Haider Kagalwala

Hi, I’m Haider.

I’m a software engineer in Hyderabad. I write about what software asks of the operating system: processes, pipes, terminals, and what they really cost. The parts that don’t make it into the tutorials.

Away from the terminal I read philosophy, mostly about fairness, ambition and how to live, and keep notes on it here.

A winged figure sits brooding among tools of geometry and building: a compass, a plane, a polyhedron, an hourglass and a magic square.
  1. Investigating the Cost of Launching Linux ProcessesWhat it actually costs to start a process on Linux, measured.Level Up Coding
  2. Java ProcessBuilder: Deadlocks, Zombies, and the 64KB WallHow Linux creates and tracks child processes, why unread output can freeze both the parent and the child, and the fixes that hold up in production.Level Up Coding · 21 March 2026
Building nexec, a process execution library for Java 21Listening to Goethe’s Faust, Michael SugrueThinking about what we owe people we’ll never meet