Programming Tech Brief By HackerNoon

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/npms-new-token-limits-wont-stop-the-attacks-that-actually-happen. npm's October 2025 security overhaul introduces 90-day token limits and kills classic tokens. But the biggest supply chain attacks—from XZ Utils to the... Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #npm, #npm-token-limit, #npm-token-attacks, #cybersecurity, #npm-package-security, #npm-token-security, #npm-security, #software-development, and more. This story was written by: @encapsulation. Learn more about this writer by checking @encapsulation's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. npm's new token lifetime limits (90-day max, 7-day default) and mandatory WebAuthn are good security hygiene, but they don't address how attacks actually happen. The September 2025 breach that compromised 18 packages with 2.6B weekly downloads succeeded via phishing—the attacker had full account access and could generate tokens at will. The XZ Utils backdoor involved three years of social engineering to gain maintainer trust. Token rotation doesn't stop account takeovers, malicious insiders, or the lack of code review. npm is treating the symptom (token exposure) rather than the disease (anyone can publish anything instantly).

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/the-automatic-checking-of-cfgs-how-it-works. It ensures that the cfg settings are consistent between what is intended and what is used, helping to catch potential bugs or errors early in development Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #rust, #rustlang, #rust-features, #rust-tutorial, #rust-guide, #rust-for-beginners, #rust-cfgs, #rust-automatic-checking, and more. This story was written by: @Rust. Learn more about this writer by checking @Rust's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. This can help with verifying that the crate is correctly handling conditional compilation for different target platforms or features. It ensures that the cfg settings are consistent between what is intended and what is used, helping to catch potential bugs or errors early in the development process.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/go-can-it-mitigate-supply-chain-attacks. It is an explicit security design goal of the Go toolchain that neither fetching nor building code will let that code execute, even if it is untrusted. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #go, #golang, #supply-chain, #supply-chain-attacks, #version-control-system, #go-for-beginners, #go-guide, #golang-safety, and more. This story was written by: @Go. Learn more about this writer by checking @Go's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. All together this means it’s possible to build rich, complex applications with just a handful of dependencies. No matter how good the tooling is, it can’t eliminate the risk involved in reusing code, so the strongest mitigation will always be a small dependency tree.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/the-hidden-ledger-of-code-tracking-the-carbon-debt-inside-our-software. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #software, #coding, #carbon-debt, #code-emission, #energy-footprint, #cloud-carbon-footprint, #environmental-impact, #carbon-emissions, and more. This story was written by: @jwolinsky. Learn more about this writer by checking @jwolinsky's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. As software scales, so does the energy it consumes and the emissions it generates. This growing footprint forms what many engineers now call carbon debt. Carbon debt is the accumulation of energy waste caused by inefficient architecture, redundant compute, or neglected cleanup.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/how-can-governments-pay-open-source-maintainers. Top tips for making it easier for maintainers to get paid. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #open-source, #open-source-software, #open-source-projects, #opensource, #funding, #government, #software-maintenance, #github, and more. This story was written by: @edent. Learn more about this writer by checking @edent's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. What difficulties do Governments and large organisations have when funding Open Source maintainers.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/the-road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-dry-intentions. Learn how good intentions can lead to spaghetti dry code, over abstraction and over engineered systems. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #software-development, #engineering, #dry, #modularity, #modular-reasoning, #design-patterns, #yagni, #hackernoon-top-story, and more. This story was written by: @melvin-manni. Learn more about this writer by checking @melvin-manni's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Over-engineering is making software/system design more complex than necessary. Functionalities should only be implemented when you need them, not on the possibility you will need them.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/5-ways-async-work-builds-a-more-flexible-and-inclusive-workplace. Return-to-office rates have steadied, yet flexibility still ranks in the top three reasons people switch jobs. