Backend Development

These backend development guides cover the parts users never see: data, queues and services. Most posts compare two options and explain when each wins.

For example, SQL vs NoSQL and Kafka vs RabbitMQ help with common choices. Also, monolith vs microservices tackles the biggest one. Language series live in the Java, Python and Node.js sections below.

149 articles

28/05/2023 11 min read

Utility Classes: Objects, Math, Random, and UUID

Executive Summary: The JDK’s utility classes cover null-safe checks, exact math, random numbers, and IDs. I’ll walk through…
17/05/2023 15 min read

How Do LLMs Work? A Developer’s Guide to Tokens, Context, and Embeddings

An LLM predicts the next token, over and over. Learn tokens, context windows, temperature, and embeddings through small…
07/05/2023 11 min read

Date and Time API in Java (java.time)

Executive Summary: The java.time API separates human dates from machine timestamps. I’ll cover LocalDate and LocalDateTime for calendar…
02/05/2023 11 min read

Event Driven Architecture: Pub/Sub, Event Sourcing, and Choreography

Event driven architecture: the pub/sub vs message queue comparison, event sourcing as the system of record, and choreography…
19/04/2023 11 min read

Python Linting and Formatting: Ruff, Black, and flake8 Compared

Linters find bugs and formatters end style debates. Compare Ruff, Black, flake8, isort, and pylint, and copy a…
01/04/2023 10 min read

Optional in Java: Avoiding NullPointerException

Executive Summary: Optional in Java is a container that is either present or empty, meant for query results…
22/03/2023 13 min read

How to Profile and Speed Up Python Code: cProfile, py-spy, lru_cache

Find the slow line before you change anything. Use cProfile, line_profiler, and py-spy to locate the hotspot, then…
05/03/2023 10 min read

Streams API Part 3: Parallel Streams and Pitfalls

Executive Summary: Parallel streams split work across the shared ForkJoinPool, and they only help under specific conditions. I…
28/02/2023 11 min read

Message Queues in System Design: Delivery Guarantees and Dead Letters

Message queues in system design: the at-least-once vs exactly-once delivery comparison, message ordering, and the dead letter queue…
22/02/2023 13 min read

SQLAlchemy 2.0 Tutorial: ORM, Sessions, and select()

Build typed ORM models, manage sessions and transactions, query with select(), and count your queries to catch the…
04/02/2023 10 min read

Streams API Part 2: reduce, collect, and Collectors

Executive Summary: Java streams end in a value through reduce or collect. I cover reduce with an identity…
18/01/2023 13 min read

Python GIL Explained: Threads vs Processes

Run one benchmark and see the GIL for yourself: threads speed up waiting, processes speed up computing. Learn…
07/01/2023 9 min read

Streams API Part 1: map, filter, and forEach

Executive Summary: A Java stream is a one-use, lazy pipeline over a source such as a collection, array,…
27/12/2022 12 min read

Microservices Architecture: Trade-offs, Boundaries, and When Not to Use Them

Microservices architecture explained: service boundaries and bounded contexts, the microservices trade-offs in both directions, and honest guidance on…