The hottest Software Engineering Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

How to Create Good Documentation in Software Engineering and Tech[Technique Tuesdays]

Technology Made Simple • 59 implied HN points • 19 Oct 22
🕹 Technology Software Engineering Data science Machine Learning Documentation Tech
  1. Good documentation in software engineering is crucial as it provides clarity to the team about goals and work done, enhancing productivity.
  2. Key pillars of good documentation include having a vision for the company and products, outlining resource/situational constraints, detailing data sources and processing, tracking projects in progress, sharing actual code, and establishing ownership.
  3. Benefits of good documentation in tech include aligning teams, clarifying vision and plans, reducing onboarding time, and promoting asynchronicity in an increasingly remote working environment.

Update #70: Apple Shutters Autonomous EV Project and Griffin + Hawk Compete with Transformers

The Gradient • 24 implied HN points • 12 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Autonomous Vehicles Generative AI Research Studies Software Engineering
  1. Apple terminated its Project Titan autonomous electric car project and shifted focus to generative AI, impacting hundreds of employees.
  2. Challenges faced by Project Titan included leadership changes, strategic shifts, and difficulties in developing self-driving technology.
  3. Research proposes RNN-based architectures Hawk and Griffin that compete with Transformers, offering more efficiency for language models.

[Solution]Problem 54:Multiply Strings[Google]

Technology Made Simple • 59 implied HN points • 02 Sep 22
🕹 Technology Coding Software Engineering Math Algorithms
  1. The problem discussed involves multiplying two non-negative integers represented as strings without using built-in libraries or converting them directly to integers. This approach is used to prevent overflow.
  2. Understanding the process of multiplication and breaking it down into individual steps is crucial in tackling problems like this. It helps in figuring out the next steps and finding a path forward.
  3. Consider unique approaches, such as examining how computers encode characters and utilizing this knowledge to work around constraints. Building a strong foundation in software engineering fundamentals is beneficial for problem-solving.

Resiliency beyond the Classic Circuit Breaker

System Design Classroom • 2 HN points • 10 Jul 24
🕹 Technology System Design Software Engineering Data Management APIs
  1. To handle system failures, you can use different strategies like 'Fail Fast' which stops operations quickly to save resources. But this can affect user experience because they won't get a chance to recover from the error.
  2. Another approach is 'Fail Silent', where instead of showing an error, the system quietly returns a default value. It helps keep things running smoothly, but users might miss important information if data is missing.
  3. Lastly, there's 'Custom Fallback', which uses saved local data when a service fails. This keeps the service active, but the information might be outdated, which can confuse users.
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Problem 49:Min Stack[Google]

Technology Made Simple • 59 implied HN points • 27 Jul 22
🕹 Technology Coding Software Engineering
  1. Problem 49 involves designing a stack to support various operations like push, pop, and finding the minimum element in constant time
  2. The newsletter celebrates almost reaching 50 problems by offering a special promo of 50% off the subscription for a limited time
  3. To enhance problem-solving skills, the newsletter encourages tackling challenging questions like the Boolean Satisfiability problem and provides solutions and guidance

How to crush your Daily Standups[Technique Tuesdays]

Technology Made Simple • 59 implied HN points • 12 Jul 22
🕹 Technology Development Software Engineering Communication Networking Career Advice
  1. Give detailed updates in your daily standups, including your decision-making process, collaborators, important information, and technical details.
  2. Involve more stakeholders by discussing how your work impacts others, inviting collaboration for better projects.
  3. Understand and express the 'why' behind your tasks, which provides context for creating thorough solutions and requires knowledge of both Computer Science and project economics.

Should Data Teams care about Data Contracts?

The Orchestra Data Leadership Newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 05 Nov 23
🕹 Technology Data Teams Data Contracts Data Engineering Software Engineering Data Quality
  1. Consider data contracts if your internal data changes often to ensure collaboration between software engineering and data engineering teams.
  2. If you have important metrics that depend on software engineering actions, like defining 'Active Users,' data contracts can help maintain data quality.
  3. In cases where software engineering and data engineering roles overlap, implementing data contracts can streamline data ingestion processes and improve data quality.

The Mathematics of Scale [Math Mondays]

Technology Made Simple • 59 implied HN points • 07 Jun 22
🕹 Technology Economics Tech Solutions Software Engineering Data handling R&D
  1. Economies of scale mean costs decrease as production increases, benefitting companies by spreading costs over more goods.
  2. Tech and software engineering benefit greatly from scaling and replication, allowing for efficient large-scale operations.
  3. To leverage the principles of scale for career growth, understand how your solutions fit into the big picture and build a strong foundational knowledge across different areas.

The hottest new programming language is English! Or maybe not.

Marcus on AI • 21 HN points • 15 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Programming Language AI Software Engineering
  1. Programming in English is a concept that has been explored but faces challenges in implementation.
  2. Despite the allure of programming in English, classical programming languages exist for their precision and necessity.
  3. Machine learning models like LLMs provide a glimpse of programming in English but have limitations in practical application.

[Solution]Problem 21: Rotate List by k elements[Facebook/Meta]

Technology Made Simple • 79 implied HN points • 20 Jan 22
🕹 Technology Coding Problem Solving Software Engineering Algorithm
  1. When trying to solve a problem involving rotating a list by k elements, consider the pattern finding technique to optimize the solution.
  2. Understanding the periodic nature of the problem can help reduce the number of operations needed, especially with large values of n and k.
  3. A key insight for rotating a list by k elements is to split the list into sublists based on the pivot (k) and manipulate these sublists to achieve the desired rotation without creating new copies.

Walking Meditation, Making Videos, and A Book That I'm Rereading.. | #1

Code Crafters by Anas • 19 implied HN points • 08 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Social media Content creation Self-Improvement Productivity Software Engineering
  1. Taking walks can clear your mind, solve problems, and relieve stress.
  2. Trying out making videos can be fun, help with public speaking, and be a good outlet for sharing content.
  3. Reading 'The War of Art' can motivate and remind you to stay disciplined in creative projects.

Software Engineering Radio

One Thing at a Time • 19 implied HN points • 08 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Software Engineering Generative AI Cloud Computing Artificial Intelligence Programming
  1. Dave Cross shared his experience of being a guest on a podcast to discuss GitHub Actions.
  2. Dave Cross found Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot to significantly boost his productivity in coding.
  3. Dave Cross is exploring AI services like CodeWhisperer at the AWS Summit and is looking for work opportunities in Perl, Linux, web development, databases, and more.

Bayesian Thinking for Software Engineering [Math Mondays]

Technology Made Simple • 59 implied HN points • 03 May 22
🕹 Technology Software Engineering Data science Deep Learning Mathematics
  1. Bayes Theorem allows us to update beliefs based on evidence, crucial for software developers making decisions.
  2. Bayesian Thinking is implicit in many decisions we make, and recognizing its importance can prevent fallacies.
  3. Learning Bayesian Thinking involves understanding intuition behind the math, using resources like StatsQuest and 3Blue1Brown.

Accelerating Code Reviews With Nudges

Engineering Enablement • 19 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Development Productivity Tech Culture Experiment Software Engineering
  1. Code reviews at Meta were taking too long, so they experimented with NudgeBot to speed up the process.
  2. The team identified a correlation between slow code reviews and dissatisfaction, leading to the implementation of NudgeBot.
  3. By using NudgeBot to nudge reviewers to act on 'stale' diffs, Meta successfully reduced the time taken for code reviews.

Software engineering is not going anywhere anytime soon.

The Schematic • 3 HN points • 19 May 24
🕹 Technology AI Software Engineering Coding Future of work
  1. Software engineering is here to stay, despite claims that AI will replace coding jobs.
  2. AI has limitations in generating code and may not fully understand project contexts, making it less helpful in many real-world scenarios.
  3. Coding is a means to an end for software engineers, and increasing code production does not reduce the need for developers.

The art of making Simplifying Assumptions[Technique Tuesdays]

Technology Made Simple • 39 implied HN points • 26 Jul 22
🕹 Technology Problem Solving Math Programming Artificial Intelligence Software Engineering
  1. The technique of making simplifying assumptions can help in problem-solving in various areas like System Design, Competitive Programming, and Math.
  2. Loosening computational constraints and accepting tradeoffs in performance metrics can lead to more optimal solutions by focusing on key aspects rather than trying to solve everything at once.
  3. Reducing scale, simplifying input, and picking optimal battlegrounds are strategies to make problem-solving more manageable and effective by breaking down complex problems into simpler components.

The API Middle-End

The API Changelog • 1 implied HN point • 05 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Web Development APIs Software Engineering Data processing System Architecture
  1. The API middle-end is an important layer that handles logic between the frontend and backend. It helps process requests and responses more efficiently.
  2. Using a middle-end can improve API performance by adapting and translating data without heavy delays in service, like caching and asynchronous operations.
  3. This concept can benefit both API producers and consumers by creating a more tailored and efficient interaction with the API, similar to how GraphQL APIs manage multiple data sources.

