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Alex Spaeth

Programming Non-Definitions

More silly stuff in the same vein as “a monoid in the category of endofunctors,” but without requiring a course in category theory.
I got Claude to generate some annoying niche humor.

Optimizer Momentum is Not a Ball (Part I)

Lots of ML tutorials describe momentum with a faulty analogy. This post is about what’s really going on.
Momentum is great, but not because it helps the optimizer hop over anything. It helps with noisy gradients, flat regions, and oscillations.

Game Programming Nostalgia Trip

No educational value, just a quick storytime about my GameBoy Advance.

Preface: Why Write in the Age of AI?

I know it’s pretentious for a blog to have a preface, but somehow I feel like these days, it needs an excuse.
Literally because it’s the age of AI. Anyway, it’s personally rewarding even if it’s not actually practical. I bake in the age of Walmart too, don’t I?