{"id":8116,"date":"2025-12-30T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/?p=8116"},"modified":"2025-12-30T21:31:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T05:31:14","slug":"hacker-bits-issue-120","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/issue\/hacker-bits-issue-120\/","title":{"rendered":"Hacker Bits, Issue 120"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Welcome to our final edition of 2025!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With so many standout pieces published throughout the year, it&#8217;s easy for gems to slip by unnoticed. So we pulled together a curated roundup of the most essential reads you might have missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy this handpicked collection of 2025&#8217;s must\u2011read articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From all of us at Hacker Bits, wishing you warm holidays and a healthy, inspiring new year ahead!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; Ray and Maureen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Learn more<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/addyo.substack.com\/p\/the-prompt-engineering-playbook-for\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Prompt engineering playbook for programmers<\/a> by Addy Osmani<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/refactoringenglish.com\/blog\/software-essays-that-shaped-me\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Software essays that shaped me<\/a> by Michael Lynch<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/EbookFoundation\/free-programming-books\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Free Programing Books<\/a> <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecoder.cafe\/p\/complex-systems\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Working on complex systems: What I learned working at Google<\/a> by Teiva Harsanyi<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/matklad.github.io\/2023\/11\/15\/push-ifs-up-and-fors-down.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Push Ifs Up and Fors Down<\/a> by Alex Kladov<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Work less<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/agentultra.com\/blog\/why-i-wont-use-ai\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why I Won&#8217;t Use AI<\/a> by James King<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/malwaretech.com\/2025\/08\/every-reason-why-i-hate-ai.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Every Reason Why I Hate AI and You Should Too<\/a> by Marcus Hutchins<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.geoffreylitt.com\/2025\/10\/24\/code-like-a-surgeon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Code like a surgeon<\/a> by Geoffrey Litt<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.hackerwebapp.com\/#\/item\/42431103\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ask HN: SWEs how do you future-proof your career in light of LLMs?<\/a> <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nmn.gl\/blog\/ai-and-learning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New junior developers can&#8217;t code<\/a> by Namanyay Goel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stay current<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/alikhil.dev\/posts\/the-simple-habit-that-saves-my-evenings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A simple habit that saves my evenings<\/a> by Alik Khilazhev<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/chrisloy.dev\/post\/2025\/09\/28\/the-ai-coding-trap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The AI coding trap<\/a> by Chris Loy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/notsocommonthoughts.com\/blog\/ai-and-judgement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The rise of judgement over technical skill<\/a> by Alexander Kohlhofer<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justfuckingcode.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Just Fucking Code<\/a> by Lane Wagner<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ploum.net\/2024-12-23-julius-en.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">My Colleague Julius<\/a> by Ploum<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Tell us what you think. Leave a comment below, <a href=\"http:\/\/hackerbits.com\/contact\">email us<\/a> or find us on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hackerbits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@hackerbits<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like what you read?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-text-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"http:\/\/hackerbits.com\/subscribe\/?signup=bottom-hacker-bits-issue-120\" style=\"background-color:#ff6600\">\u2709\ufe0f Claim your subscription!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to our final edition of 2025! With so many standout pieces published throughout the year, it&#8217;s easy for gems to slip by unnoticed. So we pulled together a curated roundup of the most essential reads you might have missed. &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/issue\/hacker-bits-issue-120\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hacker Bits, Issue 120 - Hacker Bits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/issue\/hacker-bits-issue-120\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hacker Bits, Issue 120 - Hacker Bits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome to our final edition of 2025! With so many standout pieces published throughout the year, it&#8217;s easy for gems to slip by unnoticed. So we pulled together a curated roundup of the most essential reads you might have missed. ... Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/issue\/hacker-bits-issue-120\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hacker Bits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-30T13:00:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-31T05:31:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/hacker_bits_issue120_cover.jpg?_t=1767159074\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"954\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ray Li\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ray Li\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/issue\/hacker-bits-issue-120\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/issue\/hacker-bits-issue-120\/\",\"name\":\"Hacker Bits, Issue 120 - Hacker Bits\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-30T13:00:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-31T05:31:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9390f8f0e209f134f5ea05ecfcf1706e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/issue\/hacker-bits-issue-120\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/issue\/hacker-bits-issue-120\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/issue\/hacker-bits-issue-120\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hacker Bits, Issue 120\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/\",\"name\":\"Hacker Bits\",\"description\":\"Learn more, work less, stay current\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9390f8f0e209f134f5ea05ecfcf1706e\",\"name\":\"Ray Li\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hackerbits.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/58f065871f2f6e1c977e6ea3bb84aa13?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/58f065871f2f6e1c977e6ea3bb84aa13?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ray Li\"},\"description\":\"Ray is a software engineer and data enthusiast who has been blogging for over a decade. 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