Recurse SP2'23 #8: Projects coalesce

I was pretty focused today, but I’m also feeling like I’m growing a backlog.

Here are my current areas of interest for the batch, along with the status of things I’m working on in each area:

• Image processing
  • PAUSED: I made some simple image filters last week, and I’m still planning to work on implementing faster convolution soon. I’ve just put the project aside this week to focus on networking and databases.
• Mapping
  • IDEA: Line-of-sight (LoS) tool. I’ve worked for a few different companies and orgs that were, in some fashion, wireless ISPs (Internet service providers.) It was often useful to have access to software for determing if two points have a clear line-of-sight between them, based on LiDAR data sets of building and terrain height.
• Networking
  • ACTIVE: I’m working through the protohackers challenges.
  • NEXT: We have a study group focused on learning about the current network censorship circumvention landscape. I have a lot of papers to catch up on!
• General software dev: scraping, web development, databasing, etc.
  • ACTIVE: The NLRB scraping project is currently scratching all these itches, and while hopefully include a spatial/mapping component by the time we’re done.

I started Recurse with a fairly loose idea of what I wanted to do. I think I’m now feeling confident that I have a clear list of projects and goals that are both achievable and sufficiently challenging and educational. (One of the Recurse self-directives is to “always work at the edge of your abilities.”) The scraping and LoS projects will be pretty involved, and I’ll learn a lot from the rest.

It may all pan out differently, of course! I just like the idea of recording my intentions every so often so I can look back on how my interests did or didn’t change over the course of the batch.