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Hillel

@hillelwayne.com
8.2K followers 104 following 5.1K posts

Developer educator at @antithesis.com. Formal methods, software history, chocolatiering. DMs open. *Logic for Programmers* now out! logicforprogrammers.com Newsletter: buttondown.email/hillelwayne

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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 4h
I have a new blog post! This is a response to the current formal methods hype and explains what TLA+ is good for and what it's not designed to check. buttondown.com/hillelwayne/...
buttondown.com
What TLA+ can and can't check
Let's chill just a little bit on the "TLA+ will save AI from itself" narrative
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 28/09/2026
I created an AI model that takes ANY software system and produces a TLA+ model that satisfies ALL its properties. Software engineering is solved forever!
A Python program that just outputs the null TLA+ spec, which automatically satisfies all properties
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Reposted by Hillel
Steve Klabnik @steveklabnik.com · 21/09/2026
Arguing about arguments steveklabnik.com/writing/argu...
steveklabnik.com
Arguing about arguments
Here’s some Rust code: // define a function fn foo (x : i32 , y : i32 ) -> i32 { // body elided } // call it let z = foo ( 5 , 6 ); In programming language jargon, we call x and y parameters and 5 and 6 arguments . Rust does not have many fancy features related to parameters and…
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 23/09/2026
So, uh, apparently twitter is now selling old handles to the highest bidder
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 23/09/2026
This is in under TWO HOURS
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 22/09/2026
After a move experts are calling "incomprehensible", "ill-advised", and "to New York City", I'm now down to meet tech people in NYC if they want to ask questions and brainstorm and stuff
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 22/09/2026
Tomorrow, 9 AM PST, my Systems Distributed talk "Logic for Programmers" goes live! I'll be answering questions and giving background info on the stream, so check it out! @tigerbeetle.com m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xrv...
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Reposted by Hillel
dorian @doriantaylor.com · 17/09/2026
there was a great essay by @hillelwayne.com a while back about how uml never had a standard symbolic representation; the standard only defined the pictures: buttondown.com/hillelwayne/...
buttondown.com
Why UML "Really" Died
There's this post going around the internet called Has UML died without anyone noticing?, In the piece, Ernesto Garbarino says that UML was killed by...
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Reposted by Hillel
Jerry Chen @jcsalterego.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
specs get easier once you get the basic idea that code is a homeomorphic endofunctor mapping submanifolds of a Hilbert space
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 17/09/2026
Has anyone used Ted Chiang's "Catching Crumbs from the Table" as an analogy to AI's progress in math? gwern.net/doc/fiction/...
gwern.net
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 17/09/2026
I feel like Metamorphic testing, checking how changing an input changes a function, would be a pretty good way to evaluate AI tooling. Like if we're writing an AI writing detector, for any random given piece of prose, asking Claude to "clean it up" should *increase* the score
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 17/09/2026
Someone on LinkedIn has extremely low expectations of my wife, my grandmother, and Donald Knuth
A post saying "You called for Al generated comments to be autobans on
Linkedln. Is that what you want to happen if your spouse posts Al
generated content? How about a grandparent? Donald Knuth?" (I did not call for autobans)
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 16/09/2026
New Newsletter! Remember that old article about how LLMs liked the word "delve"? Well, the coding harnesses really, REALLY like the word "spine". And "gate". And many others. buttondown.com/hillelwayne/...
buttondown.com
The LLMs yearn for the spines
You can't get them to stop talking about spines!
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 15/09/2026
Right now the biggest barrier to AI-driven formal methods is that AIs are absolutely dogshit at coming up with good properties. I thought that was just a March 2026 thing but it seems to be a September 2026 thing too
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 10/09/2026
Are you kidding me
Sorry, you can't be Hillel Wayne because you're already in the author program as Hillel Wayne
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 08/09/2026
Logic for Programmers got its first five star rating on Amazon holy shit I know I shouldn't be as elated about this as I am but it's one more sign people are *actually reading the book*
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 03/09/2026
Whenever I talk about *Logic for Programmers* in public, lots of people assume it's about one of two topics: - Type theory and Curry-Howard - Logic programming and Prolog Those two subjects have so completely dominated the public perception of "math in software engineering"
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 02/09/2026
This job is the first time I've had unfettered access to Claude code. So, uh, how do people like to customize their Claude rigs? Special skills, hooks, other stuff? I'm not great at using programs in their vanilla state
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 01/09/2026
*Logic for Programmers* has been out for a month! To celebrate, I'm released the whole second chapter, "A Crash Course in Logic", for free online. That's 7000 words teaching practical math for the working programmer: www.hillelwayne.com/post/predica...
