0055: consulting, zest progress, existentialize, modular borrowing, do we understand sql, zjit updates, books

A detailed development log covering progress on Zest, a new programming language with staged evaluation and type inference. Key achievements include implementing namespaces with recursive functions, destination-based type inference similar to Zig, internal iterators with second-class references, reflection using type deconstruction, and a self-hosted runtime with generic printing. The post explores design decisions around staging annotations, reference counting for memory management, and compares approaches to generics and borrowing systems. Also includes brief commentary on SQL inconsistencies, Ruby's ZJIT compiler development, and book reviews.