I’m Zhixu Zhao, a systems engineer interested in programming languages, Linux, compilers, AI inference, and tools for open collaboration. I like software whose workings are available to the people who use it: something you can inspect, understand, and reshape when your needs change.
In LightNet, an earlier open-source neural-network optimization framework, I explored how to connect model transformations with different execution backends. I keep returning to the boundaries that make a system easier to extend.
I also write about the experience of building software: engineering taste, C and Lisp, AI-assisted development, and Emacs as an environment that can evolve while I’m using it. A recurring interest is the short path from noticing a problem in a tool to changing the tool itself.
This site is a home for those projects and longer thoughts. My code is on GitHub, and I write in Chinese as Favoryoung on Zhihu. If you’re exploring similar problems, I’d be glad to compare notes.