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    Swizec's articles in the "papers" category

    I aim to write mindblowing emails with real insight into the career and skills of a modern software engineer. "Raw and honest from the heart!" as one reader described them.

    Below are 32 articles filed under papers. Enjoy ❤️

    The Laws of Software Evolution

    Manny Lehman was one of the first to notice that software is never done. It just continues to evolve forever.

    Why SQL is Forever

    Never underestimate the power of good marketing for bad products. NoSQL was fun but SQL is here to stay.

    43 years of the actor model

    The actor model is now part of everyday tooling and ensures concurrency safety. Understanding the principles behind it helps you write less buggy code.

    Why taming architectural complexity is paramount

    Unravel the hidden costs of architectural complexity in software engineering and learn practical strategies to tackle it. Boost productivity, reduce defects, and improve staff retention with insights from an MIT PhD thesis.

    Two types of complexity and their impact

    Complicated code slows down junior devs, while complex systems impact senior devs more. Focus on managing system complexity & dependencies, not just simplifying code.

    You can't fix the wrong abstraction

    Unlock the secrets to combating architectural complexity in software development and learn to identify and fix the wrong abstraction. Boost productivity, reduce bugs, and retain more staff.

    Eight things to know about LLMs

    eightthings.pdf is the best paper I've read on what's going on in AI right now and why everyone is excited. Here's my summary.

    Notes on A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks

    In 1970 a paper came out that changed the world of business computing. It laid the ground work for modern databases.

    What makes a great software engineer?

    In 2015 a group of researchers asked 59 experienced engineers at Microsoft "What makes a great software engineer?". Here's what they found.

    Code Review Practices for Refactoring Changes

    Do you review refactoring pull requests differently than you do others? An empirical study of OpenStack, an open source cloud platform, says that you do and finds 6 common criteria.

    Finding unresolved promises in JavaScript

    JavaScript is a fantastic server-side language because it's async. That also makes it tricky. 💩 What happens when you swallow errors? Forget to resolve promises? Or run into a number of other anti-patterns

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