No. 01 — The Log
What I'm learning
A living index of topics in progress, finished, and queued up — organized by area, tagged by status.
01
Web & Frontend
React internals
fiber, reconciliation
Learning
CSS layout systems
grid, container queries
Done
Web animations
WAAPI, view transitions
Learning
TypeScript types
generics, inference
Done
Accessibility
ARIA, focus management
Learning
WebGL / shaders
GLSL fundamentals
Planned
Web performance
Core Web Vitals
Planned
02
Systems & Backend
Distributed systems
consensus, replication
Learning
Databases
indexes, query planning
Done
Rust
ownership, async
Learning
Concurrency
locks, channels, actors
Done
Observability
tracing, metrics, logs
Learning
Networking
TCP/IP, QUIC
Planned
Kubernetes
operators, scheduling
Planned
03
Machine Learning
Transformers
attention from scratch
Learning
Linear algebra
foundations
Done
Backprop
autodiff by hand
Done
Tokenization
BPE, byte-level
Learning
Diffusion models
DDPM, sampling
Planned
RL basics
policy gradients
Planned
04
Craft & Foundations
Algorithms
graphs, DP
Done
Type theory
lambda calculus
Learning
Technical writing
this site, mostly
Learning
Git internals
objects, refs, packs
Done
Regex & parsing
PEGs, recursive descent
Planned
05
Myself Going Zero
Meditation
breath, returning
Learning
Letting go
non-attachment
Learning
Stillness
sitting with silence
Learning
Impermanence
this too passes
Done
Ego
becoming nobody
Learning
Presence
the only moment
Planned
Surrender
acceptance over control
Planned
No. 02 — Built & Hosted
Things I made
Projects I host and keep running. Each links out to the live thing.
live · featured
Quiet
A distraction-free RSS reader that strips everything but the words. Self-hosted, syncs across devices, no algorithm.
ReactTypeScriptCloudflare
↗
visit project
live↗
Latency Lab
Interactive visualizations of how distributed systems behave under network delay and partition.
SvelteRustWASM
live↗
Margins
Annotate PDFs in the browser and export your notes as clean Markdown.
VueIndexedDB
experiment↗
Shaderpad
A live GLSL playground with shareable links — write a fragment shader, get a URL.
WebGLTypeScript
No. 03 — Notes
Writing
Short notes, published while the ideas are still half-formed. Click any to read.
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A rerender is not a repaint
Three different 'expensive' things hide behind one word, and React only owns one of them.
Make the retry boring
Networks fail twice: once when the request is lost, and once when only the reply is. Idempotency is how you stop caring which.
Backprop is just bookkeeping
The chain rule you already know, plus the discipline to remember what you computed on the way down.
Git is a filesystem in a trench coat
Once you see the four object types, every confusing command turns back into plain data.
Going to zero
Most growth is addition. This is the other direction — subtraction until only what's true is left.
The silence was here the whole time
Meditation didn't add calm. It removed the noise that was hiding it.
On becoming nobody
The ego is a full-time job. This is what happens when you quietly resign.
Going Zero — on unbecoming
What happens when you stop adding and start removing.
Who is asking?
The Ramana Maharshi question that keeps stopping me cold.
Implementing attention from scratch
On getting lost in matrix shapes and finding my way back.
Welcome to the log
Why I finally started writing in public, and what to expect here.
Tools I use every day
The unglamorous list of what I actually open.
On building in public
How I think about the trade-offs of shipping early.
The breath is always here
Why Vipassana works even for restless engineers.
What I learned this month
A monthly roundup — the April edition.
Consensus, explained to myself
A plain-language walk through Raft, mostly so I remember it.
No. 04 — Context
About this place
No name, no headshot — a record of trying to understand things in public.
Who
Alekh — builder, learner, and occasional seeker of stillness
This site
Exit Zero — subtract until only what's true remains. Notes on code, systems, and the inner life.
Currently
Going deep on distributed systems, transformers, and myself
Approach
Build the smallest version, then grow it. Remove before adding.
Going Zero
A personal project in subtraction — less noise, more signal, in code and in life
Reach me
alekh4u@gmail.com or github.com/programmatrix88