Why play games when you can write a Game Boy compiler instead?

When was the last time you had to worry about how much memory your code could use? Have you ever had to count the clock cycles it takes to render an animation on the screen? If you’re a developer like me, you probably spend most of your time working ... more

Is Recoil what will kill Redux?

“Oh no, not another state management library for React.” That was my initial reaction when I saw Recoil for the first time. I had already experimented with so many different solutions for the same problem that I was feeling the infamous javascript fatigue. ... more

“The feedback discussions were definitely a high point for me” – The Reaktor trainee journey revealed

Over the years we’ve welcomed dozens of eager junior talents to our development teams to gain experience in consulting and building digital services. In this post, recent trainees Riku Mäntysalo and Kerkko Pelttari share their thoughts and experiences ... more

“I was expecting to be ‘just’ a coder” – Riku and Samuli’s summer in the Forum Virium Helsinki project

Riku Honkanen and Samuli Kärki spent their Reaktor summer in a project for Forum Virium Helsinki, building an integration layer between the MaaS provider and Helsinki archipelago ferry operators. As opposed to their expectations, they got to jump straight ... more

Serverless-side Rendering: How we ensured Kanye’s midas touch didn’t break the internet

This is the story of how two DevOps-curious developers solved a very modern problem in a less than conventional way. If you’ve never heard of serverless-side rendering before, you’re not alone. That’s because I made it up. With the help of my colleague ... more

A letter from your future colleague, Aku

Dear future colleague, My name is Aku Kotkavuo, and I’ve been working at Reaktor as a software consultant for the past nine years. Little did I know what an adventure I was signing up for! The past decade has been full of roaring laughter, learning, ... more

An Introduction to Codemods: Refactoring JavaScript with JavaScript

Refactoring is an inevitable part of software development. As your project grows and requirements change, you will eventually run into problems with your system design. When that happens, you can either waste a lot of time cleaning up old code, or leave ... more

A deep dive into Aktia’s and Reaktor’s pioneering data lake project

At Aktia, utilising data and technology has been a central factor in the bank’s decision making process for almost two decades. However, analysts have found themselves using an increasing amount of their time operating data pipelines and maintaining ... more

A deep dive into Aktia’s and Reaktor’s pioneering data lake project

Aktia is a pioneer in the European banking industry in using open source and the cloud to make better use of data and enable new services in the future. Ville Brofeldt, Director for Data and Analytics at Aktia and our data engineer Oskari Pirttikoski ... more

A letter from your future colleague, Alex

Dear future colleague, I’m three minutes away from stepping onto stage at Breakpoint, a tech and design conference organized by Reaktor. As the stage host for the main stage, I’d received advice from one of our best public speakers, met and enjoyed the ... more

Make React reactive by using Hooks

When the React team released Hooks in React 16.7.0-alpha, I was sceptical at first. I expected most of the added features to be unnecessary bloat (I felt similarly about ES async/wait, class syntax, and React async rendering for example). I read through ... more

Fear, trust and PureScript: Building on trust with types and functional programming

In my previous post I argue that JavaScript is by default a low trust environment for programming, that ideas that build trust like optional types, functional transformations, and immutability have severe trade-offs in JavaScript, and that choosing one ... more

Fear, trust and JavaScript: When types and functional programming fail

As developers, we want to reduce fear of our code failing and increase trust in our code working well. Many developers working with JavaScript borrow useful ideas from functional programming and strongly-typed programming languages to reduce fear by ... more

Why I learned to code as a UX Designer

Designers and coding is a topic that regularly re-surfaces. While some argue that designers shouldn’t code, I find that as a user experience designer, being able to build and test my own interface designs is of value not only to myself but also to my ... more

Reaktor helps FAO of UN ramp up the fight against climate change with modern tech

The sustainable management of forests plays a central role in countering climate change. Thus, it’s also one of the core objectives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) which aims to end hunger, malnutrition and rural ... more

Refactoring 30000 lines of JS with types

30000 lines of client-side JavaScript. No tests. Two difficult TV deployment platforms with poor tooling. Strong dependencies on poorly documented external APIs. The task: add support for a third TV platform to the two supported platforms and switch ... more

