Data structure, SaaS v AI agents, chat UIs, developer philosophy and MCP
A collection of links about changing a data structure, SaaS v AI Agents, chat UI for development, a developer philosophy and the Model Context Protocol.
Undergraduate Upends a 40-Year-Old Data Science Conjecture
A hash table is a fundamental data structure used everywhere. A student found a way to make it even faster and in the process throw out a number of previous conjectures. Do I understand it? No. Is it impressive? Very. There is also a video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArQNyOU1hyE
What Happens to SaaS in a World with Computer Using Agents?
An examination of how SaaS (Software as a Service) might have to change to accommodate AI agents in the future. The access to data by an agent becomes a key driver in the future.
Chat is a bad UI pattern for development tools—Daniel De Laney
I’ve only just started to us AI when developing. I mostly use it as a “how do I do this?” question as opposed to writing large chunks of code. This article makes the premise, which I mostly agree with, that writing code requires precision when defining requirements - it is more like writing a document than have a conversation. Maybe reality is that it sits somewhere inbetween. A lot of documents are created and refined by multiple parties, a sort of conversation about changes in the document.
A philosophy of software development. I particularly like the “Aim to be 90% done in 50% of the available time” as this is so true and definitely something to consider when estimating the amount of work involved.
Extending AI chat with Model Context Protocol (and why it matters)
It is worth keeping an eye on MCP and whether it becomes the de facto way for AI agents to get data.