The most common mistakes Java developers make — In my career I’ve interviewed dozens of software engineers, from juniors to senior technical leaders. And in many cases candidates had gaps in the basic concepts. In this article I’m going to put in a list the most common mistakes Java developers do, based on my experience both as Technical…

In less of 50 lines of Python code — In my article “How to get an unbiased RNG from an unbalanced one” I showed how to extract randomness from any kind of source. Now the aim is to build a pseudo random number generator from scratch! “Why do I need a random number?” The importance of random numbers is not in the number itself (they are…

Is it worth to use π as data archive? — Over the years many claims of a more romantic than scientific origin have been made about π. And all of them had something to do with the infinity or the fact that the its decimal part contains every other sequence of numbers never conceived. This is not true or…

A quick guide to self replicating programs in Python — Aim of this guide is to show how to write a program that outputs its own source code with no input. This family of programs is called Quine. Why is this interesting? Well, because self-referencing stuff tends to be always interesting :) There are many ways to build such programs…

A randomness extractor in Python applicable from skewed coins to Shakespeare — “Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin.” — John von Neumann Is it possible to obtain a fair toss from an unfair coin? Or, generally, is it possible to extract randomness from a source with an output that has a…