The hottest Software Development Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

The Weasel Speaks • 157 implied HN points • 27 May 23
🕹 Technology AI Automation Software Development Generative models
  1. Agile has three main views in the industry: it doesn't work, it's taking away jobs, it accelerates value to customers.
  2. Technological disruptions often make people feel like their jobs are in jeopardy.
  3. AI stirs opinions: it's criticized for not working, it's accused of taking jobs, yet it can accelerate learning and revolutionize work.

Quo vadis, Data Open source

timo's substack • 157 implied HN points • 03 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Data Community Business strategy Software Development
  1. Snowplow, dbt, Rudderstack, and Iceberg are examples of open-source data tools each with unique characteristics.
  2. Open-source data tools face challenges in transitioning to successful go-to-market strategies.
  3. Companies need to focus on identifying customer pain points and developing experience-changing solutions in their GTM strategy.

DSA For The Rest Of Us - Part 1

Data Engineering Central • 157 implied HN points • 13 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Data Engineering Data Structures Software Development Rust Programming
  1. Understanding Data Structures and Algorithms is important for becoming a better engineer, even if you may not use them daily.
  2. Linked Lists are a linear data structure where elements are not stored contiguously in memory but are linked using pointers.
  3. Creating a simple Linked List in Rust involves defining nodes with values and pointers to other nodes, creating a LinkedList to hold these nodes, and then linking them to form a chain.

Data Science Weekly - Issue 496

Data Science Weekly Newsletter • 259 implied HN points • 26 May 23
🕹 Technology Data science Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Software Development Data Visualization
  1. AI has great potential to improve our lives but also comes with risks if misused. It's important to balance optimism and caution.
  2. Tools like Copilot in Power BI make it easier for users to analyze and visualize data by allowing them to communicate their needs in plain language.
  3. The concept of the 'Curse of Dimensionality' shows that sometimes having too much data can confuse models instead of helping them make better predictions.

The Tech Buffet #22: Why You Should Consider Weaviate As Your Ultimate Vector Database

The Tech Buffet • 39 implied HN points • 23 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Machine Learning Data science Software Development Database Management AI Applications
  1. Weaviate is a powerful vector database that helps in creating advanced AI applications. It's useful for managing large amounts of data and performing semantic searches efficiently.
  2. When working with Weaviate, you can easily load and index data, allowing for quick access to information. This makes it easier to build systems that need to handle a lot of data quickly.
  3. Weaviate supports different search methods like vector search, keyword search, and hybrid search. This way, you can find the most relevant results based on your needs.
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Tech Talks Weekly #8 ☀️ ☀️ ☀️

Tech Talks Weekly • 59 implied HN points • 29 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Conferences Security Software Development Tech Talks Online Education
  1. This issue highlights exciting new tech talks from major conferences like NDC Security and GOTO. It's a great way to learn about current trends in technology.
  2. There is a focus on security, with talks discussing topics like passkeys and the future of cookies. These topics are important for anyone interested in cybersecurity.
  3. The newsletter encourages sharing it with friends and colleagues to build a community around tech talks. Also, there's a form available for people to share their interests to improve content.

HCF EP 005: Cursor based pagination

Hasen Judi • 35 implied HN points • 04 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Software Development Web Development Data Storage Programming User Interface
  1. Cursor-based pagination lets you skip to the next set of results easily. It's better for large lists because it doesn't waste time reading and ignoring lots of entries.
  2. This method is more stable, as it remembers where you left off even if there are changes to the list. It's like using a bookmark to continue reading later.
  3. However, it has some downsides, like not being able to jump to a specific page directly, which might be less convenient for users wanting to skip ahead quickly.

Your Feature is Not a Product

Nathan’s Substack • 79 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Product Development Artificial Intelligence Tech industry Software Development User Experience
  1. A common mistake is mistaking a feature for a product, leading to incomplete solutions in the market.
  2. Customers care more about how a product solves their problem, rather than the specific technology used.
  3. Start with the customer experience and work back to the technology when designing products, a lesson exemplified by Steve Jobs.

