Techreport blog

Engineering Insights & Guides

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

11,670 articles
Systems — Better debugging for Cloudflare Workers, now with breakpoints

Better debugging for Cloudflare Workers, now with breakpoints

We provide many tools to help you debug Cloudflare Workers; from your local environment all the way into production. In this post, we highlight some of the tools we currently offer, and do a deep dive into one specific area - breakpoint debugging - a tool we recently added into our workerd runtime

AMAdam Murray, Brendan CollAdam Murray, Brendan Coll·November 28, 2023Systems
Distributed — Managing Slack Connect

Managing Slack Connect

Slack Connect, AKA shared channels, allows communication between different Slack workspaces, via channels shared by participating organizations. Slack Connect has existed for a few years now, and the sheer volume of channels and external connections has increased significantly since the launch. The increased volume introduced scaling problems, but also highlighted that not all external connections

YLYuriy Loginov·November 28, 2023Distributed
Design & UX — Crafting A Killer Brand Identity For A Digital Product — Smashing Magazine

Crafting A Killer Brand Identity For A Digital Product — Smashing Magazine

In this article, Sasha guides you through crucial processes and factors to achieve a consistent brand presence across platforms. She offers an overview of the entire brand identity process, explores collaboration with UI teams, and provides essential details on the assets required for the successful implementation of a digital brand.

SDSasha DenisovaSasha Denisova·November 28, 2023Design & UX
Career & Teams — Steve Bray: Why I joined Cloudflare

Steve Bray: Why I joined Cloudflare

We're excited to introduce Steve Bray as Cloudflare's new Head of Australia and New Zealand, as we continue to build and grow our customers, partners, and team in the region

SBSteve BraySteve Bray·November 27, 2023Career & Teams
Performance — A Few Ways CSS Is Easier To Write In 2023 — Smashing Magazine

A Few Ways CSS Is Easier To Write In 2023 — Smashing Magazine

We’re living in somewhat of a CSS renaissance with new features, techniques, experiments, and ideas coming at us to an extent we haven’t seen since “CSS3”. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when your profession seems to be advancing at breakneck speed, but Geoff Graham considers the ways “modern” CSS in 2023 has actually made CSS “easier” to write.

GGGeoff GrahamGeoff Graham·November 24, 2023Performance
Networking — Catalog of Patterns of Distributed Systems

Catalog of Patterns of Distributed Systems

Distributed systems provide a particular challenge to program. They often require us to have multiple copies of data, which need to keep synchronized. Yet we cannot rely on processing nodes working reliably, and network delays can easily lead to inconsistencies. Despite this, many organizations rely on a range of core distributed software handling data storage, messaging, system management, and co

MFMartin Fowler·November 23, 2023Networking
Frontend — CSS Responsive Multi-Line Ribbon Shapes (Part 2) — Smashing Magazine

CSS Responsive Multi-Line Ribbon Shapes (Part 2) — Smashing Magazine

In Part 1 of the series, Temani Afif demonstrated how creating ribbon patterns in CSS has evolved with the availability of new CSS features. In this second installment of this brief two-part series, we look at two additional ribbon variations that introduce techniques for masking a repeated background gradient in CSS.

TATemani AfifTemani Afif·November 22, 2023Frontend
Frontend — An Interactive Guide to CSS Grid

An Interactive Guide to CSS Grid

CSS Grid is an incredibly powerful tool for building layouts on the web, but like all powerful tools, there's a significant learning curve. In this tutorial, we'll build a mental model for how CSS Grid works and how we can use it effectively. I'll share the biggest 💡 lightbulb moments I've had in my own learning journey.

JWJosh W. Comeau·November 21, 2023Frontend
SRE & Ops — Writing and linting Python at scale

Writing and linting Python at scale

Python plays a big part at Meta. It powers Instagram’s backend and plays an important role in our configuration systems, as well as much of our AI work. Meta even made contributions to Python 3.12, the latest version of Python. On this episode of the Meta Tech Podcast, Meta engineer Pascal Hartig (@passy) is joined by Amethyst […]

CWChris Wiltz·November 21, 2023SRE & Ops
Career & Teams — Creating And Maintaining A Voice Of Customer Program — Smashing Magazine

Creating And Maintaining A Voice Of Customer Program — Smashing Magazine

Product teams benefit from knowing their users’ needs and how they respond to product updates as they build out the roadmap of a product. This article covers Voice of Customer programs and is aimed at those who work on a product team as well as executives who are looking for how to better inform your products using insight from users.

VYVictor Yocco Dana DanielsVictor Yocco Dana Daniels·November 21, 2023Career & Teams