5 signals I’m looking for when interviewing software engineers

The Caring Techie Newsletter • 23 implied HN points • 15 Nov 23
🕹 Technology Software Engineering Interviewing Tech industry
  1. When interviewing software engineers, focus on non-technical signals like trustworthiness and communication skills.
  2. Assess if candidates will work well in a team and be effective in the role they're interviewing for.
  3. Solid technical skills are important, but being a team player is equally crucial in software engineering.

How Sound Works In Games

Load-bearing Tomato • 5 implied HN points • 06 Aug 24
🕹 Technology Game Development Audio engineering Sound design Software Engineering
  1. Sound in games is made to work in real-time, which means it can't be exactly like in real life. Instead, game developers use simplified calculations to make it feel realistic without needing huge amounts of computer power.
  2. To create sound effects in games, developers use Emitters to play sounds and Listeners to receive them. This setup helps in determining how loud a sound is based on the distance and direction from where it is coming.
  3. Using Rooms and Portals helps organize sounds in the game environment. This makes it easier for the game to decide what sounds the player can hear and adjust them accordingly, leading to a more immersive experience.

How a Software Engineer went from SW2 to Principal in 4 Years [StoryTime Saturdays]

Technology Made Simple • 39 implied HN points • 13 Jun 22
🕹 Technology Software Engineering Career growth Problem Solving Professional development
  1. Sometimes, in software engineering, it's important to simplify the solution rather than making it overly complex.
  2. In problem-solving, considering economic aspects alongside technical solutions can lead to more efficient and sustainable outcomes.
  3. To excel in software development, it's crucial to broaden your knowledge and decision-making skills beyond just coding.

[Solution]Problem 41: Create your own Datastructure with O(1) Time complexity (Dropbox)

Technology Made Simple • 39 implied HN points • 11 Jun 22
🕹 Technology Data Structures Logic Programming Algorithms Software Engineering
  1. Creating a data structure with O(1) time complexity involves implementing functions like plus, minus, get_max, and get_min efficiently.
  2. Utilizing a Doubly Linked List allows for maintaining a sorted collection of keys, enabling quick access to elements with the lowest and highest values.
  3. Developing algorithms to handle key count increments and decrements while preserving the sorted order of the linked list is crucial for a functional solution.

How to Make Money in Machine Learning, without doing the Math/Theory[Finance Fridays]

Technology Made Simple • 39 implied HN points • 07 May 22
🕹 Technology Machine Learning Software Engineering System Design
  1. There are various ways to make money in Machine Learning beyond the traditional roles like AI research and Data Analysis, such as specializing in software engineering aspects like developing hardware, building data sources, creating pipelines, and designing platforms.
  2. Important skills to succeed in these alternative paths include writing good tests, mastering data compression and handling, and becoming proficient in large-scale system design to ensure scalability.
  3. Staying updated with ML resources and technologies like Airflow, Kubernetes, and Snowflake can be valuable for maximizing income opportunities in Machine Learning without needing to focus on the mathematics and theory aspects.

Using Single Responsibility to write amazing code [Technique Tuesday]

Technology Made Simple • 39 implied HN points • 04 May 22
🕹 Technology Coding Software Engineering Interviews Modularity Career development
  1. The Single Responsibility Principle in software engineering emphasizes that classes and modules should have only one distinct responsibility. This helps in making code easier to maintain and understand.
  2. Implementing the Single Responsibility Principle can lead to benefits such as easier code changes, simplified debugging, and smoother testing processes.
  3. In coding interviews, applying Single Responsibility by breaking down complex problems into smaller, focused components can help in solving questions methodically and efficiently, boosting problem-solving abilities.

Orchestration isn’t going anywhere

Data People Etc. • 36 HN points • 24 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Data Management Data Pipelines Orchestration Software Engineering Organizational dynamics
  1. Orchestration is essential and will continue to be important in the future of managing data pipelines.
  2. Orchestration involves coordinating and managing multiple systems and tasks to execute workflows.
  3. Tools like Dagster provide a control plane for managing data assets and metadata, ensuring a structured and cohesive data platform.

Problem 31: Maxium Rainwater Trapping[Microsoft]

Technology Made Simple • 39 implied HN points • 31 Mar 22
🕹 Technology Coding Problem Solving Software Engineering Interview Preparation
  1. The problem discussed involves calculating how much water can be trapped after rain, based on elevation maps.
  2. Problem solving and recognition skills are important for this type of coding challenge, rather than specialized knowledge.
  3. The newsletter offers coding interview help and techniques for success, especially for firms like FAANG and MAMAA.