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 Butler Lampson's 1999 predictions on computer science, comparing what worked then to the state of technology in 2015.
Explores how hardware latency, especially disk vs. network speeds, enables the concept of 'infinite' disaggregated storage in data centers.
Explains how Intel's cache partitioning technology enables higher server utilization by isolating workloads, based on Google's research.
Analysis of how 'limping' or slow hardware nodes can severely degrade distributed system performance, based on academic research.
An analysis of Steve Yegge's surprisingly accurate tech predictions, including the rise of JavaScript and cloud hosting.
An analysis of common patterns in technical postmortems, focusing on error handling and configuration as primary causes of system failures.
Analysis of SourceForge injecting adware and Slashdot's censorship of the story, eroding user trust in both platforms.
Explores how websites blocking non-Google crawlers in robots.txt files can harm web archives and create a search engine monopoly.
An essay arguing that 'boring' programming languages are superior for complex, interesting work, contrary to popular tech industry advice.
The article explains the benefits of using a single, large repository (monorepo) for code, citing simplified organization and dependency management.
Explains why power efficiency is critical for datacenters, detailing the significant costs of power delivery and cooling infrastructure.
The article debunks common misinterpretations of the Dunning-Kruger effect by analyzing the original study's data and findings.
An analysis of software testing methodologies, comparing manual and automated approaches, and advocating for smarter random test generation.
A deep technical exploration of the complex chain of events, from a keypress to network requests, that occurs when you load a URL in a browser.
Explores the challenge of measuring long-term success, using the Perry Preschool Study and Head Start program as examples of initial vs. lasting outcomes.
Argues that AI doesn't need to be perfect to replace humans in jobs, as cost savings often outweigh quality for businesses.
Explores the feasibility of CPU backdoors, how they could be implemented, and the security risks they pose.
A blogger weighs the pros and cons of running ads, using their own traffic stats to analyze potential revenue and user experience impact.
An overview of major CPU developments since the 1980s, focusing on features programmers can leverage for performance.
A critical review of the Julia programming language, highlighting performance and numerous bugs encountered by the author.
