Bas Nijholt

Staff Engineer

IonQ

Biography

Hi, my name is Bas. I am a: Python and open-source enthusiast, Ph.D. in theoretical quantum mechanics, and full-time nerd. Originally I am from the Netherlands, but currently, I live near Seattle, Washington, USA.

Here (or here ) are some pretty pictures that I took, this is where I did my Ph.D., I work at IonQ (previously at Microsoft Quantum ), and see my LinkedIn for some technical details on my daily activities.

Interests

Quantum Mechanics
Landscape photography
Open-source software
Hiking in the mountains
Blockchain technology
Home automation
Artificial Intelligence

Education

PhD in computational Quantum Mechanics, 2020
TU Delft
MSc in Applied Physics, 2015
TU Delft
BSc in Applied Physics, 2012
TU Delft

Blog Posts

Sparse scribblings on a variety of topics

Confessions of an Asymmetric Hypocrite: On Python Dependencies

Exploring my seemingly hypocritical stance on dependencies: strict minimalism for my libraries, expecting adoption of my own work, yet embracing a wide range of dependencies in applications due to context and isolation.

Bas Nijholt

Last updated on 2025-04-29 6 min read Development, Philosophy, Level:intermediate

Functions Over Classes? Why I Prefer a Simpler, Functional Style in Python 🐍

Exploring my preference for a functional programming style in Python, utilizing small, focused functions and simple data-holding classes while largely avoiding inheritance, leading to more maintainable and testable code, while still using classes where they make sense for APIs.

Bas Nijholt

Last updated on 2025-04-14 6 min read Development, Philosophy, Level:intermediate

Open Sourcing My Dotfiles: A Practical, Cross-Platform Terminal Setup 🏠

After years running them privately across 10+ machines (macOS, Linux, cloud, homelab), I’m open-sourcing my dotfiles, featuring modular configs, dotbins for CLI tools, Nix-Darwin, and more.

Bas Nijholt

Last updated on 2025-04-06 9 min read Terminal, Setup, Level:intermediate

Open Sourcing My Dotfiles: A Practical, Cross-Platform Terminal Setup 🏠

Combining Keychain and 1Password CLI for SSH Agent Management

Using 1Password CLI with Keychain for secure, persistent SSH agent access with fewer password prompts after initial setup.

Bas Nijholt

Last updated on 2025-03-31 5 min read Terminal, Security, Level:intermediate

I tried "vibe coding" for 3 hours, my application worked, but then I spent 15 hours fixing it

While “vibe coding” can quickly produce working prototypes, my experience shows why it shouldn’t be used for production code without careful human oversight.

Bas Nijholt

Last updated on 2025-03-31 2 min read Development, Level:beginning

dotbins: Managing Binary Tools in Your Dotfiles 🧰

A solution for managing pre-compiled binaries for CLI tools directly in your dotfiles repository, making tools like zoxide, bat, eza, and more available on any system without installation.

Bas Nijholt

Last updated on 2025-03-31 5 min read Terminal, Level:beginner

dotbins: Managing Binary Tools in Your Dotfiles 🧰

Optimizing My LLM Workflow: Self-Hosting AI Interfaces for Open Source Development 💻

How I leverage LibreChat, OpenWebUI, and various AI APIs to enhance my development workflow without subscriptions

Bas Nijholt

Last updated on 2025-04-29 5 min read AI, Development, Self-Hosting, Level:intermediate

Optimizing My LLM Workflow: Self-Hosting AI Interfaces for Open Source Development 💻

GPL for Python Packaging ⚖

Clarifying GPL licenses (GPLv2, GPLv3, LGPL, AGPL) and how they affect Python software, including the concept of “linking” in Python through imports.

