About

I am Steve Blackwell. I’m a computer programmer. I started working with computers when I was 8, when my family somehow got an old, garage-built 8088 system. I immediately wanted to know how it worked, how it could draw to the screen, and I wanted to do that also. I started programming later, with batch files, then QBasic, and then C++ and onward.

I’ve made apps, I’ve made video games, I’ve made websites. I try to make software well. To me, that means writing code in a straightforward, direct way. It’s means prioritzing correctness and simple performance. And it means allowing only as much complexity as really needed. I think the two hardest problems in computer science are naming things (a real problem), and saying no to the “well, we might need it…” line of reasoning.

In software engineering, I admire a deep, practical knowledge of computer systems. I believe programs are best when they are useful toward their purpose. This might sound like common sense, but it stands in contrast to the cargo cult approach I often see for industry “best practices”, and to the trend toward slow and buggy programs that are exploitative of the user’s time, attention, and money.

This website is a place to write about some of what I’m interested in. Let’s go!