Ben Calderon

I just completed "Secret Entrance" - Day 1 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/1

Idk what I did to deserve this look from my cat!!

Car covering her face

Let me sleep!!

SMD soldered on breakboards

A big jump in my electronics work came when I lost fear of SMD components and started soldering on breakboard to use them on a breadboard!

Now I have way too many… 😅

So… lately I’ve been getting into understanding the world of finances. So, for whoever is curious but never bothered to look (like me) a basis point = 0.01%

So, if my 7.40% profit margin (I wish!) increases by 30 bps…

7.40 + 0.30 = 7.7%

The more you know! 😁🤷‍♂️

Is the last one an RF connector? Looked like this one to me:

I can’t be the only one that would rather reverse-engineer a whole-house humidifier instead of reading the manual to troubleshoot it! 😅

Closeup of a cat’s face

Sometimes I can’t think of something interesting to post… but then I remember that I can always share cat pictures! 😂🙌

Order new PCBs…

I gotta say, that not an error I make anymore😅

pain is a great teacher!

Uff!

I once designed a pcb with 0402 resistors… later decided that soldering those by hand would be a pain and changed them to 0805.

Turns out updating your BOM doesn’t automagically updates your PCB! Received the PCB with a bunch of unsoldered 0805 on top of 0402 footprints… 🤦‍♂️😅

When I’m making a struct that contains itself I’m not able to use the typedef, need to use struct foo one;

benjcal.space/blog/just-do...

Cat inside a Newark box

My cat is as excited as I am for the new components from Newark! 😁

void *(*anything)(void *, …);

One declaration to rule them all! (… and I’m darkness bind them)

Not even my soldering is that clean!

If you write C and haven’t tried Meson… you are in for a treat!

It is (for me) a lot more approachable than CMake, stellar documentation, and the files are pretty (for some reason my brain likes pretty files 🤩)

Also, no $@%^ from Makefiles!

mesonbuild.com

I’d be terrified of bending the blade of the $100 one tho! 😅

How would I know if they don’t bend unless I test it? And what if I damage them in the testing? Uff… it scares me

a color coded image by Freya, comparing the summation and capital pi notation in math, to their equivalent in code using for-loops. The summation notation sums a set of elements, while the product notation multiplies a set of elements. Note that Freya is keenly aware that neither the math notation nor for-loops are fully explained by this image, and that this is only a subset of the use cases, so luckily you don't have to explain that to her, in case you were considering doing that!

btw these large scary math symbols are just for-loops

A bit ago… but some time ago I had tons of fun making a CHIP8 emulator in C! If you are looking for a fun project I 100% recommend it!

Wrote some of the adventure here:

benjcal.space/blog/the-adv...

I’ve been avoiding it for quite a while too… using opencm3 makes it A LOT better for me than with CubeMX…

Two cats in a bed?

Anybody else not wanting to get up?

Sure, you’ve been anxious, but have you been I’m-soldering-and-my-cat-jumped-on-my-desk anxious!? 🐈🔥😅

Cat inside a box

“Now, could you just leave me to enjoy my box?” or something… I’m not fully fluent in cat

Hey,

you know that propane torch you use for heat shrink tube and stuff? Put some butter and sugar on a biscuit and blast it with fire! You are welcome!

PS. Make sure is propane or some non-toxic gas!! Although if you have a torch hanging around you probably know your way around not dying!

Anybody else here writing (and loving!) C?

Yes, I’m aware of the rough edges and security issues, but for software for my own usage I haven’t found anything better and more enjoyable to use!

#C #programming #rebel

I hear you! I find it relaxing!

SQL query to open a json file

If you use jq a lot, check out DuckDB!

Look at this query! It’s beautiful!

I’m Celeron 500MHz with Windows 98 years old 😂

I managed to break it almost weekly to the point that my dad was taking the thing so often to the computer shop that they guys there just asked him to let me stay so they could teach me how to fix the thing!

“Formatting” w98 became my superpower!

I usually I’m reinstalling Linux every 6 months to a year… few things are as nice as a fresh install. In Void Linux I’m about to install the thing in 7 minutes flat!
Configuring it is another story tho :-)

I think I forgot how to social media 😅 so used to being afraid of saying anything that somebody else will take an issue with…

Glad to have this different space in blue sky!