What every programmer should know about SSDs

Solid-State Drives (SSDs) based on flash have largely replaced magnetic disks as the standard storage medium. From the perspective of a programmer, SSDs and disks look very similar: both are persistent, enable page-based (e.g., 4KB) access through file systems and system calls, and have large capacities.

The only way to go fast, is to go well!

My general thought was, that we maintain the quality of the code to be quite high, and we have a reasonably good work methodology. But we were the victims of selective blindness in many places actually. It is interesting, how some pieces code were just good from start and stayed pretty good throughout all the years, even when it was expanded a lot... and some of the code just deteriorated heavily.

Testing in the twenties

Grown-up software developers know perfectly well that testing is important. But — speaking here from experience — many aren’t doing enough. So I’m here to bang the testing drum, which our profession shouldn’t need to hear but apparently does.

How to evaluate site speed with the performance API

Browser DevTools are great for monitoring web application performance on your local development PC. However, they’re less practical for measuring site speed on different devices, browsers, and network connections across global locations.

RISC vs. CISC is the wrong lens for comparing modern CPUs

With Apple’s WWDC coming up soon, we’re expecting to hear more about the company’s updated, ARM-based MacBook Pro laptops. Rumors point to Apple launching a slate of upgraded systems, this time based around its “M2” CPU, a scaled-up version of the M1 core that debuted last year. The M2 could reportedly field eight high-performance cores and two high-efficiency cores, up from a 4+4 configuration in the existing M1.