Tristan Hume

Github Resume + Project List Blog
I'm interested in high performance systems, compilers, machine learning and all sorts of technology. I work at Anthropic in SF on ML interpretability research and spend a lot of time in NYC.

About Me

Major projects

Sometimes I learn about a topic by putting a lot of effort into a related project.

Magic-trace

Performance analysis tool which makes it easy to use Intel Processor Trace to visualize every function call made leading up to an event of interest with nanosecond precision. I designed and implemented this (along with an intern I mentored) for Jane Street, where it’s been incredibly successful internally, and wrote a blog post for the open source release.

Yūbinkyoku

A path tracer capable of rendering photorealistic images. Supports a physically based BRDF, textures, area lights, glossy reflection, DOF, CSG, fractals and more.

Syntect

A fast high quality syntax highlighting library in Rust. I continue to review PRs and maintain it. Powers two commercial products parsing terabytes of code per day.

PolyType

I built a working keyboard I created with AutoCAD, laser cut acrylic, custom firmware, and hand-soldered electronics.

StashLine

An IOS app for long term personal finance simulation. Instantly updates a visualization of your entire life’s financial future while you manipulate inputs.

Algorithm Design

I like working on algorithms and then documenting them in long articles with diagrams.

Tree diffing as path finding

I wrote a detailed article about a tree diff algorithm I designed based on viewing the dynamic programming problem as path finding and applying A*.

The Xi CRDT

At Google I worked on a novel Conflict-Free Replicated Data Type for synchronizing text editing across devices, and wrote a detailed document about my work.

Data exploration web apps

I make small fun web apps for exploring data.

Dayder

A Rust web app for finding spurious correlations in 390k time series data sets. Uses custom optimized rendering, correlation and serialization code for instant responses.

Rate With Science

I extracted the link graph of Wikipedia into a 600MB binary file with a custom format designed for fast path finding in memory.

IndexView

An exploration tool for long term financial market data written in JavaScript with a custom canvas graph widget allowing for navigation of hundreds of years of data.

Non-programming stuff

Sometimes I write about random other interesting things.

YouTube Tier List

I wrote about my favorite interesting YouTube channels, with amazing content on engineering, machining, chemistry, visual effects and making knives out of weird materials.

My Tungsten Cube

I wrote a somewhat-poetic post about how cool tungsten cubes are, which went viral in 2020 and made them a meme in certain parts of Twitter.

Writing

I like writing articles about things I've learned and done.

DEF CON Qualifiers CTF Writeups

Explanations of my solutions to all the fun challenges I worked on in my first major CTF contest. I also wrote one about the DEF CON 26 Finals.

Things I've Learned Doing Internships

I wrote about how the way I think about what makes for a good job has changed over the course of several internships.

My Text Editor Journey

I wrote about my journey using TextMate, Sublime, Vim, Spacemacs (Emacs), Atom and eventually being happy with Sublime and what I learned along the way.

Recent Blog Posts

Stuff I've Done

This is a list of the things I have worked on and am currently working on. It is in kind of chronological order. I will try and write down all the things I have worked on. Unfortunately I don’t remember many of the things I worked on in years gone by.

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009 (Grade 8)

2008

2005