The Daily Index — Tuesday, November 21, 2023 · TLDR Index

ARTICLES & TUTORIALS

TLDR Web Dev

TLDR Web Dev

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DATABASES CRASH?

Databases store tables and indexes in files, writing to data pages in memory, which are then written to disk. A challenge arises when there's a power loss or crash during writing, leading to corrupted files. To address this, databases use a Write-Ahead Log (WAL). This article describes how the WAL is used as a source of truth to help the database regain its bearings after a crash.

medium.com · 3 min

TLDR Web Dev

DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE CI/CD PIPELINE FOR FRONTEND APPS

A CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery/Deployment) pipeline automates various stages of the software development life cycle. It typically includes stages like coding, building, testing, releasing, deploying, monitoring, and planning. This article dives into best practices for an effective CI/CD pipeline, including making small, frequent changes, using feature flags, having rollback strategies, secure deployment strategies, prioritizing security, and fostering collaboration among all teams.

blog.logrocket.com · 7 min

TLDR Web Dev

CLEVER CODE IS PROBABLY THE WORST CODE YOU COULD WRITE

Although clever code feels impressive to write, it’s often unmaintainable and unreasonable to write in production. Code that is easy to understand and readable is arguably harder to write than clever code. This article provides tips and resources, such as an email about coding style from John Carmack, for getting better at writing clear code, along with an anecdote about the difficulties of writing clear code.

open.substack.com · 5 min

TLDR Web Dev

DATA-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT IS A LIE

Data-driven development (DDD) is where logic is expressed through data structures rather than code. This article describes a typical DDD scenario in Clojure involving maps and rules for decision-making, highlighting how initially simple data-driven solutions can become complex and unwieldy as requirements evolve. The author criticizes the overselling of DDD in the community and advocates for a more balanced approach, suggesting that complex checks are often better implemented directly in Clojure rather than through a data-driven framework.

grishaev.me · 8 min

TLDR Web Dev

THE STATE OF THE DEVELOPER ECOSYSTEM

This report was created with the feedback and insights of 26,348 developers from around the world. It covers topics like programming languages, tools, and AI, touching a wide variety of disciplines including web development. For example, Rust is becoming more popular, while Scala is one of the highest-paid languages.

jetbrains.com · 8 min

TLDR Web Dev

A SHORT HISTORY OF OPENAI

Sam Altman was removed as CEO of OpenAI on Friday, with exact reasons unknown. OpenAI, founded in 2015 as a non-profit by Altman and others, made significant strides in AI research, particularly in deep learning and reinforcement learning. In 2019, OpenAI transitioned to a capped-profit model to combine the aspects of for-profit and non-profit entities, leading to a complex corporate structure. The recent years saw the release of influential AI models like GPT-3 and DALL-E and the successful launch of ChatGPT.

open.substack.com · 6 min

TLDR Web Dev

CSS NESTING IS HERE

CSS nesting, where one style rule can be nested inside another, is now native to CSS.

css-irl.info · 3 min

TLDR Web Dev

BAD STRATEGY, AI MEETINGS, AND TECH DEBT

This article provides thoughts on what bad strategy looks like, AI tools for meetings, and how tech debt impacts companies at different stages. Bad strategies are often fluffy, mistaken as goals, and not focused on specific problems. Tech debt happens at every stage but can be leveraged better the earlier you are and becomes a drift as you scale.

refactoring.fm · 5 min