Props on this one go to Scott Hanselman who pulled me back from the edge of the cliff last night. I was particularly distraught in getting a MIX demo together...
I'm in the middle of writing the next volume of The Imposter's Handbook and I found myself down a Rabbit Hole from the very outset: how can we, as programmers,...
I've been playing around with DigitalOcean lately, specifically the pre-rolled Applications they have setup. I'm just blown away at how simple things have become: including setting up your own private...
I get asked rather often by friends if I wouldn't mind reviewing abstracts they've put together for submission to various conferences. This usually happens after they've been rejected. I'm not...
When I read things like "Callbacks as our Generations Go To Statement" I’m like maybe we need that. Maybe we need some time where we’re walking around with a donkey...
There's a thought in neuroscience/psychological circles that words are much more than sounds that represent things: they are the abstraction of our higher brain function. Words are language, code is...
I've been teeth-deep in Client-side JavaScript frameworks over the last 4 months for Tekpub. This month is Angular, last month was Ember's turn and I gave up. It's the first...
It was exactly 1:32pm, HST, when the motor died. I stared at the throttle... hoping it was a joke. Land was 50 miles away, and the sea was building, and...
Don Syme makes a very interesting postulation over on his blog: "Is JavaScript code always so full of bugs?" His post goes on to show what happens when you turn...
I made the mistake of publicly commenting on someone's idea of a RESTful API. And already - I've probably lost you. I don't know any single term more explosive and...
I've always been a major proponent of Open ID. I love the idea and the intention - it's a great solution to a long-standing problem and solves a lot of...
Fight Club is one of those movies that you can take at face value and have a great time, or dig a bit deeper into David Fincher's directorial excellence and...
Just yesterday I was talking to a friend about Postgres (not uncommon) and he said something that I found shocking: I can’t even with Postgres, I know JACK SQUAT This...
Full Text Indexing in PostgreSQL is easy... and it's not. It's not difficult to do simple keyword searches, but fine-tuning your index with weighting and parsing rules takes some effort....
PostgreSQL 12 introduced a feature I've long wished for: computed columns that are indexable and stored on disk! They're amazing and in this post I'll show you how they work...
Working with Common Table Expressions in PostgreSQL is easy and straightforward. You can insert, update and delete data easily, all in one operation, within a single transaction.
One of the joys of working with PostgreSQL is the ability to run full-text searches right out of the box. But how do you set this up? Better yet: when...
In a previous post I showed some fun stuff with System.Dynamic and Data Access. I'm happy to say that I tweaked it, loved it, and pushed it to Github if...
I promised myself I'd never do this again: create an ORM-y/Data Tool for .NET. But I needed some utilities for some work I'm doing, and I extracted the databits because...
Getting up to speed with Postgres and Node can be daunting but in this post I'll dive into how you can easily work with both - including JSON document storage......
Just yesterday I was talking to a friend about Postgres (not uncommon) and he said something that I found shocking: I can’t even with Postgres, I know JACK SQUAT This...
Full Text Indexing in PostgreSQL is easy... and it's not. It's not difficult to do simple keyword searches, but fine-tuning your index with weighting and parsing rules takes some effort....
PostgreSQL 12 introduced a feature I've long wished for: computed columns that are indexable and stored on disk! They're amazing and in this post I'll show you how they work...
I started my career on the Microsoft stack building forms and websites using drag and drop tools. Over time that became a punchline, which is unfortunate because honestly, the productivity...
Working with Common Table Expressions in PostgreSQL is easy and straightforward. You can insert, update and delete data easily, all in one operation, within a single transaction.
One of the joys of working with PostgreSQL is the ability to run full-text searches right out of the box. But how do you set this up? Better yet: when...
Another day, another database project in my repo! This time it's a pure PostgreSQL JSONB document storage API that you can drop in and get going with right away!
I am not a fan of migrations - never have been and probably never will be. They were interesting when Rails first came out, but now they're pure friction.
I'm building out a pretty detailed application using Postgres and Node - mostly Postgres - trying to flex as much of its power as I can. For me, this means...
The fuller support for JSONB in Postgres 9.4 makes working with document structures incredibly compelling. Here's an interesting way to have your Relational Peanut Butter play nicely with Document... Chocolate...
For most tables in a database you can get away with an auto-incrementing integer primary key. This, however, is a scaling headache if you ever have to shard your database....
Postgres is gaining more and more attention - deservedly so. Open database systems like Postgres are standing up squarely against the massive, sprawling (and expensive) "Enterprise" systems like SQL Server...
Tekpub just pushed its latest production: Hello PostgreSQL - and I invite you to take a look at some of the very compelling and interesting features this Open Source system...
We just recently pushed Tekpub over to Posgres and all in all, it was very simple. I won't talk about the reasons we moved from MySQL - that's another post....
Getting up to speed with Postgres and Node can be daunting but in this post I'll dive into how you can easily work with both - including JSON document storage......
