API backend should use dataloaders

Data Loaders allow transparent batching of requests to a data provider (e.g. database). More often than not, this leads to reduced latency and better performance without forcing an explicit batching of requests for the API users, for example, your frontend developers. Many programmers relate data loaders to Graph QL for N+1 query patterns. I believe data loaders are a great idea any time you are building an API backend. Let me illustrate the concept with a simple example. And while I am using Go as an example, data loader implementations are available in many languages.

Stockholm

Two days in Stockholm (Sweden)

Day 1 We started the trip with the Nobel Prize Museum, which comes with access to an interactive Audio Guide. It takes 2-3 hours to fully check it out.

Engineering stack

Most startups think of the engineering stack as if it is a single cohesive thing. However, I believe that there are three different engineering stacks that are loosely coupled to each other.

Nillion

Recently, I came across Nillion’s whitepaper. Nillion at its core is trying to be a new decentralized encrypted data-processing layer. Here’s how it works.

Spicy vs Chilli

When Americans say spicy, they usually mean chili. For some weird reason, other spices that are more aromatic like Turmeric, cloves, cardamom, etc. do not seem to fit the definitely of “spicy”. That’s why in a typical Indian/Thai restaurant in the US when they ask how spicy, they mean “How much chili should I put in” However, when an Indian says that the spices were good, s/he usually means that the food had an aroma and a balanced composition of contrasting tastes....

Book Summary: The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick

The Mom Test is an intriguing book by Rob Fitzpatrick about how to do user research and validation of one’s product idea.

Engineering Guardrails

Guardrails are meant to protect us from tripping over. The same can be said about engineering guardrails.

Sometimes the middle ground is most empowering

Writing a blog post in plain text isn’t fun. Neither is writing it in a bulky word processor like Microsoft Word. The former is too constrained, the latter too unbridled. Writing in Markdown is fun. It has sufficient features without creating bloat. Building a backend in lambda functions has a strong lock-in. On the other hand, deploying web services on Virtual Machines (or physical machines!), while having little lock-in, is complicated....

April 30, 2023 Â· 1 min #Life      Misc
Copenhagen Skyline

Copenhagen

Day 1 Start the day with a free walking tour to get an idea of the important places and the history of the city.

VCs are anti-personas for a B2C startup

The early adopters of Instagram were not VCs.