Chun Fei Lung’s personal website

Efficient and green LLMs for software engineering

Training and using large language models to develop software is bad for the planet – but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Flag of Amsterdam, with the last white cross replaced by an underscore

xx execs commands for you in your Docker Compose projects

This is a short blog post about a short Perl script that I wrote to execute commands in running Docker Compose containers.

Blind person has difficulties using an iris scanner

Your app needs more than just a dark and high-contrast mode

Dark and high-contrast modes help make apps more accessible, but not all support them well enough.

Svelte really is that fast

The five most popular JS frameworks – Angular, React, Vue, Svelte and Blazor – use different rendering strategies, and it shows.

Two people awkwardly trying to moving a Chrome extension

Frameworks for developing browser extensions

You probably wouldn’t build a modern web application without a framework, so why use vanilla JavaScript for your browser extension?

Caterpie with hastily added wings to make it look like a Butterfree

Are bugs more expensive to fix in production?

Everyone knows that the cost of fixing a bug grows exponentially as it progresses through development phases. But is that actually true?

Donald Trump hands a piece of paper to Vladimir Putin

What to do if you accidentally committed secrets to a repository

Have you ever accidentally committed a secret to a Git repository? It’s a simple mistake that can be hard to fix, but it’s also easy to prevent.

Docker whale has a mildly panicked look on its face when it’s stranded and encounters a human hunter.

Level up your Dockerfiles with these tips and tricks

It’s easy to write Dockerfiles that work, but also to write Dockerfiles that suck. Here are some tips and tricks for writing better Dockerfiles.

Helm may be a popular solution, but not necessarily a safe one

Helm charts are re-usable packages for Kubernetes resources. They are easy to share and use, but this comes at a price.

Random internet finds: public transport

Browsing, like public transport, takes you from somewhere you’re not to somewhere you don’t need to be – but it does bring you places.

A crappy review of a crappy “LEGO” Brick Bank

I bought myself a replica of LEGO’s 2016 Brick Bank from a Chinese copycat brand and it went about as well as expected.

The character “R”, typeset in Adobe Garamond Pro

Rendering text on a pixel grid

Fonts in macOS look different from text that’s been rendered in Windows, mostly due to different philosophies about font rendering.

Do large language models respect copyright notices?

A group of researchers studied what happens when you explicitly remind large language models to respect copyright notices.

Puzzle piece with a fingerprint, with another piece overlaid that obscures the fingerprint

A method for preventing browser extension fingerprinting

Who could have thought that DOM-based browser extension fingerprinting can be easily mitigated by splitting reality?

The privacy threats of browser extension fingerprinting

Installing browser extensions can be bad for your privacy, even if they were made in good faith.

Hoe je in en uit een trein stapt (zonder andere mensen boos te maken)

Een trein brengt je comfortabel van A naar B – mits je erin én eruit kunt. Helaas gaat het daar nog vaak mis.

Vlaggen voor elke studierichting, gebaseerd op de originele provincievlaggen

Waarom Informatiekunde eigenlijk net Friesland is

En andere domme vergelijkingen. Uit de oude doos. Omdat ik weer geen tijd heb om iets nieuws te schrijven.

Ik ben begonnen aan een nieuwe baan (zonder mijn oude op te zeggen)

Sinds vorig jaar heb ik twee werkgevers. Niet omdat het moest, maar omdat het kon. Wat heb ik ervan geleerd en is het de moeite waard?

Six things you (didn’t) need to know about Chinese names

Chinese names are easier than you think, but at the same time they are also more complicated than you think.

A Chinese skyline with buildings from Shanghai

Chinese megacities and what they are known for

China is one of the world’s most populous countries, which means it also has some of the largest cities on the planet.

A KMB double-decker bus, a green minibus, and an MTR train

A quick-start guide to public transport in Hong Kong

Depending on where you’re from, public transport in Hong Kong either offers a glimpse of the future or is stuck in the past.

Assassin’s Creed II is better than I thought it would be

I played Assassin’s Creed II in preparation for my trip to Florence this year and it was almost as good as Florence itself.

Oblivion Remastered works like a Charm on GeForce NOW

Oblivion Remaster is the same janky game as the 2006 original, but with a fresh coat of paint and some welcome gameplay improvements.

Revisiting Caesar III (almost) three decades later

Caesar III remains the same game it was three decades ago, but the world — and its expectations — have changed.

Should your next laptop be a Mac or a PC?

There is no right answer to that question, but having used both for quite some years, I can share what I like and dislike about each.

Two screenshots that show how the Alright browser extension turns references to external sources in pull request overviews and detail pages into hyperlinks.

Add autolink references to GitHub pull request titles

Alright is a browser extension that automatically turns JIRA (and other) references in GitHub pull request titles into hyperlinks.

Jirleader dances in front of a JIRA agile project board

Get cheered on when you complete JIRA tickets

I built a completely useless Chrome extension that encourages people to complete their JIRA tickets (so I don’t have to).

Ross insists that he and Rachel were on a break.

Yes, I took a short break

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have returned from my hiatus and have absolutely nothing to show for it.

Microsoft Word is a dumpster fire

Microsoft Word may be the best word processor on the market, but I still hate it with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.

A Roman soldier riding a panda, dangling a mortarboard in front of it

My software development roadmap

I don’t know what the future of software development will look like and what skills I will need, but at least I have concepts of a plan.

A robot arm puts an envelop into a long-distance mailbox

Facilitating ROS communication between two different networks

For my first robotics project, I needed to find a way for students in Germany to control a robotic arm in the Netherlands using ROS.

A command-line scrobbler for Dutch public radio stations NPO Radio 1, 2 and 3FM

I built a tool for the handful of people who listen to NPO radio stations, use Last.fm and know how to use the command line.

Antropromorphic Mat ’64 train with glowing laser eyes

Let’s build a simple journey planner using SQL (part 3, that you can run yourself)

What’s better than a crappy train travel planner that runs on my machine? A crappy train travel planner that runs on YOUR machine!

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