U.S. Cyber Trust Mark

Resilient Cyber • 79 implied HN points • 24 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Consumer Products Software Development
  1. The U.S. Cyber Trust Mark is a new program that helps consumers identify smart devices that are safer from cyber attacks. It's like an energy efficiency label but for cybersecurity.
  2. This program helps manufacturers create standards that make devices both secure and easy to sell internationally. It aims to solve problems that come from different security rules across countries.
  3. Consumers need better information when buying tech products because many devices, especially IoT ones, can pose security risks. The labeling will educate consumers on the safety of their purchases.

Tech Talks Weekly #13 🎉

Tech Talks Weekly • 39 implied HN points • 09 May 24
🕹 Technology Conferences Software Development Programming Talks Tech community
  1. This week features many interesting talks from various tech conferences like Devoxx Greece and React Miami. You can find updates on programming languages and system design insights.
  2. There's a call to help improve the content by filling out a quick survey. Sharing feedback can enhance the experience for everyone involved.
  3. The newsletter highlights a selection of must-watch talks from recent events. It's a great way to stay informed about the latest trends and ideas in tech.

The Tech Buffet #6: Why Your RAG is Not Reliable in Production

The Tech Buffet • 139 implied HN points • 10 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Machine Learning Software Development Artificial Intelligence Data science System Design
  1. RAG systems can produce impressive results but require careful tuning to be reliable in real-world applications. Just copying and pasting code won't necessarily work for complex use cases.
  2. Understanding the RAG framework is important, as it involves various components like data loaders, splitters, and embedding models. Each part plays a crucial role in generating accurate answers.
  3. Using frameworks like LangChain can simplify the process of prototyping RAG systems, but they still need thoughtful configuration to function effectively in production.

Data Science Weekly - Issue 495

Data Science Weekly Newsletter • 239 implied HN points • 19 May 23
🕹 Technology Data science Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Natural Language Software Development
  1. Absence of evidence can often serve as strong evidence of absence, and this idea can be explored with Bayesian methods.
  2. Natural language processing is being used to analyze global supply chains, helping create networks from news articles.
  3. It's crucial to understand the unique challenges and opportunities in personalizing search results, as seen with Netflix's approach.

GitHub ❤ India ❤ Open Source

Sector 6 | The Newsletter of AIM • 19 implied HN points • 12 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Open Source AI Community Engagement
  1. By 2027, India is expected to have the largest software developer community in the world, surpassing the United States.
  2. India's open-source community is vibrant, with many developers actively contributing to global projects rather than just consuming open source.
  3. The identity of a developer does not matter in open source; what's important is their ability to contribute, which is seen in India's diverse community.

Console #162 - Interview with Michal of Keycloak - Open Source Identity and Access Management

Console • 354 implied HN points • 18 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Software Development Interview Community
  1. Keycloak is an Open Source Identity and Access Management solution for modern applications and services.
  2. Keycloak receives extensive community contributions, aiding its evolution and features.
  3. Contributing to Keycloak involves hands-on experience, writing relevant tests, and engaging with the issue tracker.

Data Science Weekly - Issue 488

Data Science Weekly Newsletter • 279 implied HN points • 30 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Data science Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Software Development Data Visualization
  1. This week's newsletter features discussions on AI and its potential risks, highlighting different viewpoints on the future of technology.
  2. Career development in data science is important. There are resources and talks from experts that focus on skills that help you succeed in this field.
  3. New updates in the Tidyverse can improve your coding experience in data science, making it easier and more efficient to work with data.

Do Developers Dream of Google Zanzibar?

Permit.io’s Substack • 39 implied HN points • 12 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Open Source Software Development Access Control Cloud Computing
  1. Open-source licenses are changing, and companies are finding it hard to balance fairness and sustainability. This is an important topic in the tech community.
  2. Google Zanzibar is a powerful tool for managing user access and permissions across many applications. It has changed how developers think about authorization systems.
  3. Different authorization models exist, like RBAC and ABAC, but Google Zanzibar offers a simpler, more effective way to handle permissions, especially in large environments.

Using Fine-Tuning To Imbed Hidden Messages In Language Models

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 19 implied HN points • 10 Jun 24
🕹 Technology AI NLP Machine Learning Language Models Software Development
  1. You can hide secret messages in language models by fine-tuning them with specific trigger phrases. Only the right phrase will reveal the hidden message.
  2. This method can help identify which model is being used and ensure that developers follow licensing rules. It provides a way to track model authenticity.
  3. The unique triggers make it hard for others to guess them, keeping the hidden messages secure. This technique also protects against attacks that try to extract the hidden information.

