The hottest Software Design Substack posts right now

Monitoring systems are designed to determine whether something is working or not, and the concept of what is considered "working" can vary based on parameters defined by the system operators.
When designing a monitoring system, it's crucial to understand what is being monitored and to keep the definition of "working" arbitrary to prevent limitations.
A monitoring system consists of components like the Monitor, which contains the logic for monitoring and responding to the status of the system being observed.

Developers often face challenges with creating reports in a way that handles various requests efficiently.
Every report consists of data records, data values, labels, and format, which are essential components to consider.
The steps to generate a report involve setting up parameters, fetching records, mapping fields, converting records into report entries, and sending back the report to the user.

Plugins allow you to extend the functionality of a program by writing subprograms that can modify or add to its behavior.
To create a plugin system, the main program needs to be designed to support plugins, enabling the addition of various functionalities.
Key components of a basic plugin system include the main program that needs enhancement and the hook that triggers the execution of additional code.

Building a dynamic heatmap for personal projects can be cost-effective and rewarding instead of purchasing licenses from charting companies.
Heatmaps, also known as chloropeths, involve color-coding sections of a map based on a specific scale.
Creating a customized heatmap requires a map SVG, coding to manipulate the map with JavaScript, and organizing data for efficient color application.

Separating deploys from releases can help reduce risk and streamline the development process by allowing code to be sent to production without being immediately visible to users.
Feature flags are a useful tool for enabling or disabling features in software based on specific conditions, and they should not be used for account-specific authorization checks.
When transitioning to a new feature flag system, focusing on separating reads and writes can provide a smoother migration process and reduce the risk of errors or discrepancies between different systems.

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Rules engines can help prevent constant interruptions in engineering work by allowing other departments to make changes without engineer involvement
Rules engines are systems that execute actions based on conditions that can be configured during runtime, making them dynamic and adaptable
Using rules engines can reduce the fragility of concrete coding implementations, enabling easier modifications as business requirements evolve

When designing a system for image uploading, it's important to consider technical concerns such as displaying, authorizing, validating, processing, storing, and associating the images.
Tradeoffs to think about include scaling to handle large uploads efficiently, ensuring security to prevent vulnerabilities, managing authorization based on business logic, and maintaining consistency in the image uploading workflow.
A well-designed image uploading system should support creating and using various image variants, offloading processing to separate services, ensuring consistent growth across subsystems, and establishing clear architectural boundaries for scalability.

When designing software, consider implementing a tagging system for ordering, filtering, grouping, and organizing records based on properties.
Using comma-separated strings in a single database column for tags is simple but leads to difficulties in querying, formatting errors, and length limitations.
Storing tags in separate columns might seem organized, but it can complicate querying and checking for the existence of tags across multiple columns.

Focus on working on projects that inspire you and are beyond your current skill set to grow faster and gain more experience.
The Adapter design pattern in programming acts as a bridge between incompatible interfaces, allowing for cleaner code, quicker development, and flexibility.
To excel in software development, we should strive to work on challenging tasks, be open to learning from others, and not fear pushing beyond our comfort zones.

Progressive enhancement means creating websites that work well without JavaScript first, and then adding more features for those who do have it. This approach helps make sites more accessible for everyone.
Using native HTML elements in progressive enhancement leads to simpler code, which means less client-side state management and easier overall development.
It often results in better performance since the browser handles more tasks. Less JavaScript code can lead to faster and more focused functionality in applications.

Naming practices in PHP are important for clear and maintainable code. Using meaningful names helps others understand your code better.
PHP 8.4 will introduce Property Hooks, which let you customize behavior for specific properties. This feature can enhance how your code functions without breaking existing parts.
Understanding core PHP concepts is crucial for being proficient. Key topics include syntax, error handling, and data types, which all help in writing better PHP code.