The hottest Performance Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Finance Topics

Knowledge, Understanding, and Quarterbacks

Lucky Maverick • 4 implied HN points • 21 Jul 25
🎾 Sports Performance
  1. True understanding comes from being able to make correct predictions. Just knowing facts isn't enough.
  2. Most of what we think we know might actually be wrong or useless. It's important to dig deeper and understand why things are true.
  3. To really learn something, you start with wrong beliefs, investigate, and test those beliefs through predictions until you grasp the true concept.

Straight Line Crazy

Castalia • 19 implied HN points • 24 Dec 22
🎭️ Culture Performance
  1. The play 'Straight Line Crazy' talks about Robert Moses and his work but feels more like a history lesson than a dramatic performance. The characters mostly explain things to each other rather than have real conversations.
  2. Ralph Fiennes plays Robert Moses, and while the acting is good, the story seems to stick to familiar ideas and avoids taking big risks. It makes you wonder if there could be a more exciting way to tell this story.
  3. The ending gives Moses the final word, showing how he believed he was a great builder who operated outside the normal rules. His character illustrates the complex nature of vision and power in city planning.

The Breath of Performance

Neuro Athletics • 10 implied HN points • 09 Dec 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Performance
  1. Respiratory rate is an important measure of how stressed or ready someone is. Watching this number can help you understand your body's condition in real-time.
  2. Research shows that breathing more than 14-16 times a minute can mean you're more likely to feel stressed. Just one extra breath can increase stress risk by 25%.
  3. High performers can use respiratory tracking to prevent burnout and improve recovery. Paying attention to your breath might give you an edge in performing better.
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Go fix your bugs

Basta’s Notes • 40 implied HN points • 04 May 23
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. Always validate the types of values your API accepts to prevent potential security vulnerabilities.
  2. Be cautious with regular expressions to avoid performance issues like ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial of Service).
  3. Check and handle subdomains and domain name validation to prevent unexpected bugs or failures in your application.

Introducing I Might Be Wrong Komedy Klass

I Might Be Wrong • 7 implied HN points • 11 Feb 25
😂 Humor Performance
  1. Comedy is meant to be fun, not a serious career path. If you're doing it just for enjoyment, that's what counts.
  2. Taking a comedy class can be helpful, but it's not necessary. Many successful comedians never took classes at all.
  3. The new Komedy Klass is a free resource where you can share your comedy work and get positive feedback, making it a supportive space.

Database Wars, Insane SQLite Facts, Static Search Trees Optimized, & More

HackerPulse Dispatch • 8 implied HN points • 07 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. Static search trees are great for quick data searching. They are built for data that doesn't change much, making them much faster than regular search methods.
  2. AI can't build strong engineering teams on its own. Engineers need to take action and push for programs that help train and mentor new hires.
  3. SQLite is a super popular database used by millions, but it's managed by just a small team. Its simplicity and reliability make it a favorite for many applications.

Sneak peek at RISC-V RVA23(U64) profile

Fprox’s Substack • 41 implied HN points • 26 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. RISC-V profiles help prevent fragmentation by defining mandatory and optional extensions for specific needs.
  2. The upcoming RVA23 profiles introduce new mandatory extensions like Vector for data parallelism.
  3. Optional extensions in RVA23 include Vector Cryptography and support for new floating-point formats like BF16.

Feedback

Fish Food for Thought • 6 implied HN points • 26 Feb 25
💼 Business Performance
  1. Feedback can be hard to give and receive, but it’s important for growth. Creating trust and a safe environment helps people be open to it.
  2. When receiving feedback, remember to own your part in it, whether it's accurate or not. Acknowledging feedback shows you are willing to improve.
  3. Instead of yearly reviews, having ongoing, real-time feedback helps people grow faster. This new approach can lead to better performance and stronger teams.

System Design Concepts: An in-depth guide to Database sharding

Engineering At Scale • 30 implied HN points • 29 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. Database sharding splits a large dataset into chunks stored on different machines, increasing storage capacity and distributing queries for better performance.
  2. Sharding allows for high availability by avoiding a single point of failure and higher read/write throughput by distributing query load.
  3. Cost and maintenance overhead are drawbacks of sharding, and it differs from partitioning where data is stored on a single machine.

The problem with the 10,000-hour rule...

UX Psychology • 19 implied HN points • 09 Feb 22
🔬 Science Performance
  1. The 10,000-hour rule, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell, suggesting practice alone leads to expertise has been debunked by recent studies showing talent and various factors play a significant role in skill acquisition.
  2. Criticism towards the 10,000-hour rule came from meta-analyses in sports, revealing that practice only accounted for a small percentage of the difference in performance levels, emphasizing the contribution of genetics and other factors.
  3. Understanding the limits of practice is crucial as it challenges the notion that anyone can excel if they put in enough effort, and highlights that success is influenced by multiple elements beyond just practice.

