Frequently Asked Questions

When I was a kid, I'd spend ages watching YouTube videos of people making cool stuff with Python, and I thought, "Hey, that looks fun - maybe I should have a go!" So I did.

I downloaded a Python interpreter on my phone, learnt the syntax and how to encode logic as code more or less, then joined a platform where folks shared code snippets. I used to upload games and pull all-nighters chatting and coding with my friends (in hindsight, probably not the healthiest way to spend a night, but hey, passion's passion!)

Later, I got hooked on watching programming YouTubers like Code Bullet, Tech With Tim, Fireship, Kevin Powell, Corey Schafer, freeCodeCamp on harder days, and more. Eventually, I sort of stopped (not completely, but it's no longer dominating, now it's video essays and sciency videos) because I've got enough code saved in Vim as it is :D

1. Girl in red - I'll die anyway. (YouTube)
2. Mothica - VICES (YouTube)
3. CRAWLERS - I don't want it (YouTube)
4. Conan Gray - Heather (YouTube)

1. #262220
2. #121212
3. #181818

Back in 2021, I wrote a quick blog post explaining why Gentoo's perfect for me, though it's long gone now, tucked away in archives. I talked about how Gentoo's brilliant for customisation, simplicity, and manual labour (which is great for hackability and freedom!). Being source-based means better security and tweaking, with a solid package manager, repositories, profiles, and loads of overlays to get exactly what you need.

I still stand by that. I love Gentoo's simplicity and customisation, along with its package manager (portage) even if it's sometimes a bit quirky. Gentoo makes having a minimal, customisable, and free system straightforward, and I adore that.

Just create an account on https://git.ari.lt/ and send pull requests by forking repos. Or you can mirror or clone the projects on another forge, make changes there, and let me know by email or other contact methods. You can even email patches directly, like the old days.

I'm an exhausted student juggling a million things, so any contributions are really appreciated <3

It all started with learning to code and joining a platform whose name I can't quite recall (sorry, I have the memory of a fishbowl; it was fairly new when I joined, maybe 2016-2017??). That experience made me really value sharing code and contributing to free software. From there, I moved on to other platforms like GitHub and eventually set up my own self-hosted Forgejo instance. What really accelerated my FOSSoidism was the switch from corporate obedience to Linux and other libre ecosystems, which made me realise how resricted I truly was by default android, Windows, and proprietary software.

My website's had quite the journey: it began as a simple blog in 2020 with a wood background and yellow text, then evolved into a more complex site featuring a web terminal. I went through a few more iterations and landed here with the theme room101. It's been quite the ride, but I reckon this is the best it's ever been: dynamic, perfectly responsive, Flask, TOR, everything.

Python, C, Shellscript, GDB, Vim, Suckless utilities, GProf, Valgrind, Clang & LLVM toolchains, CCLS, PyLS, Pyright, Black, Isort.

Pick a language and just start coding. No language is universally loved: just pick one (even Rust, as much as I hate saying that) and code. There's no perfect language, and I doubt there ever will be. Python's a good choice to start with.

A big mistake I see beginners make is endlessly hunting for the 'best' programming language, which harms progress. There's no 'best'. Any code is good code :) (well, not really since there's standards, but as a beginner this applies, any progress is progress)

Just steer clear of something like Lua or Shellscript. Lua's really more of a fancy config language, and Shellscript is just running various pre-built binaries. Also, HTML and CSS aren't programming languages (more markup and styling (same with Markdown)). Go for something more serious (e.g., C, Python, Rust, JavaScript, Kotlin, C++, Ruby, Elixir, Scala, Go, Haskell (well maybe not Haskell, it's the reason why I think mathematicians should NOT design programming languages)...)

What to code? Make stuff you'd find useful. Password managers, back-end-focused websites, database formats, password generators, equation solvers, games, social media or messaging apps, to-do lists, chemistry equation solvers, alarm clocks, hangman games, palindrome checkers, maths problems (like finding huge primes), Markov chains, social media clients... I did all those and more as a beginner.

Don't get stuck in a loop of LeetCode and competitive programming. While it can be rewarding (I've done loads of competitions myself), it's not the real world. Practical programming is way more fun. Competitive programming isn't everyone's cup of tea, unless you're a bit of a maths nerd at heart, and truly love raw, unfiltered, arbitrary theory while having prior programming experience.