GroupBy #30: Uber- How LedgerStore Supports Trillions of Indexes, Composable Data Systems: Lessons from Apache Calcite Success

VuTrinh. • 39 implied HN points • 09 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Data Engineering Data Analysis Software Development Cloud Computing Machine Learning
  1. LedgerStore at Uber can handle trillions of indexes, making it a powerful tool for managing large-scale data efficiently.
  2. Apache Calcite helps build flexible data systems with strong query optimization features, which are vital for many data applications.
  3. Spotify's data platform plays a critical role in their operations, guiding how to build effective data systems in organizations.

Bi-Weekly Notes

Rethinking Software • 49 implied HN points • 18 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Agile Methodology Team Collaboration Project management
  1. Agile is all about being flexible and responding to changes quickly, rather than trying to predict everything in advance. It helps teams deal with unexpected challenges effectively.
  2. Good teamwork means collaborating and helping each other out. If you get stuck on a project, it’s important to ask your teammates for support instead of trying to figure everything out alone.
  3. Building software is unpredictable, so it’s best not to set strict deadlines and feature lists. Trying to rush or add more people won't necessarily speed things up, and can often make things worse.

What Is SwiGLU? How to Implement It? And Why Does it Work?

Aziz et al. Paper Summaries • 59 implied HN points • 13 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Software Development Neural Networks Deep Learning
  1. SwiGLU is a type of activation function used in deep learning. It's a mix of two parts: the Swish function and Gated Linear Units, which helps models learn better patterns.
  2. To implement SwiGLU, you can use a straightforward code in Pytorch that combines linear transformations with the Swish function. This makes it easier for neural networks to handle complex data.
  3. The exact reason why SwiGLU works so well is not fully understood yet. Researchers are still exploring why this approach gives better results in certain models.

AI is Racing Forward – on a Very Long Road

Am I Stronger Yet? • 15 implied HN points • 12 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Automation Software Development Data science
  1. AI is making rapid progress, but it is not close to achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). Many tasks still require human capabilities, showing that there is still a long way to go.
  2. Current AIs excel at specific tasks but struggle with complex, nuanced tasks that require extensive context or emotional intelligence, like managing a classroom or writing a novel.
  3. While there are exciting advancements happening with AI, the journey towards true intelligence is more like crossing a vast ocean than a quick sprint, suggesting that there are many challenges ahead.

Developing the Arx General Intelligence System

Applied General Intelligence • 2 HN points • 04 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Software Development Machine Learning Research & Development Benchmarking
  1. The Arx system is a new type of AI being developed to go beyond current technology like Large Language Models. It's designed to better understand, reason, and explain complex ideas.
  2. Arx-0.3 recently achieved a high score on the MMLU-Pro benchmark, proving its capability in solving multi-step problems and reasoning.
  3. The team plans to continue improving Arx and aims to roll it out to selected testers in the future, hoping to create a trusted intelligence system.

The ChatGPT dinner that changed everything for Bill Gates.

Jon’s Newsletter • 239 implied HN points • 26 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Software Development Innovation Tech industry Future Trends
  1. Bill Gates was really impressed by a demo of OpenAI's technology, calling it stunning. He believes we are entering a new era of AI that is as significant as the early Internet.
  2. Gates is now more involved with Microsoft’s AI projects, even though he stepped back from day-to-day roles in the company years ago. He is helping to guide the direction of AI innovations.
  3. Gates compared the recent demo to a groundbreaking experience he had in the 1980s with a new computer interface. He sees the current advancements in AI as a huge step forward for technology, much like those early developments.

Deep Dive: Akash Network

DeFi Education • 579 implied HN points • 05 Jun 22
🕹 Technology Cloud Computing Decentralization Marketplace Open Source Software Development
  1. Akash is a decentralized cloud computing platform that allows users to deploy applications easily. This gives people more control compared to traditional cloud services.
  2. It has a marketplace where buyers and sellers can exchange cloud computing resources. This makes it easier for users to find the services they need.
  3. Using Akash can be more cost-effective than popular centralized cloud providers like Amazon AWS or Google Cloud. This can save users money when they need cloud services.

