February 2026 on Jim Diroff II

365 Days of Code - Day 039

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Project Status

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	Ongoing	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 8
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25. BigInt (AI gen) was a waste of time, need to rewrite
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, will try network protocols after finishing in C and Zig.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Zig	Zig	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, will try network protocols after finishing in C.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
HTTP Status Code Reader	C	Complete	2026-02-18	Complete. Could potentially upgrade for more advanced functions or follow redirects.
ZSH Configuration	bash/zsh	Complete	None	Sort of an ongoing process, but complete for now. Works good.
Network Protocols	C	In-Progress	None	Custom ICMP packet sent on the wire. Working on V2.

Minor Hugo Work

Kept things pretty light today due to personal obligations.

365 Days of Code - Day 038

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Project Status

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	Ongoing	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 8
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25. BigInt (AI gen) was a waste of time, need to rewrite
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, will try network protocols after finishing in C and Zig.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Zig	Zig	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, will try network protocols after finishing in C.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
HTTP Status Code Reader	C	Complete	2026-02-18	Complete. Could potentially upgrade for more advanced functions or follow redirects.
ZSH Configuration	bash/zsh	Complete	None	Sort of an ongoing process, but complete for now. Works good.
Network Protocols	C	In-Progress	None	IPv4 header, ICMP header and payload complete. Working on sockets.

The POSIX Standard, Transitive Dependencies, and Networking Code

While getting started on the socket configuration to send the newly constructed ICMP packet, I ran into a question about the header files in C and the things these files include. This led me down the rabbit hole of reading the POSIX standard (opens in a new tab).

365 Days of Code - Day 037

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Project Status

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	Ongoing	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 8
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25. BigInt (AI gen) was a waste of time, need to rewrite
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, will try network protocols after finishing in C and Zig.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Zig	Zig	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, will try network protocols after finishing in C.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
HTTP Status Code Reader	C	Complete	2026-02-18	Complete. Could potentially upgrade for more advanced functions or follow redirects.
ZSH Configuration	bash/zsh	Complete	None	Sort of an ongoing process, but complete for now. Works good.
Network Protocols	C	In-Progress	None	IPv4 Datagram Header built. Need to work on payload and ICMP.

Bug Fix - zshrc

I ran into an issue with my zshrc file today. Once again, related to the ssh agent. I use Linux Mint Debian Edition (opens in a new tab) with the Cinnamon DE. In an effort to be “helpful,” Cinnamon launches an SSH Agent for you when you boot up. This conflicted with my script, as my script was overriding the $SSH_AUTH_SOCK with a stale agent. The fix was relatively simple, just check if the $SSH_AUTH_SOCK has already been set.

365 Days of Code - Day 036

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Project Status

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	Ongoing	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 8
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25. BigInt (AI gen) was a waste of time, need to rewrite
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, will try network protocols after finishing in C and Zig.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Zig	Zig	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, will try network protocols after finishing in C.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
HTTP Status Code Reader	C	Complete	2026-02-18	Complete. Could potentially upgrade for more advanced functions or follow redirects.
ZSH Configuration	bash/zsh	Complete	None	Sort of an ongoing process, but complete for now. Works good.
Network Protocols	C	In-Progress	None	IPv4 Datagram Header built. Need to work on payload and ICMP.

Zig

Taking a break from the network protocol to try and start with with Zig (opens in a new tab). I was researching other languages to try writing the network stack with, and I came across Zig as a compelling option to try in addition to Rust. I had some issues writing a simple hello program, but Zig works fine with zig init. The code produced for a simple hello world program is pretty verbose compared to other languages. I tried a much simpler version but kept having library issues.

365 Days of Code - Day 035

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Project Status

Going to start including the project status table moving forward. This should help better track progress over the year.

