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: Lean bulk, cut, body recomp. Calculate maintenance calories

https://macrocodex.app/
2•faangguyindia•6m ago•1 comments

The only cauldron ever found in a river in the British Isles

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyrn5e2k9no
1•nickt•6m ago•0 comments

Launch: MyIntelBrief – Smarter Competitor Monitoring

https://myintelbrief.com/
2•myintelbrief•7m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Cc-fleet – run other LLMs as Claude Code workers, your sub drives

https://github.com/ethanhq/cc-fleet
1•ethanhq•11m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Adbqr – ADB pair via QR code from the CLI

https://github.com/kristjan/adbqr
1•kristjan•15m ago•0 comments

Developers don't understand CORS (2019)

https://fosterelli.co/developers-dont-understand-cors
1•toilet•15m ago•0 comments

Australia confirms first case of H5N1 bird flu as virus reaches every continent

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gykxklvl5o
1•1659447091•19m ago•0 comments

White House delays US voting-machine vulnerability report

https://www.reuters.com/world/white-house-delays-release-us-voting-machine-study-midterms-near-20...
10•logickkk1•21m ago•0 comments

Hop.Earth – Google Maps and Need For Speed. World around created while driving

https://hop.earth/?server=RDgva&route=XxOaosUo
3•touchpadder•25m ago•1 comments

Data integrity in rqlite: what it checks and what it doesn't

https://rqlite.io/docs/guides/data-integrity/
1•otoolep•25m ago•0 comments

Ratchet – BIOS flashing toolkit with a built-in MCP server for AI agents

https://github.com/jackulau/ratchet
1•JackLau•27m ago•0 comments

Apple-FM – a command-line interface for Apple's on-device models

https://www.npmjs.com/package/apple-fm
1•brianwestphal•28m ago•2 comments

XRPentest: AI-powered security audit tool for VR/XR headsets

https://xrpentest.com
1•h_a_c_k•30m ago•0 comments

Google Can't Math Parsecs

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/BmqzjcD4tGvy3bim8/google-can-t-math-parsecs
7•ubutler•35m ago•2 comments

How the AI Village Works

https://theaidigest.org/village/blog/how-the-ai-village-works
2•vinhnx•38m ago•0 comments

How Does One Brain Speak Two Languages?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/science/brain-language-grammar.html
3•ripe•38m ago•0 comments

They Looked Like They Were Getting Rich on Polymarket–But None of It Was Real

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/polymarket-social-media-bets-prediction-market-441cdeb5
3•Vaslo•39m ago•0 comments

Parody Symbolics Lisp Machines software release (1982)

https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.ti.explorer/c/2sI_2_eOWug
1•gnodar•39m ago•0 comments

When I reject AI code even if it works

https://vinibrasil.com/when-i-reject-ai-code-even-if-it-works/
4•vnbrs•53m ago•1 comments

Show HN: GenAIDojo

https://www.genaidojo.io/
1•aniketwattawmar•59m ago•0 comments

An Apology for Idlers by Robert Louis Stevenson (1877) [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4T9pbxrlfw
2•SpiralLibrarium•1h ago•0 comments

Subquadratic claims it broke through a bottleneck that's holding back LLMs

https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/06/19/1139313/a-startup-claims-it-broke-through-a-bottlenec...
1•baddash•1h ago•0 comments

RocketAnalyzer · Streamlit

https://rocketanalyzer-ca7wd4a54c7sxjiuk6aewi.streamlit.app
1•ApplePanda03•1h ago•0 comments

Show HN: Rocannon – Any Ansible module to MCP Tool, record sessions as playbooks

https://github.com/msradam/rocannon
2•msradam•1h ago•0 comments

Adobe adds its AI assistant to Premiere, Illustrator, and InDesign

https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/18/adobe-adds-its-ai-assistant-to-premiere-illustrator-and-indesign/
3•breve•1h ago•0 comments

VibeThinker 3B – Taking on Giant Models [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a9Vv5dfW24
3•modinfo•1h ago•0 comments

A Visit to id Software ft Bobby Prince (1993) [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpEBUV_g9vU
4•qmr•1h ago•0 comments

The History of TypeScript

https://www.visualsource.net/repo/github.com/microsoft/typescript
4•pro_methe5•1h ago•0 comments

Show HN: Rlsgate – Block the Supabase RLS leak before you deploy (CLI)

https://github.com/GerardoRdz96/rlsgate
4•gerardordz96•1h ago•0 comments

'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0rygp005wjo
17•higginsniggins•1h ago•3 comments