The Clear Engineer — from 8-Bit to Orbit

Thoughts of a software engineer restlessly pursuing clear design and understanding.

I’m Troy Stephens. I got my start learning to code on early 8- and 16-bit machines, spent 16 years helping develop AppKit at Apple, contributed to flight software for SpaceX's 33-engine SuperHeavy booster, and have developed games, art pipeline tools, and indie Mac apps Tagboat and TypeMetal in a career spanning over 30 years.  Building clear and well-understood systems has always been an important goal for me, and I aim in this series to explore what it takes to become the best builders we can be.