Toptal Engineering Blog

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.

The de facto standard for web application security is the Open Web Application Security Project’s Top 10 Project. It lists the ten most prevalent security threats based on an extensive amount of data and community feedback and was updated in late 2017.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Full-stack and System Security Developer Hrvoje Gazibara discusses the changes to the OWASP Top 10’s most recent revision by illustrating new vulnerabilities, and even some that were removed.

In recent years, React has established itself as the most popular library in the JavaScript universe. However, rather than rest on its laurels, the React team is still working hard to make it better.

In the second part of our React tutorial series, Toptal JavaScript Developer Kamil Jakubczak takes a closer look at some of its features, including hooks, the latest addition to React.

Eliminate complex code configurations using a monorepo structure. This guide will help you get started.

It’s easy to start working with a spreadsheet, but it also takes time to master your skills to use all the powerful features it provides. When you start feeling comfortable with formulas, functions, pivot tables, etc., there is still one more level which allows you to achieve even more—custom extensions.

In this article, I’m going to focus on extending Google Spreadsheets with a Google Apps Script that validates European Union VAT IDs via API calls.

REST APIs are used in every language and on every platform. Building a secure REST API is a must-have tool in every developer’s arsenal.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Java Developer Sergio Moretti shows how to secure a REST API using Spring Boot.

Bulletproof data validation is fundamental to implementing a back-end API. Find out how datalize, a Node.js library, makes this easy—and formats your data nicely, too.

The React Context API was been around as an experimental feature for a while now but finally became safe to use in production last year, solving one major problem React problem — prop drilling.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Javascript Developer Boris Yordanov will introduce us to the API and illustrate it with two basic web store apps, one built with the Context API and one without it.

Handling concurrency in Swift can cause headaches and pyramids of doom. HoneyBee is a futures/promises library that makes concurrent programming easy, expressive, and safe.

Join Toptal Swift Developer Alex Lynch in exploring the performance and readability advantage of using this library.

Discord is a popular real-time messaging platform with robust support for programmable bots. Bots are ubiquitous on Discord and provide a wide range of services, including moderation assistance, games, music, internet searches, payment processing, and more.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer and Chatbot Developer Randall Schmidt discusses the Discord UI and APIs for bots and presents a Discord bot tutorial. ImBursting, the developer of Rythm—one of Discord’s most popular bots—shares his experiences on developing and maintaining his significant infrastructure and codebase.

HorusLP is a new Python tool designed to help with the architecture of algorithm development workflows. It provides an architectural framework for the development of optimization algorithms.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Shanglun Wang explains how HorusLP came to be and demonstrates its capabilities with a few example algorithms.