Tristan Isham's blog and portfolio.https://tristanisham.com/https://tristanisham.com/blog/links/at-least-somebody-knew-how-each-part-of-the-system-worked/https://tristanisham.com/blog/links/at-least-somebody-knew-how-each-part-of-the-system-worked/My complaint about people discussing how we don't know how an AI generated system works is that while not knowing how Claude edited your React frontend is fine, using it for any critical system is dangerous becasue we don't know how AI makes decisions, and AI cannot be held responsible for those decisions.Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/i-dont-want-to-be-a-ping-pong-ball-anymore/https://tristanisham.com/blog/i-dont-want-to-be-a-ping-pong-ball-anymore/The Pandemic made a job in journalism untennable, so I pivoted to software development. Now software development is becoming obsolete. Maybe a communications degree was the long play?Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/4-good-uses-for-generative-ai/https://tristanisham.com/blog/4-good-uses-for-generative-ai/Generative AI is controversial to many people, but to me, there are some obvious upsides. Here are ways I use generative AI that have improved my life.Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/the-walled-garden-bears-sweet-fruit/index/https://tristanisham.com/blog/the-walled-garden-bears-sweet-fruit/index/I use Shortcuts on iOS to programatically change settings. The walled garden is expansive, and not a terrible place to live.Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/projects/zvm/index/https://tristanisham.com/projects/zvm/index/zvm lets you easily install/upgrade between different versions of Zig.Tue, 06 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/success-is-self-defined/https://tristanisham.com/blog/success-is-self-defined/Musings on success while waiting at an airportSat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/reflecting-on-reflection/https://tristanisham.com/blog/reflecting-on-reflection/Reflecting on reflection in PHP and using my own bespoke language to visualize how that process may work under the hood.Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/a-domain-is-a-home/https://tristanisham.com/blog/a-domain-is-a-home/After losing control of my domain, I was able to recapture it!Sat, 22 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/how-to-serve-a-solidjs-app-with-a-go-backend/https://tristanisham.com/blog/how-to-serve-a-solidjs-app-with-a-go-backend/A skeptical SPA developer shares how Solid JS won them over for a realtime multiplayer board game project. This guide covers integrating Solid with Go using Vite, setting up proxying, and serving assets in both development and production with Fiber and Gin.Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/ham-typed/ai-wont-replace-writing/https://tristanisham.com/blog/ham-typed/ai-wont-replace-writing/A rebuttal of Paul Graham's Writes and Write-NotsTue, 26 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/an-epiphany-in-a-chocolate-shake/https://tristanisham.com/blog/an-epiphany-in-a-chocolate-shake/Exploring the intersection of software development and personal growth. Join me as I share technical insights, development practices, and fundamental principles for better living. From coding patterns to life patterns, this blog weaves together practical software expertise with clear-minded approaches to daily challenges and human potential.Fri, 08 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/ham-typed/the-us-government-wants-you-to-use-rust/https://tristanisham.com/blog/ham-typed/the-us-government-wants-you-to-use-rust/In the next decade, America's cybersecurity will become incomprehensibly dependent on the market's ability to supply thigh high socks and cat ear headbands as DARPA, the U.S. military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has announced TRACTOR, an initiative to automate the transition of systems written in “legacy” C code to Rust.Fri, 02 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/projects/fan/index/https://tristanisham.com/projects/fan/index/A batteries-included programming language for more productive developers.Thu, 07 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/chromebooks-are-the-future-thats-bad/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/chromebooks-are-the-future-thats-bad/My cat destroyed my laptop, and I had to live the Chromebook life.Mon, 20 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/can-you-hear-my-echo/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/can-you-hear-my-echo/I woke up in the middle of the night, twisted in my sheets like a python's lunch, huffing and fuming. I tried to relax, uncurling my toes, relaxing my shoulders, and rotated my neck. I had a warm headache. I couldn't think of anything, other than how angry I was. Dizzying fallacies and arguments more synthetic than a computer buzzed inside my mind, fortified against all attempts to stop what had become a constant vicious droning. I let out a soft scream. Why couldn't I get this out of my head? Why couldn't I relax? Why, when there was no sound, could I only hear this noise? I fought with it a little, but slowly drifted back to sleep.Sun, 19 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/the-coolest-email-trick/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/the-coolest-email-trick/Until today, I had no idea that adding a number to the end of your email address before the '@' symbol could allow you to theoretically create infinite email addresses.Tue, 30 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/my-main-beef-with-ghost/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/my-main-beef-with-ghost/Ghost is a great platform. I've been using it for the past year as a sort of “catch-all” whenever I have a brilliant new idea for a website but know deep down that I'm just going to scrap it in a week. It's flexible, it's beautiful, and if you...Fri, 19 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/what-do-i-want-to-be/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/what-do-i-want-to-be/More and more I find myself asking this very question, “What do I want to be?” I've spent most of my life behind the keyboard of a computer or clutching a pencil, writing out my feelings, thoughts, and emotions on paper and pixel in an attempt to... | Tristan Isham | My impassioned writings about whatever obscurities interest meFri, 20 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/the-subtle-sync/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/the-subtle-sync/The most underrated feature of Apple's various devices, in my opinion, is Continuity. This little invisible feature allows anyone with multiple Apple devices to pick up where they left on one device, then pick it up on another. Continuity is... | Tristan Isham | My impassioned writings about whatever obscurities interest meWed, 04 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/a-new-york-state-of-mind/index/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/a-new-york-state-of-mind/index/I live in Ohio. More specifically, I live in a part of Ohio where everyone says “O-H” and you're supposed to say “I-O” back. That's not to say that I don't like it. I've enjoyed my 18 years living here, and I don't plan on moving back any time soon. But I've always dreamt of going somewhere else. I've dreamt of going to... | Tristan Isham | My impassioned writings about whatever obscurities interest meMon, 13 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/my-letter-from-the-president/index/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/my-letter-from-the-president/index/I don't remember what the day was like. I don't remember what I was doing. I don't remember what I ate for lunch, or dinner. I only remember being worried. It was in the later half of the final year of the Obama presidency when