About
I'm Alexander Novikov, a software engineer with over 10 years of experience building distributed systems, data platforms, and developer tools.
My day job involves Scala, JVM, and high-load analytical systems. On my own time, I explore the edges of what interests me most: compiler design patterns, code generation, and building tools that make other engineers' lives easier.
This site is where I write about the problems I run into and the solutions I find along the way. Not tutorials — more like field notes from someone who prefers building things to talking about them.
What I'm working on
- Proto Wrapper Plugin — a Maven/Gradle plugin that generates version-agnostic wrappers for protobuf schemas. Born from real frustration with multi-version protocol support.
- IRCraft — an MLIR-inspired IR library in Scala for structured code generation. Still in progress.
- Nebula — the engine behind this site. Rust, Axum, HTMX. Over-engineered on purpose.
Outside of work
When I'm not at the keyboard, I'm usually traveling, taking photos, climbing mountains, or sailing.