Meta page describing Gwern.net, the self-documenting website’s implementation and experiments for better ‘semantic zoom’ of hypertext; technical decisions using Markdown and static hosting.

The post discusses a new idiom for runtime polymorphism in Zig, focusing on using fat pointers instead of @fieldParentPtr. It provides a step-by-step guide on creating a formal Iterator interface and implementing it with an example range iterator. The drawbacks of this pattern include potential performance issues and the requirement for the original implementor to remain alive for the interface to function correctly.

Zig is a programming language with active community support and a focus on efficient, reusable software development. Interfaces in Zig define a blueprint for classes to implement specific methods, promoting code abstraction and flexibility. Compile-time interfaces in Zig optimize code structure by resolving methods during compilation for efficient program execution.

In a career shift, the author is launching Latent Interfaces to apply expertise in design, prototyping, and development to complex data challenges. They share insights into a genomic data project, emphasizing the importance of Python skills alongside JavaScript. The document showcases the creation of intuitive data interfaces and the design process involving both digital and physical tools. Additionally, the author discusses the significance of well-designed APIs like StabilityAI and the potential for future collaborations in data visualization projects.