DanLuu.com is the personal blog of Dan Luu, known for long-form essays that mix systems thinking with careful measurement and clear writing. The topics range from computer latency and input lag, testing versus informal reasoning, and concurrency bugs, to industry pieces on developer compensation and curated lists of programming blogs worth reading. Many posts include data, historical context, and reproducible reasoning, which is why the site is often cited in courses and shared across the developer community. The design is intentionally minimal, which puts all attention on the ideas.
136 articles from this blog
An analysis of futurist prediction methods, comparing accurate forecasters with those who have poor track records.
The article argues for using simple, monolithic architectures over complex ones, using examples like Wave and Stack Overflow to show effectiveness at scale.
The article explores why inefficient companies and poor-quality products persist in the market, challenging the idea that competition naturally eliminates them.
Explores how baseball scouts' subjective biases and focus on physical appearance lead to misjudging player talent, with parallels to hiring in other fields.
An analysis of Twitter's most severe cache-related incidents from 2012-2022, exploring patterns and knowledge loss.
An analysis of how people with superficial knowledge confidently propose flawed solutions to complex problems in fields they don't understand.
Analyzing Twitter's container CPU throttling issue, its causes, and potential solutions for significant performance and cost savings.
The article critiques generic writing advice and argues for finding a personal style, using examples from famous programming bloggers.
A discussion of common pitfalls in measuring tail latency metrics in distributed systems, using examples from Twitter's infrastructure.
A blog author lists and corrects serious past errors in their articles, reflecting on their blogging journey and lessons learned.
The article argues against treating employees as interchangeable units in project planning and budgeting, emphasizing that individual skills matter.
The article argues that company culture, alongside incentives and processes, is a crucial tool for influencing employee behavior and performance.
The author argues that being willing to appear stupid by asking naive questions leads to a deeper understanding of complex topics over time.
Argues against learning everything, advocating for mastering a few core 'tricks' to achieve expertise, using examples from math and judo.
The author argues for the importance of increasing productivity and velocity, countering common objections and using a personal project as an example.
Explains why large tech companies like Twitter benefit from having in-house kernel teams to handle critical system issues and reduce costs.
The author argues that measurement and data analysis are undervalued but high-ROI activities, using the impact of Jepsen tests as a key example.
A critique of Fred Brooks' 'No Silver Bullet' essay, arguing against the idea that programmer productivity has a fixed upper limit.
Analyzes if car manufacturers optimize vehicles for specific crash tests by examining results from new, unpracticed IIHS safety tests.
A critical analysis of Star Trek: Voyager's premise and its failure to deliver compelling, character-driven stories due to the constraints of series television.
