Toptal Engineering Blog

Properly used, an SQL database index can be so effective that it might seem like magic. But the following series of exercises will show that underneath, the logic of most SQL indexes---and wielding them correctly---is quite straightforward.

Customer Relationship Management systems provide businesses with more clarity and information about customer behavior, helping boost sales, retain existing customers, and attract new ones. In this article, Toptal Software Developer Leif Gensert outlines the basic challenges of CRM integration and explains what you can do to make the process as efficient and frictionless as possible.

Feedback on an enterprise web app prompted an experiment. Could a WhatsApp chatbot replace it? Would people like it better? Would it be more useful?

What if developers could use the same code, tools, and libraries on a CPU, GPU, or an AI accelerator? Intel's oneAPI initiative aims to do just that by offering a unified programming model across multiple hardware architectures. Toptal Technical Editor Nermin Hajdarbegovic discusses oneAPI’s genesis and future with Sanjiv M. Shah, VP of Intel’s Architecture, Graphics and Software Group.

Missing the luxury of a good, old-fashioned remote control when the laptop is beyond easy reach? Transform your old smartphone into a remote and learn some basic Node.js/Express/Pug along the way.

ETL can consolidate data from various sources into an organized, reliable, and usable database. This allows businesses to employ previously unused or underused data to improve their performance. In this article, Toptal Data Modeling Developer Alexandre Wanderer demonstrates all stages of the ETL process in building a data warehouse.

Hooks have already changed the way we use React for the better. Add TypeScript to the mix, and developers can leverage static typing and type transformations to reduce the noise of many interface descriptions. In this article, Toptal Software Developer Nicolas Zozol demonstrates hooks and TypeScript in React and explains how this powerful combo can save time and streamline your code.

Pre-trained models are making waves in the deep learning world. Using massive pre-training datasets, these NLP models bring previously unheard-of feats of AI within the reach of app developers.