Pointers and References in C++
This summer, I am brushing up my C++ by going through Alex's excellent tutorial at learncpp.com. I recently went through its chapter on Pointers and References, and I cleared a lot of my previous confusion on the topic. Here are some notes I took. References in C++ int // a normal int type (not an reference) int& // an lvalue reference to an int object const int& // a constant lvalue reference Both T& ref and T &ref are valid ways to define a reference but the first one is pr... June 24, 2025★Making of LetgO 🎈
Recently, a team I contributed to as a minor collaborator - as interaction designer -submitted a game to the thatgamecompany × COREBLAZER GAME JAM 2025. The director of the game is my friend Ebay. I first met him through Cooper and Justin, who worked with Ebay on a different project at USC — a game called Myth of Lumi. Ebay later became my Student Assistant in CTIN 534, a class taught by Peter Brinson. One day, I happened to run into him and we ended up having a long conversation. That’s when h... June 23, 2025Translating Disney
A week ago I got paid to go to Disneyland. I was invited to be a translator for a group of executives from Amazing Seasun Games who were visiting USC for a two-week summer program. Professor David White, their guide and video game producer and veteran, has been to the park over 300 times. Me on the other hand, have only visited Disneyland and California Adventure once with family. So this turned out to be quite a learning experience for me as well, and here are a few notes I took. 1) Disneyland... June 22, 2025Villains
Aaron Sorkin, when asked how to portray a villain characters, says "You (the author) cannot think of them as a villain. You can't judge the character… You have to be able to empathize with that character. Find something about that character that is like you too. And you have to write that character like they're making their case to God why they should be allowed to heaven. " There was an attack last weekend at the No King’s protest in Salt Lake City, Utah, where a bystander—fashion designer Ar... June 17, 2025Cones
Doggos’ mouth form a natural cone, and I like to grab on to it: I don't think they enjoy as much as I do.... June 13, 2025★The Lesson from The Nest
I recently went to The Nest — an immersive theater experience by Hatch Escapes — with a couple of friends. If you're around LA, I highly recommend it; the experience is both immersive and intimate. I won't spoil anything, but one of the best moments from the experience was picking up the phone and talking to one of the characters. In a barely lit room filled with detailed props, I was truly transported to the fictional world crafted by the creators. Rest assured, though, The Nest isn't a scary ... June 13, 2025No take!! Only throw
Dogo: Pls throw?? No take!! ONLY THROW. Gandalf: I am not try to rob you! I'm trying to help you... May 9, 2025★Bullies
In early April, the Department of Homeland Security under the Trump administration abruptly and unjustly terminated my SEVIS record. SEVIS is a database used by DHS to verify whether a student is eligible to study in the United States. Losing SEVIS status means an immediate loss of legal standing, the inability to enroll in classes, and the risk of deportation. I’m only able to write about this now because the administration reversed its decision three weeks later. When I received the news on A... May 9, 2025Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 1 (If it’s made in 1989)
Just want to share this incredible animation made by Welcome to the '80s. Just WOW: I wan to play this! You should check out their instagram too and game too.... February 6, 2025What happened to Only Paranoid Survives?
Here’s the revised version with typos and grammar fixed, while keeping the language intact: I am halfway through Tae Kim’s The Nvidia Way, and it’s the 2007 to early 2010s. Nvidia has introduced CUDA and worked with companies like Adobe and Autodesk to enable parallel computing to massively make their applications faster. And I just can’t stop thinking — Oh my god, how is Intel letting this happen? It’s absurd that it’s Intel’s Andy Grove who coined the term Only the Paranoid Survive, and one C... January 26, 2025- May 8, 2024 @Micro.blog
Finished reading Metal by Tutorials (Third Edition): Beginning Game Engine Development With Metal by Caroline Begbie 📚took a lot of efforts. But this is by far the best book on Metal and a must read for anyone getting into Metal. I recommend buy this book outright instead of subscribe to Kodeco.
- May 6, 2024 @Micro.blog
Last year when I cycled up and down UCSC’s steep hill, I listened to SteveSi’s substack. It was an amazing account of PC Revolution by a truly great technologist at MS. I only listened to second half, so I’v been waiting for this to come out — it does not disappoint — Hardcore Software.
- May 6, 2024 @Micro.blog
My high school Econ teacher used Charles W.’s Naked Economic as a textbook, I found it’s good at providing context to concepts and ideas. So when I found my stats needed refresh, I picked up Naked Statistics. It’s also great, but turned out to be a bit shallow for my purpose. Recommend as a supplement.
