TLDR WEB DEV 2024-08-26

JS DATES ARE ABOUT TO BE FIXED

The Temporal API in JavaScript offers a new approach to handling time with the Temporal.ZonedDateTime object, which accurately represents dates and times with their corresponding time zones. This addresses the limitations of JavaScript's Date object, which doesn't capture the nuances of human-readable dates and the impact of time zones and daylight savings time. The new API introduces a standardized format for representing zoned dates and times, allowing developers to work with different calendars and time zones easily.

POSTGRES AS A SEARCH ENGINE

PostgreSQL can be used as a search engine. Combining full-text search, semantic search with pgvector and fuzzy matching with pg_trgm makes PostgreSQL a good-enough search engine for a majority of use cases. This article goes into more advanced techniques to personalized search experiences, adjust for document length, debug rankings, and more.

CORS IS STUPID

CORS is a flawed attempt to address the security issue of implicit credentials being used in cross-origin requests. While it does prevent some forms of data theft, it fails to prevent malicious requests that can manipulate data, such as transferring money from a user's account. A more effective approach is to ignore implicit credentials altogether on cross-origin requests, allowing only explicitly authenticated requests with a secure authorization header.

THE 3 BIG MISTAKES THAT ALMOST COST ME MY PROMOTION (AND HOW YOU CAN AVOID THEM)

Software engineers make some common mistakes when trying to get promoted. They sometimes fall for the “Promotion Donut” trap, where focusing solely on next-level responsibilities leads to neglecting current duties. While it's true “what got you here won't get you there,” you still have to do “what got you here” while also performing at the next level. Additionally, engineers need to make sure they have a supportive manager and fully understand their company's leveling system.

BIG TECH VS STARTUPS (FOR NEW GRADS)

For new graduates, working at a big tech company for the first 1-3 years provides a solid foundation for career growth and skill development, offering better average outcomes compared to starting at a startup. However, startups give a chance for more “outlier” outcomes compared to Big Tech.

CHARTDB

ChartDB is a powerful, web-based database diagramming editor. It can be used to visualize database schemas with a single "Smart Query,” customize diagrams, and export SQL scripts.

FUITE

Fuite is a CLI tool that detects memory leaks in web applications by simulating user interactions, analyzing heap snapshots, and identifying leaked objects, event listeners, and DOM nodes.

TRANSFORMERS.RB

transformers.rb is a Ruby gem that provides state-of-the-art transformer models for natural language processing tasks, such as sentence embeddings, question answering, and sentiment analysis.

IS TELEGRAM REALLY AN ENCRYPTED MESSAGING APP?

Telegram, while technically using encryption, doesn't offer end-to-end encryption by default. Users must manually activate "Secret Chats" for individual conversations, a feature that is difficult to find and use, which means that a vast majority of Telegram conversations are visible to Telegram servers. Furthermore, while end-to-end encryption is valuable for protecting message content, it doesn't address the broader issue of metadata collection.

CREATE CALENDAR ENTRIES WITH ANTHROPIC CLAUDE 3.5

This developer used Anthropic Claude 3.5 to create calendar entries from a schedule image. He first asked Claude to identify the dates outlined in green on the image and then asked it to generate an iCalendar file (ICS) for those dates. Claude successfully created the ICS file, which the developer then imported into Google Calendar.

DATABASE “SHARDING” CAME FROM ULTIMA ONLINE?

AUTOMATING CACHE INVALIDATION WITH CLOUDFLARE API

This article describes how Cloudflare Cache can improve website performance by enabling features like Tiered Cache, Cache Reserve, and carefully crafted cache rules.

LIDL'S CLOUD GAMBIT: EUROPE'S SHIFT TO SOVEREIGN COMPUTING

Lidl, a European grocery chain, is challenging major cloud providers like AWS by launching its own sovereign cloud platform, Schwarz Digits, to meet the growing European demand for data privacy and control within EU borders.

SCROLL SNAP EVENTS

Chrome 129 will introduce two new JavaScript events: scrollSnapChange and scrollSnapChanging.