Reading Notes #1

AI tooling, distributed systems trade-offs, and a few things worth slowing down for. Mostly .NET and cloud this week, with a detour into API design.

.NET

• Semantic Kernel is not just a wrapper — The orchestration model finally starts to make sense when you stop treating it like LangChain.
• What's new in .NET 10 performance — Solid gains in the GC and JIT. The DATAS mode improvement is the one to watch.

Architecture

• What I wish I knew about distributed systems (Marc Brooker) — On the lies we tell ourselves about reliability. Required reading if you run anything at scale.
• Spec-Driven Development with AI — Using structured specs as the contract between you and an LLM.

AI

• Your API is a product — The gap between "technically correct" and "actually usable" is huge. This one nails it.
• The unreasonable effectiveness of just showing up — Not about code, but about consistency. Shipping something small every week compounds.