Technology

GraphQL is a query language for APIs, originally developed by Facebook for internal use. Since its public release, GraphQL has been compared to REST and other architectures.

In this article, Toptal JavaScript Developer Marcos Henrique da Silva demonstrates how to create a GraphQL Node.js API, and explains why you should try it, too.

Static websites are simple and fast, but it’s also possible to automate updates to them to keep them fresh and relevant. Find out how to generate daily-updated HTML pages that track the latest releases of popular GitHub repositories.

You can just write sequentially executed code in JavaScript, but should you?

In this article, Toptal Freelance JavaScript Developer Omar Waleed tests the widespread Node.js belief that synchronous code degrades performance and is, in a sense, just plain evil. Is this really true?

T9 predictive text has been around for ages, and it lost relevance with the advent of modern smartphones. However, T9 can still be a useful addition to certain types of apps on iOS.

In this article, Toptal Swift Developer George Vashakidze explains why T9 can still be useful and practical, and how you can add it to your next iOS app.

Cross-platform mobile apps are increasingly being built with React Native. But how can you scan for QR codes and augment the user’s camera view when they’re present?

Updating live applications used to be a tedious and somewhat risky affair, but with the emergence of modern development frameworks and tools, updates and deployment are becoming straightforward.

In this article, Toptal Java Developer Elene Latsoshvili explains how you can update a Laravel app with zero downtime, and how this can be done for most PHP applications.

Google’s Flutter mobile SDK only recently made it to version 1.0, but it is already catching up with React Native in terms of market share. Flutter is also used to develop apps for Google’s upcoming Fuchsia OS.

In this article, Toptal Java Developer Nemanja Stosic demonstrates how to create a simple messaging app using Flutter and Firebase.

Automatically scaling container deployments in a microservices-based app architecture is downright luxurious…once it’s set up. But what’s the best way to tune an app’s orchestration parameters?

The Bitcoin Lightning Network is an independent solution that’s heralded as the solution to bitcoin’s scaling problem by keeping fees minuscule and making transactions instant, away from the blockchain.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Blockchain Developer Amin Shah Gilani explores what the Bitcoin Lightning Network really is, how it can make the guarantees it provides, and its current state.

When complex systems are life-critical, it can be extremely difficult to modernize and upgrade them safely. While many engineers will never work on such systems, there is much to be learned from those who do.

In this article, Toptal Solutions Architect Dr. Kyle Kotowick explains how to properly maintain and update systems that are too important to fail.

We’ll explore the application of parameterization and how it relates to mainstream design patterns such as dependency injection, strategy, template method, and others. In Python, many of these are made unnecessary by the fact that parameters can be callable objects or classes.

Most continuous deployment (CD) systems test code before rolling it out—but there’s a better way. Learn how to use Kubernetes to build an easily extendable event-driven CD pipeline that is optimized for reliable test results.

One of the best ways to elevate your status as a WordPress developer, at least in the eyes of your clients, is to become skilled at writing API consumers.

In this article, Toptal Freelance WordPress Developer Scott Fennell guides you through five techniques that will help you create powerful WordPress API clients to perfectly suit your needs.

Join an expert in a look back in horror at his most embarrassing mistakes in his early days as a WordPress developer. He discusses general PHP bugs, WordPress-specific bugs, and also mistakes made at a managerial level while supervising other developers.

When your app’s next iteration is ready to deploy, you have two choices: either stop the entire application and deploy the new version manually every time or build an automated zero downtime CI/CD deployment pipeline once.

In this article, Toptal Freelance DevOps Engineer Gaurav Kohli demonstrates the latter using the Jenkins-powered continuous deployment pipeline of a three-tier web application built in Node.js, deployed on AWS Cloud, and using Terraform as an infrastructure orchestrator.

Data warehouses aren’t exactly a new concept, but industry demand for data science services, coupled with the rise of AI and machine learning, is making them more relevant than ever.

In this post, Toptal Data Warehouse Developer Chamitha Wanaguru outlines three basic principles you need to keep in mind when developing a new data warehouse.