Embracing Complexity in Simple Applications: The Paradox Every Developer Must Face

Embracing Complexity in Simple Applications: The Paradox Every Developer Must Face

There’s a particular moment in every developer’s career when you realize something truly unsettling: the applications that look the simplest are often the most deceptively complex underneath. It’s like discovering that your neighbor’s modest suburban home actually contains a secret laboratory. Your simple CRUD application? It’s probably sitting on a foundation of architectural decisions that would make a senior engineer weep into their cold brew. Let me tell you a story....

December 5, 2025 · 11 min · 2209 words · Maxim Zhirnov
Effective Use of Caching Strategies in Web Applications

Effective Use of Caching Strategies in Web Applications

If your web application were a restaurant, caching would be like having a prep station. Instead of cooking every dish from scratch each time someone orders it, you prepare popular items ahead of time. Your customers get their meals faster, your kitchen isn’t overwhelmed, and everyone goes home happy. Except, you know, in the digital world, servers don’t go home—they just crash instead. Let me be honest: caching is one of those topics that sounds boring on the surface....

December 4, 2025 · 12 min · 2449 words · Maxim Zhirnov
The Dangers of Overusing Design Patterns: When They Become Anti-Patterns

The Dangers of Overusing Design Patterns: When They Become Anti-Patterns

The Pattern Obsession I’ll be honest with you: I’ve been there. You know that feeling when you discover a shiny new design pattern and suddenly everything in your codebase looks like a nail waiting for that particular hammer? Welcome to the pattern obsession—a disease that’s infected codebases across the globe for the better part of three decades. Here’s the uncomfortable truth that nobody wants to admit in those architecture meetings: design patterns are not holy scripture....

December 4, 2025 · 14 min · 2897 words · Maxim Zhirnov
Ethical Hacking for Web Applications: From Zero to Exploit Hero

Ethical Hacking for Web Applications: From Zero to Exploit Hero

If you’ve ever wondered what happens on the “other side” of web security—where the good guys break things intentionally—you’re about to embark on a fascinating journey. Ethical hacking for web applications is essentially the art of thinking like a criminal to prevent actual crimes. It’s authorized chaos in a structured format, and unlike actual hacking, nobody sends you to jail. Pretty sweet deal, right? Why Should You Care About Web Application Security?...

December 3, 2025 · 10 min · 1938 words · Maxim Zhirnov
VR Workspace Dystopia: Meta's Push for Always-On Developers and Why You Should Care

VR Workspace Dystopia: Meta's Push for Always-On Developers and Why You Should Care

Remember that sunny day when VR development felt like the Wild West? When you could sideload whatever you wanted, manage your Quest fleet however you liked, and actually own the devices you purchased? Yeah, those days are officially over. Meta just drew a line in the sand with their Horizon Managed Services (HMS) policy, effective March 2025, and frankly, it’s the kind of move that makes you wonder if we’re building the future or just recreating the Microsoft Office licensing hellscape of the 2000s, but in volumetric space....

December 3, 2025 · 10 min · 1966 words · Maxim Zhirnov