What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble’s Surprising Turnaround? –I was in a Barnes and Nobel again after many years. Actually many years before that I would go to a B&N more than once a week. Then between Amazon and terrible inventories at B&N and Kindle and Nook I stopped going. Then a few weeks ago I visited one and it was a revelation. I had a great time browsing books and books and books. Great article:”Digital platforms are struggling, meanwhile a 136-year-old book retailer is growing again. But why?”
TSPSIs and How I Write –Useful advice and framework for structuring your academic or technical writing. Author says: “TL;DR: Writing about writing and having written, and self-referentiality. Complementary musings on AI.”
A Nibble of Geohashes in Go – by Kurt – Get Code –This is a really cool algorithm that i never heard of. Also geohashes are not too hard to compute and have very useful and unteresting properties. the concept of a z-order curve is explained. That too is a useful model and concept. The author says: “Latitude and longitude as a locality-preserving string.”
huginn/huginn: Create agents that monitor and act on your behalf. –Interesting package although I don’t have a use for it yet. It’s your own IFTTT built for geeks that you run on your ownn server. It’s got no UI to speak of. On the other hand, it has a sophisticated way to create logic around events and is extensible and open source.
GPS – Bartosz Ciechanowski –GPS is an amazing, complex and super interesting technology. People have a vague understanding that it involves satelites and so on. But there is so much more to it! Interactive article explaining how GPS works.
Bottlenecks of Scaleups –Common bottlenecks that prevent startups from scaling as quickly as they should. Thoughtworks always has good deep insight about software engineering. This too is an interesting series.
An Introduction to Ractors in Ruby | AppSignal Blog –I read and heard about Ractors in ruby. This article demystifies them. My evaluation: Ractors are a safer alternative to Threads. I’m sure thats a massive oversimplification and even incorrect in a way. But for me I need a simple hook to hang the concept onto! The author says: “Discover when and why you should use ractors, and build a ractor in Ruby.”
rails/docked: Running Rails from Docker for easy start to development –This is not a new thing by a long shot. But thw fact that it is published by dhh is a big deal imo. For me it assures me to some extent that it is “correct” and that it will be maintained. From author: “Running Rails from Docker for easy start to development – rails/docked: Running Rails from Docker for easy start to development”
Use Postgres for everything! –Insights about simplifying your architecture. Wow! Using postgres instead of REDIS? This flies in the face of what I thought I understood! Author: “Startups use too much technology. My advice: Use Postgres for everything”
Welcome to Talking Points for Life –Too many people are left wandering through Reddit threads and Quora posts looking for advice on what to say. Communication is tricky. We all bring our own biases, emotions and histories to the table. This site will help you navigate those tricky subjects, allowing you to build healthier and happier relationships.
Radical Simplicity in Technology | Join the movement –For me, a very provocative set of arguments. Novel insights on how to remove complexity. Or recognizing that you may not need that additional service or technology. The author: “Radical Simplicity is a startup development method to make development faster and more fun that plays well with lean startups”
Coding Interview Preparation | Codinginterview –A very interesting overview of companies and their spproach yo coding interviews. Good if youre applying for a job there. But also good if you are designing your interview process. Author says: “Take the guesswork out of coding interviews with codinginterview.com. Explore comprehensive guides to hack the process at top companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, and more “
The Case for Models | Concerning Quality –An interesting idea, model based testing. The aurhor says: “Again, I’m writing about models because I have a deep desire to keep software minimal. While I don’t think it’s wrong to simply buckle up and deal with the complexity and raw magnitude of implementations as many of us do, that’s just not the path that I find appealing intuitively.”
ChatGPT Can’t Kill Anything Worth Preserving –If you, like many, is fascinated and trying to figure out what ChatGPT (and whatever comes next) means, this is a good article: “If an algorithm is the death of high school English, maybe that’s an okay thing.”