https://livesey.io/tags/coding/ Posts filed under coding. https://livesey.io/posts/reed-solomon-erasure-coding-without-the-magic/ urn:uuid:e30e59e4-c6ed-5a9a-a30b-95c737151e19 Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Build a tiny Reed–Solomon code step by step, erase half its shards, and recover your own input without treating the maths as magic. https://livesey.io/posts/the-prompt-wasnt-wrong-the-task-was-underspecified/ urn:uuid:b8bea256-59ec-56e1-8f1b-1d5e0fd72efd Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Before giving work to a coding agent, ask what you would need to tell a developer who already knew the codebase. https://livesey.io/posts/most-race-conditions-are-ownership-problems/ urn:uuid:8a9bde8b-01ea-5a59-895c-86df9825f438 Sun, 26 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Before adding a lock, decide which operation owns the right to commit a result and when that ownership expires. https://livesey.io/posts/the-api-returned-200-the-operation-still-failed/ urn:uuid:bcc27f9e-098c-59cf-9c15-520ea1b9bb4d Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT HTTP success, application success and business success are separate outcomes. Clients need to check the one they actually depend on. https://livesey.io/posts/logs-are-not-observability/ urn:uuid:f6eec4ca-c338-5086-809d-a2a5a072fb6a Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Producing more log lines does not make a system easier to understand. Start with the questions an operator must be able to answer. https://livesey.io/posts/timeouts-need-a-deadline-not-just-a-number/ urn:uuid:371e9333-bd65-560d-9591-ad09ed4b6956 Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Giving every operation its own timeout can make one request take several times longer than intended. Pass the remaining deadline instead. https://livesey.io/posts/gpt-5-6-sol-terra-luna-model-effort-guide/ urn:uuid:e616187a-b692-57af-986f-af8111e3a03e Sun, 12 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT GPT-5.6 is a meaningful step beyond GPT-5.5, but choosing well means using Terra by default, Sol deliberately, and Luna only for bounded work.