Section
Structured notes, essays, and pragmatic field reports.
AI is going to change software teams whether we pretend to be ready or not. The lazy version of that change is simple: give everyone an agent, tell them to go faster, and hope review catches whatever falls out the other …
JavaScript functions do not all decide this the same way. Regular functions usually get this from how they are called. Arrow functions do not create their own this at all. This post is about two questions: Where does a …
Closures show up any time a JavaScript function uses a variable defined from outside its own curly braces. That makes them common in callbacks, event handlers, timers, factory functions, and plenty of code that passes …
Hoisting is JavaScript’s setup behavior for declarations. It affects whether a function or variable can be used before the line where it appears in the file. That matters because function, var, let, and const do …
Most JavaScript code starts with a simple act: you give a value a name. We call that a variable declaration. That sounds small, but the way you create that name affects how the rest of your code can use it. A variable …
I’ve been thinking about how we talk about AI systems, and Anthropic’s use of the word “soul” keeps sticking with me. At first, that sounds too poetic for software. Then you start layering …
The Pattern Nobody Wants to Talk About I’ve seen a distinct pattern where AI slows down software development. I know. Heresy. But hear me out. Agents are fast, but in the old saying kind of way: Fast is slow, and …
TypeScript is excellent at telling you what you meant to pass around. Runtime is excellent at reminding you that expectations are not a security boundary. I published TypeScript Type Guards as a small utility package for …
AI-assisted development has a trust problem. Generated code can look polished, type-safe, and reviewable while still smuggling in shortcuts that quietly erode a codebase over time. The faster teams move with agents, the …
Here’s a secret weapon for building your own agentic workflows: GitHub Copilot Chat’s debug logs. You know how everyone’s out there wrestling with hallucinating AI agents? Trying to figure out how to …
A Promise is a guaranteed placeholder value for what a function or series of functions will return. It’s a promise to return a value eventually. The function swears this time is different. You can trust it. It …
We spent decades trying to make computers easier to use. We went from punch cards to command lines to graphical user interfaces to touch screens. We added buttons, menus, icons, gestures, or really anything to avoid …
You know what’s wild about working with AI agents to build software? The planning. Oh boy, the planning. Not just a plan - that would be too simple. No, no. We’re talking about: Creating a planning document …
Sometimes I want full control, not most, but total, end-to-end control over the tools I use to think, build, and create. That’s where Ollama and Open WebUI comes in. This is my go-to local AI chat setup: a fully local, …
Had one of those surreal conversations at work recently. I needed to onboard with an internal AI service—because, frankly, there’s only one option available: and it’s run by a team building their own wrapper around …
You ever have it where you’re flossing, and the floss just will not go between the teeth? You are standing there, doing your routine, nothing unusual. Then suddenly the floss hits a wall. Just stops. Like your …
For too long, legacy enterprise development has been constrained by a top-down model that stifles innovation and impedes progress. The conventional emphasis on individual developers paired with rigid managerial oversight …
Rules to Follow FIRST Principles Fast – Tests should run quickly to allow frequent execution. Independent – Tests must not depend on each other. Repeatable – A test should always yield the same result. Self-Checking – …
GitHub Actions doesn’t (seem to?) provide built-in insights into API rate limits, making it difficult to diagnose runtime failures caused by hitting request limits. To address this, I created a reusable GitHub …
I finally spent some time experimenting with Sora, and the shift from text-to-image to text-to-video feels bigger than I expected. I have used Stable Diffusion for a long time. Image generation already changed how I …
In my recent project, I’ve focused on streamlining the development workflow for Cisco Collaboration by migrating thousands of repository build processes to GitHub Actions. This transition has brought numerous …
I have been using a Visual Studio Code extension called Continue, and it has become one of my favorite ways to work with local LLMs. The short version: Continue lets you bring AI-assisted coding into VS Code while …
TinyTroupe is incredible. Imagine running your own focus group composed of multi-personality AI agents. From a UI/UX designer’s perspective, the ability to explicitly define user personas and have them evaluate your …
Over time, code libraries have a habit of expanding like that one “utility” drawer in your kitchen. At first, it’s helpful—everything in its right place, ready for use. But before long, that drawer becomes a catch-all …
Looking to integrate Webex messaging in Backstage? The Webex Module for Backstage Scaffolder makes it simple. This plugin enables seamless integration with Webex Incoming Hooks, allowing you to send messages to one or …