hillelwayne.com
A Crash Course in Predicate Logic
I started writing Logic for Programmers because there weren’t any good resources on logic for, uh, programmers. Now that the book’s out, the new problem is that there aren’t any good free resources on...
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Reposted by Hillel
Predrag Gruevski @predr.ag · 01/09/2026
New programming book arrived in the mail 👀 There's never been a better time to think deeply about the structure behind the code we cause to exist.
Logic for Programmers, a book by Hillel Wayne
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 25/08/2026
Tired: software engineering isn't dead because Anthropic is hiring lots of software engineers Wired: writing isn't dead because the Claude Code docs are clearly not vibeslopped
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 19/08/2026
Everybody's favorite part of publishing a book is writing errata
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 18/08/2026
First true newsletter in two months! This is the Vim vs VSCode article I've wanted to write for a while, about how "Vim mode" in VSCode isn't quite the same as running actual vim, and how ultimately, the "consumer model" is better for most developers. buttondown.com/hillelwayne/...
buttondown.com
Vim wants you to control, VSCode wants you to consume
The two sides of the editor divide, and why I'm on the losing side.
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 18/08/2026
BTW I work for @antithesis.com now (as of last week)
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 18/08/2026
Amazon seems to be selling Logic for Programmers for 15% off if you want to go get it for slightly cheaper. I had no idea this was happening and have no control over the sale, but I get the same royalties either way! www.amazon.com/dp/B0HBLP4B26
amazon.com
Logic for Programmers: Wayne, Hillel: 9798995302902: Amazon.com: Books
Logic for Programmers [Wayne, Hillel] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Logic for Programmers
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 17/08/2026
Okay, I'll admit it. NixOS is pretty cool. (I haven't yet run into the hair-tearing scenarios that make people scream so for now I'm just enjoying the cool bits)
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8bit @8bit.lol · 04/08/2026
:D might have to get the ebook though since there are exercises and having it side by side is nice
photo of the Logic for Programmers paperback on a black deskpad
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 17/08/2026
Watch me tapdance on a tightrope in a hurricane
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 31/07/2026
Windows update just erased all my custom desktop backgrounds to show their spotlight photos instead What a stupid, user hostile, customer hating OS
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 29/07/2026
I am delighted to announce that after 5 years of work, 15 early releases, 50,000 words written, and 100,000 more deleted, *Logic for Programmers* is now complete and available in print! Blog post announcement: www.hillelwayne.com/post/lfp/ Website: logicforprogrammers.com
logicforprogrammers.com
Logic for Programmers
Practical math for the working programmer.
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 21/07/2026
Still on social media break, but popping in to say two things: 1. Next Monday I'll be speaking at @tigerbeetle.com 's Systems Distributed conference 2. Next Monday, barring a last minute catastrophe, Logic for Programmers will be purchasable in print
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 18/06/2026
Taking a large social media mental health break. Reachable by email. Probably back on before softwareshould.work starts up again. Seeya in July!
softwareshould.work
Software Should Work
An independent conference on software reliability in Columbia, MO on July 16-17, 2026
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 17/06/2026
Does anybody have ins at Google marketing? I NEED to know how who was in charge of making sure this car miniature had A Chrome advert on it and how much Google had to pay (I believe the actual car had a Chrome advert, too, but surely they have to negotiate the merchandise, too?)
