64 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
64 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
---
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title: "About"
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---
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This is my personal website (and the third iteration thereof).
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The first version used Wordpress since it was quite easy to get into,
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didn't require much research, and web hosting services made it easy to set up.
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It lasted around three months near the end of 2020, after which I lost my posts because of
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hosting troubles and because I wasn't using proper backups.
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The second version also used Wordpress, and lasted until the start of 2025
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(though the last post I had written up to that point was from the start of 2024).
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This version uses [Quarto](https://quarto.org/), an open-source publishing platform that has
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some nice features like text-based configuration and Jupyter integration.
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As a bonus, it also produces static web pages.
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Why Quarto?
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-----------
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I had a couple of reasons for switching platforms:
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- Wordpress is either overkill or not enough.
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I don't need a block editor or multiple users, and I don't want to make custom content
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just for it to be specific to Wordpress.
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- I write a lot of code and LaTeX, which Wordpress relies on plugins for.
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Quarto uses (primarily) Pandoc-style Markdown, which allows for inlining of both out of the box.
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- Also, because of Jupyter integration, code cells can generate output for the page they're in.
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- Since pages are written in Markdown, everything can be edited locally and version-controlled in Git.
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The last two are particularly nice in ensuring that the site is reproducibile,
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technically even without Quarto.
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Instead of articles that live in a Wordpress database or as scattered random files,
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I have the complete documents in a structure 1:1 with how the website is organized.
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Mathematics
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-----------
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As of writing, all posts on this site are about math.
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In particular, they are dedicated to certain non-obvious insights I choose to investigate.
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Typically, although information about these subjects may exist online, it does not exist in a single,
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easily-accessible source.
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I find writing math posts to be an excellent motivator when it comes to researching things.
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It also gives me a chance to learn new tools that otherwise I would not have a reason to use,
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not to mention being a good exercise in writing and diagram creation.
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An example of this (and one that relates to the creation of the site) is when I was writing code
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for what would become the contents of [this post](/posts/polycount/5/).
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It was easy enough to learn a library for rendering images (or GIFs),
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but I didn't have a gallery to host them, nor a means to share the rationale which produced them.
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In a frenzy, I tried gathering my notes in a single text file before eventually putting them on a website.
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Along the way, I learned LaTeX to typeset the relevant equations.
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I do my best to attribute the programs I use and direct sources I consult along the way,
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but extra information is frequently available on Wikipedia,
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which I may link to in order to give my explanation some grounding.
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Unless otherwise stated, the figures and articles in this category are available under
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[CC BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
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