Notes from Steven Brown on software engineering, systems, algorithms, and web development. © 2026 Steven Brown. All rights reserved. https://stevendevelops.com/ 2026-10-18T00:00:00.000Z Bliztek Feed Generator Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/chunking-strategies-for-rag 2026-10-18T00:00:00.000Z 2026-10-18T00:00:00.000Z

AI answers from your documents only work if search hands the model the right passage. How you cut the documents decides that: from 74% to 95% found.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/a-star-search-heuristics 2026-10-09T00:00:00.000Z 2026-10-09T00:00:00.000Z

Finding the shortest route in maps and games: Dijkstra searches in every direction, A* aims at the goal. Same route, a tenth of the squares checked.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/backpressure-bounded-queues 2026-09-03T00:00:00.000Z 2026-09-03T00:00:00.000Z

When a server gets more work than it can handle, an unlimited waiting line turns a 30% overload into six-minute waits. A capped line keeps it to 168ms.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/consistent-hashing-nodes-that-come-and-go 2026-08-27T00:00:00.000Z 2026-08-27T00:00:00.000Z

Add one server to a cache cluster and the usual approach moves 89% of the cached data. Consistent hashing moves 12%. How it works, built and measured.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/bloom-filters-skipping-lookups 2026-08-20T00:00:00.000Z 2026-08-20T00:00:00.000Z

Skip slow lookups for things that were never stored: a Bloom filter answers "definitely not here" for a million keys in 1.14 MiB instead of 88 MB.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/rate-limiting-token-buckets-sliding-windows 2026-08-16T00:00:00.000Z 2026-08-16T00:00:00.000Z

Rate limits stop one client from flooding an API. The four common ways to enforce them, and why the simplest one can let through double the limit.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/lru-caches-constant-time-eviction 2026-08-09T00:00:00.000Z 2026-08-09T00:00:00.000Z

When a cache fills up, something has to go. An LRU cache drops whatever was used longest ago, instantly. How to build one, and when to pick another rule.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/practical-graph-algorithms-real-world-systems 2025-12-06T00:00:00.000Z 2025-12-06T00:00:00.000Z

A checkout request touches many services. Four graph algorithms answer the useful questions: what is reachable, what starts first, and the fastest path.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/greedy-algorithms-priority-queues-js 2025-11-21T00:00:00.000Z 2025-11-21T00:00:00.000Z

Picking the best option at each step solves scheduling and top-10 problems quickly. How greedy algorithms pair with priority queues, in JavaScript.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/heaps-for-event-driven-systems 2025-11-14T00:00:00.000Z 2025-11-14T00:00:00.000Z

A scheduler always needs the next task that is due. A heap hands it over instantly and keeps adding new tasks cheap. Building one in TypeScript.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/stacks-structure-behavior-practical-insight 2025-11-09T00:00:00.000Z 2025-11-09T00:00:00.000Z

Undo, the back button and every function call work the same way: last in, first out. How stacks shape memory, execution and everyday code.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/fast-and-slow-pointer-technique 2025-11-01T00:00:00.000Z 2025-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

How do you tell if a chain of linked records loops back on itself without remembering every step? Send two pointers at different speeds.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/linked-lists-in-systems 2025-10-25T00:00:00.000Z 2025-10-25T00:00:00.000Z

Arrays beat linked lists in most code because of how computers read memory. Where linked lists still earn their place, from kernels to networking.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/understanding-hashmaps-constant-time-lookups 2025-10-16T00:00:00.000Z 2025-10-16T00:00:00.000Z

Hash maps find any key almost instantly however much data they hold, until they don't. How they work, when they slow down, and what to use instead.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/two-pointer-pattern-system-performance 2025-10-11T00:00:00.000Z 2025-10-11T00:00:00.000Z

Finding matching pairs in a sorted list does not need every combination. Walk inward from both ends and a single pass does it.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/aws-vpn-options-explained 2025-03-29T00:00:00.000Z 2025-03-29T00:00:00.000Z

Connecting an office, remote staff or branch sites to AWS? Site-to-Site VPN, Client VPN and VPN CloudHub each fit one of those jobs.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/dynamic-vs-static-site-strategies 2025-03-22T00:00:00.000Z 2025-03-22T00:00:00.000Z

