David Vance

Software engineer interested in distributed systems, Linux performance, and simple web design.

Recent Notes

Notes on TCP Keepalive & Timeouts

July 2026

When running edge services behind proxies, default TCP timeout values can often lead to silent connection drops. Setting keepalive_timeout explicitly in your web server helps prevent half-open sockets under unstable network conditions.

A simple rule of thumb for idle connections is to match the client retransmission window while keeping resource usage low on the server host.

Why Minimal Websites Win

May 2026

Modern web development has gotten unnecessarily complex. A plain HTML page with CSS variables loads under 10ms, requires no build tools, and never breaks due to outdated dependencies.

Keeping things minimal isn't just a design choice—it drastically lowers maintenance overhead and attack surface.