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	Ongoing	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 8
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25. BigInt (AI gen) was a waste of time, need to rewrite
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
HTTP Status Code Reader	C	Complete	2026-02-18	Complete. Could potentially upgrade for more advanced functions or follow redirects.
ZSH Configuration	bash/zsh	Complete	None	Sort of an ongoing process, but complete for now. Works good.
Network Protocols	C	In-Progress	None	IPv4 Datagram Header built, working on checksum calculation

Network Protocols - Calculating the IP Header Checksum

Yesterday, I spent a great deal of time working on understanding the IP header checksum, and how complements work in binary. Today, we implement the algorithm to calculate the checksum, and further our IP protocol development work.

365 Days of Code - Day 034

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Project Status

Going to start including the project status table moving forward. This should help better track progress over the year.

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	Ongoing	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 8
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25. BigInt (AI gen) was a waste of time, need to rewrite
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
HTTP Status Code Reader	C	Complete	2026-02-18	Complete. Could potentially upgrade for more advanced functions or follow redirects.
ZSH Configuration	bash/zsh	Complete	None	Sort of an ongoing process, but complete for now. Works good.
Network Protocols	C	In-Progress	None	IPv4 Datagram Header built, working on checksum calculation

Network Protocols - Calculating the IP Header Checksum

I’m working through the checksum calculation today. I’ve read up on RFC 1071, RFC 1141 and RFC 1624, which all have to do with implementing checksum calculations for the Internet Protocol. The process seems relatively simple, but I needed some refreshment on terminology since I’m not well versed in binary math and manipulation.

365 Days of Code - Day 033

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Project Status

Going to start including the project status table moving forward. This should help better track progress over the year.

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	Ongoing	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 8
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25. BigInt (AI gen) was a waste of time, need to rewrite
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
HTTP Status Code Reader	C	Complete	2026-02-18	Complete. Could potentially upgrade for more advanced functions or follow redirects.
ZSH Configuration	bash/zsh	Complete	None	Sort of an ongoing process, but complete for now. Works good.
Network Protocols	C	In-Progress	None	IPv4 Datagram Header complete in C.

Project Euler… Thoughts on AI

I came back to Project Euler today, to complete the work on p25. It was about a week ago that I had ChatGPT generate a BigInt library for me to calculate extremely large numbers. I was able to one shot the package with ChatGPT, and the library and testing code worked fine with numbers that had 1000+ digits. It was a cool exercise, where I learned absolutely nothing. Furthermore, I came back to the problem today to try and use this new library to solve the Euler problem, and the code is useless. Not only do I have no true understanding of how the library works, but I can’t iterate on it without reaching back out to AI for help.

365 Days of Code - Day 032

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Project Status

Going to start including the project status table moving forward. This should help better track progress over the year.

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	Ongoing	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 8
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25 on a best effort basis. Currently building a BigInt library.
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
HTTP Status Code Reader	C	Complete	2026-02-18	Complete. Could potentially upgrade for more advanced functions or follow redirects.
ZSH Configuration	bash/zsh	Complete	None	Sort of an ongoing process, but complete for now. Works good.

Refactor .zshrc

I completely refactored by zshrc today. I was doing some research on zsh, and found that I was underutilizing several features. Most notably, the way I was checking for the current OS.

365 Days of Code - Day 031

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Project Status

Going to start including the project status table moving forward. This should help better track progress over the year.

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	Ongoing	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 8
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25 on a best effort basis. Currently building a BigInt library.
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
HTTP Status Code Reader	C	Complete	2026-02-18	Complete. Could potentially upgrade for more advanced functions or follow redirects.

Laravel From Scratch - Episode 8 - Databases, Migrations and Eloquent

Migrations

Database migrations are similar to version control for code, but for database schemas. Migrations allow tracking of changes to a database over time, while also providing a method of updating or rolling back changes to the tables.

365 Days of Code - Day 030

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Project Status

Going to start including the project status table moving forward. This should help better track progress over the year.