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #asynchronous, #workplace-culture, #hr-management, #flexible-work-schedule, #remote-work, #remote-work-tips, #future-of-work, #future-of-jobs, and more. This story was written by: @hacker37828759. Learn more about this writer by checking @hacker37828759's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Return-to-office rates have steadied, yet flexibility still ranks in the top three reasons people switch jobs.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/json-was-killing-our-redis-memory-switching-serialization-made-it-7-smaller. Cut Redis memory usage by 7× by ditching JSON for Pydantic models. Learn how a custom binary format reduced storage, costs, and overhead at scale. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #python, #pydantic, #object-serialization, #redis-memory, #pybyntic, #protobuf, #messagepack, #hackernoon-top-story, and more. This story was written by: @yankhachko. Learn more about this writer by checking @yankhachko's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Redis was running a large production service with about **10 million monthly active users**. Every record in Redis was a **JSON-serialized Pydantic model** It looked clean and convenient – until it started to hurt. At scale, JSON stops being a harmless convenience and becomes a silent tax on memory.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/inside-a-34-petabyte-migration-the-true-cost-of-moving-a-digital-mountain. The true cost of a large-scale data migration isn’t in the storage, it’s in the movement. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #programming, #cloud-computing, #data-migration, #digital-preservation, #hybrid-object-storage, #tape-to-object-migration, #large-scale-data-migration, #petabyte-scale-storage, and more. This story was written by: @carl_o700c5l. Learn more about this writer by checking @carl_o700c5l's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. The true cost of a large-scale data migration isn’t in the storage, it’s in the movement. Every file has history, metadata, and risk. Every storage platform has bottlenecks. Every misstep can cost you time, money, and trust.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/blast-api-shutdown-the-best-alternatives-for-developers. Blast API ends operations in Oct 2025. Explore the best developer alternatives like NOWNodes and Alchemy for secure, scalable RPC migration. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #blast-api-shutdown, #web3-rpc-providers, #nownodes, #alchemy-api, #web3-migration-guide, #decentralized-apps, #blockchain-developer-tools, #good-company, and more. This story was written by: @nownodes. Learn more about this writer by checking @nownodes's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Blast API is shutting down in October 2025 following Alchemy’s acquisition. Developers must migrate fast to keep their dApps running. NOWNodes offers multi-chain scalability with no RPS limits, while Alchemy provides deep Ethereum integration. Pick based on your ecosystem focus and scaling needs.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/the-myth-of-single-threaded-javascript-inside-the-languages-hidden-concurrency-engine. Explore the concurrency model of modern JavaScript, including the event loop, async/await, and more. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #javascript, #concurrency, #webdev, #tutorial, #javascript-concurrency, #single-threaded-javascript, #microtasks-vs-macrotasks, #asynchronous-programming, and more. This story was written by: @hacker5295744. Learn more about this writer by checking @hacker5295744's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Modern JavaScript offers a rich (although muddled) concurrency landscape. From the event loop and. async/await to Web Workers, async iterators, and Shared.ArrayBuffers. Understanding how these layers of concurrency interact is essential for building responsive UIs, scalable backends, and reliable serverless functions.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/why-kube-prometheus-stack-isnt-enough-for-kubernetes-observability. Monitoring tells you what broke; observability explains why. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #kubernetes, #observability, #devops, #kubernetes-observability, #kubernetes-guide, #prometheus, #grafana, #kubernetes-monitoring, and more. This story was written by: @fatihkoc. Learn more about this writer by checking @fatihkoc's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Kube-prometheus-stack bundles Prometheus and Grafana for monitoring Kubernetes workloads. On the surface, it looks like the answer to all your monitoring needs. But monitoring is not observability, and if you confuse the two, you will hit a wall.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/from-50-pages-of-handwritten-notes-to-a-digital-manuscript-with-python-and-ai. Apple's HEIC (High-Efficiency Image Container) is great for saving space, but not so great for compatibility. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #python, #ai, #programming, #productivity, #ai-ocr-technology, #llm, #creativity, #image-processing, and more. This story was written by: @knightbat2040. Learn more about this writer by checking @knightbat2040's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Apple's HEIC (High-Efficiency Image Container) is great for saving space, but not so great for compatibility. Many APIs and libraries are optimized for older, more universal formats like JPEG. The beauty of Python is its vast ecosystem of libraries that can solve almost any problem. This little script was the key that unlocked the entire project.