- May 5, 2024 @Micro.blog
My intuition has been that linear algebra matters more than calculus in CS — matrices is key for graphics, ML, and data science. Support vector machines gave me second thoughts, since you can’t understand the radial kernel without first grasping the Taylor series and the essence of infinity.
- May 2, 2024 @Micro.blog
A few years ago, a friend of my host family gifted me a book for my birthday. At the time, I didn’t fully appreciate it. However, as I later developed a habit of reading, I always regretted not reading/appreciate it. I thought the book was lost… But look what I just found!!!
- May 2, 2024 @Micro.blog
@renevanbelzen Oh no… now I want to have an analog computer!
- April 27, 2024 @Micro.blog
In the last week, I have both my email and blog goes down. The pain of self-hosting…
- April 27, 2024 @Micro.blog
I am a little ashamed to say this… But I am obsessed with this thing. Just love it!
- April 27, 2024 @Micro.blog
@val I was sitting down so I did talked to them. Fortunately it was made with coffee grounds. We had some good laugh.
- April 9, 2024 @Micro.blog
LOL You can’t just wrap a little piece of SOAP in plastic and label it with “the most delicious” and hand it as complimentary gift for ordering coffee.
On an unrelated note if I die tonight please tell police it has to do with soap.
- March 9, 2024 @Micro.blog
Let’s hope adding ISR would resolve my issue.
- March 9, 2024 @Micro.blog
Hmm, having some strange issue with SvelteKit prerendering…
- March 9, 2024 @Micro.blog
For the record I am still running 6k almost everyday, I am just having hard time documenting it.
- February 1, 2024 @Micro.blog
Journal #13 —— Yesterday was the first day this year I can’t go out jogging. It’s startling even one day break can make next day’s exercise so much more painful.
- January 16, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #12 —— Dealing with some anxiety right now. But I think it helps to think my primary goal this year is run more. And that’s exactly what I am doing for more than half a month.
- January 13, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #11 —— I might have over done it yesterday, the muscle sore came back. But I am still perform better than I started though.
- January 12, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #10 —— Got the fastest 5K today. I just found out my running location is actually quite popular near nightfall. There are always people strolling but I only saw people running today, and quite a few.
- January 11, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #9 —— Today was really fun. Was on a long call with a friend while a run again. I should probably picking up my pace but felling lazy for couple days.
- January 11, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #7 —— My exercise is now entirely centered around running. At this moment I felt like it’s most effective way. I still enjoy cycling but 6 km a day already takes a good chunk of my time at this pace. I really do feel like my legs have adjusted to running again.
- January 8, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #7 —— Forgot to write a Journal yesterday. My legs are feeling it after training at this intensity. These couple days, muscle so sore that I couldn’t walk properly after sitting for a while. My plan right now is not to have a rest day. I want avg train 6/7 days a week even I get busy.
- January 6, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #6 —— I paid extra attention to slow my pace way down today. Kept my heart rate below 174 bpm. And I went way longer as a result; able to jog 6km continuously now. The first 3km is still painful. But eventually the soreness died down and I starts feeling great again.
- January 5, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #4 —— Today’s exercise was brutal. Really felt like my feet are gonna explode. Heart rate peaked at 200 bpm. But I really didi feel like I was in the space for the second half. Anyway to tired to write more.
- January 4, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #4 —— Exercised for about 2 hours today. Also jogged for about 15 minutes in between cycling. Got say running feels so much more painful than cycling. Towards the end muscle feels like they lost all strength, but they probably could last much longer if i continued.
- January 4, 2024 @Micro.blog
Books offer insights; not wisdom.
- January 4, 2024 @Micro.blog
“Mere mortals.”
- January 3, 2024 @Micro.blog
🚴 Journal #3 —— Yesterday, I forgot to write anything. I was talking with a friend on phone while riding the whole time. Today, really pushed myself and try sustaining a higher output. Tiresome but feeling great at same time. Still feeling a lot of energy left after the workout.
- January 1, 2024 @Micro.blog
🚴 Journal #2 —— Happy New Year! Butts still hurts but to lesser degree. Back and thugs are a little sores. Tried to push myself sustaining higher gears. Still slower than November. Had to stop and take few breaths towards later half of the ride.
