Groovy, the Python of Java

I was a bona fide Java programmer for 5 years before I started working on Aleph Point and Parse.ly. I truly believe that Python and JavaScript are fundamentally better languages than Java for a variety of reasons born out of experience with each of them. (Note: Before this gets marked as flamebait, please notice that … Continue reading Groovy, the Python of Java

What One Does

One of America’s greatest strengths is social mobility. There are several cases of an individual starting with nothing and persevering to become rich, powerful, and influential. Success stories of this kind have become an important part of American business mythology, especially in the world of entrepreneurship. They are strong motivators for individuals embarking on companies … Continue reading What One Does

The danger of feature-driven design

I recently re-read Douglas Crockford’s JavaScript: The Good Parts. I have been writing more and more JavaScript lately, especially object-oriented JavaScript plugging into existing frameworks. Re-reading the book has definitely been a useful exercise — I think when I first read it approximately 6 months ago, I didn’t fully understand it. But now, I do. … Continue reading The danger of feature-driven design

Persistent Folders: Or, why ideas don’t matter, and execution does

I’ll start off this post with a somewhat controversial claim: I invented Dropbox. I’ll show why this claim doesn’t matter later, but for now, I’ll assure you that it’s true. How many of you out there use Dropbox? If you don’t, you should — it’s an excellent tool. In its free version, it provides you … Continue reading Persistent Folders: Or, why ideas don’t matter, and execution does

Chase’s completely insecure and broken “secure” document exchange system (aka securedx, secure-dx)

A few days ago, I got a call from my girlfriend, Olivia. I was so deep in working on my startup, Parse.ly, that I hadn’t checked my bank account statements in several weeks. We just went into private beta last Thursday, after DreamIt Demo Day. She noticed some suspicious charges, and so I looked into … Continue reading Chase’s completely insecure and broken “secure” document exchange system (aka securedx, secure-dx)

About Me

This is Andrew Montalenti’s personal site for code, essays, and ideas. Andrew was the founding CTO of Parse.ly, a real-time and historical content analytics platform running on thousands of sites. In February 2021, Parse.ly was acquired by Automattic, the fully distributed company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce.com, and WPVIP.com. Andrew is a long-time Pythonista, with a deep … Continue reading About Me