In Soft Out Hard

About

Hi, I'm Jack 👋

I'm a gardener who loves growing code and writing stories about it. Online, I'm known by the motto "HARD IN SOFT OUT" — I believe that good technical writing should either teach something, or make the reader feel less alone in the chaos of a dystopia. Ideally, both.

ðŸŒą Where Can I Be Found?

  • 📝 Writing: DEV Community — where I share thoughts on code, technology, and life as a developer.
  • ðŸĶ Chattering: X (Twitter) — where I share dark humor and random opinions. Dark humor is my coping mechanism.
  • ðŸ’ŧ Coding: GitHub — where I maintain code projects, including philosophical explorations of developer limitations and mental health.
  • 🏆 Competing: Codeforces — where I hone my competitive programming skills, one problem at a time.

Education? Still learning — and I don't think I've found the end of it yet.

I'm a gardener, and this code garden is never finished.

If you're looking for someone to plant ideas and harvest code for your team, let me know.

Here are some of the projects I'm currently maintaining on GitHub. I believe every project is a story, not just a collection of code.

ðŸŒŋ metamorphosis-404

"What if you were an HTTP 404 page?"

This is my flagship project — a technical and philosophical exploration. More than just a Python script, this project is a deep dive into the concept of boundaries, the obsession with 100% uptime, and how it all impacts a developer's mental health.

This project is a reflection of the anxieties and questions I often think about.

🔗 View on GitHub

♟ïļ Play Chess Against The Machine

"I built an interactive chess game where you play against an AI that explains each move."

This project is proof that technology can be a tool for learning. I built an interactive chess game where the AI is not just an opponent, but also a teacher — explaining why each move is good or bad. Perfect for beginners looking to learn chess tactics.

🔗 Read the Article on DEV (Replace with your actual article link)

To see all my other projects, visit my GitHub profile: github.com/setuju

I write about code, technology, and sometimes about being human in a dystopian world. Here are some of my recent and notable articles on DEV Community:

ðŸŽŪ Solstice Arcade: Festival of Light

June Solstice Game Jam 2026 Submission

An interactive web experience celebrating humanity's diversity under the light of the longest day. Serves as an anthology of 5 mini-games (Spectrum, Galveston, Sumo, ShadowChef, LongestSecond) honoring cultural, historical, and mathematical milestones — including Juneteenth, international sushi day, the World Cup, and Alan Turing's monumental contributions. Features a 4-layer security architecture with Brainfuck parser, Enigma simulator, server validation, and client countermeasures, plus a hidden Easter egg tribute to Turing.

Tech Stack: React 18 + TypeScript, Vite + Tailwind CSS, Firebase, Web Audio API, Canvas API, GitHub Actions

ðŸĪ– I Made Two AI Models Fight Each Other. They Agreed Way Too Much.

A deep dive into the surprising phenomenon where AI models, when pitted against each other, often converge on the same answers rather than debating. Explores the implications for multi-agent systems and the hidden biases in AI training distributions.

ðŸŒą Building EcoSnap: An AI-Powered Plant Companion for a Greener Planet

DEV Weekend Challenge: Earth Day Submission

An AI-powered plant identifier and eco-garden advisor that helps anyone discover, care for, and garden with native plants to support local biodiversity. Privacy-first — images are sent directly to Gemini API with no data stored on any server.

Key Features: Instant plant ID with detailed info, eco-gardening tips with native companion plants, local history saving, and a beautiful glassmorphic UI.

Tech Stack: Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS, Google Gemini 2.5 Flash, LocalStorage, Vercel/Netlify

🌍 I Built a Carbon Footprint Tracker in 48 Hours — Here's How Copilot Saved Me

DEV Weekend Challenge: Earth Day Submission

EcoTrack Pro — a privacy-first carbon footprint calculator that asks 15+ lifestyle questions and provides personalized, quantified recommendations. Features real-time grid intensity by country, interactive charts, and anonymous cloud sync without login.

Tech Stack: Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS, Chart.js, Supabase (PostgreSQL), EPA/IPCC data sources

ðŸŠĶ The Silicon Valley Database Graveyard: What 7 Dead Migrations Taught Me About The Illusion of "Modern"

A sobering reflection from fifteen years as a database architect and "last resort" firefighter. Charts the precise coordinates of technological shipwrecks — including an $8.9 million migration and 847 million corrupted records. The killer? Not bad code, but the seductive lie: "This database is newer, so it must be better."

🚀 From "Hello World" to "Hello Agents": The Developer Keynote That Rewired Software Engineering

A critical examination of how AI agents are reshaping software engineering — moving beyond the traditional "Hello World" paradigm into a new era of orchestration and intelligent automation.

📓 Now — July 2026

Here's what I'm working on and thinking about right now.

  • ðŸŒą Writing: Currently drafting a follow-up essay on limitations in software development, inspired by the metamorphosis-404 project. Also occasionally writing a coding diary here at paperboat.
  • ðŸ’ŧ Learning: Still on the long journey of finding the "end of education." Currently exploring competitive programming on Codeforces — I've solved 14 problems and counting.
  • ðŸģ Cooking & Eating: As stated in my bio, cooking + eating is part of who I am. Recent kitchen experiments:
    • Meatballs
    • Arsik
    • Various dishes with eggs as the main ingredient
    • Many more ^_^
  • ðŸŽŊ Focus: Finding a balance between coding, writing stories, and staying sane in this fast-paced world.

🛠ïļ My Tools

These are the tools I use daily for coding, writing, and surviving.

ðŸ’ŧ Hardware

  • Laptop: Potato Laptop T_T
  • Keyboard: Logitech Keyboard
  • Mouse: Logitech Mouse

🧑‍ðŸ’ŧ Software & Editors

  • Editor: VS Code / Neovim / Sublime Text
  • Terminal: iTerm2 / Alacritty / Windows Terminal
  • Browser: Arc / Brave / Firefox

ðŸ“Ķ Favorite Stack & Tools

  • Programming Languages: Python, Perl, TypeScript, Java, JavaScript, C++
  • Version Control: Git & GitHub
  • Blogging Platform: Paperboat (of course!) & DEV Community
  • Competitive Programming: Codeforces

☕ïļ Miscellaneous

  • Favorite Coding Snack: Black coffee, nuts, & chocolate
  • Working Music: Lofi / Instrumental / White noise

"Good technical writing should either teach you something or make you feel less alone." — HARD IN SOFT OUT

Note: This page will continue to evolve. This is a snapshot of who I am right now. Check back often to see how things develop.