The hottest Performance optimization Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Technology Topics

Normalization is not enough anymore.

System Design Classroom • 559 implied HN points • 23 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Database Design Data processing Software Development Performance optimization Information Systems
  1. Normalization is important for organizing data and reducing redundancy, but it's not sufficient for today's data needs. We have to think beyond just following those strict rules.
  2. De-normalization can help improve performance by reducing complex joins in large datasets. Sometimes, it makes sense to duplicate data to make queries run faster.
  3. Knowing when to de-normalize is key, especially in situations like data warehousing or when read performance matters more than write performance. It's all about balancing speed and data integrity.

When Things Are Slow, Look for Queues

Push to Prod • 59 implied HN points • 13 Aug 24
🕹 Technology Software Development System Architecture Performance optimization Data Structures
  1. When a system gets slow, it’s often because of queues. Queues help manage requests but can create delays if not handled properly.
  2. Different types of queues can slow down your system, like thread pools, connection pools, and TCP queues. Keeping these optimized can improve performance.
  3. Using thread dumps can help identify problems in your system. They can show which threads are blocked and help you fix the slowdowns.

I spent 5 hours understanding more about the Delta Lake table format

VuTrinh. • 179 implied HN points • 04 May 24
🕹 Technology Data Engineering Database Performance optimization Software Development
  1. Delta Lake is designed to solve problems with traditional cloud object storage. It provides ACID transactions, making data operations like updates and deletions safe and reliable.
  2. Using Delta Lake, data is stored in Apache Parquet format, allowing for efficient reading and writing. The system tracks changes through a transaction log, which keeps everything organized and easy to manage.
  3. Delta Lake supports advanced features like time travel, allowing users to see and revert to past versions of data. This makes it easier to recover from mistakes and manage data over time.

How VTEX improved the shopper experience with Amazon DynamoDB

VTEX’s Tech Blog • 119 implied HN points • 16 Apr 24
🕹 Technology E-commerce Cloud Computing Data Management System Architecture Performance optimization
  1. VTEX improved their shopping cart system by switching from Amazon S3 to Amazon DynamoDB. This change was made to enhance speed and make the shopping experience better for users.
  2. They faced challenges because some shopping cart items were too large for DynamoDB's limits. To fix this, they reduced the data size and created a process to store bigger items separately in S3.
  3. After gradually migrating to DynamoDB, VTEX achieved a 30% reduction in shopping cart API latency. This helped their overall efficiency and improved customer satisfaction.

Improving Security Data Lake Efficiency with Log Filtering

Detection at Scale • 119 implied HN points • 08 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Security Data Management Cost Optimization Performance optimization
  1. Security teams can optimize SIEM costs and improve data management by filtering logs effectively before they are ingested into the system. Filtering can enhance security data lake efficiency, reducing unnecessary costs and improving overall data quality.
  2. Starting with clear intentions and asking key questions about data value, cost constraints, and threat visibility can help in creating a comprehensive and cost-efficient log filtering program.
  3. Filtering at various stages - source, in transit, and within the SIEM itself - allows security teams to reduce storage costs, optimize performance, improve data quality, and enhance the relevance of collected logs.
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SAI #26: Partitioning and Bucketing in Spark (Part 1)

SwirlAI Newsletter • 373 implied HN points • 15 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Data Engineering Big Data Performance optimization Data Storage Data processing
  1. Partitioning and bucketing are two key data distribution techniques in Spark.
  2. Partitioning helps improve performance by allowing skipping reading the entire dataset when only a part is needed.
  3. Bucketing is beneficial for collocating data and avoiding shuffling in operations like joins and groupBys.

Live Session on Performance Optimization Using 1BRC as a Case Study

Confessions of a Code Addict • 360 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Coding Performance optimization Live session Software Development Programming Languages
  1. The live session focuses on learning to analyze and reason about code performance through iterative optimization using 1BRC as a case study.
  2. Attendees will explore various topics including performance profiling with flamegraphs, I/O strategies, and leveraging SIMD instructions.
  3. Prerequisites include a few years of coding experience in languages like C, C++, Java, or others, with a specific focus on Java during the session.

