Aly Badawy · The Blog: Insights on Modern Software Development

The Blog: Insights on Modern Software Development

Welcome to my blog—a space where I share practical insights, problem-solving strategies, and lessons learned from real-world software engineering challenges. Each post is crafted to provide value not just as a tutorial, but as a glimpse into my approach to building scalable, reliable, and modern applications.

Here, you'll find articles on full-stack development, system architecture, performance optimization, and the latest industry trends shaping the future of tech. My goal is to bridge theory and hands-on experience, showcasing how clean architecture, maintainable code, and efficient workflows come together to solve complex technical problems.

Whether you're a fellow developer, a hiring manager, or a tech enthusiast, this blog demonstrates how I think, build, and deliver software solutions that last. Dive in, explore the articles, and see how I bring ideas to life through code.

Delivery Is Part of Being Full-Stack

Wednesday, Sep 3, 2025

Bridging the Gap: Why Every Developer Should Aim for Full‑Stack

Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

Discuss the narrowing distinction between front‑end and back‑end developers and the importance of full‑stack skills, from data schemas to deployment.

GraphQL Perspectives: Empowering Front‑End, Challenging Back‑End

Thursday, Aug 7, 2025

Examine GraphQL from both the perspective of flexible data fetching for front‑end developers and performance concerns for back‑end teams.

Developers and GPTs: Assistance, Not Autopilot

Saturday, Aug 2, 2025

Discuss how software developers should use GPT-based tools like Copilot and Claude responsibly, including tutorials and pitfalls of overreliance and vibe coding.

Hallucinations in GPTs and LLMs: Causes, Triggers and Prevention

Wednesday, Jul 30, 2025

Explore what AI hallucinations are, why large language models hallucinate, how to trigger them and strategies to avoid them.

LLMs: Statistical Models Not Knowledge Bases

Sunday, Jul 27, 2025

Understand why large language models are not curated knowledge bases but statistical models, and explore the differences between knowledge bases and LLMs.

Using Securial: API Endpoints and Modules

Tuesday, Jul 15, 2025

Get hands‑on with Securial’s API by exploring available endpoints for sessions, accounts and roles, and understand the modular components that power them.

Configuring Securial: Roles, Sessions and Customization

Thursday, Jul 10, 2025

Explore the configuration options provided by the Securial gem, including how to customize session expiration, roles and other settings to fit your Rails application.

Getting Started with Securial: Authentication for Rails

Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025

Discover the Securial gem—a mountable Rails engine providing robust authentication and access control—and learn how to install it in your application.

Deploying a Rails 8 App with Kamal: Zero‑Downtime, Easy DevOps

Monday, May 5, 2025

Learn how to deploy a Rails 8 application using Kamal—Rails’ built‑in container deployment tool—for zero‑downtime updates and streamlined operations.

Solid Cache in Rails 8: Scaling, Security & Advanced Strategies (Part 2)

Sunday, Apr 20, 2025

Dive into advanced Solid Cache topics like encryption, compression, capacity planning and multi‑server configurations to get the most out of disk‑backed caching.

Solid Cache in Rails 8: Disk‑Based Caching for Persistent Speed (Part 1)

Saturday, Apr 5, 2025

Explore Solid Cache, Rails 8’s new disk‑backed cache store, and learn how it provides durable, high‑capacity caching without relying on Redis or Memcached.

Solid Cable in Rails 8: Tuning, Edge Cases & Real‑Time Scaling (Part 2)

Thursday, Mar 20, 2025

Dive deeper into Solid Cable by learning how to configure polling, retention, and multi‑database setups and how to deal with large payloads and scaling challenges.

Solid Cable in Rails 8: Simplifying WebSocket Layers (Part 1)

Wednesday, Mar 5, 2025

Learn how Solid Cable replaces Redis for Action Cable messaging using your database, making real‑time features easier to deploy.

Solid Queue in Rails 8: Advanced Tuning and Pitfalls (Part 2)

Thursday, Feb 20, 2025

Dive into Solid Queue’s advanced features like priorities, concurrency controls and scheduled jobs while learning how to avoid common mistakes.

