 2025 at 2:37 PM
some of my reading in the past week (Braverman, Noble, Zuboff) focused on the impact of automation in the mid/late 20th century and in addition to rhyming with AI discourse, it made me nostalgic for when blue collar work meant skilled machinists and wasnt just a euphemism for amazon delivery serf
we should have revolted back when web pages stopped being mostly html
October 24, 2025 at 6:11 PM
we should have revolted back when web pages stopped being mostly html
i miss building stuff
October 23, 2025 at 8:13 AM
i miss building stuff
university policy on prelims + course schedules are starting to put me in a corner and I'm not sure I'm going to get the things I want out of my program anymore
October 21, 2025 at 6:12 PM
university policy on prelims + course schedules are starting to put me in a corner and I'm not sure I'm going to get the things I want out of my program anymore
I was looking through some photo memories today and saw that 2 years to the day before my talk at ICFP I was at the first US-RSE conference in Chicago trying to find a PhD advisor. That me could have never imagined I'd be here
October 18, 2025 at 3:47 PM
I was looking through some photo memories today and saw that 2 years to the day before my talk at ICFP I was at the first US-RSE conference in Chicago trying to find a PhD advisor. That me could have never imagined I'd be here
I chatted with so many awesome people at ICFP yesterday but woke up with basically no voice and decided to do some vocal rest today so I don't sound like RFK Jr during my talk on Friday. I really missed interacting with folks though
October 14, 2025 at 11:41 AM
I chatted with so many awesome people at ICFP yesterday but woke up with basically no voice and decided to do some vocal rest today so I don't sound like RFK Jr during my talk on Friday. I really missed interacting with folks though
I still haven't fully processed the fact that I'm going halfway around the world later this week
October 7, 2025 at 3:28 AM
I still haven't fully processed the fact that I'm going halfway around the world later this week
only spent 12.5 hours setting up LaTeX and biblatex and biber to format my annotated bibliography, this is gonna save me so much time
October 1, 2025 at 6:25 PM
only spent 12.5 hours setting up LaTeX and biblatex and biber to format my annotated bibliography, this is gonna save me so much time
writing a ppx feels like such a hack but idk what else to do
September 26, 2025 at 7:51 PM
writing a ppx feels like such a hack but idk what else to do
Wrote a mini research statement today and I'm already seeing how the humanities courses I'm taking this semester are helping me be more articulate about my interests
September 24, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Wrote a mini research statement today and I'm already seeing how the humanities courses I'm taking this semester are helping me be more articulate about my interests
Remember, its called LaTeX because it makes your work look sexy
September 23, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Remember, its called LaTeX because it makes your work look sexy
is my trackpad dead or is it just arch linux
September 24, 2025 at 1:32 AM
is my trackpad dead or is it just arch linux
wait maybe if I don't made them polymorphic
de bruijn indices solved λ.0 of my problems
September 19, 2025 at 1:54 PM
wait maybe if I don't made them polymorphic