Tutorials, tips, and insights for modern developers
HTML escaping is one of those boring-sounding topics that quietly prevents XSS, broken layouts, and garbled text. Here's what actually matters when you're escaping entities in real code....
Why bcrypt is still a solid choice for storing passwords, the gotchas that bite people, and a short worked example you can actually use....
MD5 still shows up everywhere in real codebases. Here's a practical look at what it actually does, when it's fine to use, the security traps to avoid, and a quick worked example....
JSON formatting isn't glamorous, but a well-structured payload saves you hours of debugging. Here's how to format JSON properly, when it matters, and the gotchas that trip people up....
URL encoding trips up more backend bugs than it should. Here's what percent-encoding actually does, when to reach for it, and the gotchas that waste your afternoon....
Base64 shows up everywhere from data URIs to JWTs, but plenty of developers misunderstand what it's for. Here's a practical rundown of how it works, where it belongs, and the gotchas that trip people up....
HTML escaping sounds trivial until a stray angle bracket breaks your page or opens an XSS hole. Here's what escaping does, when you need it, and the gotchas that trip people up....
MD5 still shows up everywhere in real codebases. Here's what it actually does, when it's fine to use, when it absolutely isn't, and a quick worked example....
Base64 shows up everywhere — data URLs, JWTs, email attachments, API payloads. Here's a practical rundown of how it works, when it helps, and the gotchas that trip people up....
A practical look at SHA-256 — what it actually does, where it fits in real projects, the mistakes people make, and a quick worked example you can try yourself....
Why bcrypt is still the sensible default for hashing passwords, the mistakes that bite people, and a worked example you can copy....
Why bcrypt is still the sensible default for password storage, the gotchas that trip people up, and a quick worked example you can copy....
