Notes from a backend workbench,
shipped as a ledger.
I'm Ishtmeet Singh, a full-stack systems engineer building high-performance backend frameworks, zero-dependency libraries, and slow-burn educational writing. This site is the public face of that workbench: the half-finished, the shipped, and the things I'm still figuring out.
- Currently
- Building a visual programming tool for Node.js internals and writing The Node Book, a hand-held tour of what your runtime is doing while you’re not looking.
- Toolkit
rustctypescriptnodewasm. Flamegraphs over screenshots.- Writing for
- Engineers who want the mechanism, not the metaphor. Every post is notes to my past self on the day the bug finally made sense.
- Work hours
- Async. Email is the slowest and most reliable channel. Twitter for hot takes, GitHub for code, everywhere else for noise.
Writing
Field notes on systems, performance, and the craft of keeping a program honest.
- 01
Building a Lexer from Scratch
A challenge oriented guide to building a tokenizer for a JavaScript-to-Python compiler. Learn state machines, number scanning, identifier recognition, and the fundamental techniques used in professional compilers like V8 and Roslyn.
BUILDING COMPILER· 36 min read - 02
The Compiler: From Text to Machine Code
Understanding how compilers translate human-readable code into executable programs. Learn the stages of compilation, optimization techniques, and why compile-time analysis is crucial for building reliable software.
FOUNDATIONS· 38 min read - 03
Memory: The Stack & The Heap
Understanding memory organization in programs - exploring the Stack's ordered efficiency and the Heap's flexible chaos. Learn how programs manage data, from function calls to dynamic allocation.
FOUNDATIONS· 57 min read - 04
How a Program Runs: CPU & Instructions
Learn in detail - what happens when you run a program. Learn about the Central Processing Unit (CPU) as an instruction-executing machine and how your compiled code is just a sequence of low-level instructions.
Rust Fundamentals· 49 min read
Contact
Reach me at hello [at] thenodebook [dot] com, or through any of the channels below.