Great things and people that I discovered, learned, read, met, etc. in 2015. No particular ordering is implied. Not everything is new. *also: see the lists from [2014](http://blog.fogus.me/2014/12/29/the-best-things-and-stuff-of-2014/), [2013](http://blog.fogus.me/2013/12/27/the-best-things-and-stuff-of-2013/), [2012](http://blog.fogus.me/2012/12/26/the-best-things-and-stuff-of-2012/), [2011](http://blog.fogus.me/2011/12/31/the-best-things-and-stuff-of-2011/) and [2010](http://blog.fogus.me/2010/12/30/the-best-things-in-2010/)* Great blog posts read --------------------- * *[1,000 True Fans](http://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/)* - an interesting look into a certain aspect of the [long-tail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_tail#Business) (something I've been mulling over lately WRT lang and game dev). * *[I worked in a video store for 25 years...](http://www.vox.com/2015/11/20/9757186/netflix-video-rental-store)* - as someone who grew up during the golden age of video stores (I spent hours looking through the horror section) this was a fascinating read about their demise. * *[An Apple // Watch](http://www.instructables.com/id/Apple-II-Watch/)* - with a fantastic comment by Woz. * *[Static vs. Dynamic Languages: A Literature Review](http://danluu.com/empirical-pl/)* - the minimum needed to start engaging in the long debate? * *[Bill Gates and Petals Around the Rose](http://web.archive.org/web/20070509082215/http://www.borrett.id.au/computing/petals-bg.htm)* - Bill Gates solves a logic puzzle -- a likely apocryphal tale. * *[5 Steps To Re-create Xerox PARC's Design Magic](http://www.fastcodesign.com/3046437/5-steps-to-recreate-xerox-parcs-design-magic-from-the-guy-who-helped-make-it)* - Whether you agree with Alan Kay or not, his positions are worth understanding. * *[Have Static Languages Won?](http://pointersgonewild.com/2015/11/25/have-static-languages-won/)* - The answer: not if we're doing it right. * *[The web of names, hashes, and UUIDs](http://joearms.github.io/2015/03/12/The_web_of_names.html)* - Joe Armstrong talks about a model of the web as a persistent database. * *[Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html?_r=0)* - I honestly don't know what working at Amazon is like nor if the portrayals hit home, but the environments described do indeed exist and are worth discussion. * *[The Architecture of the Burroughs B5000](http://www.smecc.org/The%20Architecture%20%20of%20the%20Burroughs%20B-5000.htm)* - The computer architecture that could/should have been the basis for today's offerings? * *[God's Lonely Programmer](http://motherboard.vice.com/read/gods-lonely-programmer)* - At one point I was obsessed with OS kernel development. Naturally my studies and explorations led me to [LoseThos](http://web.archive.org/web/20060702135534/http://www.losethos.com/), an eccentric OS designed and developed by an eccentric programmer named Terry Davis. This is his story. * *[The economics and politics of Thomas the Tank Engine](https://medium.com/bull-market/the-economics-and-politics-of-thomas-the-tank-engine-8bbc05494b08#.rax1at2ww)* - Sir Topham as dictator?! * *[META II: Digital Vellum in the Digital Scriptorium](https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2724586)* - A fascinating look at a fascinating compiler-compiler that could compile itself, written many years ago. * *[The Ethics of Unpaid Labor and the OSS Community](http://www.ashedryden.com/blog/the-ethics-of-unpaid-labor-and-the-oss-community)* - [Ashe Dryden](https://twitter.com/ashedryden)'s thoughtful look into the costs of open-source labor and who benefits from them. This article has really changed my perspective around open-source. * *[Smalltalk MVC Translated to JavaScript](http://peter.michaux.ca/articles/smalltalk-mvc-translated-to-javascript)* - OOP is not as fashionable as it used to be, but that's not to say that dissecting it isn't instructive. * *[Macintosh Common