From Scratch Code

About

Hello!

My name is Tyler, I’m a software engineer and the robot behind From Scratch Code.

I help students and professional software engineers understand how programming languages work under the hood, so they can gain deeper insights, build confidence, and advance in their careers.

My largest open-source project is Memphis, a Python interpreter written in Rust, which illustrates my passion for building complex systems from scratch. Through projects like Memphis, I aim to break down technical barriers and make programming concepts more accessible.

FAQs

  • Why build from scratch?

    It’s fun! By adopting this mindset, you force yourself to understand what is happening on every layer.

    A side benefit is you get faster build times.

  • Should I tell my tech lead I will only build things from scratch from now on?

    No! The building blocks of open-source software exist for a reason. They are well-tested and (often) production-ready. While providing a tremendous learning opportunity, building libraries/frameworks/systems from scratch will nearly always take longer.

    However, if you have a good relationship with your tech lead, you may consider proposing packaging up some functionality you have built as a library for other teams in your company to use. If that goes well, you could even publish it as open-source for the broader community benefit!

  • Why should I pay you? Code should be open-source and free!

    Believe me, my inner critic has said this most days.

    My real answer is extremely long, but here’s the short version: the final module of each project will always be free and open-source. The guided modules take a long time to develop and I have to pay my bills. While asking for money isn’t my favorite thing, this allows me to spend more time writing interesting code and helping others become more confident engineers. During my corporate career as a software engineer, I frequently experienced autistic burnout and spent many years writing little-to-no code for my employer. I ultimately made the decision in 2024 to realign my life to prioritize my health and my values, a topic I have discussed extensively at From Scratch dot org.

    Either way, if this doesn’t seem valuable to you, that’s more than okay. If it does, I hope we can build a positive working relationship around building software from scratch.

  • Are you a frontend/UI/CSS wizard?

    That's very kind of you to ask, but I hope you can tell by this point I am not. I built this site using Gatsby and React. It is hosted on Netlify. I have been poking at CSS for 20 years and I still avoid it like the plague. I would rather hand-disassemble an x86 binary than try to center some text.

    I'm happy to build you a UI as part of a full-stack project, but be aware that it will look identical to this site.

  • Vim or Emacs?

    I don't know if this is the best place to discuss this.:wq

  • When should I deploy my code?

    Fridays only.