Toptal Engineering Blog

The Toptal Engineering Blog is a hub for in-depth development tutorials and new technology announcements created by professional software engineers in the Toptal network.

Toptalauthors are vetted experts in their fields and write on topics in which they have demonstrated experience. All of our content is peer reviewed and validated by Toptal experts in the same field.
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Toptalauthors are vetted experts in their fields and write on topics in which they have demonstrated experience. All of our content is peer reviewed and validated by Toptal experts in the same field.

Social Network Analysis Using Power BI and R: A Custom Visuals Guide

Microsoft’s Power BI is one of the most popular software solutions used to perform social network analysis. Here’s how to create custom Power BI visuals in R for compelling and flexible results.

14 minute readContinue Reading
Bharat Garg

Bharat Garg

Bharat is a data scientist and developer who specializes in designing and developing interactive reports and tools to facilitate decision-making. He has worked with small startups and large corporations, such as Comcast, MetLife, UnitedHealth Group/Optum, and Jefferson Health. One of Bharat’s projects delivered $6 million in revenue, and another delivered $10 million in savings.

Harness the Power of WordPress Hooks: Actions and Filters Explained

WordPress developers might be tempted to customize this popular website builder directly, but that approach creates ongoing maintenance headaches. Fortunately, there’s a clean way to extend functionality: via WordPress hooks, actions, and filters.

11 minute readContinue Reading
Tahir Shahzad

Tahir Shahzad

Tahir is a full-stack web developer specializing in WordPress and AI. He has been featured as a speaker at several WordPress Meetups and WordCamps.

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Code Writing Code: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Modern Metaprogramming

With a tour that includes Julia, Rust, and more, dive into the fascinating world of metaprogramming and get a taste for its history, common forms (such as macros), importance, and potential future.

16 minute readContinue Reading
Will Beddow

Will Beddow

Will is a full-stack developer specializing in the design of complex performant systems. His recent work includes fintech systems design, cloud orchestration programs, and large corporate software systems.

gRPC vs. REST: Getting Started With the Best API Protocol

gRPC, REST’s up-and-coming competitor, approaches synchronous communication from another angle, offering protocol buffers and typed contracts. What does that mean for your project?

9 minute readContinue Reading
Laszlo Gyori

Laszlo Gyori

Laszlo is a solution architect, software developer, and expert on microservices architecture, gRPC, and REST. He has a master’s degree in IT from Budapest Institute of Technology.

Efficiency at Scale: A Tale of AWS Cost Optimization

Understanding total spend is a common challenge for cloud users, especially on projects with complex pricing models. This article explores the top AWS cost optimizations that will help you scale your platform effectively.

11 minute readContinue Reading
Rudolf Eremyan

Rudolf Eremyan

Rudolf is a data scientist who has architected big data processing infrastructures on AWS and implemented data engineering solutions for Fortune 500 companies, including Disneyland Hong Kong and Philip Morris. He was invited to participate in NASA’s 2021 International Space Apps Challenge as a speaker and judge.

Optimize Your Environment for Development and Production: A Pydantic Tutorial, Part 2

Learn how to develop a Django application coupled with pydantic where the development environment matches production.

9 minute readContinue Reading
Arjaan Buijk

Arjaan Buijk

Arjaan is a senior engineer and data scientist who creates mission-critical cloud solutions focused on Rasa for international banks and insurance companies. He architects and teaches large-scale Kubernetes solutions.

An In-depth Look at C++ vs. Java

Deciding on a language can be intimidating when you don’t have deep experience with the available options. This comparison explores the fundamental differences between C++ and Java, and what to consider when choosing between them.

10 minute readContinue Reading
Timothy Mensch

Timothy Mensch

Timothy is an experienced software architect who has created multiple game engines with C++, including one used in more than 100 titles. His extensive background in Java ranges from Android game and application development to industry experience at Amazon, building an Android client for the AWS AppStream service. He has used more than 20 programming languages in his career, several of which he custom created to meet a specific need.

Toptal Engineering Expert

Gabriel Courtemanche

Gabriel is a highly efficient and reliable professional who possesses a broad skill set for web application development. He's been working on a range of products and clients—from working on scalability problems in production engineering teams at Shopify and Autodesk to launching new applications for startups. Most of his work consists of leading technical teams, by creating an easy development environment, fixing technical debts, providing best practices code examples, and mentoring devs.
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Previously At

Shopify

Most-read Articles

Marcos Henrique da Silva

Creating a Secure REST API in Node.js

By Marcos Henrique da Silva
13 minute readContinue Reading

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