I sent my letter to... | Tristan Isham | My impassioned writings about whatever obscurities interest meTue, 14 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/managing-my-name/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/managing-my-name/It was more than two years ago when I bought my last name. I was a lot younger (and a lot less educated). I didn't spend as much time on the web as I do now. I wasn't in love with the web in the way that I am now. I thought I would be a... | Tristan Isham | My impassioned writings about whatever obscurities interest meMon, 13 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/how-long-until-facebook-wins/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/how-long-until-facebook-wins/You're probably aware that Snap, Inc., the company behind Snapchat, is filing for an IPO. You might be aware of the volatile time this comes at, with Instagram stories knocking a large portion of the Snapchat's user growth—despite it being a direct copy of one of the apps core features. You might even be aware of Facebook's most recent attempt to crush its largest rival.Thu, 09 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/whos-going-to-buy-a-samsung-galaxy-s8/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/whos-going-to-buy-a-samsung-galaxy-s8/Samsung is no stranger to odd phones, with the rumor mill this week alone turning out that Samsung will reportedly be releasing a new device running Tizen 3.0. The S series has always been Samsung's grounds for appealing to the mass market, with the S6 and S7 both being referred to by multiple reviews as the best Android devices of their respected times. However, if the leaked specs of the S8 turn out to be true, one has to wonder what strain of logic it was designed along.Wed, 08 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/im-beefed/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/im-beefed/Do not expect complacency when your product does not work, and you fail to repair, or even respond to requests to repair it. Regardless of when I sign up for your product, I still share the same value as any other consumer. As an avid user and public supporter, I would expect that at least some form of support be given when my grievances are aired. Instead. I have to go out of my way to fix an issue myself by reinstating the problem to keep it running. All at my own expense.Sat, 21 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/why-i-write/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/why-i-write/There's a beauty in the way words form on a page. Whether that be digital or print; the flow of lines, dots, and dashes has always captured my interest and fascinated my mind.Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/five-easy-steps-to-become-more-media-literate/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/five-easy-steps-to-become-more-media-literate/Whilst working on a video all about media literacy, a grab of which can be seen above, I've couldn't help but compile a list of some of the points that I was trying to make in order to promote better media literacy. Below are ten easy steps to become more media literate.Tue, 29 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/how-to-become-a-successful-device/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/how-to-become-a-successful-device/To be device that a person can't go without owning, you need to fit these two qualifications: 'accentuate the day' and 'accompany a sense'.Thu, 27 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/the-cracks-between-the-glass/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/the-cracks-between-the-glass/I have a problem with dust. It circulates in the air that I breathe, it coats itself on the devices and tools I use every day, and it makes me miserable due to allergies. I am the source of the problem. 70-80% of the dust in a house can be your own dead skin. Disbarred from your body, it floats around in the atmosphere, hovering as a ghost, until it finds a home where you never look.Thu, 08 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/how-gawkers-death-affects-you/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/how-gawkers-death-affects-you/As of now, Gawker.com has shut down and is gone. Where there had been a fundamental publication that helped found the very concept of online journalism, now sits a static page; full of articles bemoaning and celebrating the death of a staple in the journalistic world for the past thirteen years.Tue, 23 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/how-to-save-the-news/index/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/how-to-save-the-news/index/Originally I was planning to write the inaugural post of Aspires on the topic of news media and the evolution of media transmission (for a Journalism and Media Communications major, this fascinates me) specifically focusing on the struggle of modern media and news corporations to turn a profit in a world of online content and ad blockers. Now however, I feel compelled to write about the future of news media and turning profits in the rapidly greying area of online publications. An unavoidable area for any company that wants to keep up with the youth of today.Wed, 23 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/its-a-new-day/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/its-a-new-day/I love this website. I always have, I always will. But things are changing, and sometimes change isn't always what we expect it to be. This website, as it has been known for the past year and a half is changing. Some of the changes are pretty...Mon, 21 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/the-point-of-passion/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/the-point-of-passion/Recently in my life I've begun to toy with the idea that I do not belong. Maybe due to my music choices that speak of the for-longed youth of the singers edging out of their own spruced years, or perhaps it's from the uncertainty that I face for the entirety of the rest of my life. \Thu, 21 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/an-ode-to-2015/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/an-ode-to-2015/It's the final day of 2015, a year full of some good, and some really bad moments. It's a year of change, for myself, for our nation, and for the world. It's a year full of lasts. It's my last season of Marching Band, the beginning of my last year in high school. It's the last year that Avon will be my only home. It's the last year where my future is certain.Thu, 31 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/escape-the-city/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/escape-the-city/Some people know that there's something they have to do in life since the moment they're capable of understanding “self”.Sun, 29 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/college-and-the-future/index/https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/college-and-the-future/index/I hope you know that I am terrified, unequivocally terrified, of my future as it stands from the point of my writing of this onwards. Specifically in college and what I see myself doing with the entirety of my life. Never before has my future been... | Tristan Isham | My impassioned writings about whatever obscurities interest meTue, 29 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMThttps://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/so-i-bought-my-last-name/index./https://tristanisham.com/blog/aspires/so-i-bought-my-last-name/index./In today's web based world it only makes sense to own a domain name--or a few. But when it came down to buying a domain name that could represent myself and my family better than any other, what other name could possibly do a better job than my last name?Sat, 31 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT