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This review may include AI-generated content and is not individually verified. Domain, certificate and other facts come from the observed data on this page.
What is expitau?
expitau is the personal portfolio and blog of Nathan DSilva, a software developer based in Toronto who describes himself as a recent University of Waterloo graduate and a lead software developer at a stealth-mode startup. The site presents his work across software development, infrastructure, machine learning and automation, and frames his interests around unusual or previously unsolved technical problems. It combines a project showcase, a blog and a resume page.
What you'll find
- About section: A short introduction to his background, focus areas and current role.
- Projects: Entries such as ExpitauOS (an Arch-based immutable Linux distribution, May 2025), the Infinite Craft Wiki recipe database (July 2024) and MineNewt, procedural neural networks in Minecraft (June 2023).
- Blog: Posts on topics like choosing Rust over Go, problems with Go, graphing the factorial function, and critiques of object-oriented programming, tagged by theme such as opinion, tech, math and lecture.
- Resume: A downloadable PDF and HTML version, with a note that the public copy is redacted for privacy and the full version is available on request.
- Contact links: GitHub, LinkedIn and email, plus a published GPG public key.
Who it's for
The site suits people evaluating Nathan for hiring or collaboration, readers interested in infrastructure, machine learning and programming-language opinions, and anyone curious about niche projects like an immutable Linux distribution or a Minecraft-based neural network experiment. If you're a recruiter or potential collaborator, start with the resume and the projects list; if you're a developer, the blog posts on Go versus Rust and on abstraction are the most directly useful reading.
What projects has Nathan DSilva built, such as ExpitauOS and the Infinite Craft Wiki?
Nathan DSilva's portfolio lists three projects under that heading: ExpitauOS (May 2025), an Arch-based immutable Linux distribution; the Infinite Craft Wiki (July 2024), a recipe database for the game Infinite Craft; and MineNewt (June 2023), which he describes as procedural neural networks in Minecraft. His page frames these as side projects, alongside a blog covering topics such as Go versus Rust and object-oriented programming.
The projects read as a coherent set for someone who identifies as an infrastructure and machine-learning developer: an operating-system build, a data-heavy community reference site, and an in-game experiment combining procedural generation with neural networks. Each is the kind of niche tool its author would use himself rather than a polished commercial product.
Who each project is likely to interest
| Project | Likely audience | What to check first |
|---|---|---|
| ExpitauOS | Linux users curious about immutable, Arch-based systems | Whether installation instructions and hardware notes exist |
| Infinite Craft Wiki | Players looking up crafting recipes | Coverage of combinations and how recipes are contributed |
| MineNewt | Minecraft players and ML hobbyists | Whether the neural-network approach is explained or just demonstrated |
If you want to judge his engineering depth rather than browse project names, start with the ExpitauOS write-up, since an immutable distribution involves the most design trade-offs, then read the Go-versus-Rust post to see how he reasons about tooling choices. For hiring or collaboration, his page points to a resume and contact details.
How can I contact or hire Nathan DSilva, and what does his resume show about his experience?
You can reach Nathan DSilva through the contact links on his site, expitau: email, GitHub, LinkedIn, and a GPG public key are listed there, along with a resume page. For hiring, the site explicitly points to the resume and offers a full version on request, since the public copy is redacted for privacy. Email is the most direct route for a role inquiry; mention the position, team, and location in the first message.
What the resume and site indicate
- Current role: lead software developer at a stealth-mode startup in Toronto, Canada.
- Education: recent graduate of the University of Waterloo.
- Stated specialties: infrastructure and machine learning, with automation and software development also listed.
- Working style: the introduction emphasizes novel, unsolved problems in technical niches, with hardware and operating-system tinkering as personal interests.
Projects as evidence of experience
The projects section is the most concrete signal of hands-on work:
- ExpitauOS (May 2025): an Arch-based immutable Linux distribution, which points to systems and infrastructure depth.
- Infinite Craft Wiki (July 2024): a recipe database, showing web and data work.
- MineNewt (June 2023): procedural neural networks in Minecraft, combining machine learning with game environments.
For a hiring decision, treat these as portfolio evidence rather than verified employment history. A practical next step is to request the unredacted resume and ask for specifics: team size led, production systems owned, and the scope of the stealth-startup role. Candidates who emphasize novel problems often suit greenfield infrastructure or ML platform work better than maintenance-heavy roles, so compare the role's actual mix of new builds versus upkeep before proceeding.
What does Nathan DSilva's blog cover, including his arguments for Rust over Go and against object-oriented programming?