Lisp](http://basalgangster.macgui.com/RetroMacComputing/The_Long_View/Entries/2013/2/17_Macintosh_Common_Lisp.html)* - a description of what could/should have been for iOS development (you have to really stretch you imagination however). * *[The convergence of compilers, build systems and package managers](http://blog.ezyang.com/2015/12/the-convergence-of-compilers-build-systems-and-package-managers/)* - Edward Z. Yang explores the idea of holistic approaches to solving module systems by integrating them into languages themselves or by designing better abstraction around them. * *[Writing an OS in Rust](http://os.phil-opp.com/)* - OSDev is the killer app for [Rust](https://www.rust-lang.org/). Most viewed blog posts by me ---------------------------- I've been scaling back on blogging this past year and have tried something different instead - [Read-Eval-Print-λove](http://www.readevalprintlove.org). That said, there were a couple of high-traffic posts on my blog. * [The 100:10:1 method: my approach to open source](http://blog.fogus.me/2015/11/04/the-100101-method-my-approach-to-open-source/) - wherein I describe how my focus on open-source development has shifted from high-volume to a focus on real value and (hopefully) higher quality. * [Six works of computer science-fiction](http://blog.fogus.me/2015/04/27/six-works-of-computer-science-fiction/) - Six books about computing systems that couldn't possibly exist, but do/did. * [Inspirational technical books that are not technical](http://blog.fogus.me/2015/07/07/inspirational-technical-books-that-are-not-technical/) - Non-technical books about code, systems, or people that motivate me to write code. * [Palindromic sequences in Clojure](http://blog.fogus.me/2015/04/13/palindromic-sequences-in-clojure/) - Playing around with palindromes in [Clojure](http://www.clojure.org). Favorite technical books discovered (and read) ---------------------------------------------- I've intentionally reduced the number of technical books that I consume lately, but there are a few that I "found" in 2015 that are stellar. * *[The New Media Reader](http://www.amazon.com/New-Media-Reader-Noah-Wardrip-Fruin/dp/0262232278/?tag=fogus-20)* edited by Nick Montfort - If you're interested in the ideas put forth by the likes of Alan Kay or [Bret Victor](http://worrydream.com/) then this book provides a sliver of their minds. * *[Tools for Thought](http://www.amazon.com/Tools-Thought-History-Mind-Expanding-Technology/dp/0139251081/?tag=fogus-20)* - Ditto * *[Bitcoin for the Befuddled](http://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Befuddled-Conrad-Barski/dp/1593275730/?tag=fogus-20)* - Another triumph for [Conrad Barski](https://twitter.com/lisperati)! * *[Handbook of LISP functions](http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP/mblisp/Handbook_of_LISP_Functions.pdf)* - an early junk-drawer software library — fully documented. Favorite non-technical books read --------------------------------- * *[Blues People](http://www.amazon.com/Blues-People-Experience-America-Developed/dp/B000LF5VPS/?tag=fogus-20)* - the story of the blues and the circumstances and people that led to it. * *[Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers](http://www.amazon.com/Wabi-Sabi-Artists-Designers-Poets-Philosophers/dp/0981484603/?tag=fogus-20)* - One of the best non-programming-programming books that I've ever read. (thanks for the recommendation [Sam](https://twitter.com/samaaron)!) * *[The Glass Bead Game](http://www.amazon.com/Glass-Bead-Game-Magister-Novel/dp/0312278497/?tag=fogus-20)* - if, like me, you only liked the Mathic parts of [Anathem](http://www.amazon.com/Anathem-Neal-Stephenson/dp/006147410X/?tag=fogus-20) then you might like this gem. * *[Between the World and Me](http://www.amazon.com/Between-World-Me-Ta-Nehisi-Coates/dp/0812993543/?tag=fogus-20)* - having grown up within a very different context, but in the same city and at the same age as Mr. Coates, this book was eye-opening. * *[The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop.