The hottest Software Development Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics
burkhardstubert 79 implied HN points 15 Dec 22
  1. Continuous Delivery can greatly improve software development efficiency. It reduces the time for building and testing, leading to faster and more reliable integrations.
  2. Organizations should focus on both technical and social aspects to optimize their performance. The way teams are structured influences how the software is developed, so it's key to align team setups with software architecture.
  3. Successful change in organizations is best achieved by starting with willing participants. Using principles like attraction and scarcity can help create interested teams who want to improve rather than forcing everyone to follow new practices.
Resilient Cyber 79 implied HN points 18 Dec 22
  1. Vulnerability Disclosure Programs (VDP) help software suppliers communicate vulnerabilities to users. Having a clear VDP builds trust and prepares organizations for potential security issues.
  2. A Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) focuses on managing and responding to security issues in products. PSIRTs help organizations effectively analyze vulnerabilities and communicate solutions to their consumers.
  3. Maturity levels for PSIRTs range from basic to advanced, with advanced teams being proactive and integrating security into product development. This approach ensures better security practices and communication throughout the supply chain.
VuTrinh. 19 implied HN points 19 Dec 23
  1. To be a Senior Individual Contributor at Meta, focus on quickly adding value and aligning with the organization's goals. It's about making an impact and building good relationships within the team.
  2. Data modeling involves creating a shared understanding between business and data teams. It's essential for delivering valuable insights and ensuring everyone is on the same page.
  3. Job hopping in data engineering can be successful with the right approach. Make sure to deliver value early on and always be ready for new opportunities while enjoying your work-life balance.
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Resilient Cyber 79 implied HN points 11 Dec 22
  1. Federal agencies must collect self-attestations from software vendors about their secure development practices, following NIST's guidelines.
  2. The NIST Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF) encourages integrating security early in the software development process, rather than addressing it later on.
  3. Industry groups are raising concerns about the requirements for transparency in the software supply chain, which could lead to delays in implementing necessary security measures.
World Game 4 implied HN points 10 Feb 25
  1. AI is not just about creating smart apps; it's about building entire virtual worlds that can change our reality. This changes how we think about what intelligence really is.
  2. The recent success of the Chinese company DeepSeek shows that smaller companies can challenge big tech by making powerful AI accessible and affordable for everyone.
  3. The models we use, like AI, are shaped by their creators and can have hidden biases. This means the reality we see through AI is influenced by the values and choices of those who build them.
Brain Bytes 19 implied HN points 13 Dec 23
  1. Invest time in personal coding projects, starting with small ones and progressing to more complex ones. Quantity is crucial in the beginning, followed by a focus on quality.
  2. Define clear, measurable goals and work backward to plan your learning journey. Reverse engineering your goals helps to track progress and stay motivated.
  3. Develop not just technical skills but also soft skills like communication and teamwork. Networking and surrounding yourself with other developers can lead to valuable opportunities.
Technology Made Simple 59 implied HN points 11 Sep 22
  1. Mastery in software development can lead to significant career growth. Understand concepts deeply to excel in tech.
  2. Great software engineers possess specific traits that can be cultivated effectively. Avoid cardinal sins that bad engineers make.
  3. Research by Microsoft delves into what distinguishes great software engineers, providing valuable insights for students, mid-level developers, and seniors in the field.
VuTrinh. 19 implied HN points 12 Dec 23
  1. Kubernetes can be tricky to explain, but using simple analogies can help anyone understand its purpose. It's like managing many containers, just like an Uber driver manages different passengers.
  2. Data modeling is essential for data engineers to organize and structure data effectively. This helps make data more accessible and useful for analysis.
  3. Learning resources, such as free online courses, are available to help you start or improve your skills in data engineering. They cover various important topics for new and experienced data engineers.
Rethinking Software 14 HN points 03 Oct 24
  1. Product Owners should provide information, not direct decisions. Engineers need real-time data to make informed choices, rather than just waiting for orders.
  2. Engineering teams should ask deeper questions to understand their customers and competitors better. This helps them create better solutions instead of just following a checklist.
  3. The relationship between Product Owners and Engineers should resemble a restaurant. Product Owners gather customer insights while Engineers create the dishes, allowing for better quality and innovation.
School Shooting Data Analysis and Reports 4 HN points 04 Jun 24
  1. AI weapon detection software struggles to differentiate between weapons and weapon-shaped objects like umbrellas or sticks, leading to issues in accuracy and efficiency.
  2. OpenAI's ChatGPT-4o offers more advanced weapon detection capabilities from image analysis compared to current market options, recognizing context better.
  3. ChatGPT-4o was successful in identifying guns and gun-like objects in various scenarios, showcasing a high level of performance in image classification and context understanding.
zverok on lucid code 28 implied HN points 08 Feb 24
  1. The author's passion project was rendered irrelevant by ChatGPT and other language models.
  2. The author's project aimed to make common knowledge accessible programmatically through a universal API.
  3. Despite challenges and lack of community engagement, the author gained valuable experience and understanding through years spent on the project.
Sunday Letters 119 implied HN points 01 May 22
  1. New programming languages or techniques won't solve old problems. Teams need to focus on fixing their systems before expecting a new language to make things better.
  2. People often believe learning a new language will improve their skills, but it doesn't address deeper issues like organization or trust. Just like learning a different language won’t make someone a great writer.
  3. Fixing systemic team issues takes hard work and discipline. Sometimes, sticking with familiar tools can be more effective than constantly chasing new options.
The Tech Buffet 19 implied HN points 03 Dec 23
  1. TruLens is a helpful open-source tool for evaluating and monitoring applications that use Large Language Models (LLMs). It tracks performance and helps you find the best settings for your models.
  2. The tool allows you to create feedback functions that measure how well the model's answers relate to the questions asked. This helps ensure the answers are relevant and grounded in the provided context.
  3. You can visualize the results and metrics in a dashboard, making it easy to understand how your model is performing and where improvements may be needed.
Data Thoughts 79 implied HN points 21 Oct 22
  1. Working in data often feels lonely, since a lot of the work is done solo on a computer, but there's magic in that solitude.
  2. Events and communities bring people together, making these lonely moments feel connected and meaningful, especially in the data field.
  3. The joy of working with data comes from the love of the craft itself, not just the outcomes or recognition, and that passion can survive even in tough times.
The Palindrome 3 implied HN points 08 Nov 24
  1. A decision tree splits data based on features and thresholds, which helps in making predictions by creating branches. Each split leads to two outcomes based on whether the condition is met or not.
  2. Gini impurity is a key measure for evaluating how 'pure' the labels are in each leaf of the tree. A lower Gini impurity means better predictability for a leaf's classification.
  3. You can create both classification and regression trees by changing how you score the splits and define the predictions in the leaves. This flexibility allows for various applications in data analysis.
HackerPulse Dispatch 2 implied HN points 26 Nov 24
  1. Legacy code issues often come from misunderstandings between developers rather than the code itself. Improving communication and ownership can help solve these problems.
  2. C++ is currently facing a divide between old and new users, which threatens its future. There's a struggle between keeping older features and moving towards modern innovations.
  3. Java's compilation speed has improved a lot, but using build tools can slow it down. Working directly with the compiler can make a big difference in speed.
Resilient Cyber 39 implied HN points 31 May 23
  1. Many organizations have a huge number of open vulnerabilities, but they struggle to fix them fast enough. This creates a risky situation where bad actors can exploit these weaknesses quickly.
  2. Despite new tools and approaches, cybersecurity continues to lag behind the speed of threats. Adding more security tools doesn't necessarily make things safer and can actually create confusion and overload for teams.
  3. Security should be treated as an ongoing process, not just something to buy or check off a list. If we keep doing the same thing without real change, we’ll keep facing the same problems.
Sunday Letters 59 implied HN points 20 Dec 22
  1. Measuring developer productivity is really hard. Common metrics like lines of code or bugs fixed often don't tell the full story and can even be manipulated.
  2. It’s important to think about how a metric could be misused before applying it. Focusing on the wrong metrics can lead to unhelpful outcomes and confusion.
  3. Organizations learn and respond to metrics, but sometimes they take things too literally. Choosing the right metrics carefully is crucial to avoid unintentional negative effects.
Resilient Cyber 59 implied HN points 16 Jan 23
  1. The PEACH Framework helps with cloud security by focusing on tenant isolation. It gives guidance on how to keep different customer data safe from each other.
  2. Multi-tenancy in cloud computing can bring risks, especially if security isn't handled correctly. It's important for both cloud service providers and users to understand these risks and take steps to protect themselves.
  3. Effective tenant isolation involves using several methods, like reducing complexity and improving separation. These strategies help ensure that one tenant's data doesn’t accidentally mix with another's.
Sector 6 | The Newsletter of AIM 39 implied HN points 19 Mar 23
  1. Alpaca 7B is a new AI model introduced by Stanford that performs well, similar to OpenAI's models, but is smaller and cheaper to use.
  2. The AI landscape is buzzing with exciting developments and new models, making it an interesting time for AI enthusiasts.
  3. The week highlights a range of impressive AI technologies, signaling that there's much more innovation to come in this field.
Resilient Cyber 59 implied HN points 03 Jan 23
  1. OWASP's Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM) helps organizations check how secure their software practices are and plan for improvements. It breaks down the process into different business functions to make it manageable.
  2. SAMM outlines specific security practices organizations should follow during software development, including governance, design, implementation, verification, and operations. Each area has suggested actions to help raise security standards.
