awesome | Dilawar's Blog

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On the Criteria to Be Used in Decomposing Systems into Modules

This paper introduced information hiding as the fundamental principle for modular design. Instead of breaking systems apart by what they do i.e. mapping a flowchart onto modules, it argues we should decompose them by what design decisions are likely to change i.e. one module per decision which is likely to change.

Impact: This idea underpins encapsulation, stable APIs, and modern system boundaries — from object-oriented design to microservices. Nearly every discussion about maintainability traces back here, whether explicitly or not.

A Note on Distributed Computing

note-distributed-computing

This paper explains why distributed systems are not just “local systems with a network.” It highlights hidden assumptions—like zero latency or perfect reliability—that break down immediately once computation is spread across machines.

Impact: It became a foundational text for distributed systems thinking. The ideas influenced RPC design, cloud architecture, and the now-famous fallacies of distributed computing.

The Next 700 Programming Languages

Landin66-next-700-languages

Rather than proposing a new language, this paper introduced a framework for describing programming languages using mathematical foundations. It showed that languages could be reasoned about formally, not just implemented ad hoc.

Impact:
This work shaped the field of programming language theory and semantics. Many modern functional and hybrid languages owe their conceptual clarity to ideas introduced here.

Can Programming Be Liberated from the von Neumann Style?

This paper critiques imperative, state-heavy programming and argues for a functional alternative built around composition and mathematical reasoning rather than mutable state.

Impact:
It helped legitimize functional programming as a serious alternative, influencing languages, compilers, and parallel programming models.

Reflections on Trusting Trust

This paper demonstrates how a compiler can be maliciously modified to insert backdoors—even when the compiler’s source code appears clean. It shows that trust in software cannot rely solely on source inspection.

Impact:
It permanently changed how we think about trust, compilers, and software supply chains. The ideas are still central to discussions about reproducible builds and secure toolchains.

Lisp: Good News, Bad News, How to Win Big

This essay reflects on why technically superior systems often lose to simpler, more pragmatic ones. It contrasts ideal design with real-world adoption pressures.

Impact:
It popularized the “worse is better” philosophy, influencing how engineers think about trade-offs, simplicity, and adoption.

An Experimental Evaluation of the Assumption of Independence in Multiversion Programming

This paper experimentally challenges the idea that independently developed software versions fail independently—a key assumption in fault-tolerant system design.

Abstract of “AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF THE ASSUMPTION OF INDEPENDENCE IN MULTI-VERSION PROGRAMMING”

Impact:
It forced a reevaluation of N-version programming and influenced how safety-critical systems are designed, tested, and certified.

First, we need a script that setup admin account for us after starting the service. init.sh file that you should put inside ntfy/init.sh
```
#!/bin/sh
ntfy serve &
sleep 2
NTFY_PASSWORD=${NTFY_PASSWORD} ntfy user add --role=admin ${NTFY_USER}
wait
```

Now the compose file compose.yaml or docker-compose.yaml file.

services:
  ntfy:
    image: binwiederhier/ntfy
    container_name: ntfy
    entrypoint: [ "/bin/sh", "/var/lib/ntfy/init.sh" ]
    environment:
      - TZ=UTC    \# optional: set desired timezone
      - NTFY_BASE_URL=https://ntfy.dilawars.me
      - NTFY_AUTH_FILE=/var/lib/ntfy/auth.db
      - NTFY_CACHE_FILE=/var/lib/ntfy/cache.db
      - NTFY_AUTH_DEFAULT_ACCESS=deny-all
      - NTFY_ATTACHMENT_CACHE_DIR=/var/lib/ntfy/attachments
      - NTFY_ENABLE_LOGIN=true
      - NTFY_USER=admin
      - NTFY_PASSWORD=yoyodillusingh
    volumes:
      - /var/cache/ntfy:/var/cache/ntfy
      - /etc/ntfy:/etc/ntfy
      - ./ntfy/:/var/lib/ntfy
    ports:
      - 8001:80
    healthcheck: \# optional: remember to adapt the host:port to your environment
        test: ["CMD-SHELL", "wget -q --tries=1 http://localhost:80/v1/health -O - | grep -Eo '\"healthy\"\\s*:\\s*true' || exit 1"]
        interval: 60s
        timeout: 10s
        retries: 3
        start_period: 40s
    restart: unless-stopped

Dilawar's Blog

watch -n $RANDOM cat /dev/null

Tag Archives: awesome

Awesome papers (developer focused)

On the Criteria to Be Used in Decomposing Systems into Modules

A Note on Distributed Computing

The Next 700 Programming Languages

Can Programming Be Liberated from the von Neumann Style?

Reflections on Trusting Trust

Lisp: Good News, Bad News, How to Win Big

An Experimental Evaluation of the Assumption of Independence in Multiversion Programming

Arguments and Results

A Laboratory for Teaching Object-Oriented Thinking

Programming as an Experience: The Inspiration for Self

self-hosted ntfy service with admin account

Great Video That Explains Farkas Lemma