Docker is a platform that enables developers to build apps and run them in mini virtual machines called containers. As a result, developers can just focus on writing code without needing to set up or configure an environment for running that code. Docker also allows easy application sharing because its environment is abstracted away from the host machine. This allows the containerized application to run on any host machine Docker is installed on. Developers can extend the functionality of Docker's desktop application with extensions. But the goodness doesn't stop there. You can use feature flags to control smaller feature components of these extensions without rebuilding and updating them.

As you might have heard by now, the tech world is undergoing massive layoffs due to the looming recession. Big tech companies like Twitter, Meta, Google, and Amazon have all announced massive job cuts in the past few months. Software developers are on the receiving end in 2023, accounting for 20% of layoffs, according to data from workforce intelligence firm Revelio Labs.

Apart from the stress and anxiety it causes employees who were let go, layoffs can disrupt the rhythm of development teams and impact how projects move forward. The developers that survive layoffs are expected to keep everything running smoothly despite their smaller numbers. They'll have to explore strategies that will allow them to continue working efficiently and produce high-quality software without overworking themselves.

As a front-end developer, I spend most of my time writing code and developing front-end applications. Several months ago, I wondered what it would be like to run a tech startup. It turns out that I spend my spare time writing blog articles for such a company. Meet ConfigCat, a thriving tech startup that offers a cloud-hosted feature flagging solution to other tech companies.

Most importantly, I was curious to know how the company was created and the secret behind its success, as well as how they are able to handle high-end user demands while delivering a seamless feature flagging solution. To answer these questions, I decided to conduct an online interview with the core engineering team to satisfy my curiosity and to share what I found with you, the reader.

Microservices Architecture is a revolutionary approach to software development that empowers applications to scale and evolve with unparalleled flexibility. But: How do feature flags help in this dynamic landscape of microservices?

One of the most important technological breakthroughs of the century has been the internet — a digital network that makes the rest of the world feel like our next-door neighbor. Within the realm of the Internet, a recent technology known as cloud computing has paved the way for software developers to rent and manage remote servers in the cloud for hosting their applications. A smaller component of this technology is called Function as a Service, abbreviated as FaaS. FaaS removes the complexity of managing a full-blown backend server, enabling developers to focus solely on writing and executing the necessary functions required to run their applications.

When FaaS and feature flags are combined, you can toggle individual functions or code blocks in those functions on or off without touching its code. Let's take a closer look.

As the world increasingly becomes digital, we rely on software to solve problems that pop up in everyday life. However, because traditional software development is complex and time-consuming, there aren't enough software developers to meet the high demand for software products. No-code and low-code tools offer a solution to this problem by allowing people to create software and multimedia content and perform complex tasks without writing code.

Feature flags are becoming a prominent part of DevOps practices and for good reason. They allow you to turn features in your live application on or off without redeploying code. You might think that something so powerful would require some rocket science-level programming to implement, but you'd be surprised to know that, at their core, feature flags are booleans and if-then-else statements.

Okay, that's an oversimplification of things, but it's true. And while there are different ways of implementing feature flags, they all share this common core. That said, let's take a broader look at feature flags and their uses in modern software development.

It’s a pleasure to announce that ConfigCat has joined the GitHub Global Campus to make your life easier as an up-and-coming techie.

Government agencies, with their strict security requirements, often face difficulties in fully embracing DevSecOps practices. Balancing the need for rapid feature releases with robust security measures poses a challenge. Feature flags offer a promising solution in this context. By seamlessly integrating into DevOps and DevSecOps pipelines, they can empower government agencies to effectively manage feature releases while maintaining high levels of security.

Adding new features to existing applications used to mean that code pushed into production automatically updated the entire app. This raises security risks to the existing application, because a single bug could have catastrophic consequences. This risk can be reduced by implementing a secure feature management architecture that allows code updates with increased flexibility and the power to easily switch between versions.