2019#30 Readings of the Week
5 minutes read | 930 words by Ruben BerenguelA mixed bag of interesting history tidbits sprinkled with Haskell code, Scala stuff, data engineering systems and practices, and how to code with your voice.
Photo by Jose Mari Gimenez on Unsplash
NOTE: The themes are varied, and some links below are affiliate links. Haskell, Scala, data engineering, Docker, editors. You can check all my weekly readings by checking the tag here. You can also get these as a weekly newsletter by subscribing here.
Building columnar compression in a row-oriented database
Some of the details remind me of how Redshift handles queries and indexing (i.e. [zone maps](https://www.google.com/search?q=redshift zone map)).
How Lyft Designs the Machine Learning Software Engineering Interview
Their approach was more interesting than expected. Picked up a few ideas.
Where Theory Meets Chalk, Dust Flies - The New York Times
If you find the subject interesting (I do) you may enjoy A topological picturebook.
Adding a macro parser to my Scheme implementation
It’s a Scheme (R5RS compliant) written in Haskell, work in progress. Even with my limited understanding of Haskell I could follow (of course, I have a relatively good understanding of how Lisp and Scheme are implemented and parsed).
The hidden cost of Spark withColumn
Catalyst can add a surprisingly large amount of overhead. Of course, this is
kind of an extreme case. Worth noting, you can use RuleExecutor.dumpTimeSpent
to analyze how long Catalyst takes.
Cult of the party parrot: How a ridiculous bird became an emoji hero
All hail the mighty parrot.
Did Netflix just kill Databricks with releasing Polynote for free?
This is disingenuous as a title (or, a perfect application of Betteridge’s law). Polynote (as good as it is and may become, mentioned briefly last week) is not what Databricks makes money off.
A simple integration test using Scala and ZIO
I keep collecting samples of ZIO code for the day I write something longer than 5 lines with it. This is super-clear code, by the way.
Small & fast Docker images using GraalVM’s native-image
A thorough tutorial on creating GraalVM-native compiled stuff.
Teach Yourself to Echolocate
I like knowing weird things.
What Does a Coder Do If They Can’t Type?
I’ve been setting up and using sparingly Talon, after watching Emily Shea’s talk (below). I can type, but this feels like insurance for the future: I can type now and configure it, just in case.
Evaporative Cooling of Group Beliefs
This explains how cults become entrenched after failure and how online communities dissolve.
Crossword Panic of 1944
An interesting historical tidbit.
pagemap · mini map for web pages
A small Javascript plugin to show Sublime Text style minimaps in webpages. You can see it in play by hovering over the left area of the page on large posts here, like this one.
Inside the iPhone 11 Camera, Part 1: A Completely New Camera
I have a 3 year old iPhone, and the amount of advancements in camera technology
is probably the only tempting thing about the newer models. NOTE: between
writing this and publishing, the battery of my iPhone 7 has given up completely,
so tomorrow I may be getting a new iPhone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
How To Create Optimized Docker Images For Production
Incremental builds, using small images like Alpine. Not mentioned, but using dive is an additional possibility to reduce layer size (tip from the team at BitPhy).
Weird things you can, but probably shouldn’t do in Python
Never do this. Or at least not in production
Visual Studio Remotes: Simplifying developer environments
You can use remote machines or Docker images as code analyzing backends. This can give Tramp a run for its money.
ITAPPMONROBOT
Old school Kubernetes control plane?
Autoantonyms
An autoantonym is a word which is its own reverse, depending on context.
Haskell build systems for non-Haskellers
I had a keyboard smashing afternoon trying to get a sample project to build in Haskell. I remember having the same feeling with Scala when I started, so I hope I eventually get familiar with it as well.
🍿 Voice Driven Development: Who needs a keyboard anyway?
I have been interested in voice coding since I saw this other video, 6 years ago. We all know too much typing can lead to RSI and similar issues. The time to address it is before you reach that point, hence I’m trying it these days. I’ll be writing my findings and configurations “soon” (the idea was to do it last during the previous week, so go figure).
🍿 What We Know We Don’t Know
It’s the first time I see Hillel presenting. This was a very interesting talk about… well, it’s hard to know.
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