Also, don't sweat the maths too much. It's VERY useful to be comfortable with it, but if you're not great at school-level maths, don't let that block you. I've seen folks who said they're 'bad at maths' become brilliant programmers - you can too - and I've also seen the reverse: being a mathematician and programmer are (more or less) different things.

Lastly, ignore the bitter devs. I've never been anywhere with developers without a few bitter types trying to put beginners down like they're 'better people'. Constructive criticism's part of the deal, but don't take the harsh stuff to heart - it's your journey, your life, your pace.

You can do it.

That's how my hair used to look when I doodled it: half red, half black. It's not political or anything, despite what some think :') I just love cool hair. I change it relatively often, and red & black work perfectly together!

Loads of time management.

Most days, I spend a bunch of hours at gymnasium (usually until about 3-4pm) and then work at home, usually finishing around 9pm (all schoolwork, studying, prepping for the next day, and projects). Then I get a few hours for contributing. Weekends are for working on what I want, which helps balance things out, but they often still have plenty of work that isn't contributing or FOSS work, hence why my time is still limited even on weekends.

It's exhausting, and I do hit burnout sometimes, but it's fun and gives me purpose :) I do envy folks who can just not care when I'm panicking about balancing X, Y, Z and extra commitments. But I manage.!

Pure dislike for big tech and how some platforms handle things. Freedom's for everyone, not just a chosen few, and that's my motto.

It's getting pretty corporate.

Big tech loves exploiting free work, which is gross - they're not helping freedom, just exploiting volunteers for profit with little credit. It's a terrible reflection of capitalism seeping into activist spaces. Some companies pretend to care about "greater causes" just to polish their image while chasing profit. Gross.

FOSS is mostly a technical field but carries considerable political weight, and I'm uneasy about the ways FOSS is being exploited.

It started as a mental episode and paranoia conjured an imaginary creature called The Horsefish, which came from The Horse and The Fish. The blog posts there had loads of symbolism and were a way of venting to handle paranoia. Now, I just think it's fun to keep around. It's a quirky part of my online identity, so #horsefacts is mine and don't steal it pls!1!! (/j)

I build stuff and see what I need. I also keep an eye on GitHub and tech news like it's FOSS to spot anything interesting. I also hang around follow autistic nerds who talk about it nonstop so I'm rarely out of date :D

I keep a checklist of what needs doing and try to avoid burnout, which is tricky with other stuff going on. My projects aren't dead, just on pause until something branches off or they get picked up again. I always have heaps I want to do but so little time to get it done - that's the sad truth, but oh well!

TL;DR? DON'T BE A TECHBRO. Simply be yourself and create content that you're passionate about; share your website proudly, host useful content and services, contribute to the community, and share knowledge and resources.

One of the best ways to boost your site's visibility is through backlinks - links from other websites pointing to yours. Consider joining webrings, exchanging 88x31s, indieweb projects like Wiby, web movements and online communities or clubs to connect with like-minded creators and share your corner of the internet. Outlinks also help to contribute to the indieweb community, which in turn can help your site to be more important.

Also, ensure your website gets indexed by search engines by registering with Webmaster tools such as Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, and Yandex Webmaster. Include essential files like robots.txt to guide search engine crawlers, and sitemap.xml to map your site's structure.

Finally, while some argue that "SEO" doesn't matter much (which is often true for smaller or niche sites), it's still wise not to completely ignore it if you want to improve discoverability.

Avoid the temptation to stuff keywords unnaturally since this harms UX and rankings. Instead, add relevant tags and metadata to ensure your content is properly categorised, keep a watchful eye on your Webmaster tools dashboards, follow basic practices, and continue to monitor your website using things like Cloudflare Radar or "SEO" scanning tools - but don't obsess over every little metric or let that kill the spirit in your creativity. Let your content breathe rather than being dictated solely by arbitrary numbers and "SEO" (I hate saying this word tbh)

In short, I'm a full-time responsible student (lots of reading, studying, and listening) trying to survive a system that scrutinises free thinking and creativity in favour of rigid structure.

Beyond that, I take part in academic projects, competitions, give presentations and lessons, and try to help people when I can. Outside school, I'm just like you see me online: a wannabe writer, wannabe cook, and a programmer.

1080p screen or a portable cat.