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Ben Houston's Blog

Ben Houston's Blog

Recent blog posts...

Crafting README Files for Efficient AI-Assisted Coding

By Ben Houston, 2025-03-28

Optimize your README.md files to empower both human developers and AI coding assistants alike.

My Home 10G Network Setup - What Works and Lessons Learned

By Ben Houston, 2025-03-27

After building a high-performance home network with 3Gbps fiber, 10G switching, and NVMe storage, I've learned valuable lessons about infrastructure planning, connection types, and future-proofing that could save you time and money.

My Home 10G Network Setup - What Works and Lessons Learned

The Rise of "Test Theater": When AI Coders Write Tests That Mean Nothing

By Ben Houston, 2025-03-25

AI coding assistants are excellent at generating tests with high coverage. But there is often a critical problem: they are testing that code behaves as written, not as intended. This "Test Theater" creates a dangerous illusion of quality while providing almost no real protection against bugs.

The Rise of "Test Theater": When AI Coders Write Tests That Mean Nothing

Building 3D Web Apps That Work Everywhere: A Data-Driven Approach

By Ben Houston, 2025-03-24

Learn how to develop 3D web applications that work reliably across all devices using real-world browser capability data from Web3DSurvey.com with a practical two-tier development strategy.

Building 3D Web Apps That Work Everywhere: A Data-Driven Approach

What is the Most Minimal Agentic Coder You Can Write?

By Ben Houston, 2025-03-21

Exploring the simplest possible implementation of an agentic coder using just 200 lines of TypeScript, demonstrating foundational concepts clearly and concisely.

What is the Most Minimal Agentic Coder You Can Write?

Building an Agentic Coder from Scratch

By Ben Houston, 2025-03-20

How to build an autonomous agentic coder that leverages advanced LLMs to transform software development. A talk given at the Ottawa Forward JS meet-up.

Building an Agentic Coder from Scratch

The Ephemeral Nature of Software in the Age of AI

By Ben Houston, 2025-03-17

As AI dramatically reduces software development costs, we need to rethink our approach to code. Software is becoming ephemeral - easily replaced rather than maintained. This paradigm shift means optimizing for current needs instead of hypothetical futures.

Agentic Coders with GitHub Comments and Actions: Automating Real Development

By Ben Houston, 2025-03-13

AI agents are moving beyond IDEs into full automation of coding workflows. Discover how integrating agentic coding into GitHub Actions can streamline software development—turning issues into PRs and automating documentation, tests, and even code reviews, all through simple GitHub comments.

Agentic Coders with GitHub Comments and Actions: Automating Real Development

GitHub Mode: A Game Changer for Agentic Coding

By Ben Houston, 2025-03-07

Adding GitHub Mode to MyCoder has radically improved my productivity, making my agentic coder feel like a true team member. By leveraging GitHub for task tracking, pull requests, and CI/CD feedback, I’ve seen a 3x to 5x boost in development efficiency.

GitHub Mode: A Game Changer for Agentic Coding

Lean into your Agentic Coder's Mistakes

By Ben Houston, 2025-03-06

Adapting your codebase to match AI coder assumptions doesn't just help AI — it uncovers hidden complexity, ultimately benefiting human developers.

Stop Writing Code for Humans - The Future Belongs to AI Agents

By Ben Houston, 2025-03-05

As AI coding agents become increasingly capable, we need to rethink our code organization and documentation practices. Here's why traditional "human-first" coding approaches are becoming obsolete and how to structure your projects for optimal AI compatibility.

I've started using TanStack/Start and I like it a lot.

By Ben Houston, 2025-02-18

Why TanStack/Start may be the right choice for your next project. Exploring the unique features of TanStack/Start in comparison to Remix, and Next.js.

Open Core: The Startup Strategy That Balances Community with Profit

By Ben Houston, 2024-12-20

Open Core combines the viral growth of open source with the revenue potential of enterprise software – but most founders get the balance wrong. Drawing from my experience building both open source and enterprise products, I explain why this model particularly shines for developer tools, and how to execute it without alienating either developers or paying customers.

The Origins of Krakatoa: A VFX Rendering Journey

By Ben Houston, 2024-12-06

From solving a unique rendering challenge for a single film to becoming an industry-standard tool used in blockbuster movies like Avatar and Harry Potter, the origin story of the Krakatoa point renderer.

The Origins of Krakatoa: A VFX Rendering Journey

Building Deadline: Finding Product Market Fit in a VFX Studio, and almost winning an Oscar

By Ben Houston, 2024-12-05

Sometimes big opportunities come from solving what seem like minor problems. In 2002, fresh out of university, I accidentally co-created what would become one of the most widely-used tools in Hollywood visual effects - all because I needed a better way to run fluid simulations.

Building Deadline: Finding Product Market Fit in a VFX Studio, and almost winning an Oscar

The Enterprise SaaS Sweet Spot

By Ben Houston, 2024-12-05

After learning the hard way that chasing startups and SMBs was a dead end, I discovered why the path to sustainable SaaS growth lies in mastering enterprise sales and the 'land and expand' strategy.

The Entrepreneurial Journey of Clara.io: Finding Product-Market Fit in Unexpected Places

By Ben Houston, 2024-12-04

How a pioneering web-based 3D editor pivoted from trying to revolutionizing visual effects to finding unexpected success in enterprise product visualization.

The Entrepreneurial Journey of Clara.io: Finding Product-Market Fit in Unexpected Places

The Two Big Questions

By Ben Houston, 2024-12-02

A startup journey can naturally be split into two phases, each driven by a different question: survival and then maybe scale.

I Didn't Need Kubernetes, and You Probably Don't Either

By Ben Houston, 2024-11-05

Kubernetes often represents the ultimate solution for container orchestration, but my experience has led me to leave it behind in favor of a simpler, cost-effective solution using Google Cloud Run.

I Didn't Need Kubernetes, and You Probably Don't Either

RISC-V in 2024 is Slower Than You Think

By Ben Houston, 2024-10-23

RISC-V is currently quite slow compared to modern CPUs in 2024.

RISC-V in 2024 is Slower Than You Think

Introducing Web3DSurvey: Tracking WebGL and WebGPU Capabilities

By Ben Houston, 2024-09-01

Web3DSurvey is a tool for 3D web developers that tracks and aggregates WebGL, WebGL2, and WebGPU capabilities providing valuable insights into real-world support for these features.

The Hidden Costs of Material Graphs

By Ben Houston, 2023-05-30

Graph-based materials, while innovative and flexible, pose significant costs for run-time dynamic loading in Web and Games. We delve into these costs and propose alternative solutions.

The Evolving Khronos glTF PBR Material

By Ben Houston, 2022-10-25

Understand the background and potential future of the evolving Khronos glTF PBR material definition.

Extending Wavefront OBJ MTL Material Definition for Physically-Based Rendering

By Ben Houston, 2015-05-06

With Physically-based Rendering (PBR) becoming the new standard, we need a simple standard interchange format.