April 2014 Summaries

Firebase does not natively store arrays, instead representing them as objects with numeric keys and rendering them as arrays only when the keys are sufficiently sequential, which can change after deletions. Because array indices are mutable, concurrent clients can unintentionally modify or delete the wrong records, making arrays unreliable for distributed, collaborative data. The recommended approach is to store collections as objects keyed by permanent unique identifiers generated with Firebase’s push method, while using priorities to control retrieval order for uses such as leaderboards. Arrays may still be appropriate when only one client writes at a time, the complete array is saved after changes, and applications avoid relying on mutable indices; Java and iOS clients can also cast array-like Firebase data into platform-specific list or array types.

Firebase announced its March 1 move to a larger office at 22 4th Street in downtown San Francisco, near the Powell BART and Muni Metro station, after outgrowing its previous space. The new location offers additional conference rooms, skyline views, and a large area intended for developer meetups, while community members helped personalize the office by painting murals during an office-warming event. Conference rooms were named after notable engineers and scientists, and employees held a decorating competition to furnish them. Firebase planned to open the office to local developer groups, beginning with an SFJS meetup on May 8, 2014, and noted that it was hiring as its team continued to expand.

Firebase marks its second anniversary since launching in San Francisco in April 2012, reflecting on its origins as a project codenamed “Plankton” in late 2011 and its development through feedback from early developers. The company reports that its community has grown beyond 62,000 developers and its team to 15 people, with additional hiring underway. Key milestones include introducing security for applications built entirely with client-side code, releasing iOS and Android SDKs, raising a Series A investment, leaving beta status, and creating Angular and Ember bindings. Firebase also signals upcoming features and improvements while inviting developers to follow its updates, seek technical support, and participate in its community.

Firebase reported that while its realtime servers were not affected by the Heartbleed OpenSSL vulnerability, servers handling authentication for the Firebase website were vulnerable and could potentially have exposed credentials in transit. The company secured all affected services by 11 p.m. PDT on April 7 and stated that Firebase was no longer vulnerable. Although it found no evidence that passwords or private information had been compromised, Firebase advised all users to change their account passwords and reset Firebase Secrets through the App Dashboard because the vulnerability may have been exploited without detection. Firebase also emphasized that passwords are hashed with bcrypt, pledged continued monitoring and rapid response to future threats, and provided a security contact email for concerns.