Bas Nijholt

Last updated on 2025-03-31 4 min read Licensing, Level:beginner

tuitorial: Terminal-based Interactive Code Tutorials 📚

A Python package for creating engaging code walkthroughs in your terminal with rich highlighting options and interactive navigation. 💻

Bas Nijholt

Last updated on 2025-01-05 2 min read Technology, Open-Source

tuitorial: Terminal-based Interactive Code Tutorials 📚

Python Environment Jungle: Finding My Perfect Workflow 🌴🐍

A Personal Journey Through Pyenv, Pipenv, venv, Virtualenv, Homebrew, Anaconda, Miniconda, Micromamba, Pixi, and uv

Bas Nijholt

Last updated on 2025-03-20 10 min read Setup, Level:beginner

See all blog posts

Projects

Open-source, see my GitHub profile

numthreads

numthreads: Simple Python package to set the number of threads used by OpenBLAS, MKL, OMP, NumExpr, and Accelerate

UniDep

unidep: Unified Conda and Pip Dependency Management 🐍

PipeFunc

pipefunc: Lightweight function pipeline creation 🐍

rsync-time-machine.py

💻 rsync-time-machine.py: Your cross-platform, flexible, and incremental backup solution using rsync, offering Time Machine-style backups with added versatility. 💽🚀. 🔄

WenFire ⁉️🔥

WenFire: WebApp visualizing your path to financial independence, built with personalizable assumptions and interactive visualizations. Ignite your journey to early retirement! 💸

Adaptive Lighting

🌞 Adaptive Lighting: Home Assistant custom component for auto-adjusting color temperature and brightness of lights based on daylight. 🌙

CodeStructure

🔎 CodeStructure: Extract Python code signatures without execution, providing a clear structure overview. 📚

Home Assistant Streamdeck YAML

🏠 Home Assistant Streamdeck YAML: Control Home Assistant on Stream Deck across all OS with YAML configuration. 🎛️

Markdown Code Runner

💻 Markdown Code Runner: Auto-execute code blocks in Markdown files and refresh the output in-place. 🔄

home-assistant-macbook-touch-bar

home-assistant-macbook-touch-bar: Displaying sensors and controlling IoT devices using the Macbook Pro’s touch bar 🤖💻

PhD thesis

thesis.pdf: Towards realistic numerical simulations of Majorana devices (2020)

Thesis cover

thesis-cover: each unique copy is designed using quantum simulation data, neural networks, machine learning, and Python

Adaptive-scheduler

adaptive-scheduler: Run simulations adaptively on many cores (>10k) and easily manage starting and restarting using mpi4py.futures, ipyparallel, or dask-mpi 🎉

Home Assistant

Many things in my house are automated using the Python Home Assistant framework. I’ve built some interseting automations and app, see my config files and AppDaemon apps 🏠 🤖

ipynb_git_filters

ipynb_git_filters: remove ipynb’s output on each commit to keep a clean history. Not very smart but very useful 🤖

nijho.lt

nijho.lt: my website made with Hugo on Github that is automatically deloyed with Netlify 🦾

python-aiokef

aiokef: An asyncio Python library that provides an API to communicate KEF speakers 🔈

python-crypto-bot

crypto-bot: an async cryptocurrency bot using zmq, asyncio, websockets and mad triangular arbitrage trading strategies ♲💵

python-hpc05

hpc05: a thin wrapper around ipyparallel to easily start workers remotely on a HPC cluster 🖥

python-yaml2bib

yaml2bib: Convert a readable yaml file with DOIs only to a properly formatted BibTeX file. 📃

Python-adaptive

adaptive: tools for adaptive parallel sampling of mathematical functions to speed up simulations by orders of magnitude ⚙️

python-instacron

instacron: Instagram for the lazy - automatically upload a photo to Instagram with autogenerated caption containing #hashtags, a quote, and camera information 📸🌅

Topology in condensed matter course

Tying Quantum Knots. An online course for which I wrote a lot of code. See the course website which is generated using these Jupyter notebooks.

Photography

The hobby

I enjoy traveling and photography. The best photos I would like to to share with the world, however, the problem is that I am to lazy too do so, therefore I wrote a program (instacron ) that will do that job for me. It takes a photo and adds: a random quote, camera and location info, and #hashtags related to the photo.