Chartbeat engineers are avid readers and we wanted to share some of the gems that we’ve come across recently (or not so recently). This being the engineering blog, these links are engineering-ish related. 

• The Big Ball of Mud — at Chartbeat we write a lot of APIs and have repeatedly run up against the problem of staying nimble and keeping our codebase organized. This read has help us step back and recognize the “pattern” in common anti-patterns.
• Intro to the A* Algorithm — this quick read nicely details the intuition behind one of the best path finding algorithms in existence.
• Why Virtual isn’t Real to your Brain — this is a longer read about why VR is hard. The human visual cortex has evolved over millions of years, and inventing graphics algorithms to spoof it is an elusive endeavor.

Happy Friday!

PS. Here’s a rare pic of Chartbeat designers in their natural habitat. Please don’t feed them, otherwise they will learn to not fear humans.