Engineering:
- Figma’s database migration from one giant DB to multiple vertically partitioned databases – My knowledge of database-level aspects of applications is just about functional, relying more on managed services or backend teams to provide my application level code a robust api to work with. However, with my latest project at work, I am starting to look deeper into database elements just to be aware of the tradeoffs we might need to make in the future. This was a great read on how the Figma team transitioned their giant db to a number of vertically partitioned smaller ones and instead of splitting each table across many databases, moved groups of tables onto their own databases.
- Computer Scientist Explains Zero Knowledge Proofs in 5 Levels of Difficulty (YouTube) – I really like this YouTube series by Wired that explains technical concepts in ascending levels of complexity/detail. ZKPs are a big topic in my community of Web3 devs and this was a great video that almost everyone can take some learnings away from.
- Database Fundamentals – A great “from the ground up” read on database technology and concepts. I specially enjoyed the part on various algorithms the database storage engines use.
Design
- The Genius Design of Dutch Money (YouTube) – It’s a bummer that these are no longer in circulation with Netherlands moving to the Euro, but the focus on clarity and fun make these some of the most interestingly designed currency notes
Fun
- Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Book) – Not surprised that this has won numerous awards and is often talked about as one of the best Science Fiction books of all time. Children of Time explores what happens when a terraforming project goes wrong and a virus designed to speed up simian evolution accidentally ends up evolving spiders instead. I really liked the exploration of civilized spider societies and how their technology would be based on very different primitives than humans’.
Code Zen 