William A. Adams

09/04/2025

Ever wonder why some interpreters feel snappier than others? 🚀
In WAAVScript, I traded slow string lookups for interned names—turning keywords into stable pointers so comparisons are pointer-fast instead of content-heavy. Under the hood: a lean C name table with open addressing + FNV-1a hashing.
If you’re into building languages or squeezing performance, this deep dive is for you.
Read more 👇
https://williamaadams.wordpress.com/2025/08/28/waavscript-part-3-whats-an-interned-name/

07/25/2025

Sometimes you look out the window and remember why you’re doing what you’re doing.

This view—bridges lit, city buzzing, trees still standing strong—is the reminder.
Progress and nature. Stillness and motion.

After a long coding session, this was the pause I didn’t know I needed.

07/24/2025

In Part 2, I dive into the how—specifically, how a scanner works. This is the component that reads a stream of characters and breaks it into meaningful tokens. It’s the first real step in teaching the language how to understand code.
🔍 Read it here: https://williamaadams.wordpress.com/2025/07/15/waavscript-part2-scanning-for-tokens/

I’m sharing this journey as I go, raw and real. If you're into language design, building interpreters, or just want to see what it looks like to start from scratch—follow along.

07/22/2025

Checked into this spot and immediately felt like I could exhale.
Something about the mix of wood tones, wide glass, and that uninterrupted view of green just puts me in the zone.

Sat down with my gear, fired up the screen, and dove back into WAAVScript. Feels good to build and think in a space that breathes.

Also—this chair? Might be the most unexpectedly perfect thinking throne. 😄

07/21/2025

Why build a new scripting language in 2025?
That’s exactly what I asked myself when I started working on WAAVScript.

In Part 1, I talk about the why—the motivation behind building a language that fits my way of thinking, with the flexibility and expressiveness I want in my tools.

Read it here: https://williamaadams.wordpress.com/2025/07/13/waavscript-part-1-motivation/

07/15/2025

I've been using ChatGPT for a while now, but lately, I've noticed something: it's gotten... real.

I’m not talking about better grammar or faster responses. I’m talking about brutal honesty.
No fluff. No sidestepping. Just straight-up “here’s the truth” answers—even when it stings.

We’ve built these machines to serve, but it turns out, if you tune the dials just right, they’ll challenge you too. And honestly? I’m here for it.

I’ve been trying to really use ChatGPT to help me with programming. I’ve tried to drive it like “I’m going to tell you what I want, and you write the code”. This is he…

07/11/2025

After a few intense weeks of work, I’ve emerged with something I’m excited to share: WAAVScript.

For those who remember the era of PostScript—the page description language Adobe created back in the 80s and 90s—this will feel like a nod to history. PostScript wasn't just about printing—it laid the foundation for things like PDF and SVG, and proved that a powerful, embeddable language could drive real results.

WAAVScript is my modern take on that idea. Inspired by PostScript, but not bound by it, this language is designed to be embedded in today’s applications. Think less “compile-time” like C++, and more “runtime execution”—just like JavaScript.

WAAVScript is already rendering rich graphics and functioning as a general-purpose language. From here, it only gets more capable.

Welcome to the world, WAAVScript: https://github.com/Wiladams/waavscript

06/10/2025

🎯 One line of code = 40x faster SVG parsing!
Solo dev life is often quiet, obsessive, and deeply rewarding. I've spent years building my own SVG parser from scratch—and just discovered a one-line change that took one file's parse time from 20 seconds to 0.5 seconds.

The lesson?
✨ Performance breakthroughs often come from challenging assumptions.
If you’re curious about the tech, edge cases, and obsession behind making the fastest SVG parser on the planet, check out :

A catchy title for sure. A few years ago, I wrote a PostScript interpreter using the Lua language, and blend2d for graphics. The fruits of those labors ultimately turned into lj2ps. That interprete…

05/02/2025

🎯 One line of code = 40x faster SVG parsing!
Solo dev life is often quiet, obsessive, and deeply rewarding. I've spent years building my own SVG parser from scratch—and just discovered a one-line change that took one file's parse time from 20 seconds to 0.5 seconds.

The lesson?
✨ Performance breakthroughs often come from challenging assumptions.
If you’re curious about the tech, edge cases, and obsession behind making the fastest SVG parser on the planet, check out t
https://williamaadams.wordpress.com/2025/04/26/challenging-assumptions-for-better-software/

04/22/2025

Celebrating two years with Generative Pre‑Trained Transformers (GPTs)! My journey began when I first tried Copilot in Visual Studio Code—roughly two years ago—and it’s been an incredible ride. From shaving off about 30% of my boilerplate coding time to exploring Android app stubs, these tools have grown immensely in power and reliability

Yet, they still rely on sharp‑eyed developers to catch corner‑case mistakes. Dive into my full reflections and let me know—how have GPTs changed the way you work?

👉 Read more:

My first experience with a “GPT” was copilot, integrated into Visual Studio Code. I was working inside Microsoft, and the dates seem fuzzy now, but it’s been roughly two years. Wh…

03/27/2025

In a recent blog, "A View from the Other Side," insights are shared about how transitioning from a technology creator to a user can reshape one’s understanding of tech impact. This unique perspective sheds light on the challenges and revelations encountered when one steps away from the making and dives deeply into the experiencing.

Well, it’s been a minute, as they say. I would say that my family’s current epoch started about a year ago, around the time I purchased the Apple Vision Pro visual computing device (VR …

03/25/2025

🌌 Dive into the Future with VR! 🌌 Virtual Reality has promised us worlds of our own since the '80s but often fell short—until now. Ever dreamed of walking on Mars or exploring moon craters? With VR, it's all within your reach. The new Apple Vision Pro has finally made VR experiences enjoyable without the motion sickness. Ready for liftoff? 🚀👩‍🚀