Toptal Engineering Blog

GraphQL is a domain-specific language for data query and manipulation by Facebook. It is meant to replace the de facto REST standard in API creation.

In this article, Toptal Freelance GraphQL Developer Ioram Gordadze creates a GraphQL API from scratch, summarizing problems new GraphQL developers face. He also teaches us to rethink the standard methods used in REST APIs in a more GraphQL-friendly manner.

Integration tests provide a lot of value considering the time and effort required for testing. React integration tests improve code maintainability, yet they don’t slow down development.

In this article, Toptal Software Developer Anton Rublev demonstrates how you can harness the power of react-testing-library to create superior code without wasting time.

In an era of cross-platform mobile development, it is crucial to understand the specifics of different operating systems and hardware.

In this article, Mobile Developer Martin Doychev lists a number of bad practices employed while creating apps for iOS and Android and explains what you should and shouldn’t do.

Radio has used fundamentally the same technology since Marconi’s experiments in 1895. However, improved circuit design and signal processing techniques have allowed us to transmit much more and much farther out than before.

In this article, with a laptop and less than $30 worth of equipment, we’ll capture images transmitted from the International Space Station and listen to amateur radio conversations at a local repeater.

Five years after Dart 1.0, Google’s rewritten open-source language is attracting increasing numbers of developers. What do C# and Java developers need to know to get started with it?

Apple’s iOS SDK features a bevy of built-in UI components, but what happens when you decide you need a bit more? What if you need to create a swipeable UITabBar?

In this post, Toptal iOS Developer George Vashakidze explains how he tried using a third-party library, and why he chose to create his own solution instead.

WordPress code, especially back-end PHP code, is often a mess—even in WP core! But legacy code is no excuse. Find out how to develop WP customizations the right way, so your code is readable and maintainable.

The ELK stack boasts a range of impressive capabilities, but in some scenarios, it can be difficult to configure and maintain.

In this article, Toptal DevOps Engineer Fabrice Triboix explains why he decided to shift to a serverless solution that requires less maintenance and allows for superior scaling.

Are Vue.js, React, and Angular actually delivering a good developer and user experience, or are they used simply because they’re the current de facto standard? Discover some exciting approaches to web development.

In Part 1 and 2, we took a closer look at the evolution of the web, how XML and JSON arose, and the differences between the two standards.

In this final part of our series on JSON vs. XML, Toptal Freelance Full-stack Developer Seva Safris looks at XML as a data interchange format and how well it supports complex requirements. And finally, he will discuss the future of JSON as well as explore solutions that bring the strengths of XML to JSON.

Nearly all computer applications rely on either JSON or XML. Today, JSON has overtaken XML, but is it better? In part 1 of this series on JSON vs. XML, we take a closer look at the history of the web to uncover the original purpose of XML and JSON and analyze how JSON became the popular choice.

Nearly all computer applications rely on one of two principal message standards: JSON and XML. Today, JSON is the most widely used format, having overtaken XML within the last 5 years, but is JSON better than XML?

In part 1 of this multi-part series on JSON vs. XML, Toptal Freelance Full-stack Developer Seva Safris will take a closer look at the history of the web to uncover the original purpose of XML and JSON, and analyze the software trends in recent years that lead to JSON becoming more popular than XML.

Rails 6 is finally here, featuring major improvements and clever new features that should make development easier and faster than ever.

In this article, Toptal Ruby on Rails Developer Avant Mittal dives into the Rails 6 changelog to introduce you to these new features and explain how you will be using them in your next Rails project.

Test automation engineers continuously research the latest tools and techniques to ensure that their test automation framework stays fast, stable, and easy to use.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Java Developer Simon Stratton will take a look at some tips that you can use to update your framework for 2019 by improving your use of Selenium Grid, Java’s wait function, and Chrome DevTools.

Chatbots are revolutionizing the way people interact with technology. In recent years, their simplicity and low cost have helped drive adoption across various fields and industries.

In this article, Toptal Natural Language Processing Developer Ali Abdel Aal demonstrates how you can create and deploy a Telegram chatbot in a matter of hours.

Natural language processing (NLP) has become one of the most researched subjects in the field of AI. This interest is driven by applications that have been brought to market in recent years.

In this article, Toptal Deep Learning Developer Maximilian Hopf introduces you to Google Natural Language API and Google AutoML Natural Language.