Thundering Herd Problem and addressing it with randomness

Arpit’s Newsletter • 157 implied HN points • 22 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Networking Server Management Randomness Performance optimization
  1. Thundering Herd Problem can overwhelm a server when multiple clients retry requests simultaneously.
  2. Exponential Backoff introduces delays between retries to give servers breathing space and time to recover.
  3. Adding randomness (Jitter) to retry intervals helps distribute retries and avoid coinciding, easing the server load.

Optimizing Performance: How Our Extension Became Lightning Fast

Casca’s Substack • 59 implied HN points • 19 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Performance optimization Web Development User Experience
  1. Casca Extension prioritizes speed for a smooth user experience and optimized resource usage.
  2. They utilized technologies like React, Tailwind, and IndexedDB to enhance performance.
  3. Strategies like optimizing images, dealing with slow requests, and minimizing re-renders helped make the extension faster and more efficient.

Performing Multiple LLM Calls & Voting On The Best Result Are Subject To Scaling Laws

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 19 implied HN points • 19 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Data science Systems Design Performance optimization
  1. Making more calls to Large Language Models (LLMs) can help with simple questions but may actually make it harder to answer tough ones.
  2. Finding the right number of calls to use is crucial for getting the best results from LLMs in different tasks.
  3. It's important to design AI systems carefully, as just increasing the number of calls doesn't always mean better performance.

Ansible Tips and Tricks

Certo Modo • 19 implied HN points • 03 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Security Automation Performance optimization
  1. Organize your Ansible files by following a recommended directory structure. This helps keep things structured and manageable as your project grows.
  2. Avoid putting secrets like credentials directly into variable files. Use Ansible Vault to encrypt sensitive information, maintaining security.
  3. Utilize tools like Ansible-Lint for verifying playbook syntax, and the --check option in ansible-playbook for 'dry-runs' to catch errors before affecting production.

TypeScript 5.5 release candidate

Andrew's Substack • 2 HN points • 09 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Programming Typescript Performance optimization
  1. TypeScript 5.5 introduces inferred type predicates, improving variable type tracking through code, even when dealing with undefined values.
  2. Control flow narrowing for constant indexed access in TypeScript 5.5 allows for safer type handling when accessing object properties.
  3. TypeScript 5.5 now supports type imports in JSDoc, making it easier to import types for type-checking in JavaScript files.

High Performance Swift Apps

Jacob’s Tech Tavern • 2 HN points • 04 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Programming Performance optimization Mobile Apps
  1. Testing on a real device to identify user-facing problems is crucial for improving app performance.
  2. Profiling the app using Instruments to identify bottlenecks and implementing targeted code improvements based on the findings can significantly enhance performance.
  3. Improving processing speed, utilizing parallelism, and optimizing code to run earlier during app launch are key strategies for enhancing the performance of Swift apps.

Normalizing User Data

ciamweekly • 2 HN points • 26 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Data Modeling Normalization Performance optimization
  1. Data modeling involves the choice between normalizing data and using denormalized data, each with its own strengths and tradeoffs.
  2. Normalized data leads to less data duplication and easier data updates, but may result in challenges with historical data and performance.
  3. CIAM systems, along with IAM and directory systems, normalize user data to centralize customer information, providing benefits like easy querying and centralized authentication, but also introducing challenges like session handling and updating data across systems.

Resizing the Mac App Store: a tale of regret & redemption

awesomekling • 3 HN points • 19 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Software Development Performance optimization
  1. Performance optimization involves investigating and addressing subsystems like layout, style recalculation, and JavaScript execution.
  2. Efforts to optimize can lead to useful general optimizations, not just specific to the initial use case.
  3. Facing challenges and learning from failures can lead to growth and eventual success in overcoming technical hurdles.

