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Headless CMS

A Headless CMS (Content Management System) is a system where the backend (content management) is completely separated from the frontend (content presentation).

In detail:

Traditional CMS (e.g., WordPress):

  • Backend and frontend are tightly coupled.

  • You create content in the system and it's rendered directly using built-in themes and templates with HTML.

  • Pros: All-in-one solution, quick to get started.

  • Cons: Limited flexibility, harder to deliver content across multiple platforms (e.g., website + mobile app).

Headless CMS:

  • Backend only.

  • Content is accessed via an API (usually REST or GraphQL).

  • The frontend (e.g., a React site, native app, or digital signage) fetches the content dynamically.

  • Pros: Very flexible, ideal for multi-channel content delivery.

  • Cons: Frontend must be built separately (requires more development effort).

Common use cases:

  • Websites built with modern JavaScript frameworks (like React, Next.js, Vue)

  • Mobile apps that use the same content as the website

  • Omnichannel strategies: website, app, smart devices, etc.

Examples of Headless CMS platforms:

  • Contentful

  • Strapi

  • Sanity

  • Directus

  • Prismic

  • Storyblok (a hybrid with visual editing capabilities)

 


Storyblok

Storyblok is a user-friendly, headless Content Management System (CMS) that helps developers and marketing teams create, manage, and publish content quickly and efficiently. It offers a visual editing interface for real-time content design and is flexible with various frameworks and platforms. Its API-first architecture allows content to be delivered to any digital platform, making it ideal for modern web and app development.


Aspect Oriented Programming - AOP

Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) is a programming paradigm focused on modularizing cross-cutting concerns—aspects of a program that affect multiple parts of the codebase and don't fit neatly into object-oriented or functional structures.


💡 Goal:

Typical cross-cutting concerns include logging, security checks, error handling, transaction management, or performance monitoring. These concerns often appear in many classes and methods. AOP allows you to write such logic once and have it automatically applied where needed.


🔧 Key Concepts:

  • Aspect: A module that encapsulates a cross-cutting concern.

  • Advice: The actual code to be executed (e.g., before, after, or around a method call).

  • Join Point: A point in the program flow where an aspect can be applied (e.g., method execution).

  • Pointcut: A rule that defines which join points are affected (e.g., "all methods in class X").

  • Weaving: The process of combining aspects with the main program code—at compile-time, load-time, or runtime.


🛠 Example (Java with Spring AOP):

@Aspect
public class LoggingAspect {
    @Before("execution(* com.example.service.*.*(..))")
    public void logBeforeMethod(JoinPoint joinPoint) {
        System.out.println("Calling method: " + joinPoint.getSignature().getName());
    }
}

This code automatically logs a message before any method in the com.example.service package is executed.


✅ Benefits:

  • Improved modularity

  • Reduced code duplication

  • Clear separation of business logic and system-level concerns


❌ Drawbacks:

  • Can reduce readability (the flow isn't always obvious)

  • Debugging can become more complex

  • Often depends on specific frameworks (e.g., Spring, AspectJ)


Design by Contract - DbC

Design by Contract (DbC) is a concept in software development introduced by Bertrand Meyer. It describes a method to ensure the correctness and reliability of software by defining clear "contracts" between different components (e.g., methods, classes).

Core Principles of Design by Contract

In DbC, every software component is treated as a contract party with certain obligations and guarantees:

  1. Preconditions
    Conditions that must be true before a method or function can execute correctly.
    → Responsibility of the caller.

  2. Postconditions
    Conditions that must be true after the execution of a method or function.
    → Responsibility of the method/function.

  3. Invariant (Class Invariant)
    Conditions that must always remain true throughout the lifetime of an object.
    → Responsibility of both the method and the caller.

Goal of Design by Contract

  • Clear specification of responsibilities.

  • More robust and testable software.

  • Errors are detected early (e.g., through contract violations).

Example in Pseudocode

class BankAccount {
    private double balance;

    // Invariant: balance >= 0

    void withdraw(double amount) {
        // Precondition: amount > 0 && amount <= balance
        if (amount <= 0 || amount > balance) throw new IllegalArgumentException();

        balance -= amount;

        // Postcondition: balance has been reduced by amount
    }
}

Benefits

  • Clear contracts reduce misunderstandings.

  • Easier debugging, as violations are detected immediately.

  • Supports defensive programming.

Drawbacks


Daemon

A daemon (pronounced like "day-mon", not like the English word "demon") is a background process that runs on a computer system—typically without direct user interaction.

Key characteristics of a daemon:

  • Starts automatically during system boot.

  • Runs continuously in the background.

  • Performs tasks without user input.

  • Listens for requests from other programs or network connections.

Examples:

  • cron daemon: Executes scheduled tasks (e.g., daily backups).

  • sshd: Handles incoming SSH connections.

  • httpd or nginx: Web server daemons.

  • cupsd: Manages print jobs.

Technical background:

  • On Unix/Linux systems, daemon process names often end in "d" (e.g., httpd, systemd).

  • Daemons are typically launched at system startup by init systems like systemd or init.

Origin of the term:

The word comes from Greek mythology, where a “daimon” was a guiding spirit or invisible force—aptly describing software that works quietly behind the scenes.


