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How did I increase the website performance score from 35 to 100 for both mobile and desktop?

Level of difficulty Easy
Reading time 5 min
High performance *Website development *JavaScript *Firebird/Interbase *ReactJS *
Sandbox

Not long ago, I started my personal blog. Instead of opting for the traditional route of using the popular WordPress CMS for blogs, I decided to embrace new technologies. My choice landed on Next.js and a NoSQL-type database.

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Total votes 1: ↑1 and ↓0 +1
Comments 0

Blinking into Morse code

Level of difficulty Easy
Reading time 10 min
Python *IT Infrastructure *Data Engineering *
Sandbox

Explaining main algorithm.

For a while I’ve been thinking of writing a scientific article. I wanted it to have certain utility.

Morse code is binary: it takes only two values – either dot (short) or hyphen (long). I figured out that short (s) can stand for two-eye blinking whilst long (l) can indicate left-eye blinking. Another question emerged: how to understand when does one-symbol recording stop?

Empty space between two symbols can be presented by right-eye blinking – r. If I input singly symbol of short (dot) and long (hyphen), I will blink my right eye once to indicate the space between two symbols.

To separate independent words, one has to blink her right eye twice and get rr.

Hence, I have collected an ordered set of symbols – r, l, s, - that can be converted into a full-fledged text. Once I accomplish the transformation, I get an answer.

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Total votes 6: ↑6 and ↓0 +6
Comments 2

How Java works with fonts

Level of difficulty Easy
Reading time 3 min
Java *
Sandbox

Hello!

In this article, I will try to briefly describe how Java Virtual Machine works with fonts. Once I needed to change the font used by the JVM and, surprisingly, found only pieces of legacy information about this. I spent a little time investigating the problem and now want to share this information with anybody who could find it useful. Feel free to leave any comments :)

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Rating 0
Comments 1

Setting Up an Experiment Environment for Data-Driven Product Development

Level of difficulty Medium
Reading time 8 min
Project management *Start-up development Product Management *Software Systems engineering *
Sandbox

As a product owner, it is common to face the question of whether to proceed with option A or option B. Or, which version of the screen should be implemented to achieve better results? Making such decisions can be challenging, especially when you are under tight deadlines with limited resources. Furthermore, such decisions are made based on personal judgment or copying the approach of a competitor, which can lead to suboptimal results.

The good news is that one can avoid such pitfalls by setting up a simple experiment environment that requires relatively low effort. In this article, we will describe how you can achieve this.

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Business process management. Part 1. Why bother?

Level of difficulty Easy
Reading time 4 min
Project management *Product Management *
Sandbox

This is the first post in a series on Business Process Management (BPM). Having worked as a business analyst and product manager in various companies ranging from middle-sized startups to big corporations, I have observed differences in approaches to business process management - from almost complete disregard to excessive attention. So, I decided to share my views on the topic, why I think BPM is important, especially when a company grows fast and switches from the startup stage to a grown company, and what approach I think might work for a company of average size without involving too much time and resources.

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Total votes 3: ↑3 and ↓0 +3
Comments 0

An introduction to the world of AI for designers

Level of difficulty Easy
Reading time 5 min
Design Artificial Intelligence
Sandbox

Every day a new neural network appears and every day more opportunities are opened to designers to simplify their workflow. Someone fundamentally refuses to use them, because “there is no life in machinex and technologies”, and someone is only happy to find a way to reduce the amount of work. Personally, I belong to the second type and want to share the most detailed gait on neurons I have acquired lately. 

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Total votes 1: ↑1 and ↓0 +1
Comments 0

GNU radio 802.11 black box optimization

Level of difficulty Medium
Reading time 5 min
Wireless technologies *GitHub *Machine learning *
Sandbox

In this post I'll share my experience in adjustment of WiFi physical channel. The channel was implemented on a software defined radio (SDR) platform. WiFi looks like a very complicated thing standardized over hundreds of pages. Could a non-expert with a PC and a couple of 100$ devices (HackRFs) somehow improve it? Here I try to develop a WiFi optimization approach basically agnostic of protocol implementation details. There's some math and Python programming in it.

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Total votes 5: ↑5 and ↓0 +5
Comments 0

Autofill input fields in Android WebView

Level of difficulty Medium
Reading time 12 min
Development for Android *
Recovery mode
Sandbox

In this article, we will learn about autofill methods for input fields/forms in WebView used inside of an android app. I’d like to stress that the main topic is the autofill in WebView, because, when filling standard EditText views in the app - no issues arise. But when we display content owned by other parties, we can’t fill the form with our data in a simple way.

