About Surface Tension
Surface tension — that delicate force that allows water striders to dance across ponds — perfectly captures the interplay between constraints and possibility in modern computing. The name speaks to this moment in computing: while current AI systems skim along the surface of understanding, true power lies in recognizing and harnessing the constraints that create that surface in the first place. This tension — between chaos and structure, between freedom and constraint, between surface pattern and deep logic — is where true innovation emerges.Through Surface Tension, I'm documenting a decade-long journey of discovery: that software development, indeed all problem-solving, is fundamentally about understanding and working with constraints. From music composition to cooking, from writing prose to building databases, the same patterns emerge — creativity flows not from unlimited freedom but from the productive tension between intent and constraint. By creating tutorials, examples, and deep dives across various domains, I hope to make this insight impossible to unsee. Whether you're a developer, product manager, or anyone who works with technology, understanding how constraints shape our thinking and guide our solutions is the key to building better tools and solving harder problems.