- December 9, 2023 @Micro.blog
@jean ❤️
Pointers and References in C++
This summer, I am brushing up my C++ by going through Alex's excellent tutorial at learncpp.com. I recently went through its chapter on Pointers and References, and I cleared a lot of my previous confusion on the topic. Here are some notes I took. References in C++ int // a normal int type (not an reference) int& // an lvalue reference to an int object const int& // a constant lvalue reference Both T& ref and T &ref are valid ways to define a reference but the first one is pr... June 24, 2025★Making of LetgO 🎈
Recently, a team I contributed to as a minor collaborator - as interaction designer -submitted a game to the thatgamecompany × COREBLAZER GAME JAM 2025. The director of the game is my friend Ebay. I first met him through Cooper and Justin, who worked with Ebay on a different project at USC — a game called Myth of Lumi. Ebay later became my Student Assistant in CTIN 534, a class taught by Peter Brinson. One day, I happened to run into him and we ended up having a long conversation. That’s when h... June 23, 2025Translating Disney
A week ago I got paid to go to Disneyland. I was invited to be a translator for a group of executives from Amazing Seasun Games who were visiting USC for a two-week summer program. Professor David White, their guide and video game producer and veteran, has been to the park over 300 times. Me on the other hand, have only visited Disneyland and California Adventure once with family. So this turned out to be quite a learning experience for me as well, and here are a few notes I took. 1) Disneyland... June 22, 2025Villains
Aaron Sorkin, when asked how to portray a villain characters, says "You (the author) cannot think of them as a villain. You can't judge the character… You have to be able to empathize with that character. Find something about that character that is like you too. And you have to write that character like they're making their case to God why they should be allowed to heaven. " There was an attack last weekend at the No King’s protest in Salt Lake City, Utah, where a bystander—fashion designer Ar... June 17, 2025Cones
Doggos’ mouth form a natural cone, and I like to grab on to it: I don't think they enjoy as much as I do.... June 13, 2025★The Lesson from The Nest
I recently went to The Nest — an immersive theater experience by Hatch Escapes — with a couple of friends. If you're around LA, I highly recommend it; the experience is both immersive and intimate. I won't spoil anything, but one of the best moments from the experience was picking up the phone and talking to one of the characters. In a barely lit room filled with detailed props, I was truly transported to the fictional world crafted by the creators. Rest assured, though, The Nest isn't a scary ... June 13, 2025No take!! Only throw
Dogo: Pls throw?? No take!! ONLY THROW. Gandalf: I am not try to rob you! I'm trying to help you... May 9, 2025★Bullies
In early April, the Department of Homeland Security under the Trump administration abruptly and unjustly terminated my SEVIS record. SEVIS is a database used by DHS to verify whether a student is eligible to study in the United States. Losing SEVIS status means an immediate loss of legal standing, the inability to enroll in classes, and the risk of deportation. I’m only able to write about this now because the administration reversed its decision three weeks later. When I received the news on A... May 9, 2025Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 1 (If it’s made in 1989)
Just want to share this incredible animation made by Welcome to the '80s. Just WOW: I wan to play this! You should check out their instagram too and game too.... February 6, 2025What happened to Only Paranoid Survives?
Here’s the revised version with typos and grammar fixed, while keeping the language intact: I am halfway through Tae Kim’s The Nvidia Way, and it’s the 2007 to early 2010s. Nvidia has introduced CUDA and worked with companies like Adobe and Autodesk to enable parallel computing to massively make their applications faster. And I just can’t stop thinking — Oh my god, how is Intel letting this happen? It’s absurd that it’s Intel’s Andy Grove who coined the term Only the Paranoid Survive, and one C... January 26, 2025- May 8, 2024 @Micro.blog
Finished reading Metal by Tutorials (Third Edition): Beginning Game Engine Development With Metal by Caroline Begbie 📚took a lot of efforts. But this is by far the best book on Metal and a must read for anyone getting into Metal. I recommend buy this book outright instead of subscribe to Kodeco.
- May 6, 2024 @Micro.blog
Last year when I cycled up and down UCSC’s steep hill, I listened to SteveSi’s substack. It was an amazing account of PC Revolution by a truly great technologist at MS. I only listened to second half, so I’v been waiting for this to come out — it does not disappoint — Hardcore Software.
- May 6, 2024 @Micro.blog
My high school Econ teacher used Charles W.’s Naked Economic as a textbook, I found it’s good at providing context to concepts and ideas. So when I found my stats needed refresh, I picked up Naked Statistics. It’s also great, but turned out to be a bit shallow for my purpose. Recommend as a supplement.
