Issue 38 - A drop of ink may make a thousand think
Writing scales
This edition is special. And it's not.
It's special because you're more than 1000 humans to read these lines. I want to thank you for that. Really.
What's the difference when only ten of you were reading?
Nothing. This is why it's not special.
Still, writing scales. It’s O(1) - writing for one person or 10,000 takes the same effort. Whatever the medium, it's probably the best tool we have invented as a species1.
I often reflect here on how much data practitioners should rely on the "everything as code" pattern.
It's not to be underestimated.
In data engineering, writing by itself does nothing. It needs an engine. A fuel. These are our computers, frameworks, and platforms.
But these ships, and ultimately our thoughts, are served by a language.
There are always debates around Python, R, Spark, SQL, etc.. But beyond technical considerations and bickering, it's about the world we create within our minds—the solutions we shape.
Are we choosing the corresponding language for the problem at hand?
Is the code we write using the language that shapes our minds?
If we can't express what we want in words, no amount of clicking or "framework" will get us the right answer. But if we can express it in words, it's not a big leap to express it in code.
Sometimes we will have to explore new languages. To go against the default. To acknowledge it cannot be tricked. To take advanced English lessons.
To do so will allow us to put down what's truly in our minds.
📡 Expected Contents
Choosing the Right Data Warehouse Modelling Approach
Probably the best article since Simon Späti series around data modeling.
Andy comes with seven of the best data modeling out there and explains them with great schemas. It’s one to keep on the shelf.
Resend Handbook
After the great GitLab handbook, many companies started to expose their internal vision and culture on the Internet.
Today it's the time of Resend
I recently fell in love with Resend: a simple API email service. Finally: it’s easy to test sending email notifications.
In a few minutes, you can send emails via a simple API call. It's very nice to build notification demos and I think their pricing plan is quite fair.
The handbook goes over Company, People, Engineering, Design, Support, and Marketing.
It's very well designed and I love the culture they have created.
Malloy & Rill Leaders Talking
Sometimes I would like to live in the Bay Area 😅
Last month Michael Driscoll, CEO at Rill, invited Lloyd Tabb, Looker founder and creator of Malloy during a fireside chat.
Some of you already know I'm a big (big) fan of both tools and their corresponding founder's visions.
This talk is my favorite one of the year. Micahel and Lloyd went around how Malloy has been designed, and how much it can lead to something very new and useful for the data industry2.
If you want to listen to smart people, leading the tech industry, this is the link to open!
On the origins of DS_Store
If you're an Apple user like me, you probably know this file. The terrible DS_Store.
I got used to it after years of using macOS. I still see them sometimes, whenever I forget to write a proper .gitignore file...
This article traces the origins of these files. Unfolding how much our lives are built on top of several legacy layers.
📰 The Blog Post
No blog post this time but a film photograph I took during my trip to Spain in May 🙂
🎨 Beyond The Bracket
PowerPoint, the ultimate design tool.
The recent CrowdStrike failure unfolds two things for me:
First, it shows how much Microsoft is important in this world. I'm the first to criticize Windows OS for its lack of developer support, its flaky UI, etc. But we see today how much it's the basis of our modern society. Even more when you know that the bug of these last weeks only affects some enterprise deployments of Windows.
Second, it shows how great Microsoft is at selling and building software. It's actually the best value for money on the market.
Not only the OS, but it's also the software like Excel or PowerPoint - ones that have been here for more than 20 years.
I honestly hope that it's only the beginning of software. The market cannot be returned by the price - we are at a ceiling here - but by improved features or services.
LLM's industry can bring something sure, but I feel an urge for a real UX boost.
It's not about artificial intelligence or improved performance. It's about emotional intelligence. The one we put in our product.
And there is a long way to go here.
The start of the Olympic Games in Paris here is a nice call to focus on something else. Creating some emotions thanks to the magic of sport🏅
Going down to the Alps with friends for a full week's break in nature will help too ⛰️
I already feel 2024 is a great year for me, what comes next for the other half is thriving. I'm almost impatient for what's next in 2025. But let's live in the present. Let's get a drink with the sun.
Thanks for reading!
even greater when you remember it's something 5000 years old...
I might write about Malloy again very soon 😉