Technology

Data inundates us like never before—how can we hope to analyze it? Graphs (networks, not bar graphs) provide an elegant approach. Find out how to start with the Python NetworkX library to describe, visualize, and analyze “graph theory” datasets.

Maintainable Express.js code after scaling means making common code more feature-rich while reducing boilerplate. Find out how to enable promise-based route code and centralize both error handling and normal-results handling in Express.js apps.

A comprehensive tutorial on how to log SSH activity—minus sensitive input, like passwords—occurring in Linux AWS EC2 instances to either CloudWatch Logs or S3 buckets.

How source code becomes a running program is often opaque: “Just run the compiler” is all that developers normally need to know.

Writing an interpreter from scratch—including its lexer and parser—is an illuminating challenge.

Visual regression testing is not a new concept. Toptal engineers routinely use it, but with looming deadlines, they sometimes need to innovate and improvise.

This article demonstrates how Toptal QA specialists leveraged UI testing and Cypress to run visual regression tests without resorting to specialized tools.

Researchers snuck vulnerabilities past the peer-review process and into the open-source Linux kernel codebase. What does this mean for the ubiquitous Linux kernel, and open source in general?

Our Express.js REST API series ends with a bang! Learn how to add a Dockerized MongoDB instance, Mongoose, JWT authentication, user permissions, and automated testing with Mocha, Chai, and SuperTest.

Indexes and partitioning can help with SQL performance, but they’re not cure-alls. Through everyday examples of date range and LIKE queries, find out how to “think like an RDBMS” to make yours run faster.

NgRx is a popular Angular state management library, but to unlock its full potential developers may require a few new skills.

In this article, Toptal Full-stack Developer Luka Onikadze explains why he became an NgRx admirer after starting off as a skeptic.

Testing can be a daunting task even for experienced teams with an abundance of resources. How do Toptal developers write tests and what do they use?

In this article, Toptal React Developer Boris Yordanov introduces you to Picasso, a component library designed by our developers for in-house use.

When you hear the word “linter,” you probably think about particular widely used tools. But there’s a different kind of linters.

In this article, Toptal Back-end Architect Robert Pankowecki introduces you to linters implemented by Ruby libraries and details their capabilities.

The concise syntax of Scala usually helps developers avoid writing boilerplate. When repetitive code is required anyway, developers can use macros and quasiquotes to keep code clean and maintainable. Here’s how.

As microservices architecture continues to evolve, interservice communication has become a significant challenge to manage. Service meshes are becoming the standard solution, but how do popular and up-and-coming service meshes compare?

The Express.js REST API journey continues! Move from models to full DAOs and DTOs, validate requests with middleware, separate services from controllers, and prepare for a real database.

Harnessing the potential of machine learning for computer vision is not a new concept but recent advances and the availability of new tools and datasets have made it more accessible to developers.

In this article, Toptal Software Developer Teimur Gasanov demonstrates how you can create an app capable of identifying handwritten digits in under 30 minutes, including the API and UI.

Extracting functional components from a monolithic app into a service can be a daunting task but choosing the right tools and techniques for the job can expedite the process.

In this article, Toptal Back-end Engineer Maciek Rzasa recounts how his team extracted billing functionality from the Toptal platform and how they overcame a series of performance issues.