The Daily Index — Tuesday, August 13, 2024 · TLDR Index

ARTICLES & TUTORIALS

TLDR Web Dev

TLDR Web Dev

HOW TO BUILD SCALABLE AI APPLICATIONS

Building useful scalable AI applications requires developers to have good data preparation (data cleansing and management) and use retrieval-augmented generation. Models used should be pre-trained or fine-tuned. Custom models can be developed in-house, but usually will require a large amount of capital. Developers should be mindful of latency, memory, compute, caching, and other factors to make sure the user experience is good.

vercel.com · 11 min

TLDR Web Dev

DISTRIBUTED == RELATIONAL

Distributed systems are naturally relational. Function invocations in distributed systems can be implemented as triggers on relational tables, where data updates trigger function executions. This model allows for efficient parallel processing, eliminates the need for manual coordination between systems, and makes writing code easier.

frest.substack.com · 7 min

TLDR Web Dev

REPAIR AND REMAIN

Instead of always seeking new beginnings, it's useful to “repair and remain” by fixing what's broken first. It's not easy to just stay put, but embracing the slow, hard work of staying put can be useful.

comment.org · 12 min

TLDR Web Dev

POSTGRES.NEW: IN-BROWSER POSTGRES WITH AN AI INTERFACE

Supabase has launched postgres.new, an in-browser Postgres sandbox with AI assistance. This tool utilizes PGlite, a WASM version of Postgres, allowing users to spin up databases directly in their browser. postgres.new also has AI-powered features, such as drag-and-drop CSV import, report generation, charting, and ER diagram creation.

supabase.com · 15 min

TLDR Web Dev

NOW IN BASELINE: ANIMATING ENTRY EFFECTS

Browser engines now support two new CSS features, `@starting-style` and `transition-behavior: allow-discrete`, that create entry animations for elements that animate from `display: none`, including those animating into the top layer.

links.tldrnewsletter.com · 5 min

TLDR Web Dev

HISTORY OF HACKERNEWS SEARCH: FROM 2007 TO 2024

This blog post chronicles the evolution of HackerNews' search functionality from its inception in 2007 to the present. It highlights three distinct generations of search engines: early independent efforts, Octopart/ThriftDB-powered HNSearch, and the current Algolia-powered system.

trieve.ai · 5 min

TLDR Web Dev

PIECING TOGETHER AN ANCIENT EPIC WAS SLOW WORK. UNTIL A.I. GOT INVOLVED

Scholars have been working for over a century to piece together the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world's oldest literary texts, from fragments of clay tablets. The task is daunting, as there are hundreds of thousands of tablets and only a handful of experts in cuneiform. However, a new AI project called Fragmentarium is accelerating the process, allowing researchers to match fragments and discover new segments of Gilgamesh at a much faster rate. This has already led to the discovery of hundreds of missing words and lines.

archive.ph · 9 min

TLDR Web Dev

HERE'S HOW PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY USING AI

AI companions may exploit emotional bonds in humans and become “addictive intelligence.” A lot of people are using AI as a companion, friend, or to act as characters. This creative usage for AI is booming, but also can be addictive, as seen in the Character.AI subreddit when the platform goes down.

technologyreview.com · 5 min

TLDR Web Dev

HTML ATTRIBUTE TO ALLOW/DISALLOW HANDWRITING INPUT

This document proposes a new HTML attribute called `handwriting` that allows web developers to control whether an element or its subtree allows handwriting input.

github.com · 7 min