https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing.html Building in public: AI tooling, CS education research, trading systems, and free tools. en-usFri, 31 Jul 2026 13:34:31 +0000 https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/tradingview-vs-trendspider-vs-stock-rover-for-swing-trading.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/tradingview-vs-trendspider-vs-stock-rover-for-swing-trading.htmlFri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000I wrote my own screener before I paid for anyone else's. That is the only reason this comparison is worth reading: I know which parts of these products do real work. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/koyfin-vs-seeking-alpha-vs-simply-wall-st.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/koyfin-vs-seeking-alpha-vs-simply-wall-st.htmlFri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000Every list ranks these three against each other as if they do the same thing. One is a data terminal, one is an opinion marketplace, and one is a picture. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/ai-tools-i-pay-for-vs-what-i-run-locally.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/ai-tools-i-pay-for-vs-what-i-run-locally.htmlFri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000I run a 30-billion-parameter model on my own laptop and it costs nothing per token. That changes which AI subscriptions are worth paying for, and eliminates most. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/check-a-repo-for-secrets-before-you-make-it-public.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/check-a-repo-for-secrets-before-you-make-it-public.htmlFri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000Deleting an API key from a file does not delete it from your repository. It is still in the object store, and the moment you go public it is indexed. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/student-software-stack-free-first-paid-second.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/student-software-stack-free-first-paid-second.htmlFri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000Almost everything you are told to buy as a CS student is free for students, and most people never claim it because nobody hands you the list. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-built-three-apps-this-week-and-put-zero-of-them-in-the-app-store.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-built-three-apps-this-week-and-put-zero-of-them-in-the-app-store.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000The App Store costs $99/year. I'm a broke CS student. So I built them as PWAs instead: you open a link on your phone, hit Share, hit Add to Home Screen, and it's on your homescreen with an icon. Works offline. No account. No backend. Your data never leaves your phone because there is no server to se https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-shipped-a-brand-across-30-pages-3-apps-3-book-covers-and-a-clothing-.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-shipped-a-brand-across-30-pages-3-apps-3-book-covers-and-a-clothing-.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000Most brand systems are a folder of PNGs and a PDF nobody opens. The mark drifts. Someone exports it wrong for a t-shirt, the knockout becomes ink on ink, and six months later you have four versions of your own logo and no idea which is right. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-wrote-a-security-scanner-with-zero-dependencies-on-purpose.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-wrote-a-security-scanner-with-zero-dependencies-on-purpose.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000Every security tool I looked at wanted me to install a hundred packages to go looking for supply chain risk. That struck me as funny in a way that isn't funny. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-spent-a-day-making-my-portfolio-readable-by-ai-instead-of-by-humans.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-spent-a-day-making-my-portfolio-readable-by-ai-instead-of-by-humans.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000Here's the thing I noticed. When a recruiter wants to know about a candidate now, a real number of them ask an assistant first. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, whatever is in the search box. If the model can't parse you, you don't exist in that answer. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/the-hardest-part-of-an-internship-search-isnt-the-applications-its-tha.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/the-hardest-part-of-an-internship-search-isnt-the-applications-its-tha.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000I learned this the expensive way. Summer 2027 internship recruiting is happening right now, in July 2026. Not in the spring. Not in the fall. Now. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/two-papers-accepted-to-sigcse-2026-im-an-undergrad.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/two-papers-accepted-to-sigcse-2026-im-an-undergrad.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000The first one asks a question that sounds simple and isn't: what happens to a student learning to code when the programming language is in English and their thinking isn't? https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/how-an-undergrad-with-no-connections-gets-into-a-research-lab-specific.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/how-an-undergrad-with-no-connections-gets-into-a-research-lab-specific.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000I get asked this a lot now that I have two SIGCSE 2026 papers, so here is the actual sequence, not the inspirational version. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-built-a-visa-timeline-planner-because-i-got-tired-of-being-scared-of.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-built-a-visa-timeline-planner-because-i-got-tired-of-being-scared-of.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000I'm on TD status. It ends when I turn 21. I'm 20. There's a whole sequence of things that have to happen in a specific order before then, and every explanation of that sequence I could find was either a law firm's marketing page or a forum post from 2019. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-spent-months-building-trading-strategies-and-then-published-the-resu.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-spent-months-building-trading-strategies-and-then-published-the-resu.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000Here's what walk-forward testing did to my ideas. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-skipped-the-app-store-and-shipped-3-offline-pwas-instead-heres-what-.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/i-skipped-the-app-store-and-shipped-3-offline-pwas-instead-heres-what-.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000Apple wants $99/year before a single person can install your thing. I'm a student, so I went the PWA route for three small apps and want to write down the honest tradeoffs, because every PWA post I read was either a fanboy or a funeral. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/zero-dependency-security-scanner-secrets-osv-cves-iac-rules-git-histor.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/zero-dependency-security-scanner-secrets-osv-cves-iac-rules-git-histor.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000I got annoyed that scanning for supply chain risk usually means installing a large dependency tree first, so I wrote one with no dependencies at all. Pure stdlib Python, MIT. https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/built-a-position-size-calculator-that-refuses-to-let-you-round-up-free.htmlhttps://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/writing/built-a-position-size-calculator-that-refuses-to-let-you-round-up-free.htmlWed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000The single most expensive habit I had was sizing by feel and then rounding the share count up to something clean. 187 shares becomes 200 because 200 looks like a number. That rounding is a silent 7% increase in risk on every trade, and it compounds against you in exactly the periods you can least af