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Use of Python to write plugins for GIMP

Level of difficulty Medium
Reading time 9 min
Python *
Sandbox

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free and open-source image editing software that provides users with a wide range of tools for editing and manipulating digital images. Python is a high-level programming language that is often used for scripting and automation tasks. The combination of GIMP and Python provides a powerful platform for users to create custom image editing plugins that can automate repetitive tasks, extend the functionality of GIMP, and customize the software to suit their specific needs.

Python provides a flexible and easy-to-learn language for writing GIMP plugins. GIMP provides an API (Application Programming Interface) that allows Python scripts to interact with the image editing program Python plugins for GIMP can be used for a wide range of tasks, including automating repetitive tasks, enhancing the functionality of GIMP, and customizing the software to suit specific needs. Some examples of tasks that can be automated using Python plugins include batch processing of images, resizing and cropping of images, and converting file formats.

Plugins can also add new features to GIMP, such as custom brushes, filters, and effects. Additionally, plugins can be used to create custom user interfaces that enable users to interact with GIMP in new and unique ways.

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Total votes 1: ↑1 and ↓0 +1
Comments 0

Listicles — a simple technique for benchmarking your value proposition against alternatives

Level of difficulty Medium
Reading time 5 min
Research and forecasts in IT *Agile *Product Management *Software
Sandbox

I believe listicles have a huge potential for testing demand hypotheses. Have you tried using listicles for your demand validation? If so - let us know in the comments how this worked for you.

Do you know these "Top N something something" kind of articles? Like:
- 5 best GPS vehicle trackers
- The 14 hair growth products that actually work
- Top 10 Best CRM Software Tools in 2023
They are often referred to as "listicles" - articles presented in the form of a list.

I love them - they make picking a new phone, a movie to watch, an app to install much easier. I also use them at work all the time while looking for solutions to everyday challenges.

So what if we use one of them to benchmark our product against the best available alternatives?

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Total votes 4: ↑4 and ↓0 +4
Comments 1

Swift 5.7: Regex. Shorthands for optional unwrapping. Unlock existentials for all protocols

Level of difficulty Medium
Reading time 3 min
Development for iOS *Development of mobile applications *Swift *
Sandbox

Swift 5.7: Regex. Shorthands for optional unwrapping. Unlock existentials for all protocols.

Shorthands for optional unwrapping. Improved type inference for complex closures. Better string parsing with Swift Regex. Creating a Regex with Regex literal. Creating a Regex using RegexBuilder. Unlock existentials for all protocols.

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Rating 0
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State Management for processes flow

Reading time 12 min
Programming *System Analysis and Design *C# *
Sandbox

Most of the processes that people use in their work lives can be represented as some object that goes through some flow. Each flow contains many stages, in each one of them the object can be manipulated by certain group of users.

In this article I want to suggest an approaches to effectively handle such flow based systems. 

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Rating 0
Comments 1

HDR Displays and CSS: Enhancing Color and Brightness on the Web

Level of difficulty Easy
Reading time 3 min
CSS *JavaScript *
Review
Sandbox

High Dynamic Range (HDR) allows for a wider range of colours and brightness levels. This technology works on displays that support HDR format. Nowadays web advantage of display gamuts such as Display P3 and Rec. 2020, which can display a much larger color space than traditional sRGB displays. It is 50% more colours.

CSS is ready to fix it (at least for Apple users). Find colour gamuts comparison, code examples and device support overview below.

Unlock HDR with CSS - read more
Total votes 1: ↑1 and ↓0 +1
Comments 2

Exploring the Capabilities and Implications of ChatGPT 3 in the Educational Technology Field

Reading time 24 min
Artificial Intelligence
Sandbox

From language translation and virtual assistants to self-driving cars and personalized recommendations, AI has been a buzzword for a while now, but it seems that it is only now with the new ChatGPT 3 being released to the public that it is so close to revolutionizing the educational technology field as well. In this article, I would like to give my first impressions, test results, and insights on the new technology.

ChatGPT is a chatbot by OpenAI that can write texts, code, answer questions, and solve various problems. It can even write college essays that, although lacking heart and personal touch, are still pretty good.

It somehow reminds me of the times when distance learning started captivating different fields and what started as a tool for kids with special needs (about 15 years ago, it was a major theme in pedagogical universities, at least) turned into massive online open courses from top universities available to anyone with access to the internet. In corporate learning culture, it went from "e-learning is a cheap and less effective replacement for offline trainings" to being a part of a complicated educational system where we can have the best qualities of offline and online learning for employees.

Right away, serious discussions emerged on the threats to the usage of ChatGPT. Since the beginning of December, many educators have been giving their opinion on its ability to write essays, code, and find correct answers for tests and on the studying culture that will probably need to change.

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Comments 5