tl;dr in tech - Issue #98

By: Jacob Groß

tl;dr: Your <img> tag is old news. In 2023, it's all about making your <img> work like <picture> tags. This trick is an old dog's dream—it helps in migrating existing codebases without pulling your hair out. As Jacob puts it, "the following article will guide you through responsive image techniques, and introduce a novel technique that aims to make <img> tags work (almost) like <picture> tags, making migration in existing codebases easier. With the reduced engineering effort, this hopefully helps you improve the images on your website in 2023.”

By: Andrew Bosworth

tl;dr: Worried about involving others in your project? Don't be. Trust is earned by tackling issues as a team. Bosworth nails it, “I relate strongly to the instinct many of us have to do things ourselves rather than involve others. We don’t want to bother them. If we’re being honest, we don’t want to have to. We may worry how it reflects on us. We may worry it means we are failing. But my experience in leadership tells me the exact opposite is true. Someone who tells me when things are going poorly is someone I am going to trust relative to someone who struggles in silence.”

By: Julia Evans

tl;dr: Want to blog but holding yourself back? Julia calls out the myths you might be buying into: you don't have to be a savant, originality is overrated, and not every post has to be a Pulitzer contender. Forget page views; just write.

By: Gergely Orosz

tl;dr: AI coding tools aren't Skynet. They’re here to help you learn (57%), be more productive (53%), and focus (51%). Gergely dives into the stats and insights that show how software engineers are leaning on AI to level up.

By: Abi Noda

tl;dr: Abi uncovers how Google puts tech debt into neat categories, measures it, and then employs tactics to tackle it. This is essential for understanding how your team may be buried under tech debt and offers some escape routes.

By: Matthew Foster

tl;dr: Matthew explains the holistic role modularity plays in an enterprise. It's not just about architecture; it affects team topologies and business communication. He emphasizes, “This article charts the journey of an enterprise who set out to shift their architecture to a more modular one in order to ease their growing pains. They found that modularity is a multifaceted solution that extends beyond architecture, into business lines of communication, team topologies and effective developer experience. By paying close attention to these factors, the enterprise was able to achieve significant uplifts in the delivery performance of their mobile applications.”

By: Vadim Kravcenko

tl;dr: Listen to Vadim, folks—“Start small, but start today. Don't wait for a grand strategy or a perfect tool. Start by documenting your code, your decisions, and your learnings. Make it a part of your daily workflow, not an end-of-the-day chore. And as you move forward, imbibe this culture of documentation into your teams, your projects, and your organization. Create systems and processes that encourage and facilitate documentation.”