Quality Engineering Basics: Incident Reports

QUALITY BOSS • 39 implied HN points • 05 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Quality Engineering Process Improvement Software Development Engineering Management
  1. Incident reports help us learn from mistakes without blaming anyone. By understanding what went wrong, we can improve processes and avoid future issues.
  2. Writing incident reports takes time but leads to fewer problems later. They keep everyone informed and help prioritize important improvements.
  3. To make incident reports effective, clear criteria and responsibility are needed. It's important to track action items so that lessons learned actually lead to real changes.

Edge 447: Not All Model Distillations are Created Equal

TheSequence • 49 implied HN points • 12 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Data science Software Development Algorithms
  1. There are different types of model distillation that help create smaller, more efficient AI models. Understanding these types can help in choosing the right method for specific tasks.
  2. The three main types of model distillation are response-based, feature-based, and relation-based. Each has its own strengths and can be used depending on what you need from the model.
  3. Response-based distillation is usually the easiest to implement. It focuses on how the student model responds to similar inputs as the teacher model.

💥 Tech Talks Weekly #20 (React Summit, JSNation, PyCon Sweden, PyData London, Voxxed Days Trieste, Spring I/O, CITYJS, ...)

Tech Talks Weekly • 19 implied HN points • 28 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Conferences Programming Languages Web Development Data science
  1. The Tech Talks Weekly shares new tech conference talks each week, so you can catch up on the latest ideas without scrolling through messy video lists.
  2. This week features talks from major events like the React Summit and PyCon, covering a variety of topics in programming and tech.
  3. You can help grow the Tech Talks community by sharing it with friends and filling out a short form to provide feedback.

E1- Introduction to General AI for Product Managers 🤖

The Product Channel By Sid Saladi • 16 implied HN points • 10 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Product Management Data science Machine Learning Software Development
  1. AI is changing how products are made and used. Product managers need to understand AI to stay ahead in their industry.
  2. There are many AI applications, like chatbots and recommendation systems, that can improve user experience. Learning about these tools can help product managers create better products.
  3. While AI has benefits, it also brings risks like bias and job losses. It's important for product managers to think about these issues and apply AI responsibly.

Cybersecurity First Principles & Shouting Into the Void

Resilient Cyber • 239 implied HN points • 28 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Software Development Data Privacy Regulatory Compliance
  1. Cybersecurity issues won't fix themselves through friendly advice. The market often tolerates insecure products, leading to many security breaches that affect us all.
  2. Changing how we handle cybersecurity needs new rules. We must shift accountability and liability to make companies take security seriously and protect the data of their customers.
  3. Cybersecurity can be a key part of business success. If companies start prioritizing security due to regulations, it could help reduce risks and become a real advantage.

Secure-by-Design (and Demand)

Resilient Cyber • 119 implied HN points • 20 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Software Development Risk management Market Dynamics
  1. Software companies should take more responsibility for keeping their products secure. It's not fair for the burden of safety to rest solely on customers.
  2. Transparency is vital in building trust. Companies should openly share their security practices and incident reports to help everyone strengthen their defenses.
  3. Customers can drive change by choosing to buy from companies that promote secure products. When buyers demand safety, companies will start to respond.

Console #156 - Interview with Federico of Add & Commit - Automatically commit changes made in your workflow run directly to your repo

Console • 354 implied HN points • 07 May 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Software Development
  1. Add & Commit Github Action allows automatic commit of changes made in workflow runs to your repo
  2. Creating a GitHub action is made easier with proper documentation and familiarizing with workflows and APIs
  3. Balancing open-source work with other responsibilities requires prioritization and time management

Why is there more than one way to end a while loop?

Mostly Python • 419 implied HN points • 14 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Programming Python Software Development Project management
  1. Programming languages may offer multiple ways to accomplish the same task for different use cases.
  2. Python emphasizes having one clear and obvious way to do things to promote readability and maintainability.
  3. Ending a while loop in Python can be done using the while statement, break statement, or a flag - each with its own unique advantages.

The Elusive Built-in not Bolted-on

Resilient Cyber • 239 implied HN points • 17 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Software Development Risk management Public Policy Systems Design
  1. Cybersecurity should be included from the start of product design, not added later. This means making security a priority throughout the whole development process.
  2. Products should come secure by default, so users don't have to figure out how to protect themselves. Just like cars come with seatbelts, software needs built-in security features.
  3. There needs to be accountability for software security. Companies should not shift the blame to users but should instead be responsible for ensuring their products are secure and safe to use.