A McLaren MCL38 Miami Grand Prix 2024 miniature car with a chrome logo on it
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 17/06/2026
New newsletter, short buttondown.com/hillelwayne/...
buttondown.com
Logic for Programmers v0.15, Livecoding
There's a new release of Logic for Programmers! This one, version 0.15, is the first true release candidate. There's a couple of minor touch-ups I need to do...
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Reposted by Hillel
TigerBeetle @tigerbeetle.com · 16/06/2026
Next up... "Logic isn't just for detectives and mathematicians! A small bit of logic helps us programmers in all sorts of ways, from testing better to actually making sense of left outer joins." @hillelwayne.com returns to #systemsdistributed to teach Logic for Programmers!
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 15/06/2026
Logic for Programmers v0.15 is now available! This version has the first of two proofreading passes and a smaller form-factor for phone reading. Next month: 1.0, out in print! logicforprogrammers.com
logicforprogrammers.com
Logic for Programmers
Use math to amplify your testing, data modeling, software design, and more!
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 12/06/2026
The next version of logicforprogrammers.com is gonna effectively be the first release candidate. I still need some minor layouting changes and indexing, but other than that all the remaining work is stuff like book covers, website, etc. If it all lines up *perfectly* it could be out by end of month
logicforprogrammers.com
Logic for Programmers
Use math to amplify your testing, data modeling, software design, and more!
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 10/06/2026
New newsletter: Nontrailing Do Not Spark Joy, about how JSON needs to let you end lists with commas (and tbh start them with commas) buttondown.com/hillelwayne/...
buttondown.com
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 09/06/2026
Three months ago @ttto-ok.bsky.social told me he didn't think there were any "good" tongue twisters. So for the past three months I've had like 20% of my brain dedicated to proving him wrong. Here are some of the candidates for "good" tongue twisters we found 🧵 1. "Rich liquorice fish dish"
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 09/06/2026
Do you think I can sell print copies of *logic for programmers* for $50 USD y/n
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 05/06/2026
Day two of #CraftConf! Gonna try skeeting from Edge in hopes it doesn't kill my battery as much as Firefox. I just got in a couple minutes late for @kentbeck.com 's "Forest & Desert & Genie". About how AI unlocks so much creativity but also has so many challenges
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 04/06/2026
Hello from #CraftConf Budapest! As always, I'll be doing my best to liveskeet all the talks I attend (until my computer runs out of battery, which happens earlier every year) Keynote speaker: "Slow Down to Speed up", @gergely.pragmaticengineer.com
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 03/06/2026
Giving a talk tomorrow booya
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TigerBeetle @tigerbeetle.com · 02/06/2026
The full house of speakers for Systems Distributed '26: Andrew Kelley @axboe.bsky.social Gerard Holzmann @jamescowling.dev @heidihoward.bsky.social Ram Alagappan Aishwarya Ganesan @zooko.bsky.social @hillelwayne.com Margaret Holzmann @dominiktornow.bsky.social @joran.tigerbeetle.com
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 29/05/2026
New newsletter: knowing about things is cheaper than knowing things buttondown.com/hillelwayne/...
buttondown.com
Knowing about things is cheaper than knowing things
Short one this week because I'm way behind on book and conference prep. Last week a LinkedIn Influencer wrote about how math has nothing to do with...
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 28/05/2026
What's the weirdest category you have a favorite thing in? For example, I have a favorite math theorem en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picard_...
en.wikipedia.org
Picard theorem - Wikipedia
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 27/05/2026
Is it possible to make a slide deck in Da Vinci resolve? It's probably a terrible idea but so far no slideshow software has better fit my specific, inane needs than PowerPoint, and I despise PowerPoint
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 26/05/2026
Just updated the book blurb for *Logic for Programmers*. Let me know what you think! leanpub.com/logic/
leanpub.com
Logic for Programmers
Use math to amplify your testing, data modeling, software design, and more!
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 22/05/2026
I've started saying "x, y, and zed" instead of "x, y, and z". I don't know where this comes from and I don't remember saying zed in any other context. Dialects are weird
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Hillel @hillelwayne.com · 21/05/2026
Apparently books need a publisher label to be professional looking so now I'm mocking up injokes
It's the chicago flag! Not really
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