Building software for yourself (Changelog Interviews #455)

14 snips

Aug 23, 2021

Linus Lee, software developer and creator of Ink, discusses building software for yourself, including his full text personal search engine called Monocle. They delve into topics like creating a personal programming language, challenges of personal knowledge organization, and the value of personal projects. They also talk about career choices, standing out in the industry, and the benefits of sharing personal software for inspiration.

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Introduction

00:00 • 3min

Linus Lee and His Side Projects

02:48 • 3min

Building a Personal Programming Language

05:25 • 20min

Naming Programming Languages and the Value of Personal Projects

25:38 • 5min

Being a Purple Cow

30:30 • 9min

Career choices and side projects

39:07 • 4min

The Challenges of Personal Knowledge Organization

42:45 • 26min

Building personal software and sharing it for inspiration

01:09:04 • 2min

Today we’re talking to Linus Lee about the practice of building software for yourself. Linus has several side projects we could talk about, but today’s show is focused on Linus’ dynamically typed functional programming language called Ink that he used to write his full text personal search engine called Monocle.

Linus is focused on writing software that solves his own needs, all of which is open source, to help him learn more deeply and organize the knowledge of his life.

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Featuring:

Linus Lee – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, X
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

Show Notes:

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!