---
title: Things I Learned - 15 Mar 2026
date: 2026-03-15T00:00:00+00:00
categories:
  - til
description: I explored Timsort, switched to the moor pager, and experimented with CLI prompt prefixes for agents. I also looked into cognitive debt, Polya's problem-solving framework, and GitHub’s new agentic workflows for compiling Markdown files into actions.
keywords: [timsort, moor, cognitive debt, squoosh, browserless, github agentic workflows, prompt engineering]
---

This week, I learned:

- [Timsort](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timsort) is one of the [fastest sorting algorithms](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/11/sorting-algorithms/).
- Switching from [`bat`](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat) to [`moor`](https://github.com/walles/moor) as a pager, since `bat` doesn't support wrapping via keyboard shortcuts. [Gemini](https://gemini.google.com/share/812da811d636)
- "Use `(some-command) --help` to ..." is an efficient prompt prefix that tells agents to read the docs and use a CLI tool to solve a problem. For example, "Use `uvx rodney --help` and `ffmpeg` for a demo video of GitHub PRs".
- As agents improve, we'll have more mediorce output (e.g. dashboards) since people won't know to ask for better, or validate the result. They'll hire experts who know to ask better and verify better.
- Claude Opus 4.6 solved a problem Knuth was working on! [Knuth](https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/papers/claude-cycles.pdf)
- [Cognitive debt](https://simonwillison.net/tags/cognitive-debt/) is what Simon Willison calls it when we build (or, in my case, say/write) stuff we don't understand. The debt framing is apt. One solution is to generate a version intended for AI to read, and another for us. [#](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/17/release-notes-webcomic/)
- How can an innovator learn accountability? "I'm wired to start fires. Should I learn to also run the fire department, hire someone who does, or just stay a fire-starter and let others deal with the mess?" ANS: First, accountability is high value, so **do it**! Second, prefer a partner over building muscle. Build muscle only if output is checkable, has value, and customers will pay. [Claude](https://claude.ai/share/d2c6a479-3aaf-402d-a2b9-318532158a92) | [ChatGPT](https://chatgpt.com/share/69b0e234-64b8-8003-93b5-f244b05a7545) | [Gemini](https://gemini.google.com/share/38f8bab88751)
  - Commit publicly. Put your name on the output.
  - Commit to process (or narrowly defined output) rather than outcome.
  - Optimize with data, code, checklists, workflows, culture, etc.
- OpenAI released [gpt-realtime-1.5](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/gpt-realtime-1.5) and [gpt-audio-1.5](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/gpt-audio-1.5). Buth are ~20% cheaper than the 4o versions, but 6.7x more expensive than [gpt-realtime-mini](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/gpt-realtime-mini). 1 second is about 10 tokens, so an hour of audio input at $32/MTok is about $1.15.
- The "Effort" setting for AVIF files on [Squoosh](https://squoosh.app/) doesn't reduce file size - it increases quality slightly (for a tiny _increase_ in file size). So, set the quality to whatever file size you need and increase the effort for a slightly better quality.
- [Polya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_P%C3%B3lya) believed in teaching problem-solving rather than solutions, i.e. teach [How to Solve It](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Solve_It), not just _what_ you get at the end. To me, this includes:
  - Understand the problem (from different perspectives)
  - Plan (with different mental models)
  - Execute (the easy bit)
  - Look back (post-mortem, retrospectives, etc.)
- [Browserless](https://github.com/browserless/browserless) lets you run browsers via an API. Useful when you don't want the overhead of setting up a browser infrastructure, or for multiple browsers in parallel. Scraping, testing, web app automation, PDF/screenshot/video generation, etc. are all possible. [Gemini](https://gemini.google.com/share/3c547e57030b)
- OpenAI has a [Websocket mode](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/websocket-mode/)
- [GitHub Agentic Workflows](https://github.github.com/gh-aw/setup/creating-workflows/) lets you "compile" a Markdown file into an agentic GitHub action. Useful as a sceptical reviewer, issue-to-prototype builder, data to story generator, automated code migrator, etc. [Gemini](https://gemini.google.com/share/d604275d42d7) [Claude](https://claude.ai/share/e4beeed2-e49e-49be-99bd-d6ce5678a7a7)