It's Not You. It's Your Biochemistry

Neuro Athletics • 17 implied HN points • 11 Mar 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Performance
  1. Your physiology and biochemistry, not your circumstances, play a key role in determining your potential and performance.
  2. Optimizing recovery is crucial for reaching peak performance, reducing risks of burnout and enhancing physiological resilience.
  3. Personalized approaches that consider unique biochemical and physiological profiles are vital in unlocking individual potential for peak performance.

Train your employees

Klement on Investing • 2 implied HN points • 04 Aug 25
💼 Business Performance
  1. Middle managers play a big role in how well training programs work in companies. If they support and encourage training, employees are more likely to participate.
  2. Teams with managers who focus on training tend to perform better and have lower absenteeism, especially during tough times. Good management leads to happier and more engaged employees.
  3. Simply having a training program isn’t enough; it needs strong support from management to make a real difference in employee growth and company performance.

The real reason Manchester City was bad last season

Klement on Investing • 2 implied HN points • 01 Aug 25
🎾 Sports Performance
  1. Manchester City struggled last season partly because key players became new fathers. This change can create stress and shift priorities, impacting their performance.
  2. Studies show that when elite footballers have their first child, their performance often declines. This was evident with players like Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland.
  3. Becoming a dad not only changes personal life, but it can also physically affect the brain of a father. This can lead to issues like forgetting plays or strategies.

Power of Redis: A Deep Dive into Caching Systems

The ZenMode • 15 HN points • 10 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. Caching like Redis stores frequently used data for faster retrieval, improving response times, reducing database load, and leading to cost-effectiveness in running high-traffic applications.
  2. Redis is fast due to in-memory storage, optimized data structures, reduced I/O operations, single-threaded architecture, and event-driven design, but has limitations like limited capacity and issues with data persistence.
  3. Choosing the right caching system, like Redis, requires considering factors like data size, access patterns, consistency requirements, and fault tolerance for high availability and durability.

What John Cleese taught me about creativity

A Bit Gamey • 6 implied HN points • 24 Nov 24
🎭️ Culture Performance
  1. Creativity is a skill that anyone can learn. It's not just for naturally creative people; with practice and the right mindset, anyone can become creative.
  2. Being in an open and playful mindset helps with creativity. Taking breaks and allowing your mind to relax can lead to better ideas and problem-solving.
  3. Embracing uncertainty and not fearing mistakes is important for creativity. Taking risks can lead to original ideas and solutions.

RISC-V vector crypto spec freeze update

Fprox’s Substack • 20 implied HN points • 25 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. The RISC-V vector crypto specification has reached the frozen milestone after approval by the ARC and RVIA committee chairs.
  2. Changes include revised instructions for better integration, addition of new instructions like 'vgmul.vv', and splitting the Zvkb extension into Zvbb and Zvbc.
  3. The new Zvkt extension emphasizes data-independent timing for secure software implementations and the specification introduces meta-extensions for different cryptography suites and simplified illegal instruction conditions.

Where do LLMs spend their FLOPS?

Artificial Fintelligence • 13 implied HN points • 29 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. FLOPS in LLMs are mainly spent on computing QKV, attention output matrix, and running the FFN.
  2. Wider LLM models parallelize better and favor lower latency, while deeper models linearly increase inference time.
  3. Empirical analysis shows linear scaling in performance as LLM model dimensions increase.

Transduction of the Tragipanic

Covidian Æsthetics • 4 implied HN points • 20 Jan 25
🎨 Art & Illustration Performance
  1. Theatre is like a lab for experiences, where ideas about reality are tested in performances. It helps explore how we perceive the world around us.
  2. Cancer is a central theme in certain plays, not as a character but as a force affecting everything. It represents deeper struggles within the stories.
  3. Understanding the way these plays work requires looking for hidden meanings and connections. The stories are more complex than they first appear.

The Fall of the House of Yes

Gideon's Substack • 14 implied HN points • 01 Sep 23
🎭️ Culture Performance
  1. The play Richard II is a tricky one to stage due to its political and poetical language.
  2. The current production of Richard II at Stratford Festival portrays the title character as the king of Studio 54, engaging with a contemporary interpretation.
  3. The adaptation of the play attempts to revalue Richard as queer, Black, and fabulous, but the original flaws in the character as a king remain evident.

Will PostgreSQL switch to a Thread-based model ?

Engineering At Scale • 15 implied HN points • 24 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. PostgreSQL currently uses a process-based model for handling client connections and managing data.
  2. The process-based model offers advantages like fault isolation, security guarantees, and efficient resource management.
  3. Although there are advantages to the process-based model, the community is considering a switch to a thread-based model for PostgreSQL in the future.

A Look Back at Q1 '23 Public Cloud Software Earnings

Clouded Judgement • 12 implied HN points • 20 Jun 23
💼 Business Performance
  1. Analysis of Q1 public cloud software earnings provides insights for startup entrepreneurs on managing their businesses.
  2. Indications suggest a potential bottoming phase in the software industry with hopes for reacceleration by the year's end.
  3. Metrics such as revenue performance, growth, and sales efficiency play key roles in evaluating the success of a quarter for cloud businesses.