Happy Path

The "Happy Path" (also known as the "Happy Flow") refers to the ideal scenario in software development or testing where everything works as expected, no errors occur, and all inputs are valid.

Example:

Let’s say you’re developing a user registration form. The Happy Path would look like this:

  1. The user enters all required information correctly (e.g., a valid email and secure password).

  2. They click “Register.”

  3. The system successfully creates an account.

  4. The user is redirected to a welcome page.

➡️ No validation errors, no server issues, and no unexpected behavior.


What is the purpose of the Happy Path?

  • Initial testing focus: Developers and testers often check the Happy Path first to make sure the core functionality works.

  • Basis for use cases: In documentation or requirements, the Happy Path is typically the main scenario before covering edge cases.

  • Contrasts with edge cases / error paths: Anything that deviates from the Happy Path (e.g., missing password, server error) is considered an "unhappy path" or "alternate flow."

 


Guard

In software development, a guard (also known as a guard clause or guard statement) is a protective condition used at the beginning of a function or method to ensure that certain criteria are met before continuing execution.

In simple terms:

A guard is like a bouncer at a club—it only lets valid input or states through and exits early if something is off.

Typical example (in Python):

def divide(a, b):
    if b == 0:
        return "Division by zero is not allowed"  # Guard clause
    return a / b

This guard prevents the function from attempting to divide by zero.


Benefits of guard clauses:

  • Early exit on invalid conditions

  • Improved readability by avoiding deeply nested if-else structures

  • Cleaner code flow, as the "happy path" (normal execution) isn’t cluttered by edge cases


Examples in other languages:

JavaScript:

function login(user) {
  if (!user) return; // Guard clause
  // Continue with login logic
}

Swift (even has a dedicated guard keyword):

func greet(person: String?) {
  guard let name = person else {
    print("No name provided")
    return
  }
  print("Hello, \(name)!")
}

Hyperscaler

A hyperscaler is a company that provides cloud services on a massive scale — offering IT infrastructure such as computing power, storage, and networking that is flexible, highly available, and globally scalable. Common examples of hyperscalers include:

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  • Microsoft Azure

  • Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

  • Alibaba Cloud

  • IBM Cloud (on a somewhat smaller scale)

Key characteristics of hyperscalers:

  1. Massive scalability
    They can scale their services virtually without limits, depending on the customer's needs.

  2. Global infrastructure
    Their data centers are distributed worldwide, enabling high availability, low latency, and redundancy.

  3. Automation & standardization
    Many operations are automated (e.g., provisioning, monitoring, billing), making services more efficient and cost-effective.

  4. Self-service & pay-as-you-go
    Customers usually access services via web portals or APIs and pay only for what they actually use.

  5. Innovation platform
    Hyperscalers offer not only infrastructure (IaaS), but also platform services (PaaS), as well as tools for AI, big data, or IoT.

What are hyperscalers used for?

  • Hosting websites or web applications

  • Data storage (e.g., backups, archives)

  • Big data analytics

  • Machine learning / AI

  • Streaming services

  • Corporate IT infrastructure


Materialized View

A Materialized View is a special type of database object that stores the result of a SQL query physically on disk, unlike a regular view which is computed dynamically every time it’s queried.

Key Characteristics of a Materialized View:

  • Stored on disk: The result of the query is saved, not just the query definition.

  • Faster performance: Since the data is precomputed, queries against it are typically much faster.

  • Needs refreshing: Because the underlying data can change, a materialized view must be explicitly or automatically refreshed to stay up to date.

Comparison: View vs. Materialized View

Feature View Materialized View
Storage Only the query, no data stored Query and data are stored
Performance Slower for complex queries Faster, as results are precomputed
Freshness Always up to date Can become stale
Needs refresh No Yes (manually or automatically)

Example:

-- Creating a materialized view in PostgreSQL
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW top_customers AS
SELECT customer_id, SUM(order_total) AS total_spent
FROM orders
GROUP BY customer_id;

To refresh the data:

REFRESH MATERIALIZED VIEW top_customers;

When to use it?

  • For complex aggregations that are queried frequently

  • When performance is more important than real-time accuracy

  • In data warehouses or reporting systems


Salesforce Apex

Salesforce Apex is an object-oriented programming language specifically designed for the Salesforce platform. It is similar to Java and is primarily used to implement custom business logic, automation, and integrations within Salesforce.

Key Features of Apex:

  • Cloud-based: Runs exclusively on Salesforce servers.

  • Java-like Syntax: If you know Java, you can learn Apex quickly.

  • Tightly Integrated with Salesforce Database (SOQL & SOSL): Enables direct data queries and manipulations.

  • Event-driven: Often executed through Salesforce triggers (e.g., record changes).

  • Governor Limits: Salesforce imposes limits (e.g., maximum SOQL queries per transaction) to maintain platform performance.

Uses of Apex:

  • Triggers: Automate actions when records change.

  • Batch Processing: Handle large data sets in background jobs.

  • Web Services & API Integrations: Communicate with external systems.

  • Custom Controllers for Visualforce & Lightning: Control user interfaces.