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dev.to staff
dev.to staff

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Why x.ai chose Scala and Node to build their platform

Should we use Python for this? What are our needs? How will we hire developers? X.ai had a lot of questions early on in their development process. Varun Vijayaraghavan discusses how the startup navigated these waters.

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Andy Zhao (he/him)

I liked how he discussed the process of why they chose Scala, starting at 1:49. It seems like they
had a clear understanding of the pros and cons. I'm sure it's always a gamble choosing the "right" language/framework though, and I'm glad it worked out for them!

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Varun Vijayaraghavan

Thanks Andy! Like many decisions, things look more clear in hindsight and a lot more fuzzy at the time. But choosing Scala was one the good decisions that we made, looking back. :)

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Oras Al-Kubaisi

Thank you for this video, I like how you explained the context. I understand the concept of having the same developer for both backend and frontend in early phase but how about future proof? I mean javascript is not quite well structured (which was your main reason for going with Scala along with support machine learning libs). Regarding NodeJs, do you think it was a good decision as well?

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Ben Halpern

I enjoyed 3:26 when Varun talks about how new developers who join the company come with an expertise and teach other folks and it pollinates the expertise across the org. This is so true.

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T πŸ’Έ

And especially the conclusion that it makes work a lot more fun. One of my favorite things about my current position is the freedom (and encouragement) to learn and explore new technology. When the opportunity to learn and grow intersects with your daily work, I think you've hit gold.

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Mac Siri

This is giving the interest to learn Scala. Great stuff!

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Daniel Golant

This one felt just a little longer, which I really liked, and was more high-level about tech-choice, which I think is an under-documented process. Thanks Varun!