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Guide To Budget-friendly Data Mining
Although database programming does not evolve at nearly the same pace as traditional application programming, recent advancements in several fields are bringing new techniques and technologies within the reach of small and independent developers.
In this guide, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Jeffrey Shumaker explains how developers can quickly and easily tap these methods to identify database issues they may not even be aware of, and how they can build excellent data mining tools without spending a lot on expensive software licenses.
Jeffrey Shumaker
Jeff’s experience covers every aspect of database design. He has been a database manager for small IT and Fortune 500 companies.
Eliminating the Garbage Collector: The RAII Way
Manual memory management is a nightmare that programmers have been inventing ways to avoid since the invention of the compiler. Programming languages with garbage collectors make life easier, but at the cost of performance.
In this article, Toptal engineer Peter Goodspeed-Niklaus gives us a peek into the history of garbage collectors and explains how notions of ownership and borrowing can help eliminate garbage collectors without compromising their safety guarantees.
Peter Goodspeed-Niklaus
Peter, BSc (with distinction), is a professional Python/Django developer who has also written an exotic processor emulator in Rust.
Caching in Spring with EhCache Annotations
EhCache is a widely used, pure Java cache that can be easily integrated with most popular Java frameworks, such as Spring and Hibernate. It is often considered to be the most convenient choice for Java applications since it can be integrated into projects easily. EhCache Spring Annotations allows seamless integration into any Spring application by simply adding annotations to cacheable methods without modifying the method implementations. This article focuses on boosting your Spring applications with EhCache Spring Annotations.
Cong Liu
Cong (MScEng) is a fast learner with a passion for performant code. He’s an expert in Android and web service development and loves AR.
Google Cardboard Overview: VR On The Cheap
Google Cardboard was envisioned as the cheapest Virtual Reality (VR) solution on the planet, and at this point, nothing else comes close in terms of pricing. However, the low price did not bring about mass adoption, and Google’s Android-based VR platform is nothing more than a tech curiosity at this point.
In this post, Toptal Technical Editor Nermin Hajdarbegovic leverages his extensive experience in the graphics industry to explain what’s keeping Cardboard VR down, and what the platform needs to attract more users, investment, and development.
Nermin Hajdarbegovic
As a veteran tech writer, Nermin helped create online publications covering everything from the semiconductor industry to cryptocurrency.
Creating Usable JVM Languages: An Overview
Java Virtual Machine (JVM), the powerful virtual machine behind programming languages like Java and Scala, provides a platform-independent environment for executing compiled bytecode. Programming languages built for the JVM can be used to write programs that can run on a wide range of platforms without modification and can even leverage all the libraries and frameworks that exist for the JVM.
In this article, Toptal engineer Federico Tomassetti presents an overview of the strategy and various tools involved in creating our very own programming language for the JVM.
Federico Tomassetti
Federico has worked for TripAdvisor and Groupon. He has a PhD in software engineering and works in Java, Ruby, Python, Scala, and Haskell.
Guide to Multi-processing Network Server Models
In this article, Toptal engineer Ivan Voras provides a useful overview and comparison of multi-processing network server models, with the goal being to take some of the mystery out of writing high performance networking code. The article is intended for “system programmers”, i.e., back-end developers who will work with the low-level details of their applications, implementing network server code.
Ivan Voras, PhD
Ivan’s 15+ years of back-end and blockchain architecture has seen everything from DBA ops to development of OS kernel modules (FreeBSD).
REST Security With JWT Using Java and Spring Security
Although the old, standardized security approaches work with REST services, they all have problems that could be avoided by using a better standard. For this, JWT arrives just in time to save the day.
In this article, Toptal engineer Dejan Milosevic guides us on how to implement a JWT token-based REST API using Java and Spring Security.
Dejan Milosevic
Dejan has significant experience working with top Java and JavaScript frameworks and a complimentary fluency in the DB layer.
WSGI: The Server-Application Interface for Python
Nowadays, almost all Python frameworks use WSGI as a means, if not the only means, to communicate with their web servers. This is how Django, Flask, and many other popular frameworks do it.
This article intends to provide readers with a glimpse into how WSGI works and allow them to build a simple WSGI application or server.
Leandro Lima
Leandro has 15+ years in IT/development. Working with Python since 2013, he loves building efficient and cost-effective systems.
True Dependency Injection with Symfony Components
The Dependency Injection Container in Symfony2 allows components to be injected with their dependencies, and is often used as a Service Locator, which when combined with the DI-container pattern is considered to be an anti-pattern by many.
In this article, Toptal engineer Vasilii Lapin shows us how you can build a simple Symfony2 application using the DI-container, but without implementing the Service Locator pattern.
Vasilii Lapin
Vasilii has worked as a web architect and PHP back-end developer, specializing in NIX administration, and high-load, large scale projects.
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