The Overflow #88: Building a better developer platform

Welcome to ISSUE #88 of The Overflow! This newsletter is by developers, for developers, written and curated by the Stack Overflow team and Cassidy Williams at Netlify. This week: we discuss the close of the Prosus deal with our CEO, figure out how to change matrix values in R, and add machine learning to our humble Jamstack sites.

From the blog

Using stretch work assignments to help engineers grow stackoverflow.blog
Stretch work assignments are tasks or projects that are a bit beyond an engineer’s current skill or knowledge level and that allow them to improve and learn new things. When done correctly these assignments serve a dual purpose of providing learning opportunities for your engineers, while at the same time completing a project or task that will help your company.

Celebrating the Stack Exchange sites that turned 10 years old stackoverflow.blog
We’re more than just StackOverflow.com; here’s a few of the sites in the Stack Exchange network that have been around for a decade!

Podcast 367: Building a better developer platform stackoverflow.blog
For the last time: No, we’re not putting a paywall on the community.

HealthCare Locator: An open-source SDK for Healthcare apps promotion
Creating health apps just got easier. Tap into the world’s leading HealthCare provider database, add HCP names, locations & specialty information with pre-built search & map display screens and admin tools for layout customization.

Interesting questions

How to change matrix entries using conditional if in R? stackoverflow.com
This isn’t a yes or no question; it’s a whole matrix of them.

What happens if two local systems download the same resource on same port? serverfault.com
They fight and one of them gets stronger, right?

What are pros/cons of using buttons instead of plain links to download a document? ux.stackexchange.com
The extra shiny factor of buttons makes it more tempting to click.

I am spending more time installing software than coding. Why? softwareengineering.stackexchange.com
As a developer, don’t assume that the work that you’re not interested in should be no effort.

Links from around the web

Building a switch component web.dev
Switches may be simple to look at, but they are mighty to try out. Here’s how to make a responsive and accessible one!

Strategies for dealing with horizontal overflows polypane.app
We’ve all run into those horrid, unplanned horizontal scrollbars in various websites around the world. Here’s a great set of strategies for dealing with them once and for all!

Adding machine learning to your Jamstack site www.netlify.com
Machine learning? On the web? Heck yeah. This is an awesome dive into the options you have when building ML-driven web apps and integrating them with serverless functions.

Introducing MIDIVal: the easiest way to interact with MIDI in your browser kulak.medium.com
MIDI has been around for ages, and now there’s even more ways to interact with it in your browser!

Onboard, organize, and bring your team up to speed in a jiffy. Try Stack Overflow for Teams.