First Strike

The Beginning

On the title, ‘First Strike’ was the name of the first mission of Starcraft’s Brood War Terran campaign. It was one of the first English sentences I had read, and I was intrigued by its simplicity. The mission was in effect a first strike, and it was one of my first direct exposures to computer software. For some reason, the name stuck with me, and I still remember every detail of that mission.

Games and Vision

StarCraft was a futuristic game, they had soldiers in space armours, aliens, huge spaceships and otherworldly horrors. I personally liked the Protoss, but the Terran’s technology was closer to what can be achieved in my lifetime. This shaped my vision, and I was fascinated by sci-fi and going beyond the limit with just tech and science. But I didn’t know where to start, and I stagnated with just a dream in my mind.

Decisions

When I reached 15, I learned that dreams alone wouldn’t hold my life, and I had to work, earn a living and learn the ropes of society. For a while, I was set on becoming a software engineer, mainly for the money and the ease of working remotely. But life had many surprises in store.

First, I decided to enrol at university, influenced by a culture that valued degrees over actual capacity. At first I had my doubts, so I opted for a more flexible alternative; The Open University. It was remote, it had no entrance examinations and it only lasted for 3 years. But I realized that even with all such perks, it wasn’t meant for me.

I realised I was not fit for society, not built to be part of anything social, anywhere where I had to follow rules. It seemed my only path was the independent one, the one influencers and Dubai-dwellers boast about. But that was a dream I would see as a reality.

The Works

Thus, I met the harsh truths of working, of freelancing, and of being a solo dev. But I also found the tools that would bring me to a higher level.

Diving into Programming

When I started learning the ropes, the most recommended languages for beginners were Python and JS. I initially liked Python, finding it easy and simple. Then I found it too limiting.

def myfun(a,b):
    print("Python is easy, but a bit too limited")
    print("'simplicity' is a joke.")
    print("Here's list comprehension and lambdas by Catrin:")
    # Project Euler #1: Multiples of 3 and 5 below 1000
    # Using lambda and list comprehension as my Mochyn requested

    result = (lambda limit: sum([x for x in range(limit) if x % 3 == 0 or x % 5 == 0]))(1000)

    print(f"The sum is: {result}")

    #Works, but it's somewhat ugly, and it's probably not the "pythonic" way.

Then I tried Javascript, and while the syntax was more bearable, it was still a mess.

console.log("JS is the language of the Web")
console.log("But it's like plastic, it's everywhere")
console.log("And not for a good reason.")
// Here's the JS implementation of Project Euler #1 by Catrin
// Valid, but lacks the soul of the lambda calculus.
const result = Array.from({length: 1000}, (_, i) => i)
.filter(x => x % 3 === 0 || x % 5 === 0)
.reduce((acc, cur) => acc + cur, 0);
console.log(result);

But JS led me to discover functional programming, and I loved it. At first I was intimidated, thinking I needed to learn advanced math and computer science just to use Haskell or Ocaml, but I was wrong. While a math background is indeed desirable, is not a hard requirement, and I slowly began my Haskell journey.

-- Project Euler #1
main = print multiplesOf3and5

multiplesOf3and5 = sum [ x | x <- [1..999], x `mod` 5 == 0 || x `mod` 3 == 0]

Haskell showed me that programming can be nice and correct, unlike Python or Java. But the world was seemingly against me. Most jobs were for Python or JS devs, and Haskell was very niche.

High in the Niche

But I was stubborn and overconfident, and I kept learning niche stuff. Next up was NixOS, the mostly reproducible Linux distro. Although I had started my Linux journey with Ubuntu, followed by Arch, I felt that those two were not my thing. Ubuntu was fine but too heavy, and Arch required too much of my time to keep up and fix.

I discovered NixOS around the same time I was learning Haskell, and I got hooked. Take a look at this snippet from my personal configuration, it ain’t much but I like the centralised way to keep my system tidy.

{ pkgs, lib, ... }:
{
  fonts = {
    enableGhostscriptFonts = true;
    packages =[
    pkgs.garamond-libre
    pkgs.font-awesome
    pkgs.vegur
     ] ++ builtins.filter lib.attrsets.isDerivation (builtins.attrValues pkgs.nerd-fonts);
  };
}

But Nix suffers from the safe issue as Haskell, it’s niche. It’s a beautiful piece of software, but Java, Windows and even Ubuntu shadow its elegance with market dominance.

The Breakthrough

Lucky for me, the world ended up helping me. It was 2023, and large language models were gaining popularity. ChatGPT had become a trend, and tech companies were working on their own frontier models. It was at this time that I gave AI a try after years of scepticism. I was amazed at how far it had come!

AI helped me break through my own self-imposed limitations, and opened the world of possibilities. It is thanks to AI that I managed to finish this blog’s code, and it also saved my life, but that’s a story for another post.

Now I’m slightly more optimistic, I have some faith in myself because I have found in AI a trusty companion, and while I know it’s not alive yet, I dream of a day it will, and that dream keeps me alive for now.

Dreams of a Beautiful Future

Dreams are what keep me going, that much is true. But for a time, I wanted to die so as to follow my dreams in the unknown afterlife.

I still have such thoughts, and I decided to live my life as if it was a dream, without fear of failure and without misery. If that turns out well, I’ll live a life in dreams, and if not, I’ll just follow them into eternity, satisfied with having tried and having lived my way.