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The best problem-solving writing in software engineering — databases, performance, security, frontend and distributed systems, in one feed.

11,844 articles
Design & UX — Creating An Effective Multistep Form For Better User Experience — Smashing Magazine

Creating An Effective Multistep Form For Better User Experience — Smashing Magazine

Forms are already notoriously tough to customize and style — to the extent that we’re already starting to see new ideas for more flexible control. But what we don’t often discuss is designing good-form experiences beyond validation. That’s what Jima Victor discusses in this article, focusing specifically on creating multi-step forms that involve navigation between sections.

AOAmejimaobari OllornwiAmejimaobari Ollornwi·December 3, 2024Design & UX
Engineering — The Great Filter Comes For Us All

The Great Filter Comes For Us All

With a 13 billion year head start on evolution, why haven’t any other forms of life in the universe contacted us by now? (Arrival is a fantastic movie. Watch it, but don’t stop there – read the Story of Your Life novella it was based on for so much additional nuance.) This is called the Fermi paradox: The Fermi Paradox is a contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence o

JAJeff AtwoodJeff Atwood·December 2, 2024Engineering
Design & UX — Next-level frosted glass with backdrop-filter

Next-level frosted glass with backdrop-filter

Glassy headers have become a core part of the “slick startup” UI toolkit, but they’re all missing that final 10% that really makes it shine. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create the most realistic lush frosted glass anywhere on the internet.

JWJosh W. Comeau·December 2, 2024Design & UX
AI & ML — Meta Andromeda: Supercharging Advantage+ automation with the next-gen personalized ads retrieval engine

Meta Andromeda: Supercharging Advantage+ automation with the next-gen personalized ads retrieval engine

Andromeda is Meta’s proprietary machine learning (ML) system design for retrieval in ad recommendation focused on delivering a step-function improvement in value to our advertisers and people. This system pushes the boundary of cutting edge AI for retrieval with NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchip and Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) hardware through innovations in ML […]

CWChris Wiltz·December 2, 2024AI & ML
Engineering — Building Confidence: A Case Study in How to Create Confidence Scores for GenAI Applications

Building Confidence: A Case Study in How to Create Confidence Scores for GenAI Applications

TL;DR Getting a response from GenAI is quick and straightforward. But what about the confidence level for that response? In certain applications, especially in the financial domain, confidence scores are required. In a document-parsing task related to financial automation, we tested three approaches to address confidence level: calibrator models, logarithmic probabilities (logprobs), and majority

MZMolly Zhu , Xin Xu , and Kathy Gao (Senior Data Scie·December 1, 2024Engineering
Databases — PostgreSQL for Enterprises

PostgreSQL for Enterprises

PostgreSQL at an enterprise-level enables professional database management. Comply your enterprise requirements with matching tools.

CPCYBERTEC PostgreSQL·November 28, 2024Databases
Security — WordPress Multi-Multisite: A Case Study

WordPress Multi-Multisite: A Case Study

What's it look like to create a dashboard within the WordPress admin for analyzing Google Analytics data across 900 blogs across 25 multisite instances? It involves designing a user-friendly interface, leveraging the WordPress REST API, implementing a plugin for data retrieval, and addressing challenges like rate limits and authentication.

SFScott FennellScott Fennell·November 27, 2024Security
Frontend — The Hype Around Signals — Smashing Magazine

The Hype Around Signals — Smashing Magazine

From KnockoutJS to modern UI libraries like SolidJS, Vue.js, and Svelte, signals revolutionized how we think about reactivity in UIs. Here’s a deep dive into their history and impact by Atila Fassina.

AFAtila FassinaAtila Fassina·November 27, 2024Frontend
SRE & Ops — Cloudflare incident on November 14, 2024, resulting in lost logs

Cloudflare incident on November 14, 2024, resulting in lost logs

On November 14, 2024, Cloudflare experienced a Cloudflare Logs outage, impacting the majority of customers using these products. During the ~3.5 hours that these services were impacted, about 55% of the logs we normally send to customers were not sent and were lost. The details of what went wrong and why are interesting both for customers and practitioners.

JTJamie, Tom WalwynJamie, Tom Walwyn·November 26, 2024SRE & Ops
Frontend — A Framework for Evaluating Browser Support

A Framework for Evaluating Browser Support

Lots of exciting new features have been landing in CSS recently, and it can be tough trying to figure out if they’re safe to use or not. We might know that a feature is available for 92% of users, but is that sufficient? Where do we draw the line? In this blog post, I’ll share the framework I use for deciding whether or not to use a modern CSS feature

JWJosh W. Comeau·November 26, 2024Frontend
Frontend — Highlighted code in slides

Highlighted code in slides

I have obsessed about this long enough, I think it’s only fair I (and you!) get some content out of it. When I started writing this article, I was working on my P99 CONF slides. Those slides happen to include some bits of code. And because I’m a perfectionist, I would like this code to be syntax highlighted, like this:  let addr : SocketAddr = config . address . parse () ? ; let ln = TcpListener

AWAmos WengerAmos Wenger·November 23, 2024Frontend
Frontend — Solved by CSS: Donuts Scopes

Solved by CSS: Donuts Scopes

Donut scoping addresses the challenge of preventing parent styles from leaking to nested content. Originating from a 2011 concept by Nicole Sullivan, the issue has evolved, culminating in 2024's @scope at-rule. This allows for more precise CSS styling, safeguarding content from unwanted inheritance while managing global CSS complexities.

JDJuan Diego RodríguezJuan Diego Rodríguez·November 22, 2024Frontend
Design & UX — The making of the Figma Pattern Library

The making of the Figma Pattern Library

UI3 prompted us to rebuild our own design system from the ground up. Here’s how designers and engineers came together to create a new foundation for building consistent, accessible products.

ABAna Boyer·November 21, 2024Design & UX