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	Ongoing	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 6
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25 on a best effort basis. Currently building a BigInt library.
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
HTTP Status Code Reader	C	Complete	2026-02-18	Complete. Could potentially upgrade for more advanced functions or follow redirects.

Laravel From Scratch - Blade Directives

Blade Directives are shortcuts for PHP control structures, such as if/else or for loops. There are a ton of convenience features available through blade directives. Such as @unless.

365 Days of Code - Day 029

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Project Status

Going to start including the project status table moving forward. This should help better track progress over the year.

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	In-Progress	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 6
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25 on a best effort basis. Currently building a BigInt library.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need to find a good tutorial.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need good tutorial project.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab

Another Project - HTTP Status Code Reader in C

I was curious about sockets in C, and parsing HTTP responses, so I had ChatGPT whip me up a POC to read the status code from a website. I still wrote this all out by hand, to work on the muscle memory and work through each function individually.

365 Days of Code - Day 028

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

I’m going to have to keep track of projects on every post, since I seem to keep going in different directions every day. Today’s work was mostly for a client compliance project. Everything except for code. Here are the projects I am currently tracking, in no particular order:

Project	Language	Status	Due Date	Latest Update
Personal Website	Hugo	In-Progress	None	The site is live. There are some TODOs. Need to work on categorization, tagging, and layout improvements.
Laravel From Scratch	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Episode 6
PRM	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Client Website (J.L.)	Laravel (PHP)	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Working alongside other Laravel projects.
Project Euler	C	Ongoing	None	Working on P25 on a best effort basis. Currently building a BigInt library.
Learn Rust	Rust	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need to find a good tutorial.
Learn Go	Go	Paused	None	Installed, work on LDAP Injector from ippsec.
Practice Java	Java	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
Practice Python	Python	Paused	None	Installed, need to find a good project.
PHP Time Tracker	PHP	Beta Finished	None	Working on a basic level. Could use a couple more updates to make it fully functional.
Learn Elixir	Elixir	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need a good tutorial project.
Learn Haskell	Haskell	Haven’t Started	None	Installed, need good tutorial project.
Linux+	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4.
Cyber Quest 2026	N/A	In-Progress	2026-02-28	Finished quiz 1 with 75%. Need to work on ARP poisoning and timestamp adjustments in WireShark.
Operating Systems	N/A	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 4: Abstraction
Grey-Hat Hacking	Various	In-Progress	2026-03-31	Reading Chapter 8: Threat Hunting Lab

This was a good exercise. It shows why it is hard to get anything truly done. This isn’t even everything that I’ve worked on, only stuff that is either programming or programming-adjacent. I’m spreading myself too thin. On top of these projects, I still have real-life stuff to do.

365 Days of Code - Day 027

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Following up from yesterday’s server administration, I checked on my recidive jail, and found that no clients had been banned. This was clearly an error since I could manually check the logs and see many repeat offenders. There was one change I had to make to the configuration.

ini

[recidive]
enabled = true
filter = recidive
logpath = /var/log/fail2ban.log
backend = polling # <--- Add this line
findtime = 1d
maxretry = 2
bantime = 1y

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2
3
4
5
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[recidive]
enabled = true
filter = recidive
logpath = /var/log/fail2ban.log
backend = polling # <--- Add this line
findtime = 1d
maxretry = 2
bantime = 1y

By default, fail2ban was using the systemd journal to find repeat offenders, but the log is being stored in fail2ban’s own log. It was necessary to add backend = polling to the configuration to force f2b to read its own log file.

365 Days of Code - Day 026

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Hardening Server Deployments: Securing GitHub Actions with Least Privilege

365 Days of Code - Day 025

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

I took some of the Laravel lessons from yesterday, and applied them to another project I’m working on for a client. I also got that project pushed up to Github into a private repository. It is definitely helpful to take the lessons from a tutorial and immediately apply them to other projects. I need to remember this when it comes to working on learning the other languages, such as Go, Rust and Haskell.