- May 5, 2024 @Micro.blog
My intuition has been that linear algebra matters more than calculus in CS — matrices is key for graphics, ML, and data science. Support vector machines gave me second thoughts, since you can’t understand the radial kernel without first grasping the Taylor series and the essence of infinity.
- May 2, 2024 @Micro.blog
A few years ago, a friend of my host family gifted me a book for my birthday. At the time, I didn’t fully appreciate it. However, as I later developed a habit of reading, I always regretted not reading/appreciate it. I thought the book was lost… But look what I just found!!!
- May 2, 2024 @Micro.blog
@renevanbelzen Oh no… now I want to have an analog computer!
- April 27, 2024 @Micro.blog
In the last week, I have both my email and blog goes down. The pain of self-hosting…
- April 27, 2024 @Micro.blog
I am a little ashamed to say this… But I am obsessed with this thing. Just love it!
- April 27, 2024 @Micro.blog
@val I was sitting down so I did talked to them. Fortunately it was made with coffee grounds. We had some good laugh.
- April 9, 2024 @Micro.blog
LOL You can’t just wrap a little piece of SOAP in plastic and label it with “the most delicious” and hand it as complimentary gift for ordering coffee.
On an unrelated note if I die tonight please tell police it has to do with soap.
- March 9, 2024 @Micro.blog
Let’s hope adding ISR would resolve my issue.
- March 9, 2024 @Micro.blog
Hmm, having some strange issue with SvelteKit prerendering…
- March 9, 2024 @Micro.blog
For the record I am still running 6k almost everyday, I am just having hard time documenting it.
- February 1, 2024 @Micro.blog
Journal #13 —— Yesterday was the first day this year I can’t go out jogging. It’s startling even one day break can make next day’s exercise so much more painful.
- January 16, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #12 —— Dealing with some anxiety right now. But I think it helps to think my primary goal this year is run more. And that’s exactly what I am doing for more than half a month.
- January 13, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #11 —— I might have over done it yesterday, the muscle sore came back. But I am still perform better than I started though.
- January 12, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #10 —— Got the fastest 5K today. I just found out my running location is actually quite popular near nightfall. There are always people strolling but I only saw people running today, and quite a few.
- January 11, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #9 —— Today was really fun. Was on a long call with a friend while a run again. I should probably picking up my pace but felling lazy for couple days.
- January 11, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #7 —— My exercise is now entirely centered around running. At this moment I felt like it’s most effective way. I still enjoy cycling but 6 km a day already takes a good chunk of my time at this pace. I really do feel like my legs have adjusted to running again.
- January 8, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #7 —— Forgot to write a Journal yesterday. My legs are feeling it after training at this intensity. These couple days, muscle so sore that I couldn’t walk properly after sitting for a while. My plan right now is not to have a rest day. I want avg train 6/7 days a week even I get busy.
- January 6, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #6 —— I paid extra attention to slow my pace way down today. Kept my heart rate below 174 bpm. And I went way longer as a result; able to jog 6km continuously now. The first 3km is still painful. But eventually the soreness died down and I starts feeling great again.
- January 5, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #4 —— Today’s exercise was brutal. Really felt like my feet are gonna explode. Heart rate peaked at 200 bpm. But I really didi feel like I was in the space for the second half. Anyway to tired to write more.
- January 4, 2024 @Micro.blog
🏃🚴 Journal #4 —— Exercised for about 2 hours today. Also jogged for about 15 minutes in between cycling. Got say running feels so much more painful than cycling. Towards the end muscle feels like they lost all strength, but they probably could last much longer if i continued.
- January 4, 2024 @Micro.blog
Books offer insights; not wisdom.
- January 4, 2024 @Micro.blog
“Mere mortals.”
- January 3, 2024 @Micro.blog
🚴 Journal #3 —— Yesterday, I forgot to write anything. I was talking with a friend on phone while riding the whole time. Today, really pushed myself and try sustaining a higher output. Tiresome but feeling great at same time. Still feeling a lot of energy left after the workout.
- January 1, 2024 @Micro.blog
🚴 Journal #2 —— Happy New Year! Butts still hurts but to lesser degree. Back and thugs are a little sores. Tried to push myself sustaining higher gears. Still slower than November. Had to stop and take few breaths towards later half of the ride.
- December 9, 2023 @Micro.blog
@jean ❤️