Nathan DSilva's site, expitau, is a personal portfolio and blog for a software developer working in infrastructure and machine learning, based in Toronto. The blog mixes technical opinion with mathematics and hands-on project write-ups. Stated interests on the page include esoteric projects and technical niches, plus tinkering with hardware and operating systems.
What the blog covers
- Language and tooling opinions — the page lists a post titled "My problems with Golang" and one arguing he "will always choose Rust over Go for new projects."
- Programming paradigm critique — "Abstraction isn't everything" argues that object-oriented programming has shortcomings that make it an outdated paradigm for software development.
- Mathematics — "Factorials and circles" is described as a lecture post on how graphing the factorial function helped him discover calculus.
- Project notes — separate project entries cover ExpitauOS (an Arch-based immutable Linux distribution), the Infinite Craft Wiki (a recipe database), and MineNewt (procedural neural networks in Minecraft).
Who it suits
The Rust-versus-Go and anti-OOP posts will appeal most to developers choosing a stack for a new project or rethinking how they structure code; the factorial post suits readers who like seeing calculus arrive through a concrete graph. Someone weighing Rust against Go should read the Golang post alongside the Rust post, since the page frames them as a pair, and treat both as one developer's opinion shaped by infrastructure and ML work rather than a general benchmark. A useful next step is to read the OOP critique first if you maintain a large class-heavy codebase, then check the project write-ups to see what style he actually ships.
Trade-offs to keep in mind
Opinion posts of this kind tend to generalize from one person's context. Rust's compile-time guarantees and Go's fast builds and small language surface serve different teams; the deciding factors are usually team size, hiring pool, and how much of the code is concurrent infrastructure versus glue. Likewise, the case against OOP is strongest for data-heavy pipelines and weakest for domains that map naturally to objects. The blog's value is in the reasoning and examples, not in a verdict you should adopt wholesale.
What does Nathan DSilva specialize in as an infrastructure and machine learning developer?
Nathan DSilva presents himself as a software, infrastructure, machine learning and automation developer, with current specialization in infrastructure and machine learning. On his portfolio, he describes building things "that nobody has made before" and says he is happiest working on problems that have never been solved, especially technical and esoteric niches where those problems "arise at scale." His listed background is a University of Waterloo degree and work in Toronto as a lead software developer at a stealth-mode startup.
His project list shows what that specialization looks like in practice:
- ExpitauOS (May 2025): an Arch-based immutable Linux distribution, an infrastructure and systems-level project.
- Infinite Craft Wiki (July 2024): a recipe database, closer to practical web/data work.
- MineNewt (June 2023): procedural neural networks in Minecraft, combining machine learning with an unusual environment.
For a concrete reader, this page is most useful as a work sample rather than a service listing. If you are evaluating him for an infrastructure or ML role, start with the resume and the project pages; if you want a sense of how he reasons about tooling, his blog posts on Golang versus Rust and on object-oriented abstraction give a clearer picture of his technical opinions than the headline does.
How can I verify Nathan DSilva's identity using his GPG public key?
Use the GPG key fingerprint published on expitau as your reference point, then verify that any key you download matches it before trusting it.
What the site gives you
Nathan's page lists a GPG public key fingerprint: 770B 83C9 8A17 F25F 9F6C 595A 9F3D 8A50 BB5A BE73. That long-form fingerprint (40 hex characters) is the value to check against, not a short key ID.
A practical verification sequence
- Obtain the key from a source you can cross-check — for example, a keyserver or a signed message — and import it locally.
- Run
gpg --fingerprinton the imported key and compare the full fingerprint, character by character, with the one on the site. Ignore spaces and case. - Confirm the key is the one he actually uses: check for a signed message, commit, or release from him that verifies against this key.
- Only then treat signatures or encrypted messages as coming from him.
Decision criteria
- Fingerprint match is necessary but not sufficient. A matching fingerprint proves the key you hold is the key the site describes; it does not by itself prove the site is his. If you reached the site through an untrusted path, the fingerprint could have been altered too.
- Prefer a second channel. Cross-check the fingerprint against a signed Git commit, a key-signing event, or a direct message. Agreement across independent channels is what turns a match into confidence.
- Watch for short IDs. Eight-character key IDs are trivially spoofable; always compare the full 40-character fingerprint.
Example
If you receive an email claiming to be from Nathan, run gpg --verify on its signature. A "Good signature" result only means the message was signed by the key in your keyring whose fingerprint you already confirmed. If the fingerprint differs from 770B…BE73, treat the message as unverified regardless of what the email says.
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