frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

How to get up to speed on software development from the top down

1•dave2299•1y ago
Hi everyone, I am a non-technical founder. I’ve bootstrapped a tech-enabled services company over the past year that’s growing, profitable, and close to 15K a month in revenue. I, by nature, prefer to be involved in the weeds of what’s happening in each domain of my business at first, even if that results in slower business growth. I built my company with a white label portal software (Copilot.app), Airtable, Squarespace, AppSheet,and some ChatGPT scripts.

Now, I need to start building out custom tools. I want to take a deep dive into software development, starting with front and back end web development from the top down, rather than starting from the bottom up as a coder.

If I keep growing eventually I will end up bringing on technical employees, but I want to understand the lay of the land before I start down that road, and I found that I’m able to do a lot once I understand the domain using low code and no code tools. So for example, things like Retool, etc. will accomplish most of the next phase of building I need. But I want to have a reading list of 10 or 20 books or blogs or courses or podcast, etc.. That will help me start getting the way of the land on how to architect software.

I know basic python, basics of the building blocks of programming at the intro level. I just read Designing Data-Intensive Applications (2nd ed on O’Reilly). Does someone have a list of 10 modern books that would help me understand big picture topics like this?

Comments

sherdil2022•1y ago
I offer personal / 1:1 training, mentoring and technical consultancy for founders and co-founders.

Please feel free to reach out to me. My throwaway email is in my profile, and I will respond.

Show HN: A Ruby IDE running on a microcontroller

https://github.com/engneer-hamachan/area512
1•hamachang•43s ago•0 comments

I finally did it.Custom 4K screens with analog knobs,beautiful feedbadk fractals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koDCabeh5kQ
1•thelightherder•2m ago•0 comments

The fun thing about Electron apps

https://yoavmoshe.com/blog/electron/
2•yoavm•3m ago•0 comments

Improving matrix multiplication exponent w. modern optimization and AlphaEvolve

https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.16884
1•theanonymousone•3m ago•0 comments

Are we cooked? Algorithms have rewired our language

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/21/g-s1-139147/are-we-cooked-algorithms-have-rewired-our-language
1•theanonymousone•5m ago•0 comments

AI Stock Research Assistant · Streamlit

https://ai-stock-research-kiaan.streamlit.app
1•KiaanKothari•6m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Forst – a back end language that helps you migrate TS back ends to Go

https://forst-lang.org/docs
1•haveyaseen•6m ago•0 comments

Boeing engineers, tech workers reject contract offer

https://www.kuow.org/topics/business/2026-08-21/boeing-engineers-tech-workers-reject-contract-offer
2•Wuzzl•7m ago•0 comments

National Security Science and Technology Strategy [pdf]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/NSSTS-082026.pdf
1•jonbaer•7m ago•0 comments

Visual Studio Code 1.0 (2016)

https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2016/04/14/vscode-1.0
2•prvt•8m ago•0 comments

Show HN: K8s-audit – 30-second Kubernetes security check (kubectl and jq only)

https://github.com/k8s-security-pro/k8s-audit
1•k8ssecuritypro•10m ago•0 comments

PDPR – Public Dark Pattern Registry

https://pdpr.lyfmail.com/
2•LYFMail•11m ago•0 comments

The Art of the Fugue: Minimizing Interleaving in Collaborative Text Editing

https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.00583
1•danbitengo•12m ago•0 comments

'Darth Vader' makes the case for Flock cameras at city council meeting [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xOURK7-UMs
2•kingleopold•13m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Knoku – cited AI answers from docs, files, and team knowledge

https://knoku.com
1•knoku•14m ago•0 comments

I made a sweater from scratch (it made me insane) [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7QMgbMlaek
1•ot•15m ago•0 comments

The 1991 Unnormalized Linear Transformer (ULTRA)

https://people.idsia.ch/~juergen/1991-unnormalized-linear-transformer.html
2•tosh•18m ago•0 comments

Low-emission zones drive Vietnam's green vehicle transition

https://eastasiaforum.org/2026/08/22/low-emission-zones-drive-vietnams-green-vehicle-transition/
1•Meo_mean•18m ago•0 comments

Show HN: I built a simple free app that helps control ADHD symptoms

https://rawdog-one.vercel.app/
1•dixitbavu•20m ago•0 comments

Code Doesn't Speak for Itself

https://koenvangilst.nl/lab/code-doesnt-speak-for-itself
2•vnglst•21m ago•0 comments

FTC Targets Personalized Pricing, Stops Short of Ban

https://www.consumerreports.org/money/prices-price-comparison/personalized-pricing-surveillance-f...
4•DeepLogin•21m ago•0 comments

"I randomly picked 5 universities and looked up sociology department faculty."

https://www.drvinayprasad.com/p/10-thoughts-about-jason-arday-cambridge
1•jmeister•23m ago•1 comments

Why Social Media's Ad Dominance Is a Billion-Dollar Measurement Illusion

https://www.adexchanger.com/content-studio/why-social-medias-ad-dominance-is-a-billion-dollar-mea...
1•dotcoma•25m ago•0 comments

Espressif Releases Linux BSP for ESP32-S31 RISC-V Boards

https://www.cnx-software.com/2026/08/22/espressif-systems-releases-a-linux-bsp-developer-preview-...
1•jandeboevrie•28m ago•1 comments

ADHD diagnoses and prescriptions have increased globally across all age groups

https://theconversation.com/adhd-diagnoses-and-prescriptions-have-increased-globally-across-all-a...
1•downbad_•28m ago•0 comments

Apple cutting jobs from Siri, Vision Pro teams

https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/21/apple-is-reportedly-cutting-hundreds-of-jobs-from-siri-vision-p...
1•DGAP•31m ago•1 comments

Show HN: VinvAI runs and observes your services to find bugs and perf issues

https://vinv.ai/
3•itsAnshul•31m ago•0 comments

Show HN: hlquery, An open-source C++20 search engine

https://github.com/hlquery/hlquery
1•cfferry•32m ago•0 comments

Does herdr worth it? Harnesses like pi ship most of these features

1•abeauvois•33m ago•0 comments

How do ecommerce businesses handle reconciliation?

1•risly•37m ago•0 comments