  3. It's important to cautiously evaluate self-attestations from third-party software vendors regarding security compliance. Additional tools like Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) can help provide clearer insights into software vulnerabilities.
Fprox’s Substack 27 HN points 09 Jan 24
  1. Transposing a matrix in linear algebra is a common operation to switch row-major and column-major layouts to optimize computations.
  2. Different techniques like strided vector operations and in-register methods can be used to efficiently transpose matrices using RISC-V Vector instructions.
  3. Implementations with segmented memory variants and vector strided operations can be more efficient in terms of retired instructions compared to in-register methods for matrix transpose.
Sunday Letters 19 implied HN points 06 Nov 23
  1. AI models like large language models need human guidance to perform tasks effectively. Humans help by providing prompts and correcting errors.
  2. Even complex tasks require a lot of human involvement. AI can't work fully independently; it can't just be told to 'write a book' without further instruction.
  3. There is still a long way to go in developing AI that can handle complex, open-ended problems alone. Current systems struggle with autonomy and can't yet replicate human planning and organization.
Deus In Machina 36 implied HN points 26 Oct 23
  1. Pascal language was designed with a focus on clean and readable code, making it ideal for teaching programming.
  2. Turbo Pascal revolutionized programming by combining editing, compiling, and linking steps in one integrated environment.
  3. The decline of Pascal was due to factors like its focus on teaching, rapid advancements in computing technology, and the popularity of Unix and C programming language.
ppdispatch 5 implied HN points 31 Dec 24
  1. Over-abstraction in code can make things complicated and hard to manage, so it's important to keep it simple. If you complicate your system, it might end up slowing down and confusing your team.
  2. Fish-shell switched from C++ to Rust to improve safety and performance, showing how changing your tools can lead to better results. Their move has also engaged the community and made contributions easier.
  3. Understanding the differences between PHP's getenv() and $_ENV can prevent unexpected issues when accessing environment variables. It's essential to know how your PHP configuration handles these variables to avoid problems.
Data Thoughts 59 implied HN points 25 Nov 22
  1. The dbt meta tag helps document important info about data models. It's a simple way to keep track of data governance like ownership and sensitivity.
  2. Many companies have used the dbt meta tag to enhance their products. Some of these companies have received significant venture capital funding because of these improvements.
  3. Documenting tools and their funding related to the dbt meta tag can inspire others. It shows how small features can lead to big opportunities.
VuTrinh. 19 implied HN points 24 Oct 23
  1. Meta has introduced developer tools that help manage large-scale projects efficiently. These tools assist engineers in solving problems and improving systems.
  2. Big companies like Discord and Uber are using massive data points to create valuable insights. This helps them to effectively manage their data and understand trends better.
  3. Data engineering continues to evolve, with tools like BigQuery and dbt Mesh enhancing data practices. Staying updated with these tools can improve data analysis and management.
Sunday Letters 99 implied HN points 27 Mar 22
  1. It's important to solve the right problem. If you don't understand the problem clearly, you might end up overcomplicating things.
  2. Sometimes, less is more. Simplifying designs can make your code easier to manage and improve user experience.
  3. Don't try to fix every possible edge case; focus on the most common scenarios. This can help you avoid unnecessary complexity.
Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots 19 implied HN points 18 Oct 23
  1. Large Language Models (LLMs) rely on both input and output data that are unstructured and conversational. This means they process language in a natural, free-flowing manner.
  2. Fine-tuning LLMs has become less popular because it requires a lot of specific training and can get outdated. Using contextual prompts at the right time is a better way to improve their accuracy.
  3. New tools are emerging that test different LLMs against prompts instead of just tweaking prompts for one LLM. This helps in finding the best model suited for different tasks.
Sector 6 | The Newsletter of AIM 19 implied HN points 18 Oct 23
  1. OpenAI is launching an autonomous agent called JARVIS, inspired by Iron Man. This tech could change how we do many online tasks like sending emails and booking flights.
  2. The co-founder of OpenAI shared that the assistant can negotiate business deals with little help. It's interesting that it refers to itself as JARVIS too.
  3. Overall, the new JARVIS could make interacting with the internet easier and more efficient, handling various online activities for users.
burkhardstubert 39 implied HN points 01 Apr 23
  1. Toradex offers ready-made solutions that simplify software updates for customers, saving them time and money. Their focus on software sets them apart in a hardware-oriented market.
  2. Kontron's super ECU can replace multiple smaller ECUs, which can lead to more compact and efficient designs in vehicles and machinery. This integration helps manufacturers streamline their operations.
  3. Slint is emerging as a strong alternative to existing UI frameworks, providing lower memory requirements and flexible licensing options. This could give it an edge in the embedded device market.