Fieldnotes / engineering

About this book

A book to use
at work.

Fieldnotes is for software engineers bringing models and agents into a team that already knows how to build software.

Use a chapter at work

Choose a task you understand well enough to inspect. Read the mechanism, watch the example, and use the exercise to test one decision in your own environment. The systems references are here for the failure modes you will meet along the way.

How reviews work

These guides and animations were developed with AI assistance. Each concept is reviewed against primary sources for relevance, accuracy, and a concrete team exercise. Video alternatives are independently authored with different models, then compared for clarity, accuracy, pacing, and visual legibility. The original explanation stays in the comparison; corrections are attributed with each cut.

Model review is fallible. Sources, limitations, scene code, and review evidence are retained in the repository so a reader can check the reasoning and propose a correction. Audio checks are analytical unless a review explicitly records listening.

A small, durable library

Reading pages are static HTML. There are no accounts, trackers or third-party scripts. Videos load on demand. The code and learning material live together so future editorial work can be reviewed as a change to the book.

Help improve it

Report an unclear explanation or propose a correction. Include the chapter, the claim or timestamp, and evidence for the change.