Solid Queue in Rails 8: A Lightweight Alternative to Redis (Part 1)

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025

Discover Solid Queue, Rails 8’s built‑in background job system that runs on your database—no Redis required—and learn how it works under the hood.

Designing Offline‑First Mobile Apps

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024

Discover best practices for building mobile apps that remain functional without a network connection through caching, feature prioritization and conflict resolution.

Cross‑Platform Mobile Frameworks: Flutter vs React Native vs Native

Tuesday, Jun 25, 2024

Evaluate cross‑platform frameworks Flutter and React Native, understand their strengths and consider when native development might be the better choice.

React Query vs Redux: Managing State in Modern React Apps

Monday, Jun 10, 2024

Compare React Query and Redux to understand how they solve different state management problems and when to use each in your React applications.

Frontend Performance Optimization Strategies

Saturday, May 25, 2024

Improve your website’s speed and user experience using techniques such as image optimization, caching strategies and lazy loading.

Web Security Best Practices: Protecting Against XSS and SQL Injection

Friday, May 10, 2024

Learn how cross‑site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection attacks work, and explore practical steps to prevent them in your applications.

Progressive Web Apps: Bridging Web and Native

Thursday, Apr 25, 2024

Understand the core features of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), including installability, offline operation via service workers and integration with device features.

Building a CI/CD Pipeline with GitHub Actions

Wednesday, Apr 10, 2024

Learn how to set up a continuous integration and delivery pipeline using GitHub Actions, enabling automated builds, tests and deployments.

Serverless Architecture: Benefits and Limitations

Monday, Mar 25, 2024

Explore the serverless computing model, how functions scale automatically, and the trade‑offs to consider before adopting serverless architecture.

Using TypeScript with React: Benefits and Best Practices

Friday, Mar 8, 2024

Learn why adding TypeScript to your React projects enhances type safety, maintainability, and developer experience, and see how to get started.

GraphQL vs REST: Choosing the Right API Design

Tuesday, Feb 20, 2024

Compare GraphQL and REST architectures to understand how GraphQL can prevent over‑fetching and reduce network requests while REST remains a solid choice for simple endpoints.

Building RESTful APIs with Ruby on Rails

Monday, Feb 5, 2024

Learn how to use Rails to create efficient JSON APIs by leveraging the --api flag, built‑in routing conventions and helpful middleware.

Microservices Architecture: Pros and Cons

Wednesday, Jan 10, 2024

Explore the microservices architecture pattern, its benefits like independent deployment and team autonomy, and understand the challenges of distributed systems.

Versioning your software

Tuesday, Dec 19, 2023

Uncover the importance of semantic versioning and learn how to implement optimistic and pessimistic version constraints to enhance your project's stability and compatibility

Leveraging Docker for Effortless EKS Deployments

Wednesday, Aug 30, 2023

Explore the symbiotic relationship between Docker and Amazon's EKS. Learn how Docker's consistency, efficiency, and scalability enhance EKS deployments, while also uncovering potential challenges when used in development. Strike a balance between Docker's benefits and limitations for optimal application deployment

Demystifying Amazon EKS - A Comprehensive Overview

Tuesday, Aug 29, 2023

Demystify Amazon's EKS as a managed Kubernetes service. Discover its advantages like managed control planes and effortless scaling, along with security features and integration with AWS services. Navigate the EKS workflow and embrace its role in your development journey.

ReactRailsify: A Tutorial Application for Rails and React Technologies

Monday, Feb 27, 2023

Explore ReactRailsify, a tutorial web app demonstrating the fusion of React and Ruby on Rails, equipped with Redux Toolkit Query, Active Admin, JWT authentication, CORS, and more for a comprehensive learning experience in modern web development.

Using Postgres’ Hstore datatype in Rails

Monday, Feb 13, 2023

HStore is a key value store within Postgres. You can use it similar to how you would use a dictionary within any other programming language, though it’s specific to a table column in the database.

Linux vs FreeBSD: Which is Right for You?

Friday, Feb 10, 2023

Navigate the OS Landscape. A comprehensive comparison between Linux and FreeBSD, exploring their open-source nature, software versatility, customizability, user-friendliness, and stability, aiding you in making an informed choice for your computing needs.