Toptal Engineering Blog

A monorepository is a code management and architectural concept whereby you keep all your isolated bits of code in one super repository instead of managing multiple smaller repositories—like a single repository for your website and mobile apps. In this article, Toptal Freelance Front-end Developer Alexander Noel attempts to gather and explain as much information as possible about how and when to use monorepos.

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 will start by discussing the Discord UI and APIs for bots before moving on to a Discord bot tutorial. We’ll also hear from ImBursting, the developer of Rythm—one of Discord’s most popular bots—and his experiences 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.