now.md

What I'm doing now

Updated Sun Mar 15 2026 15:28:39 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)New Delhi, India
nownownow.com

A /now page is a snapshot of what I'm focused on right now. Unlike an about page, it changes frequently. Inspired by Derek Sivers.

Working on

React Compiler internals series

In progress

Writing a deep-dive series on React 19's compiler — specifically how it transforms JSX into optimized bytecode and eliminates the need for useMemo/useCallback at the call site.

Frontend performance benchmark suite

Research phase

Building a reproducible benchmark harness for comparing React, Solid, and Svelte render throughput under synthetic load — targeting specific V8 JIT behaviors.

Associate Staff Engineer responsibilities

Ongoing

Leading frontend architecture decisions, running weekly tech debt reviews, and mentoring 3 engineers on React internals and TypeScript patterns.

Reading

The Art of Doing Science and Engineering

by Richard Hamming

Hamming's framing of "important problems" is applicable to engineering decisions in ways most tech books never approach.

A Philosophy of Software Design

by John Ousterhout

Re-reading for the third time. The "deep module" concept has materially changed how I design API surfaces.

Compiler Design in C

by Allen Holub

Working through this to better understand what React Compiler is actually doing at the IR transformation level.

Exploring

  • Solid.js signal-based reactivity model vs React's immutability model — tradeoffs at scale
  • WebAssembly as a compilation target for UI components — where the practical boundary is today
  • Effect-TS for managing complex async workflows with typed error channels
  • Temporal API (TC39 Stage 3) — finally a sane date/time model for JavaScript

Not doing

  • Not taking on new freelance/consulting work — focused on depth over breadth right now
  • Not building new open source libraries — maintaining what I have and contributing upstream
  • Not accepting speaking invitations for events requiring >3 days travel
© 2026 Vidhya Sagar Thakur. All rights reserved.