365 Days of Code - Day 024

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Let’s get back to the beginning of this challenge, Laravel. I have a few Laravel projects on the burner. One of them is an educational project, tied to the Laravel From Scratch (2026) (opens in a new tab) series on Laracasts. Laravel moves relatively fast, and despite having done this series on an earlier version of Laravel, I could use the refresh. Onto Episode 5, Pass Data to Views.

365 Days of Code - Day 023

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Day 23 has begun, and it is technically nearly over. I had a busy day today, for everything other than code. This was bound to happen eventually. But, to keep the dream alive, I’m not ending this day without working on something. To make it easy on myself, I’m going to work on this website some more. Incremental improvements is how things get done. The only real change made today was to move the header tag from the partial page into the base layout. Now it matches the other sections.

365 Days of Code - Day 022

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

I finished up Problem 20 (opens in a new tab) this morning. I went well beyond what was needed to find the solution, but this is all just practice. I tried to be as defensive as possible, validate everything, and provide options for alternative numbers. The program can run for factorial values well beyond 100!. Although, the program gets quite slow once you are into the really large factorials.

365 Days of Code - Day 021

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

3 straight weeks of “code,” or at least “code-adjacent” work. Longest streak yet. I feel a bit like Sam in Lord of the Rings (opens in a new tab).

This is it. If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest way from home I’ve ever been.

Samwise Gamgee

So, what do we work on today? There is a plethora of opportunity. Let’s start by recapping some of what I have done (or started) so far:

365 Days of Code - Day 020

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

I found that yesterday’s detected issue with single line code blocks has been experienced by people in the past, and this issue is only on Firefox. Chrome does not have this issue. I’m going to reproduce it in as simple of manner as possible, and report this as an issue.

Setup

Create a new Hugo workspace.

bash

hugo new theme codeblock-test --themesDir .

1

hugo new theme codeblock-test --themesDir .

Add a new file at layouts/_markup/render-codeblock.html:

365 Days of Code - Day 019

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Software can be crazy. I’m having the same issue from yesterday from Ubuntu. The issue is that my site is not rendering with the Hugo development server. I started poking a bit more at the problem, and found that both Chrome and Firefox were both working fine, but Firefox Dev Edition would not render the site. Specifically, the css file request never finishes. I ended up resetting Firefox Dev, and it appears to be working again. I’m still not sure exactly what the issue was, but my best guess is some type of caching issue. I always develop with Disable Cache enabled, but clearly something went wrong while requesting information from the site.

365 Days of Code - Day 018

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

I’m trying to make a decision here. After yesterday’s new understanding of how Hugo Sections (opens in a new tab) work, I want to restructure this site a little bit. I always knew I was going to rework some areas, such as the names of these blog posts, but now I want to reconfigure everything from scratch again. The baseline template theme from yesterday gave me some good ideas for a new structure. I’ve also already had to go back and fix some template issues in this code base. So, now that I know what I’m doing (at least a little bit better), I should be able to avoid some mistakes and get this site structured better for the long term.

365 Days of Code - Day 017

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Day 17. Things have been going pretty well. Other than class work, this is one of my most consistent streaks of getting things done. The value of what I have done so far could be debated, but it is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Here I am! Blogging like it is 2006 and not 2026! I’ve been reviewing the site files, and found some inconsistencies with the styling. There are some more features that I want to add, such as tagging/categorization of posts, project cards, side bars, footer navigation, social links, and more. However, I blasted through the development of this new site, and was learning Hugo as I went along. Therefore, I’ve ended up with some technical debt in the page templates that I want to get in order before adding more features.

365 Days of Code - Day 016

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Site is live!

365 Days of Code - Day 015

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

About Page, Math Rendering with KaTeX, new PR in cspell-dicts

365 Days of Code - Day 014

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

More Project Euler.

365 Days of Code - Day 013

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

More Project Euler.

365 Days of Code - Day 012

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:01 -0500

Blogging and fun with Project Euler!