Toptal Blog

Robot Operating System, a framework for building robot applications, allows developers to assemble a complex system by connecting existing solutions for small problems.

In this article, Toptal engineer Adnan Ademovic gives us a step-by-step tutorial to building software for an onboard computer that allows us to remotely control and monitor a robot and running it in a simulated world using Robot OS.

Small teams frequently have to compete with bigger, more structured organizations who are capable of allocating more resources to project management, and software release management in particular. This means that small teams, or even individual developers, need to properly organize and execute their release process in order to keep up.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Lucas Mancini focuses specifically on small startups, teams that don’t have, or can’t afford, DevOps support, or teams that don’t have a formal process defined for releasing new versions of their product. The author provides a suggested checklist method to manage releases, tailored to match his past experience working on different projects, together with some recommended best practices and guidelines.

The current trend in graphic design is to use a lot of rounded corners in all sorts of shapes. We can observe this on many web pages, mobile devices, and desktop applications, as rounded corners make the user interface feel smoother and nicer. However, what if we have to generate rounded corners on the fly, and we cannot preload it from an image?

In this article, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Bojan Kverh guides us in a step-by-step tutorial on how to develop a simple class in C++ that can turn a complex polygon into a shape with rounded corners using Bezier curves and QPainter.

AWS Lambda offers a relatively thin service with a rich set of ancillary configuration options, making it possible to implement easily scalable and maintainable applications leveraging these services.

In this article, a Toptal engineer gives us a step-by-step tutorial for building an image uploading and resizing service and demonstrates how AWS Lambda can be used as a platform to easily build service-oriented architecture applications.

Modern web browsers offer a number of different APIs and mechanisms to storing data on the client-side. But are all of these options created equal?

In this article, Toptal engineer Stephen Villee demystifies the various client-side storage options available in modern web browsers and explains how each of these can play a role in storing session data on the client-side.

We increasingly hear “agile,” “scrum,” and “kanban” used improperly in today’s software development environment. This article will clarify how and when to use them for successful project outcomes.

There are a number of things which motivated me to start my current company. Breaking away from client work while retaining all the benefits of being a location independent freelancer was one of them.

We’re a team of 10 now, serving more than 1,500 businesses worldwide. We have an office in Berlin, but many of us work remotely. In this article, I’ll dig into to the principles, tools and lessons that have helped us along the way. After reading it, I hope you’ll be able to architect your software company so it’s remote-friendly right from the start.

With Microsoft’s no-brainer shift towards open source and interoperability it was only a matter of time before we started seeing alternatives to some of their key products, like Visual Studio. Enter Project Rider: the code name for IDE guru JetBrains’ competition to Visual Studio.

Here’s the lowdown on Project Rider, the newest member of the IntelliJ platform family.

The Art of War is an ancient military treatise, but despite its age, the text is still included in the syllabus at many military schools. Sun Tzu’s principles and teachings also have practical applications in politics, business, sports, and, believe it or not, software development. In fact, you might just be applying some of these principles in your daily routine, without even knowing.

In this post, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Jose F. Maldonado explains why many of these ancient teachings still matter, and what you can do to make them work for you and your team.