Leveraging Kubernetes Itself as a Security Tool with Moving Target Defense

Phoenix Substack • 1 HN point • 12 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Kubernetes Automation Performance optimization
  1. Kubernetes can be used as a security tool with Moving Target Defense to improve security posture.
  2. Implementing Moving Target Defense (MTD) involves constantly changing the attack surface to make it harder for attackers to find vulnerabilities.
  3. Organizations should consider critical assets, best security practices, and automation to effectively implement MTD in Kubernetes.

😎 21 Years of Notepad++; Modules Vs. Microservices

ppdispatch • 0 implied HN points • 05 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Coding Practices Open Source Performance optimization Software Architecture
  1. Notepad++ has been a reliable text editor for 21 years, helping developers and writers with its user-friendly features and community-driven support.
  2. Linus Torvalds has made a small update to the Linux kernel that improves its performance by 2.6%, showing that even tiny changes can have a big impact.
  3. Microservices might not be as new as they seem; their benefits have roots in older technologies, and while they support independent development, they also introduce challenges in communication.

The Journey with O2X Human Performance

The Healthtech Initiative • 0 implied HN points • 09 Nov 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Well-being Performance optimization Leadership
  1. Paul McCullough's journey showcases dedication, perseverance, and commitment to human potential and well-being.
  2. Paul's experience in the Navy SEALs emphasizes the importance of teamwork, leadership through action, and setting high standards.
  3. O2X Human Performance focuses on holistic well-being, performance optimization, and enhancing initiatives for tactical athletes.

Mastering Data at Scale: A Young Professional's Guide to Partitioning and Replication

DataSketch’s Substack • 0 implied HN points • 29 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Data Management Database Systems Information Architecture Data Structures Performance optimization
  1. Partitioning is like organizing a library into sections, making it easier to find information. It helps speed up searches and makes handling large amounts of data simpler.
  2. Replication means making copies of important data, like having extra copies of popular books in a library. This ensures data is safe and can be accessed quickly.
  3. Using strategies like hashing and range-based partitioning allows for better performance and scalability of data systems. This means your data can grow without slowing things down.

Data Replication 101: Strategies for Performance, Availability, and DR

DataSketch’s Substack • 0 implied HN points • 21 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Data Systems Database Management Performance optimization Cloud Computing Disaster Recovery
  1. Data replication creates multiple copies of data to ensure it is always available and resilient against failures. This means if one server goes down, others can still keep running smoothly.
  2. There are different strategies for data replication like master-slave and multi-master setups. Each one has its own benefits, especially when it comes to how they handle read and write operations.
  3. Monitoring and tuning your replication setup is essential. By keeping an eye on performance and any issues, businesses can make sure their data systems run efficiently and reliably.

Mojo🔥Steals the Show

Sector 6 | The Newsletter of AIM • 0 implied HN points • 13 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Programming Artificial Intelligence Software Development Machine Learning Performance optimization
  1. Mojo is a new programming language that combines the user-friendliness of Python with the speed of C and CUDA. Developers can now download it and see great results.
  2. A developer named Aydyn Tairov got a significant performance boost using Mojo, proving it can be faster than traditional C implementations.
  3. Mojo is designed to work with Python and aims to be even better for AI tasks by significantly increasing performance—up to 68,000 times faster than Python!

Choosing the Right SQL Technique to Transform Your Data Analysis

DataSketch’s Substack • 0 implied HN points • 24 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Data science Database Management Data Analysis Performance optimization
  1. CTEs help make complex queries easier to read and are good for breaking down hierarchical data. But be careful not to use them too much, as they can slow things down.
  2. Subqueries are useful for filtering and aggregating data, but they can be hard to read and slow if used in a complicated way. They work best for specific tasks in a query.
  3. Temporary views are great for creating reusable logic that only lasts for the session. However, they can't be used outside of that session, so plan accordingly.