Top all-time · #739
wizard zines
Personal blog · wizardzines.comprogramming
wizard zines is a personal blog at wizardzines.com about programming. Since 2018, 88 different Hacker News readers have linked it 137 times, most often “Wizard Zines”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Often recommended · 24 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
Julia Evans' zines and comics on git, debugging, networking, SQL and grep. Readers call them clear, approachable and worth reading, and recommend them as cheat sheets and introductions.
- Recommended for · 24 comments
- Called clear, approachable and educational; one commenter says the grep comic is the best introduction they've seen
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Wizard Zines26 people · 27 mentions · first linked 2019-01-24
- Wizard Zines: Programming Zines6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2020-07-13
- No Feigning Surprise4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2025-02-23
- /3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-05-12
- The Secret Rules of the Terminal3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-06-24
- Become a Select Star3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-02-03
- How DNS Works3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-07-28
- The Pocket Guide to Debugging3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-12-20
- /comics/no-feigning-surprise/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-06-19
- /zines/containers/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-11-20
What Hacker News says?
The guide is comprehensive, on the other extreme, this one-pager contains 90% of git commands you'll ever need: https://wizardzines.com/git-cheat-sheet.pdf
Comment linking /git-cheat-sheet.pdf
on “Beej's Guide to Git”Submitted Bash Debugging as a story · 418 points
HN discussionThanks for reading! > I'm curious, what is the motivation for moving into the content business? I'm certainly interested in this project, and will likely buy the book, etc, but I'm also somewhat disappointed to not see you going after something bigger/harder/technical and sharing that journey. I found your previous work very inspiring. I'm trying to find a business that lets me write about technical things that I fi…
Comment linking /
on “How to write blog posts that developers read”Submitted Git cheat sheet [pdf] as a story · 328 points
HN discussionI wrote a fairly similar take on this a few years ago (without having read the original book mentioned here) -- https://explog.in/notes/debugging.html Julia Evans also has a very nice zine on debugging: https://wizardzines.com/zines/debugging-guide/
Comment linking /zines/debugging-guide/
on “Debugging: Indispensable rules for finding even the most elusive problems (2004)”Submitted Bash Error Handling as a story · 287 points
HN discussionIs this related to "Oh Shit, git?" by Julia Evans? https://wizardzines.com/zines/oh-shit-git/ Perhaps not and the authors just named it the same because it rolls off the tongue nicely.
Comment linking /zines/oh-shit-git/
on “Oh Shit, Git?”Submitted Hell Yes CSS as a story · 215 points
HN discussionAlso don't miss https://wizardzines.com/
Comment linking /
on “Show HN: I wrote a modern Command Line Handbook”Submitted Why updating DNS is slow as a story · 121 points
HN discussionThis is a little more idiosyncratic than the other recommendations, but the “Bite Size Networking” zine by Julia Evans is a really nice overview of networking tools on Linux. https://wizardzines.com/zines/bite-size-networking/
Comment linking /zines/bite-size-networking/
on “Ask HN: Good books/courses to learn networking essentials for web developers?”Submitted More floating point alternatives as a story · 53 points
HN discussionStrong recommend! Julia's posts are always really engaging and educational. She also publishes a number of technical topics as ZINES. I bought her "Oh Shit, Git!" zine and learned a ton of useful info, despite having decades in the industry.Zines are a great way to encourage book-allergic coworkers into learning great material. https://wizardzines.com/
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What are the best engineering blogs with real-world depth?”Submitted Git Branches Have No Rules as a story · 41 points
HN discussionNot related to the post, but the owner of this blog also makes small CS zines that act as cheat sheets for common tools: https://wizardzines.com/ . They're small and cute and make good tech stocking stuffers.
Comment linking /
on “How to use dig”Submitted Bash Bracket Cheat Sheet (By Julia Evans) as a story · 38 points
HN discussionI also recommend: https://wizardzines.com/ by the same author. It looks "popular" but it's written much more thoughtfully and competently than most of the content found on the web. Like this article, it's the result of real personal research, it is never just rewording of some manual or already existing material. In short, really worth reading, and also worth using inside of the companies.
Comment linking /
on “Why strace doesn't work in Docker”Submitted Every Linux networking tool I know as a story · 12 points
HN discussionJulia Evans has some good zines as a starting point and does a great job of distilling complexity and making topics like this approachable to newcomers. [1] I'd also recommend "Network Basics for Hackers" by OccupytheWeb [2] [1] https://wizardzines.com/ [2] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BS3GZ1R9
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Good book to learn modern networking?”Submitted How Git Works as a story · 8 points
HN discussion> I've been wrecking my brain how to make $10 on anything online If you are really serious about $10 (and not some other larger number), here are some tips: * Pick a topic you know really well (programming, cooking, sea diving, whatever) * Make an infographic (get started on the topic of your choice, some specific and useful practical tip, etc) - picking a template from free tier Canva will go a long way in producin…
Comment linking /
on “Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer”Submitted Unix Domain Sockets as a story · 6 points
HN discussionOthers in this on-going series: * https://wizardzines.com/comics/environment-variables * https://wizardzines.com/comics/brackets-cheatsheet * https://wizardzines.com/comics/bash-quotes * https://wizardzines.com/comics/bash-if-statements/
Comment linking /comics/bash-if-statements/
on “Bash Error Handling”Submitted My favourite way to learn is by breaking things and seeing what happens! as a story · 4 points
HN discussionand don't forget, also by Julia Evans: * [Wizard Zines]( https://wizardzines.com/ )
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What are some great engineering blogs?”Submitted Null Surprises as a story · 3 points
HN discussion> Julia's Drawings...Unfortunately it's not active anymore As mentioned in that site, the newer ones can be found at https://wizardzines.com/comics/ and collections can be bought using links from https://wizardzines.com/
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What are some great engineering blogs?”Submitted Wizard Zines as a story · 3 points
HN discussionJulia Evans guide is a great companion: https://wizardzines.com/zines/networking/ Very different format!
Comment linking /zines/networking/
on “Introduction to TCP and Sockets (2001)”Submitted The Terminal Emulator as a story · 3 points
HN discussion
