TLDR Web DevMay 22, 2024

TLDR WEB DEV 2024-05-22

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01ARTICLES & TUTORIALS

HOW SLACK BUILT A DISTRIBUTED CRON EXECUTION SYSTEM FOR SCALE

Slack initially relied on cron jobs for its notification system but found it hard to scale. To address this, its team developed a new cron execution service using Go and Kubernetes for scalability and a leader-follower architecture for simplified synchronization and rapid failover. This service offloads resource-intensive tasks to a job queue, using Kafka for durability and Redis for efficient dispatch to worker nodes, and tracks job execution with a Vitess table for deduplication and monitoring.

open.substack.com8 min read

AVOID THE LONG PARAMETER LIST

Long parameter lists in functions can be hard to understand and maintain. Instead, it's better to create value objects that group related parameters into a single object. This makes the function calls simpler and makes the code more maintainable.

testing.googleblog.com2 min read

02OPINIONS & ADVICE

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 for getting better at writing clear code, along with an anecdote about the difficulties of writing clear code and an email about coding style from John Carmack.

read.engineerscodex.com5 min read

I WANT FLEXIBLE QUERIES, NOT RAG

This author is against the hype around RAG, which is used to help LLMs generate references alongside its answers. Instead, they believe that the flexible queries of LLMs are more valuable and prefer direct access to the relevant information.

win-vector.com2 min read

WHY YOU SHOULD SAY NO MORE OFTEN

Saying no can help you prioritize your most important work and avoid overcommitting. Say yes to things that energize you and ask yourself if you would still be excited about the opportunity if it were happening tomorrow. If you're still unsure, defer the decision by asking the person to follow up later.

open.substack.com7 min read

03LAUNCHES & TOOLS

DEVELOP LOCALLY, DEPLOY GLOBALLY WITH VULTR CLOUD COMPUTE

Vultr offers developers powerful cloud compute across 30+ locations and an easy-to-use one-click marketplace [10] - all at an affordable, predictable price. Users save up to 90% in bandwidth charges when they switch from AWS. Claim $200 in Vultr credit when you sign up today [11]!

vultr.comSponsor

OPENPANEL

Openpanel is an analytics tool for logging events on the web, mobile, and backend. It allows developers to visualize their data, create dashboards, access all events and visitors, and self-host the application.

github.comGitHub repository

DESKPAD

DeskPad is a virtual monitor application for Mac that creates a mirrored display within its window, making for easier screen sharing and providing a dedicated workspace for users.

github.comGitHub repository

PLS FIX

pls fix is a marketplace that connects verified Big Tech employees with people looking for help to unlock their accounts that may have gotten banned or locked unfairly.

plsfix.coTool

04MISCELLANEOUS

UI DENSITY

UI density is more than just visual clutter, it's about the amount of information an interface conveys over time. Dense interfaces should take into account temporal density (how quickly a user can complete tasks) and value density (whether the design leads to valuable outcomes).

matthewstrom.com20 min read

TAKING RISK

UK graduates from top universities tend to favor stable jobs over riskier startup ventures. This is probably due to a cultural difference, with the US embracing a more positive-sum mindset towards risk and business growth.

tomblomfield.com10 min read

BUILDING AN AI GAME STUDIO: WHAT WE'VE LEARNED SO FAR

Braindump is an AI game studio that lets users build top-down/2.5D games by typing prompts. It allows users to define units, abilities, and attributes, as well as populate the game map with objects and create game rules. Two challenges in building AI games were designing an intuitive user interface for prompting the AI and creating a streamlined "game API" that provides enough structure for the LLM to focus on filling in code and data.

braindump.me11 min read