Toptal Engineering Blog

We reduce boilerplate with common OOP patterns, but often, the code overhead of using patterns is almost the same—if not bigger—than if we’d used boilerplate code in the first place.

In aspect-oriented programming tutorial, we implement two functions (aspects) that allow for generic database connection management and caching. These allow us to mark methods that, when called, will automatically have the required functionally present in through IL weaving.

Pattern matching is a powerful tool commonly found in functional programming languages. The Ruby 2.7 release is going to include this feature.

In this article, Toptal Ruby Developer Noppakun Wongsrinoppakun provides a breakdown of what this addition will include and why it matters.

Single sign-on is great for users, sparing them from memorizing yet another password; for businesses, removing frictio; and for developers, since less code means less things that can go wrong.

In this Flask login tutorial, we’ll write a step-by-step guide to add a SSO login button into a Flask application with SimpleLogin and Facebook as an identity provider.

Most websites today rely on CSS to deliver more style and polish, but the sheer popularity of CSS is causing many people to take it for granted and overlook its importance.

In this article, Toptal UI Developer Silvestar Bistrović explains this disconnect and outlines why you need a true CSS specialist rather than a jack of all trades.

Migrating in either direction between Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database? There are some significant pitfalls to be aware of…

Data collection and preparation slow down traditional NLP projects. However, transfer learning and BERT can reduce the amount of data required and change the way companies execute NLP projects.

In an age of continuous delivery, Java developers have to be confident that their changes don’t break existing code, hence automated testing. There’s more than one valid approach to it, but how can you keep them straight?

Nearly every app requires an authorization system on top of an authentication system. We often need a fine-grained permissions model to allow only specific users to access certain resources while simultaneously restricting access for everyone else.

In this tutorial, Toptal Freelance Firebase Developer Joaquin Cid teaches how to build just such a system. Called role-based authentication, we’ll learn how to implement this system in an API using Node.js and Firebase.

Subscription-based apps need a special approach when it comes to analytics. Learn how a variation on the traditional sales funnel helps you work with LTV, subscriber retention, and churn rates to make your app better—and more profitable.

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.