Structure and meaning of 'having a just a few' in the following paragraph?

Question

What is the structure and meaning of 'having a just a few' in this paragraph?

The major shift here is that we treat both entities and users groups as very cheap resources. Instead of having a just a few and structuring around them, we define what we want and then structure the groups around them. The burden them moves from complex code to maintaining the structure. I find this a very reasonable tradeoff for a simple security model and the flexibility that it gives me.

This paragraph is extracted from a blog post.

Answer 1

I'd have to say that's a typographical error; the first "a" is out of place and the phrase doesn't make sense in that sentence (nor would it anywhere that I can think of). I think the author probably meant to say this (my emphasis on some of the phrases):

The major shift here is that we treat both Entities and Users Groups as very cheap resources. Instead of having just a few [of them] and structuring around them, we define what we want ...

Answer 2

The problem here is that the phrase "just a few" doesn't clearly refer to anything. Does it mean "just a few entities", or "just a few users groups", or "just a few resources", or something else entirely? Given that the second sentence says "structure the groups around them", I'm inclined to think that the intended meaning is "just a few resources". With that in mind, and not knowing any other context, I'd probably rewrite the paragraph as follows:

If we treat both entities and users groups as very cheap resources, we can then define the resources we want and structure our groups around those resources. The burden then moves from complex code to structure maintenance. I find this a very reasonable tradeoff for a simple security model and the flexibility that it gives me.

I hope this helps a little.

Answer 3

The major shift here is that we treat both entities and users groups as very cheap resources instead of having a just a few, and structuring around them, we define what we want and then structure the groups around them. The burden them moves from complex code to maintaining the structure. I find this a very reasonable tradeoff for a simple security model and the flexibility that it gives me.