Chun Fei Lung’s personal website

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.

The challenges of microservice API evolution

Evolving microservice APIs requires a lot of work, both from the providing and the consuming side.

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.

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.

API engineer punches into a slide of a KPI graph that is projected onto a wall

Scaling the API design review process at Google

Google’s API Governance process makes sure that the design and development of its APIs meets the company’s standards.

Prompt patterns for LLMs that help you design better software

Large language models (LLMs) may not be replacing developers anytime soon, but can still be of use in the design process.

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.

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.

This is a periodic reminder to add train emojis to your Slack workspaces

Spamming trains on Slack is likely to make some co-workers very happy and others very annoyed.

Visual disinformation on alternative media platforms

Alternative media platforms and their communities use visual disinformation in a variety of ways.

Mapping the use of AI in counter-disinformation

Most initiatives that use artificial intelligence to combat disinformation are clustered around two continents.

A Volkswagen car that is suffocating a pedestrian with its toxic fumes.

Using humour to make software development more enjoyable

This study looks at how humour can fuel developer engagement in open-source and professional contexts.

Nutteloze feitjes over Nederlandse treinstations

Dat Utrecht Centraal druk is weten we allemaal wel. Gelukkig zijn er genoeg andere domme feitjes waarmee je mensen kunt lastigvallen.

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.

Solliciteren kun je leren

Hoe vind je je droombaan? In dit artikel vertel ik je hoe ik zelf (als softwareontwikkelaar) meestal te werk ga.

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.

Segregation by colour is a good thing (but only in Mini Motorways)

Mini Metro’s spiritual successor may be better-looking, but is it also a better game?

Try to score more than two points in Two Point Campus

I went to summer school at Two Point Campus, the spiritual successor to Theme Hospital’s spiritual successor Two Point Hospital.

How to run Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 on Windows 10 and 11

Red Alert 2 has been available on Steam since March this year, but sadly the 24-year old RTS game no longer works out of the box.

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).

Minimalist homage to The Beatles’ Come Together music video

A gentle (re-)introduction to Scrum, a framework for project teams

This blog provides a concise summary of the Scrum framework for anyone who needs a refresher or is just getting started.

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.

My 2024 in review

The 2024 retrospective has been either postponed or cancelled entirely, just like most of this year’s posts.

Dumb things in my house that just don’t make sense

Sturgeon’s law states that ninety percent of everything is crap. It’s mostly true, except in this post where absolutely everything is crap.

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!

Dutch rolling stock, recreated using HTML and CSS

If all you have is CSS, everything looks like boxes and pseudo-elements.

Anthropomorphic VIRM train with a dumb face rides across a rainbow in the sky

Let’s build a simple journey planner using SQL (part 2 of probably more than 2)

Yet another blog post where I create an unmaintainable mess using our favourite yet very inadequate programming language, SQL.

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