Into the Machine

tools-and-languages

Git as railroad

I struggled a lot to understand Git. Once I started thinking of it in terms of a railroad — with stations, tracks, train cars, and a station master (Git) — it finally clicked. This post captures how I first made sense of Git. 1. git init builds a train station in the

systems-thinking

How I turned my tag soup into a map

TL;DR: I had no clear tagging system for my blog posts — just scattered labels with no structure. By grouping tags into buckets like Domain, Focus Area, and Tool, I built a system that not only organizes my posts but also reflects my mental model of computer science. The Problem

comic-relief

Buffer v. disk - a visceral lesson.

TL;DR: Turns out, “unsaved” really means “nonexistent” — I chased a phantom file for 10 minutes. I created and opened in VS Code a .ps1 file from the terminal. PS C:\Users\EliKent\Documents\WindowsPowerShell> code sandbox.ps1 But I didn’t actually save it — I just started typing.

fundamentals

Heaps and stacks in Python

TL;DR: Heaps are where a Python program stores its data. Stacks are where the computations happen. This post breaks down what happens in RAM when Python runs a simple script. The Script: name = "Eli" x = 2 + 3 y = sorted([name, x]) Step 1: python script.py When

applied-learning

The process of real learning

TL;DR: Last night I felt despondent. This morning I feel exhileration. Real learning - the overwhelm of the heap, the processing of the stack, the clarity of a returned value. This isn’t about memorizing tools or copying workflows. It’s about going into the machine. That takes time.

fundamentals

The Building Blocks of Python from the Ground Up

TL;DR: I've been working with Python for three years now. It took a deep dive into stacks, heaps, python.exe, and bytecode to finally get the internal structure of every script I write. Under the hood, Python does its work using stacks built in RAM. python.exe

inner-life

My Relationship with Generalized Anxiety

My relationship with my generalized anxiety has been, perhaps, the greatest factor in shaping my life. I can divide this relationship into three distinct stages that mirror the three distinct stages of my "adult" life. Stage One – Ignorance and Submission Unaware of my anxiety exactly as the fish

Latest

I Learned SMB File Sharing by Fixing Our Office Scanner

TL;DR: A non-functional scanner connection led me to build a working mental model of SMB, file sharing, and user permissions in Windows. Why I Did This I needed to send a scan to my computer. Unfortunately, the Ricoh technician had created a brittle system by setting the destination folder