Engineer · founder · collector of projects
Building useful systems out of language, software, and curiosity.
I work across AI products, natural language, infrastructure, and the odd little tool that starts as a question and becomes a weekend rabbit hole.
Current Shape
AI products
Turning model capabilities into practical workflows, tools, evaluations, and customer-facing systems.
Language and data
NLP, computational linguistics, translation, retrieval, structured data, and the strange life of text.
Engineering systems
Software architecture, cloud infrastructure, reliability, automation, and cost control.
Interests
The old version of this site was a sprawling handmade map of interests: code, math, language, chess, typesetting, open source, art, writing, coffee, and half-finished ideas. That still feels like the honest shape of things.
Language
Computational linguistics, statistical machine translation, Iraqi Arabic, French, Mandarin resources, Arabic typing, and the mechanics of making language usable on computers.
Little programs
Hilbert curves, Hadamard matrices, Monty Hall simulations, sudoku solvers, quines, histogram scripts, parse-tree pretty printers, and other compact proofs-of-curiosity.
Documents and tools
LaTeX, TeX internals, diagrams, pseudo-code packages, vim, shells, awk, sed, Python, Ruby, C, and free software that rewards understanding.
Games and puzzles
Chess engines, notation converters, PGN archives, Sudoku, probability puzzles, and games as a way to make ideas testable.
Coffee
A later obsession: coffee as craft, chemistry, ritual, equipment, hospitality, and a small daily system worth tuning.
Origins and memory
Iraqi-born, Kansas-raised, MIT CSAIL-shaped, and still interested in how identity, language, place, and technical work keep crossing paths.
Long-Running Threads
Useful over flashy
I like tools that earn their keep: systems that clarify, automate, explain, or make a hard task less brittle.
Play as research
Small experiments are how bigger ideas become tangible. A toy program can be a serious way of thinking.
Taste and systems
Coffee, software, language, and tools all reward the same habit: noticing small variables and caring about the result.
Contact
For projects, collaboration, or old-fashioned email, reach me at gmail@alawibaba.com.