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/code-smell-312-you-put-multiple-assertions-in-one-test-making-failures-hard-to-analyze. You put multiple assertions in one test, making failures hard to analyze. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #programming, #software-development, #code-smells, #common-code-smells, #refactoring, #refactor-legacy-code, #code-smell-312, #hackernoon-top-story, and more. This story was written by: @mcsee. Learn more about this writer by checking @mcsee's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. You put multiple assertions in one test, making failures hard to analyze.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/a-guide-to-familiarize-yourself-with-workspaces-in-go. Go 1.18 adds workspace mode to Go, which lets you work on multiple modules simultaneously. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #golang, #go, #go-workspaces, #go-1.18, #go-tutorial, #go-guide, #go-workflows, #hackernoon-top-story, and more. This story was written by: @Go. Learn more about this writer by checking @Go's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Workspaces in Go 1.18 let you work on multiple modules simultaneously without having to edit go.mod files for each module. Each module within a workspace is treated as a main module when resolving dependencies.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/testing-the-untestable-a-simple-way-to-handle-static-methods-in-legacy-java. This is a pretty straightforward way to test untestable code. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #coding, #programming, #testing, #writing-testable-code, #testable-design, #java, #code-testing, #dependency-injection, and more. This story was written by: @nfrankel. Learn more about this writer by checking @nfrankel's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. This is a pretty straightforward way to test untestable code.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/the-moral-cost-of-the-growth-hack. Finding the balance between growth and ethics is hard. Here’s how designers can create user journeys that drive results without crossing the line. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #ui, #ui-ux, #moral-design, #moral-design-choices, #ethical-ui, #ethical-ux, #ethical-ui-ux, #hackernoon-top-story, and more. This story was written by: @hacker4949449. Learn more about this writer by checking @hacker4949449's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Ethical growth design isn’t about saying no to business goals, it’s about finding a fair balance where users feel valued, not used.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/code-smell-08-send-messages-only-to-your-direct-acquaintances-not-their-friends. Send messages only to your direct acquaintances, not their friends. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #code-smells, #clean-code, #programming, #refactoring, #refactor-legacy-code, #software-development, #technology, #hackernoon-top-story, and more. This story was written by: @mcsee. Learn more about this writer by checking @mcsee's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Send messages only to your direct acquaintances, not their friends.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/react-19-new-tools-to-work-with-forms. Discover how React 19's new hooks—useActionState, useFormStatus, and useOptimistic—simplify form handling with less boilerplate and cleaner code. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #react, #software-development, #software-engineering, #react-tutorial, #react-hooks, #react-components, #engineering, #good-company, and more. This story was written by: @socialdiscoverygroup. Learn more about this writer by checking @socialdiscoverygroup's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. React 19 introduces new tools that make form handling cleaner, more declarative, and far less error-prone. This article walks through the common struggles developers face when dealing with forms.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/how-we-built-mobile-weather-widgets-that-improved-apples. We didn’t want to create “mini versions” of the app – we wanted to surface the most relevant insights in the most accessible way possible. Check more stories related to programming at: https://hackernoon.com/c/programming. You can also check exclusive content about #mobile-app-development, #ios-app-development, #app-development, #widgets, #weather-app, #instant-weather-app, #widget-support, #widget-development, and more. This story was written by: @oleksiischastlyvyi. Learn more about this writer by checking @oleksiischastlyvyi's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Lessons Learned Great widgets feel invisible. Users don’t want to think about them – they just want instant clarity. Server-side rendering pays off. Especially for radar data, pre-rendered map tiles reduce load and battery impact. User customization beats default simplicity. Power users demand control, and they reward apps that trust them.