The Daily Index — Friday, December 1, 2023 · TLDR Index

ARTICLES & TUTORIALS

TLDR Web Dev

TLDR Web Dev

THE WEIRDEST BUG I’VE SEEN YET

A problem arose where Chrome was crashing for users of Gusto’s internal software during an on-call rotation with Gusto's internal tools team. After ruling out the Chrome version and extensions as the causes, a stroke of luck led to the discovery that the Grammarly desktop app was a common factor among affected users. Further investigation revealed that a specific GIF file in the software was causing the crashes when Grammarly was installed. Replacing the GIF resolved the issue, although the exact reason for the crash remains unknown due to lack of access to Chrome and Grammarly's source codes.

engineering.gusto.com · 6 min

TLDR Web Dev

PSYCHOLOGY OF SPEED: A GUIDE TO PERCEIVED PERFORMANCE

Perceived performance focuses on how users feel about the speed and responsiveness of a website or app, rather than just relying on metric-driven performance. This subjective perception is influenced by various factors, including the user's environment, device, network, and emotional state, making it difficult to quantify. Perceived performance can be enhanced by smartly communicating status and progress, keeping users engaged during load times, avoiding sudden page movements, and preventing intensive processing. This article teaches how to use design and psychological principles to increase perceived performance by users.

calibreapp.com · 10 min

TLDR Web Dev

WHY TYPE SAFETY IS IMPORTANT

Dynamically typed languages like JavaScript and Python are known for their ease of learning and flexibility but can lead to quirks and issues due to type coercion and the lack of a solid typing system. This is why TypeScript and type hinting have gotten so popular. Statically typed languages, with modern features like type inference, offer strong type safety, catching errors at compile time and providing comprehensive documentation. However, their use results in slower development velocity and harder-to-read code.

shuttle.rs · 9 min

TLDR Web Dev

WHY WE USE AWS INSTEAD OF VERCEL TO HOST OUR NEXT.JS APP

This article explains Graphite’s journey from a simple single-page app (SPA) architecture to the adoption of a more robust solution. It explains why the company considered various hosting options, the technical considerations that guided the decision, and why it ultimately chose to host its Next.js web application on ECS. Graphite’s decision to containerize its application with AWS ECS aligned with its goal of maintaining performance standards and cost efficiency within its AWS Virtual Private Cloud.

graphite.dev · 7 min

TLDR Web Dev

HOW TO ACCELERATE DEVELOPMENT VELOCITY IN THE GENAI ERA? BUILD A GENOS

Intuit has embraced generative AI, developing various applications like Intuit Assist, which aids small business owners, marketers, and others in making informed decisions. The company also created GenOS, an operating system that enables product teams to integrate generative AI into their applications easily. GenOS contains various components that Intuit built, such as GenStudio for experimentation, GenUX for UI tools, and GenRuntime for hosting AI capabilities.

medium.com · 7 min

TLDR Web Dev

WRITING JAVASCRIPT WITHOUT A BUILD SYSTEM

This author discusses their preference for not using a build system in small frontend JavaScript projects. They give examples of how simple it is to work without a build system, using Vue 3 directly with script tags, and express frustration that some libraries, like CodeMirror 6 and Tailwind 3, now require a build system. Build systems, like webpack, rollup, esbuild, parcel, or vite, are used to translate and optimize JavaScript or TypeScript code for web deployment, but can be overkill for small projects.

jvns.ca · 5 min

TLDR Web Dev

PREVENTING SCROLL “BOUNCE” WITH CSS

When you scroll rapidly to the top or bottom of a webpage you might notice a “bounce” effect. To prevent this with CSS, you can add the overscroll-behavior property on the document root to none.

css-irl.info · 1 min