01.01 — Flipping the problem

Calendar 20 May 2026
Philosophy

01.01 — Flipping the problem#

The observation#

Every modern e2e testing framework was built on one implicit assumption: there’s a barrier between people who code and people who define tests. That barrier gets taken for granted — methodologically, organizationally, sometimes contractually.

Most testing frameworks were built in a world where the barrier between “those who code” and “those who define tests” was real and structural.

The two historic answers to that assumption show up in the Holy Book:

01.02 — ISTQB vs pytest / Jest / Mocha

Calendar 20 May 2026
Philosophy
Istqb

01.02 — ISTQB vs pytest / Jest / Mocha#

The methodological observation#

Past the technical bet on the technical / non-technical barrier (see 01-flip-the-problem.md), there’s a second bet: the one on trade vocabulary.

The ISTQB and professional testers have spent decades building a precise, battle-tested vocabulary: test cycles, campaigns, test suites, test cases, test steps. A clear hierarchy, built to organize, trace and drive software quality.

Automation tools have largely ignored that legacy.

01.03 — KISS and ostentatious complexity

Calendar 20 May 2026
Philosophy
Rop, Typing

01.03 — KISS and ostentatious complexity#

The criticism that landed#

First public feedback Ocarina got, systematic per the author:

The first “criticisms” were often the same: “You’re bragging about something that’s very simple.”

The Holy Book takes its time answering. Three pillars: the operating nature of simplicity, the simple ≠ unsophisticated distinction, and the rejection of every “creative” counter-proposal that came in.

Simple ≠ unsophisticated#

This is also why KISS (Keep it simple, stupid) is so misunderstood in the industry. Many assume “simple” means “unsophisticated.” It would be hard to misread a principle more thoroughly.

01.04 — Citations and claimed influences

Calendar 20 May 2026
Philosophy
Rop

01.04 — Citations and claimed influences#

The references cited in the Holy Book aren’t neutral — they set Ocarina’s theoretical frame. We cut them by axis here, then offer the overall reading.

Technical axis — Functional programming, types, languages#

InfluenceOriginRelation to Ocarina
Railway Oriented Programming (ROP)Scott Wlaschin (F#), a well-known pattern in functional programmingThe heart of the framework. Result[T] = Ok[T] | Fail, short-circuit, fluent builder. See ../02-ocarina/03-railway/.
λ-calculus (1930)Alonzo ChurchCited as the invention that makes possible the “clean formalization” Ocarina pursues: “What has been on our minds since the 1930s, since the invention of λ-calculus, is finally scalable to the degree we always wanted it to be.”
McCulloch & Pitts (1943)First formalization of the artificial neuronCited as a reminder that the real progress in AI is old and continuous, against the recent hype.
Python type system (PEP 695)PEP 695 (Python 3.12+)Prerequisite for the generic parametric typing that structures Ocarina (TestSuite[Driver], Result[T], etc.). See ../03-functional/06-pep-695-generics.md.

Cultural axis — Anti-narcissism, simplicity, KISS done right#

InfluenceCitationWhy
Terry Davis (“the smartest programmer that’s ever lived”)“An idiot admires complexity, a genius admires simplicity, a physicist tries to make it simple…”Anti–ostentatious complexity argument; cornerstone of the “First feedbacks” chapter.
Lao-Tzu“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”A subtractive method: what remains after elimination.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”Western restatement of the previous one. Closes the “First scenarios” chapter.
Alan Watts“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.”Cited at the end of the “First jutsus” chapter: legitimizes a design that refuses certain features (reactivity, async). Legitimizes stepping out of the “geek tricks” ecosystem.
Rainer Maria Rilke“Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”Closes the “First steps” chapter. Stance toward practice: mastery comes from use.
Marcel Proust“For the writer as well as for the painter, style is not a question of technique, but of vision.”Closes the “Extensibility” chapter. Justifies the refusal to impose a DSL: vision (POMs + actions) trumps technique (a format).

Political axis — Code, sovereignty, anti–startup nation#

InfluenceOriginRelation to Ocarina
Code is LawLawrence Lessig (1999), reclaimed by Ethereum (2015) as a positive idealCited as the stance against “democratic governance of code”. The project claims it: “Once again, with AI, that sorely missing digital body, let us scream it, as loud as we screamed ‘HACK THE PLANET’ back in ‘99: CODE IS LAW.”
DHH — I won’t let you pay me for my open sourceDavid Heinemeier Hansson, personal blogCited to legitimize refusing unaligned contributions (“Fuck You” references DHH’s famous slide).
Paul Graham — HatersPG essay (paulgraham.com/fh.html)Grounds the decision to “never waste time arguing when it isn’t worth it”.
Yegor Bugayenko — PromptThe quote “Retry flaky blocks.”Grounds the transient_errors + linear retry policy (TestFlow). Read also: Angry Tests.
The DAO hack (2016)Hack of The DAO on EthereumCited to point out that it was bugs (“damned bugs, because of damned devs”) that set Code is Law back, hence the importance of typing and rigor.
Lee Robinson (ex-Vercel)December 2025: Cursor replacing Sanity with Markdown files + AIBacks the “return to raw data”.
Cluely (Roy Lee)Cited as an illustration of entrepreneurial bullshit to avoidExplicit contrast with the Ocarina philosophy.

Identity / underground axis#

InfluenceOrigin
LulzSec — “In the Lulzboat, salute, bitch, and show some respect.”AntiSec (YTCracker, 2011)
“We Can Do All What You Can’t Do”YogyaCarderLink
YTCracker — Robots Will Definitely Take Your JobSoundCloud link, background music of the “First feedbacks” chapter
“HACK THE PLANET” (1999)Emblematic slogan of the 1990s hacker scene + AntiSec (YTCracker, 2011)
Zone-HHistoric web defacement archive
r/unixporn, r/AntiTaffSubreddits

AI / modern tooling axis#

InfluenceOriginRelation to Ocarina
Claude CodeAnthropicReference tooling for the AI project (ocarina-with-ai-example). Cited several times as the “bridge” replacing DSLs.
IntelliCode (2018)MicrosoftCited as a temporal landmark (“we had already tasted it, well before IntelliCode”).
R., the silo’s mad scientistPersonal anecdote (a 2013 colleague, a private Emacs AI plugin)Reminder that generative AI (“15,000 lines to delete to avoid writing 1,000”) existed before the public hype.
Prisma, Vercel, CursorSaaS ecosystemCited as practical cases of an AI-assisted return to raw data.

Overall coherence#

All these influences converge on three axes:

01.05 — The project's political stance

Calendar 20 May 2026
Philosophy
Selenium

01.05 — The project’s political stance#

The Holy Book doesn’t separate philosophy from the politics of the repo itself. Five operating commitments come out of it.

1. Incorruptibility#

Sharing Ocarina means sharing a car I have maintained entirely myself, for myself, therefore with great care. Still, it is shared as-is, and will remain so. It’s my car.

I channeled all my anger into it, to pour all my love into it.