mmckelvy

For cases like this, I use pl/pgsql functions and dynamic queries. Dynamic queries take extra care and aren't the most pleasant things to write, but they can handle the GET /things with 10 parameters endpoints quite well.

I'm a web developer (React / Node.js) and I bought the first edition of this book (it was called Mastering PostgreSQL in Application Development then). I can say that it really changed the way I approach building apps. I definitely lean on the database a lot more now. No more "models", ORMs / query builders, and crunching data in app code. Just build your schema, write plain sql queries, and you're off to the races. As a bonus, I'm also much more comfortable with Postgres' built in command line tool, psql.

The scope of the book is pretty broad. You'll cover psql setup, a little relational theory, some nuts and bolts about the inner workings of Postgres, indexing strategy, data types, aggregates, window functions, common table expressions, etc. Given the scope, it's difficult to cover everything in depth, so I'd treat this book as more of an introduction to what's possible.

Highly recommended.

In my experience, you don't really have to target es5 anymore. Most browsers support new features all the way through es2018. My Babel / Webpack config is pretty minimal these days.

> Close to the metal craft.

Loved this phrase.

> We found that no one actually wants to use these tools— they just have to, and that the only people who were satisfied with the state of things were folks who had assistants they could offload the work onto.

I suspect this is the case with a lot of business / enterprise software.

Congrats on the launch. I think this space (software assisted services that rely on Slack / SMS / email) is a promising one. Best of luck!

Completely agree. I think web development is a lot simpler and faster without GraphQL.

Such a good point. I think MS Office peaked with Office 2003. Most changes since have made the product slightly worse in my opinion.

Is it effective to query across different data sources / SaaS services without first aggregating all the data in some sort of data warehouse?

I actually think there's an opportunity in the opposite direction: convert your SaaS apps to spreadsheets.

Instead of having to log into 10 different SaaS apps, you simply make a few menu selections from within Excel / GSheets and your data is pulled in, ready to be analyzed.

The spreadsheet becomes the UI, and the SaaS "apps" are basically databases accessed via an API.

This. A spreadsheet is the best UI for most data intensive / business apps.

My general sense is that high quality software always wins in the long run. I'd argue that is the primary reason Google has rapidly gained share in markets traditionally dominated by Microsoft and other enterprise software companies -- Google's software is noticeably better.

As with most things, you get what you pay for.

With shared spreadsheets, this should become less and less of an issue going forward I would think.

With formulas, custom formats, charts, etc. I think you can make a pretty solid case that Excel is far more than a form.

But even if you are just using it as a form, with bulk operations and keyboard shortcuts, it's usually much easier to fill out an Excel form vs. a web / app form.

> As React webapps get large and start to contain a lot of complex components, they often do not perform well and manifest low FPS in browser.

Is this something you have actually experienced? Can you cite an example of running into this issue? I've built fairly complex UIs with React (tables with nested dropdowns, financial statements with a lot of data points, dynamic charts / graphs, elements with animations, etc. and haven't run into this issue.

The only time I've seen people have trouble w/ performance is when they use something like Redux or Apollo on top of React. The problem in those cases of course is Redux or Apollo, not React itself.

- Because a spreadsheet is the best UI for many business applications (far better than an HTML table on a webpage).

- Because Excel allows the user to (i) perform ad-hoc calculations, (ii) audit the input and outputs, and (iii) easily modify the functionality in real time.

- People don't like filling out forms and most web apps are basically filling out forms.

Sigh. I really wish people would just accept the fact that JavaScript is a dynamically typed language and stop making things unnecessarily difficult.

I've been searching for a basic React UI component system for awhile now. There are a lot of systems available, but each one has significant drawbacks to the point I end up just rolling my own.

I think an ideal system would have a core set of "unstyled" components with the necessary functionality baked in. That way the overall aesthetic is up to you, but a lot of the painstaking UI work (e.g. showing, hiding, and highlighting elements in a dropdown menu or making sure a layout element breaks properly on mobile) is already done.

From there you could build UI "kits" that use the core functionality but each have a distinctive look and feel.

Web components will never take off because they are HTML-first and rely on DOM apis.

The reason React is so popular and the reason it dethroned Angular, Backbone, etc. is because it is JavaScript-first. In other words, it gives you the power of a proper programming language to build UIs.

I've used Barman for physical backups (I used the streaming backup option). Works well, though it's a bit of a slog to get set up the first time (the docs can be confusing in some areas) but once it's up it's great.

Related aside, what's the best way to run Microsoft Office on a Linux box? My ideal setup would be Linux for everything but Office programs, which I'd prefer to run in a Windows environment.

I think the cracks in "break the rules" startups such as Uber, Airbnb, Tesla, etc. are starting to show. However, I think these companies have surfaced some interesting product ideas with accompanying demand. More established players might be able to adjust the business model a bit and make things more sustainable.

Ultimately we may not be staying at Airbnbs and driving Teslas, but maybe we'll be staying at some sort of Marriott "Experiences" boutique and driving electric cars from GM.

How much of this stuff is taken care of out of the box by Hapi.js? I'm an Express user but was taking a look at Hapi.js the other day and it seems like it handles at least of a few of these concerns.

Funny, I was just looking for something like this. I specifically wanted a note taking app where I could use my text editor and all its power but see the notes rendered close to real time. Great timing! Will give it a look.

How many banks do you have in your network? Is there a place I can see which institutions you support?

I've always thought fraud would be much more preventable if credit card companies would simply send you a text or verification code each time your card was charged, or require a PIN.

It seems this is difficult for the big credit card companies and banks (which is why it hasn't happened), but I wonder if it might be easier for Stripe to incorporate something like this into their Issuing product.

In addition to the animation, I liked the "immersive" feel of the main pages. This effect seems to be created by allowing the navigation elements to "frame" the entire screen and then placing a single piece of content as the focal point in the center of the screen.

Certainly some interesting UI / UX takeaways here.

I think it's important to consider observations in the context in which they were made. PG made those observations back in 2008. Things have evolved substantially since then. SF (and other coastal cities) are much different today than they were 10 years ago, as are rust belt cities and those in the south, heartland etc.

Concur. Once you get over the initial learning curve, psql is the weapon of choice.

I found this recent book by one of the Postgres contributors helpful: https://masteringpostgresql.com/

Yep! Fixed.