Kesädevaajasta konsultiksi New Yorkiin – “Tää on monella tavalla unelmien täyttymys parikymppiselle”

Kello 15:09 Suomen aikaa. Facetime-puhelu pätkii pienen hetken käynnistyessään. Ruudulla moikkaa iloisesti devaaja Juho Heinisuo , 24. ”Kuuluuko? Hyvä.” Juho sutii hiuksiaan ja ottaa huikan isosta kahvistaan noustessaan ylös penkistä. Kuulokkeet pitää ... more

Why we built our ESB using Node.js

Integration is one of the core problems in the IT industry. You know the drill – every business has legacy systems waiting to be connected to new services. Sometimes you need to compose a new application out of a fistful of microservices, at other times ... more

“Things might actually explode” and nine other key takeaways from Reaktor Space so far

A lot has happened since we announced our satellite mission. In just eight months, we’ve figured out how to run Node.js on a satellite, created an MVP and worked with SDR ( software defined radio ). We built our own ground station, started a new company ... more

“Things might actually explode” and nine other key takeaways from Reaktor Space so far

A lot has happened since we announced our satellite mission. In just eight months, we’ve figured out how to run Node.js on a satellite, created an MVP and worked with SDR ( software defined radio ). We built our own ground station, started a new company ... more

“Things might actually explode” and nine other key takeaways from Reaktor Space so far

A lot has happened since we announced our satellite mission. In just eight months, we’ve figured out how to run Node.js on a satellite, created an MVP and worked with SDR ( software defined radio ). We built our own ground station, started a new company ... more

Using visualizations to communicate data science – Case cancer risk analysis

Data science sounds complex, and it often is. However, the results of data analysis need not – and, indeed, should not – be complex. In this post, we show how interactive visualization can be used to effectively communicate risk estimates for cancer ... more

Using visualizations to communicate data science – Case cancer risk analysis

Data science sounds complex, and it often is. However, the results from data analysis need not – and, indeed, should not – be complex. In this post, we show how interactive visualization can be used to effectively communicate risk estimates for cancer ... more

Using visualizations to communicate data science – Case cancer risk analysis

Data science sounds complex, and it often is. However, the results of data analysis need not – and, indeed, should not – be complex. In this post, we show how interactive visualization can be used to effectively communicate risk estimates for cancer ... more

Using visualizations to communicate data science – Case cancer risk analysis

Data science sounds complex, and it often is. However, the results of data analysis need not – and, indeed, should not – be complex. In this post, we show how interactive visualization can be used to effectively communicate risk estimates for cancer ... more

Three JavaScript performance fundamentals that make Bluebird fast

As promised in our recent Promises made by a Reaktor developer had an impact on the industry article, here’s some original knowledge from our very own Petka Antonov – programmer and creator of the acclaimed Bluebird promise library. Bluebird is a widely ... more

Three JavaScript performance fundamentals that make Bluebird fast

As promised in our recent Promises made by a Reaktor developer had an impact on the industry article, here’s some original knowledge from our very own Petka Antonov – programmer and creator of the acclaimed Bluebird promise library. Bluebird is a widely ... more

Three JavaScript performance fundamentals that make Bluebird fast

As promised in our recent Promises made by a Reaktor developer had an impact on the industry article, here’s some original knowledge from our very own Petka Antonov – programmer and creator of the acclaimed Bluebird promise library. Bluebird is a widely ... more

Promises made by a Reaktor developer had an impact on the industry

Dear reader. This is an attempt at writing a light read about programming that you will enjoy, regardless of your knowledge on the subject. I even used a pun in the title to get you here. Sucker. It’s the story of how Petka Antonov, talented young man ... more

Promises made by a Reaktor developer had an impact on the industry

Dear reader. This is a brave attempt at writing a light read about programming that you will enjoy, even if you have zero knowledge of the subject matter. I even used a pun in the title to get you here. Sucker. It’s the story of how Petka Antonov, talented ... more