The Two Hard Things in Software Development with Benedikt Deicke

05/29/24 • 47 min

Today, we’re joined by Benedikt Deicke, co-founder and CTO of Userlist. He talks to us about why naming things and cache invalidation are hard, why it’s a good idea to denormalize your data sometimes, and more.

Chapters

(01:28) - What is Userlist?

(02:10) - Userlist’s tech stack

(04:40) - You don’t always have to normalize your data

(12:27) - Naming things is hard

(14:01) - Cache invalidation is hard

(18:28) - How Userlist maintains data accuracy

(29:24) - How Benedikt developed their real-time reporting engine

(32:49) - Database consistency

(37:14) - Benedikt’s tall tale about deleting large data

Sponsor

This show is brought to you by Xata, the only serverless data platform for PostgreSQL. Develop applications faster, knowing your data layer is ready to evolve and scale with your needs.

About the Hosts

Queen Raae wrote her first HTML in 1997 after her Norwegian teachers encouraged her to take the new elective class.

Around the same time, Captain Ola bought a Macintosh SE for his high school with the proceeds from the school newspaper he started.

These days, you’ll find them building web apps live on stream and doing developer marketing work for clients. They are both passionate about the web as a platform and the joy of creating your own thing.

Visit queen.raae.codes to learn more.

Chapters

(01:28) - What is Userlist?

Sponsor

This show is brought to you by Xata, the only serverless data platform for PostgreSQL. Develop applications faster, knowing your data layer is ready to evolve and scale with your needs.

About the Hosts

Queen Raae wrote her first HTML in 1997 after her Norwegian teachers encouraged her to take the new elective class.

Around the same time, Captain Ola bought a Macintosh SE for his high school with the proceeds from the school newspaper he started.

Visit queen.raae.codes to learn more.

Previous Episode

Two-sided Marketplaces with Anna Maste

Today, we’re joined by Anna Maste, exited founder of Boondockers Welcome and current founder of Subscribe Sense. She talks to us about what you need to be mindful of when building two-sided marketplaces, why it’s important to make many-to-one relationships from the get go, and more.

Chapters

(00:54) - What is Boondockers Welcome?

(01:26) - Boondockers Welcome’s tech stack

(06:48) - Time zones are hard

(10:54) - Privacy, pricing, and the two-sided marketplace model

(34:28) - What is Subscribe Sense?

Sponsor
This show is brought to you by Xata, the only serverless data platform for PostgreSQL. Develop applications faster, knowing your data layer is ready to evolve and scale with your needs.

About the Hosts

Queen Raae wrote her first HTML in 1997 after her Norwegian teachers encouraged her to take the new elective class.

Around the same time, Captain Ola bought a Macintosh SE for his high school with the proceeds from the school newspaper he started.

Visit queen.raae.codes to learn more.

Next Episode

Navigating Geodata with Mathias Hansen

Today, we’re joined by Mathias Hansen, co-founder of Geocodio. He talks to us about the challenges of dealing with geodata, how opening up data helps improve accuracy for everyone, and more.

Chapters

(00:52) - What is Geocodio?

(04:01) - Geocodio’s tech stack

(06:46) - Data models and flexible pricing

(10:13) - Challenges in geocoding

(19:05) - Long lat or lat long?

(20:39) - Challenges of having locations near bodies of water

(23:25) - How opening up data could help with accuracy

(25:00) - Mathias’ tall tale about why they’re only available in the US and Canada

(39:26) - Why you should automate your processes from day one

Sponsor

This show is brought to you by Xata, the only serverless data platform for PostgreSQL. Develop applications faster, knowing your data layer is ready to evolve and scale with your needs.

About the Hosts
Queen Raae wrote her first HTML in 1997 after her Norwegian teachers encouraged her to take the new elective class.

Around the same time, Captain Ola bought a Macintosh SE for his high school with the proceeds from the school newspaper he started.

Visit queen.raae.codes to learn more.