Fees matter, frequent fees matter more

Klement on Investing • 3 implied HN points • 14 Nov 24
💰 Finance Performance
  1. Fees are important for investors. Higher fees usually lead to lower investment returns.
  2. Frequent fees can hurt your investment more than higher overall fees. If fees are deducted often, your money has less chance to grow.
  3. Understanding how performance fees work is key. Different structures, like high-water marks or hurdle rates, can affect your overall returns significantly.

How Plugin Creep is Killing Your Editor's Performance

Wetware Snippets • 5 implied HN points • 14 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. Plugin Creep happens when you add too many plugins to your editor, slowing it down and making it harder to use. It's important to keep your editor lean for a better experience.
  2. Every plugin takes up resources, and too many can lead to crashes and conflicts. Before adding new ones, ask yourself if you really need them.
  3. To avoid problems, try using built-in features of your editor instead of installing new plugins. If you find yourself getting frustrated, consider if your editor is the right fit for your workflow.

Special #1 - SCM

Infra Weekly Newsletter • 9 implied HN points • 08 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. Source Code Management (SCM) has evolved over the years, from centralized to distributed systems like Git and Mercurial.
  2. Mercurial is known for its simplicity, ease of use, and better management of mono repositories compared to Git.
  3. Git offers benefits like widespread adoption, community support, flexibility in workflows, and better performance in certain areas.

💥 The Slow Software Paradox, Reimagining SQLite, Dev’s Viral 2K-Star Plugin, & More

ppdispatch • 2 implied HN points • 17 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. Modern software is performing worse than ever, not because computers are slow, but because developers prioritize new features over efficiency and understanding. This leads to apps taking longer to do simple tasks.
  2. A new project called Limbo is completely rewriting SQLite in Rust to be faster and more reliable. It's designed for today's tech needs and can run faster than old SQLite versions.
  3. A developer has gained huge success with a Neovim plugin made on a basic device, showing that consistent work and community engagement can lead to great results, even with low-cost tools.

Once a Maintainer: Robert Mosolgo

Once a Maintainer • 5 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. Robert Mosolgo transitioned from a background in linguistics to becoming a prolific open source maintainer and creator of the graphql-ruby gem.
  2. He got involved in open source by taking over the React-Rails gem, contributing, and eventually becoming the maintainer, showcasing the accessibility and impact of open source contributions.
  3. His journey into writing parsers for the gem led him to explore his linguistics background, bridging the gap between human language and programming language parsing.

Tailwind 4 alpha thoughts

Andrew's Substack • 4 HN points • 28 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. Tailwind 4 alpha is faster and smaller, but the impact might not be noticeable on small projects.
  2. Tailwind 4 alpha significantly reduces dependencies, making codebases easier to manage.
  3. Languages like Rust are increasingly popular for frontend tooling to maximize performance during bundling.

You can't miss a day

andrewglynch • 2 implied HN points • 04 Nov 24
🎾 Sports Performance
  1. Consistency is key to success. You need to practice regularly, even if it's just a little bit each day.
  2. Commitment is important. You can't skip practice for any reason; find a way to get it done no matter what.
  3. Small daily efforts lead to big achievements over time. A simple 30-minute practice can change your life if you stick with it for years.

A short drive around Bucharest in the Lupo

ART⋂CODE • 6 implied HN points • 26 Aug 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Performance
  1. The author has a new live performance called 'Agency of Chaos, Unmoved' that explores consciousness and AI.
  2. The Radiophrenia Festival features sound works and the author has two playing next week.
  3. A special car journey in Bucharest inspired the author's sound work and will be shared at the festival.

Saltburn (2023)

The Author Is Dumb • 4 implied HN points • 06 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Performance
  1. The film Saltburn may have flaws but watching it was a blast.
  2. Critics tend to grade films on a curve and personal preference plays a big role.
  3. Saltburn is a messy film with sexually transgressive scenes, but its weirdness and audacity make it stand out.

The investor experience with thematic funds

Klement on Investing • 3 implied HN points • 07 Feb 24
💰 Finance Performance
  1. Retail investors tend to switch between thematic funds, leading to a larger behavior gap.
  2. Trendy themes like tech result in a larger behavior gap as media influences investors.
  3. Thematic ETFs are easy to trade but cost more in performance due to frequent switching; the advice is to stick with a fund for many years.

Towards modern development of cloud applications

Engineering At Scale • 3 HN points • 26 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Performance
  1. Microservices offer advantages like scalability and fault-tolerance, but come with challenges like increased latency and management overhead.
  2. A proposed solution suggests writing monolith applications, leveraging runtime for deployments, and implementing atomic rollouts to address microservices challenges.
  3. By modularizing code into components, abstracting communication details, and managing deployment lifecycles, the solution aims to improve performance and reduce costs.