Parallel programming with AI 🦾, comparing interview experiences 💼, bounces in CSS 🏀

A new trend is forming where software engineers are experimenting with running multiple AI agents in parallel to increase productivity ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 

Sign Up |Advertise|View Online TLDR  TLDR Dev 2025-10-31 🧑‍💻 Articles & Tutorials Springs and Bounces in Native CSS: The magic of the linear() timing function (18 minute read) The `linear()` CSS timing function is a powerful tool for creating complex animations like springs and bounces natively. Unlike Bézier curves, `linear()` allows you to define animation curves using a series of points, allowing for more intricate and physics-based effects. While `linear()` offers flexibility, it has limitations regarding time-based durations, interrupt handling, and potential performance concerns that can be mitigated by using CSS variables and falling back to cubic-bezier curves for older browsers. NaN, the not-a-number number that isn't NaN (9 minute read) `NaN` results from mathematical operations involving non-numeric values and propagates through calculations. It is unique because `NaN` is not equal to itself, which prevents it from corrupting calculations as an error state. The global `isNaN()` function coerces values to numbers, while `Number.isNaN()` strictly checks for the `NaN` value. New trend: programming by kicking off parallel AI agents (7 minute read) A new trend is forming where software engineers are experimenting with running multiple AI agents in parallel to increase productivity. While some engineers are skeptical, citing the need to review AI-generated code as a bottleneck, others find it useful for tasks like research and maintenance. Senior engineers may be well-suited to this workflow due to their experience with multitasking and code review, but established engineering practices are still important when working with AI agents. 🧠 Opinions & Advice Taking Money off the Table (7 minute read) Startup employees facing a tender offer to sell a portion of their equity should take it. Even successful startups can face unexpected challenges, and the potential for having an immediate financial gain already represents a "win." Having money makes it easier to make more in the future, as one can take risks without worrying about money. Free software scares normal people (3 minute read) Free software often overwhelms non-technical users due to its complex interfaces and extensive features. While powerful tools like Handbrake exist, their "power user" UIs discourage normal people from using them effectively for simple tasks like video conversion. A simplified front-end can provide a user-friendly experience by focusing on the most common needs. 🚀 Launches & Tools Affinity Studio (Website) Affinity is a free, all-in-one creative app from Canva that combines design, image editing, and layout tools. It has customizable studios, non-destructive editing, and export capabilities, integrating with various file formats. A heatmap diff viewer for code reviews (1 minute read) This tool provides a heatmap diff viewer for code reviews, highlighting lines and tokens based on their potential need for human attention, not just for bugs but also for complexity or unusual patterns. It uses GPT-5-Codex to analyze each diff and generate a JSON data structure, which is then used to create a color-coded heatmap overlayed on the code changes. 🎁 Miscellaneous Why we tend to avoid public conversations (9 minute read) People often default to private conversations instead of public ones, despite advocating for transparency. This reluctance comes from the perceived pressure of performing in public, the need for intimacy, the burden of providing extensive context, and the vulnerability of admitting ignorance. Some solutions to this are the "No DM Before Public" rule, using "WIP" labels to encourage early feedback, summarizing private decisions publicly, and leading by example by openly asking questions and admitting mistakes. Comparing interviews at 8 large tech companies (4 minute read) An engineer interviewed at eight large tech companies before accepting a Principal Software Engineer role at Atlassian. He completed over 60 interviews and found that algorithmic coding skills and behavioral interviews were still very important for senior-level positions. Even in a challenging job market, strong candidates with relevant experience are still in demand. ⚡ Quick Links Zig's New Async I/O (Text Version) (12 minute read) Zig's new async I/O primitives, coming in version 0.16.0, have core synchronization APIs like `async`, `await`, and `cancel` that will help with asynchronous vs concurrent execution. Using Atomic State to Improve React Performance in Deeply Nested Component Trees (9 minute read) Harbor uses atomic state management with Jotai in its React-based clinical trial data capture UI to improve performance in deeply nested component trees by preventing unnecessary rerenders. John Carmack on variables (1 minute read) Avoiding variable reassignment in Python, similar to the "const" principle in C/C++, improves debugging and prevents errors caused by code movement. Improving performance by prefetching product pages from Etsy Search (15 minute read) Etsy improved the performance of product listing pages on its search results by implementing the Speculation Rules API (SRA) to prefetch those pages when users hover over listing cards, resulting in large performance improvements (20-24% in some metrics). Want to advertise in TLDR? 📰 If your company is interested in reaching an audience of web developers and engineering decision makers, you may want to advertise with us. Want to work at TLDR? 💼 Apply here or send a friend's resume to jobs@tldr.tech and get $1k if we hire them! If you have any comments or feedback, just respond to this email! Thanks for reading, Priyam Mohanty, Jenny Xu & Ceora Ford Manage your subscriptions to our other newsletters on tech, startups, and programming. Or if TLDR Dev isn't for you, please unsubscribe.