How to Choose a Tech Stack That Won't Hold You Back
The best stack is rarely the newest one. A practical framework for choosing languages, frameworks, databases and hosting based on your team, your product and the next few years.
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Tips & writing
Notes from the workbench
Practical engineering tips, design theory and performance breakdowns — written for developers and founders who like their advice tested in production.
Why Your React useEffect Runs in a Loop (and How to Fix It)
An effect that fires forever, runs twice, or reads stale state. Here is what is actually happening with React's useEffect dependencies, and the patterns that make effects predictable.
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Unit vs Integration vs End-to-End Tests: What to Write and Why
Not all tests are equally useful. What each type of test catches, how much of each to write, and a pragmatic testing strategy for web apps that gives confidence without slowing you down.
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Async/Await Mistakes That Quietly Break JavaScript Apps
Missing awaits, await inside forEach, accidental waterfalls and swallowed errors. The async/await bugs that pass code review and fail in production, with the fix for each one.
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Test-Driven Development: A Practical Guide (Without the Dogma)
Write a failing test, make it pass, clean up. TDD sounds slow but often makes you faster. How the red-green-refactor loop works in practice, where it shines, and where it doesn't fit.
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The N+1 Query Problem: How to Spot It and Fix It for Good
Your page loads 20 posts and quietly runs 21 database queries. The N+1 problem is the most common ORM performance bug. Here is how to recognise it and fix it in any stack.
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Linux Command Line Basics Every Web Developer Needs
Servers, containers and CI all speak Linux. The commands you'll actually use for files, searching, processes, logs, permissions and networking, plus pipes that turn small tools into superpowers.
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Database Indexing Explained for Application Developers
One missing index can turn a 5ms query into a 5 second one. What indexes are, how to read EXPLAIN, how composite indexes really work, and when an index makes things worse.
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SSH Keys Explained: Secure Logins for Servers and Git
Passwords are the weakest way to log in to a server. How SSH keys work, how to create and use them for servers and GitHub, and the configuration that keeps your machines locked down.
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