Here’s a quick heads-up that might save you some serious headaches. Gmail doesn’t treat dots in email addresses as unique. Whether your address is john.smith@gmail.com or jo.hn.smith@gmail.com, if it has a dot a copy of …
When working with RESTful APIs, there are times when you need to update an entire resource, and other times when you only need to tweak a specific part of it. This is where the PATCH method shines. Unlike PUT, which …
Let’s dive into the world of RESTful API design, especially for those of you transitioning from Java or other back-end heavy environments. One of the common mistakes I see everyday is naming API endpoints based on the …
I ran into this error while using Rollup and the uuid package: Error: Crypto.getRandomValues() not supported. See https://github.com/uuidjs/uuid#getrandomvalues-not-supported The problem? It boiled down to this small …
You know what’s going to be funny? When AI services go offline and teachers finally get to see what a student’s real writing would be like. Imagine the shock—“Wait, why does this essay look like a …
Today, I got to introduce the AI interns to new topics like dogfooding*, cyclomatic complexity, BEM, JSON:API, and why interfaces are so useful. It was great to nerd out with them! Their excitement was contagious, and I …
TypesScript interface names should start with “I” because while a type is real, an interface is purely “I"maginary.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably dealt with your fair share of long, messy deeply nested if-else chains. They can get out of hand pretty fast, right? One minute you’re making a simple decision, the …
Go, go, go, go get in the tub, With a laptop, start that remote club. We gonna soak while we on the job, Look, team, I got the foam, let’s multitask and bub'. You can find me in the tub, Zoom on with no flub, …
Leveraging multiple models can significantly streamline the software development process. Here’s a strategy to consider: Requirement Analysis: Use one model to gather user requirements. Edge Case Identification: …
The world of gaming laptops has given us beasts, titans, and powerhouses. And now, let me introduce to you - the Alienware R1 M16 or as we affectionately dub it, the “Lapchonk”. Never has a device so …
Solving PowerPoint Missing Custom Templates Recently went through setting up a new development machine. The one tool that gave the most grief ended up being PowerPoint. Specifically setting up custom PowerPoint …
While working with Backstage.io, you might come across a requirement to create a custom entity relationship. Though the official documentation provides some insights, you may find it too high level. This post offers a …
This hybrid API design guide combines elements from both JSend and JSON:API to create a powerful and user-friendly approach for developing REST APIs. By adopting the best practices from both, this guide offers a …
As I reflect on my time as a professional developer, I realized recently that the only real thing I created was the act of sharing my knowledge with my colleagues. While we developed some impressive products and achieved …
I lost my dad in April of 2020. It was exactly one week after my family and I should have been with him for Easter. We had planned a visit, to sit by his side, to hold his hand during the Easter service he loved so much. …
Imagine “a world, earth, seen from space, 8k, unreal engine, detailed, photorealistic”… Remember the common phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words”? Well, it’s time to rethink …
Developers need consistency in the tools they use, as well as a clear understanding of what is expected of them to be productive and successful in their roles. These tools not only impact productivity but also play a …
Interplanetary File System (IPFS) is a peer-to-peer distributed file hosting protocol. When a file or collection of files in a folder are uploaded to the IPFS network. Each individual file and folder is identified with a …
What are Netlify Functions? Netlify Functions provide a simple way to build a serverless API layer for any front-end projects. These serverless functions are executed atop AWS’s Lambda platform. The rule here is …
tl;dr Add a netlify.toml file to the root of your project if one doesn’t exist. Add the following setting to redirect all routes to your single-page-application. [[redirects]] from = "/*" to = …
Brief History of Callbacks It all starts with the callback function. A callback function is just a plain JavaScript function that is passed into another function as an argument. That’s it. Nothing special. This …
Event Handling in jQuery My newest course, “Event Handling in jQuery” went live at Pluralsight! View My Course - Event Handling in jQuery GitHub Files - Event Handling in jQuery Course Description Open your …
My First .Net Contribution Today a feature enhancement I proposed and implemented was merged into the .Net runtime main branch for .Net 6 release! The Background At the time I was working for a company called, WatchGuard …
JavaScript Function Signatures Alright, you’ve probably seen functions before. Something like this maybe? function doSomething(name, desc, task) { // did something } This function, named doSomething, takes three …
What does that even mean? I love creating something that didn’t exist before, and then ‘bam’—it’s a thing that others can use. It’s thrilling if it’s something people need to use, and …
