Asta Nguyen
Asta NguyenSoftware Engineer
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© 2026 with 💙 by astalife

Blog

Notes on building for the web

Practical lessons, experiments, and tools from my work as a software engineer.

Next.js Link vs Anchor Tag: The Ultimate Guide to Fast Navigation
Frontend

Next.js Link vs Anchor Tag: The Ultimate Guide to Fast Navigation

Discover why the Next.js Link component outperforms traditional anchor tags for internal navigation. Learn the key differences, performance benefits, and practical implementation with real-world code examples to optimize your Next.js application.

asta-nguyen
asta-nguyen
•
Oct 7, 2025
•
3 min read

All Posts

10
Kimi K3: The Hot AI Model to Watch Right Now
AI

Kimi K3: The Hot AI Model to Watch Right Now

A practical look at Moonshot AI's Kimi K3, why it is trending, how its benchmarks compare, and where it may or may not be useful today.

asta-nguyen
asta-nguyen
•
Jul 21
•
1 min
OpenSpec: A Lightweight Spec-Driven Development Framework for AI-Assisted Coding
AI

OpenSpec: A Lightweight Spec-Driven Development Framework for AI-Assisted Coding

OpenSpec is an open-source, lightweight spec-driven development (SDD) framework that helps human developers and AI coding agents align on what to build before code is written. This article covers its philosophy, workflow, and how it fits into the modern AI-assisted development landscape.

asta-nguyen
asta-nguyen
•
Jul 14
•
1 min
JavaScript Microtasks and Macrotasks: A Practical Guide to the Event Loop
Backend

JavaScript Microtasks and Macrotasks: A Practical Guide to the Event Loop

This article explains JavaScript microtasks and macrotasks in practical terms, showing why `Promise.then()` usually runs before `setTimeout(..., 0)` and how the event loop prioritizes different kinds of asynchronous work.

asta-nguyen
asta-nguyen
•
Jun 29
•
1 min
Animation Keywords
Frontend

Animation Keywords

Animation Keys is a collection of essential UI animation terms that explain how motion can guide attention, provide feedback, show relationships between states, and improve the overall user experience in digital products.

asta-nguyen
asta-nguyen
•
Jun 11
•
2 min
Why PostgreSQL Remains the Best Database Choice 2025 and 2026
Database

Why PostgreSQL Remains the Best Database Choice 2025 and 2026

Discover why PostgreSQL continues to dominate as the preferred database solution in 2025. Learn about its advanced features, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and see practical examples that demonstrate why developers and enterprises choose PostgreSQL for modern applications.

asta-nguyen
asta-nguyen
•
Nov 4
•
4 min
Mastering Database Indexes: A Complete Guide to SQL Indexes in PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB
Database

Mastering Database Indexes: A Complete Guide to SQL Indexes in PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB

Deep dive into database indexes with practical examples and performance insights. Learn how to create, optimize, and manage indexes across PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB. Includes detailed code examples, best practices, and real-world scenarios to boost query performance by up to 100x.

asta-nguyen
asta-nguyen
•
Oct 14
•
2 min
Next.js Link vs Anchor Tag: The Ultimate Guide to Fast Navigation
Frontend

Next.js Link vs Anchor Tag: The Ultimate Guide to Fast Navigation

Discover why the Next.js Link component outperforms traditional anchor tags for internal navigation. Learn the key differences, performance benefits, and practical implementation with real-world code examples to optimize your Next.js application.

asta-nguyen
asta-nguyen
•
Oct 7
•
3 min
When to Use useCallback in React: A Complete Guide with Real Examples
Frontend

When to Use useCallback in React: A Complete Guide with Real Examples

Learn when and why to use React's useCallback hook to optimize your application's performance. This comprehensive guide covers practical use cases, real-world examples, common pitfalls, and best practices to help you make informed decisions about memoizing functions in your React components.

asta-nguyen
asta-nguyen
•
Oct 2
•
2 min
Seft host docker registry on VPS - Part 1
DevOps

Seft host docker registry on VPS - Part 1

While you're working with registries, you might hear the terms registry and repository as if they're interchangeable. Even though they're related, they're not quite the same thing. A registry is a centralized location that stores and manages container images, whereas a repository is a collection of related container images within a registry. Think of it as a folder where you organize your images based on projects. Each repository contains one or more container images.

asta-nguyen
asta-nguyen
•
May 27
•
6 min
API Endpoint Naming Best Practices: A Developer's Guide 👨🏻‍💻
Backend

API Endpoint Naming Best Practices: A Developer's Guide 👨🏻‍💻

Choosing the right names for your API endpoints is crucial for building an intuitive, consistent, and easy-to-use API.

asta-nguyen
asta-nguyen
•
May 16
•
2 min