A static site is built ahead of time and served as ready-made pages; a dynamic site builds each page on request. How that affects speed, cost and editing.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/navigating-the-legal-requirements-of-cookies 2025-03-16T00:00:00.000Z 2025-03-16T00:00:00.000Z

Does your site need a cookie banner? Most U.S. state laws require a way to opt out of data sales; GDPR requires consent first. What applies to you.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/what-is-responsive-design 2025-03-01T00:00:00.000Z 2025-03-01T00:00:00.000Z

Responsive design keeps one website readable on phones, tablets and desktops. The principles behind it and how to apply them.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/our-open-source-rss-feed-generator 2024-12-30T00:00:00.000Z 2024-12-30T00:00:00.000Z

RSS, Atom and JSON Feed let readers follow a site without social media. Our open-source Node.js library writes all three, with no dependencies.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/how-to-generate-an-ssl-certifcate-for-development 2024-12-24T00:00:00.000Z 2024-12-24T00:00:00.000Z

Test HTTPS on your own machine without browser warnings: create a self-signed certificate and serve it locally with Nginx and Docker Compose.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/using-lhci-with-nextjs-and-github 2024-12-13T00:00:00.000Z 2024-12-13T00:00:00.000Z

Catch slow pages and accessibility problems before they ship: run Lighthouse audits automatically on every pull request with GitHub Actions.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/why-your-website-needs-seo 2024-11-30T00:00:00.000Z 2024-11-30T00:00:00.000Z

Paid ads stop bringing visitors when the budget runs out; search rankings keep working once earned. Why SEO matters for a small business site.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/difference-between-frontend-and-backend-development 2024-02-23T00:00:00.000Z 2024-02-23T00:00:00.000Z

Front-end developers build what you see and click in the browser; back-end developers build the servers and data behind it. What each does.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/a-brief-look-at-mvc-architecture-in-react 2023-10-18T23:29:00.000Z 2023-10-18T23:29:00.000Z

Today I am exploring what MVC Architecture is, and how we can apply some of those concepts to a React Application.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/securing-your-api-defense-in-layers 2023-10-15T08:26:00.000Z 2023-10-15T08:26:00.000Z

In this article, I explore different strategies of implementing security controls at various levels of the OSI model.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/choosing-between-grpc-and-restful-api 2023-10-07T22:49:00.000Z 2023-10-07T22:49:00.000Z

As I prepare to build an application using gRPC, I figured the best way to start is finding out what it is and how it is different from a RESTful API.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/a-quick-glance-at-golang-for-api-development 2023-10-01T16:21:00.000Z 2023-10-01T16:21:00.000Z

Reflecting on some of the strengths and weaknesses of the Go programming language and its use in API development.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/my-favorite-web-development-tool-sanity 2023-09-30T23:08:00.000Z 2023-09-30T23:08:00.000Z

Sanity is my favorite tool I reach for when developing websites for clients. In this post, I detail out 3 reasons why it's my go to.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/becoming-a-ham-radio-operator 2023-09-30T22:16:36.097Z 2023-09-30T22:16:36.097Z

This blog posts summarizes my reflections over the past month as I studied for the HAM Radio Operator Technician exam.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/part-2-deploying-an-apollo-graphql-odyssey-react-app-with-aws-amplify 2022-04-24T06:32:00.000Z 2022-04-24T06:32:00.000Z

Welcome to Part 2 of deploying our Apollo GraphQL Castronaut App with Amazon Web Services. In this post, we deploy the React client using AWS Amplify to complete the full-stack journey.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com https://stevendevelops.com/blog/post/part-1-deploying-an-apollo-graphql-odyssey-server-with-aws-lambda 2022-04-23T13:27:00.000Z 2022-04-23T13:27:00.000Z

As I approached the finale of my Apollo Odyssey GraphQL journey, my adventure took an unexpected turn. Due to a recent event involving Heroku and GitHub tokens, Heroku revoked all OAuth tokens, pushing me to deploy with AWS Lambda instead.

Steven Brown sbrown+website@bliztek.com https://stevendevelops.com