Going to #MatrixConf ? You might like my attempt at no-encryption-knowledge-required explanation of how we keep your messages safe from prying eyes!
@matrix@mastodon.matrix.org
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Andy Balaam
@andybalaam@mastodon.social
mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-061996 Followers
423 Following
39 Posts
Joined November 02, 2016
OpenPGP:
078C05BC7BC6CD49A8D83441FC8DD3B1BA7F5E13
Want to write open source Rust for a living?
https://apply.workable.com/elementio/j/41EF6FAB51/
#rustlang #fossjobs
I just put my money where my mouth is and signed up to donate regularly to Codeberg.
I just moved another project from github to codeberg.
Stealing someone else's work as a service.
LLMs produce plausible noise
https://artificialworlds.net/blog/2026/07/22/llms-produce-plausible-noise/
In which I attempt to understand modern things in terms of my ancient PhD.
Why I don't use AI
I just invented an ASCII-based domain-specific language to talk to my wife about aeroplane seating.
I am not convinced she appreciated it.
Did you catch my video on unsafe in Rust?
The unsafe keyword has two completely different meanings in Rust code.
A full (slow) solution to the Billion Row Challenge
https://video.infosec.exchange/w/hzreVwHv7hETKUG82KtGGd
A little late, we write some Rust that actually solves the whole problem, albeit fairly slowly.
#video #coding #rustlang
My videos are about enjoying the craft of programming, sometimes learning things but often simply making something out of "nothing", using ideas and tools I enjoy.
They are a way for me to be as human as I can. You're welcome to watch.
In the next releases of Element clients, if we notice your key storage (previously "key backup") is messed up, we will create a new key storage version and everything will just work.
We're working, bit by bit, to make using Matrix pain-free. It's not easy, because no-one has built end-to-end encrypted federated messaging with history before.
But we are edging forward.
Cherish the humans around you: friends, family, colleagues, yourself.
They are imperfect, you are imperfect.
Cherish them anyway, as best you can, when you can.
Replying to
@matteo@social.matteojoliveau.com the conditions are really good - see more details at https://element.io/en/careers and the "Benefits" link from there.
As for salary, it looks like there are no details (presumably because it depends on the experience level of the applicant) but I can tell you that my salary is similar to equivalent (non-FOSS) jobs in my region.
The billion row challenge: splitting lines using SIMD in Rust
https://video.infosec.exchange/w/oyJg67E2P8HfuAcxPDboSm
I was scared to do it, but it was actually fine! This time we look at the quickest way to split up massive text files into separate lines, first the easy way, then with SIMD, which allows us to process 64 bytes simultaneously, using a single CPU instruction!
Rust: compiling to WASM to make a browser-based game using canvas
For clarity, https://malus.sh is satire.
Dark, dark satire.
Writing a snake game in Rust/WASM
Last time we did the hard work, so this time we can focus directly on writing a fun game of Snake using pure Rust, running in a browser canvas via WASM.
https://video.infosec.exchange/w/eXfichLZwz4uDxvDgwhspM
It wasn't as quick as I expected, but we got a working game done!
Getting more realistic in our Rust performance mission!
https://video.infosec.exchange/w/rxF6huWj4RahRP3gsb2BU1
Making our code parse whole lines of the Billion Row Challenge.
Replying to
@sil@mastodon.social This is like a simplified version of my game Spring https://smolpxl.gitlab.io/smolpxl/spring/ . It's really neat!
More Rust coding video goodness!
https://video.infosec.exchange/w/mjqCDN6XfG4mHLVULUvTnK
We're working on the Billion-Row Challenge, trying to measure as we go, and ensure correctness with tests.
Nice video covering some tricky bits of Rust
Last night I recorded 2 videos following on from the Billion Rows Challenge[1] one I made before.
First we expanded the benchmarks a little and attempted some improvements to the temperature parsing code.
Then we extended the implementation to cover parsing the whole line, not just the temperature. I had a light-bulb moment that this was almost trivial, not requiring a costly find to work out where the semicolon was.
Next up: the harder parts!
NHS England is rolling out Palantir software to manage our health records - handing huge power to a US spy-tech firm with a track record in surveillance, military technology and human rights abuses. Email your local trust and say NO to Palantir in our NHS: https://notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-target/stop-palantir-in-the-nhs/
Replying to
@amolith@nixnet.social this is a perfect demonstration of why end-to-end encryption can protect you, even if you believe you can trust your server!
Replying to
@vegos_f06 this is the journal's site, not mine.
My site has no cookies 🙂 https://artificialworlds.net/blog/2025/12/10/why-i-dont-use-ai-expanded/
I presume Box Stacker[1] and Rabbit Escape[2] are going to stop working on most people's phones soonish.
What do you think I should do about it?
[1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.artificialworlds.boxstacker/
[2] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.artificialworlds.rabbitescape/
Replying to
I'd obviously prefer to point at a proper web site if one can be set up and we can be sure it will stay for years to come.
Replying to
@jezhiggins@mastodon.me.uk it apparently means unless I register myself with google and sign the apps with my key, people will be unable to install them unless they use the command-line debugging tools.
Replying to
@gertvk@mastodon.nz My intention is to tell humans that I don't want AI contributions in a particular repo.
I'm sure it won't prevent all such contributions, and it certainly won't stop AI from consuming the code, which is a separate concern.