Just yesterday I was talking to a friend about Postgres (not uncommon) and he said something that I found shocking: I can’t even with Postgres, I know JACK SQUAT This...
I've been playing around with DigitalOcean lately, specifically the pre-rolled Applications they have setup. I'm just blown away at how simple things have become: including setting up your own private...
Any tool can create a mess. Some seem more prone to messes then others - that's what I thought of KnockoutJS until recently when I had a chance to catch...
One problem people face when starting out with Node (and JavaScript in general) is handling the asynchronous, deep callback nesting issue. EventEmitters help fix that.
We just recently pushed Tekpub over to Posgres and all in all, it was very simple. I won't talk about the reasons we moved from MySQL - that's another post....
When I read things like "Callbacks as our Generations Go To Statement" I’m like maybe we need that. Maybe we need some time where we’re walking around with a donkey...
I've been teeth-deep in Client-side JavaScript frameworks over the last 4 months for Tekpub. This month is Angular, last month was Ember's turn and I gave up. It's the first...
Any tool can create a mess. Some seem more prone to messes then others - that's what I thought of KnockoutJS until recently when I had a chance to catch...
One problem people face when starting out with Node (and JavaScript in general) is handling the asynchronous, deep callback nesting issue. EventEmitters help fix that.
I just released my latest screencast for Tekpub Pluralsight and I rather like it. It's live coding and I'm building something I need; I did my best to keep it...
Tekpub just pushed its latest production: Hello PostgreSQL - and I invite you to take a look at some of the very compelling and interesting features this Open Source system...
I get asked rather often by friends if I wouldn't mind reviewing abstracts they've put together for submission to various conferences. This usually happens after they've been rejected. I'm not...
I just released my latest screencast for Tekpub Pluralsight and I rather like it. It's live coding and I'm building something I need; I did my best to keep it...
I get asked a lot about my process, software, and microphone for the screencasts I do at Tekpub. I figured I'd blog about it because the world needs better screencasts....
I'm traveling for a year with my family without a plan. We started in Europe and are planning, at most, 3 weeks into the future. So far it's been pretty...
I've taken a little time from blogging about Elixir and this little project, mainly because I wanted to dive into OTP a bit more, and I also needed to figure...
I'm fascinated by people's stories and the decisions they made to move their career forward or, in some cases, backwards. I decided to take that to a whole new level...
Understanding Big O has many real world benefits, aside from passing a technical interview. In this post I'll provide a cheat sheet and some real world examples.
Over the winter holiday break (on Christmas Eve, to be precise), Scott Hanselman and I released the next volume in the Imposter's Handbook series. It took us just over 18...
A remainder and a modulus look so very similar, but they are not the same thing and worse, are treated differently by different programming languages. Do you know how your...
This last month has been intense. I'm writing the second volume of The Imposter's Handbook with Scott Hanselman, I moved back to Hawaii, and I'm trying to finish up a...
Going out on your own as a solo developer can be terrifying! That's why I made this 1-hour video: to share with you the things I did to scale myself...
Going through a coding interview is not fun. The questions you're asked can come off as pointless - there's a reason you're asked these things, however.
I love writing. I also love editing my writing because it starts to take shape. The formatting process, however, gets me every time. Over the years, however, things have become...
I'm fascinated by people's stories and the decisions they made to move their career forward or, in some cases, backwards. I decided to take that to a whole new level...
Over the winter holiday break (on Christmas Eve, to be precise), Scott Hanselman and I released the next volume in the Imposter's Handbook series. It took us just over 18...
There are no 'best practices' or established architectural patterns with Firebase Functions. So what do we do when we receive payment from the customer?
Let's address the elephant in the room: Should you trust a service like Firebase to handle your business? Not unless you want your pants on fire(base)!
Yes, I know, you're sick of the term. The idea is interesting... but is it realistic? In this blog series we'll find out. This is Part 1: where I investigate...
Getting up to speed with Postgres and Node can be daunting but in this post I'll dive into how you can easily work with both - including JSON document storage......
Just yesterday I was talking to a friend about Postgres (not uncommon) and he said something that I found shocking: I can’t even with Postgres, I know JACK SQUAT This...
Full Text Indexing in PostgreSQL is easy... and it's not. It's not difficult to do simple keyword searches, but fine-tuning your index with weighting and parsing rules takes some effort....
PostgreSQL 12 introduced a feature I've long wished for: computed columns that are indexable and stored on disk! They're amazing and in this post I'll show you how they work...
I started my career on the Microsoft stack building forms and websites using drag and drop tools. Over time that became a punchline, which is unfortunate because honestly, the productivity...
Over the winter holiday break (on Christmas Eve, to be precise), Scott Hanselman and I released the next volume in the Imposter's Handbook series. It took us just over 18...
A remainder and a modulus look so very similar, but they are not the same thing and worse, are treated differently by different programming languages. Do you know how your...
Working with Common Table Expressions in PostgreSQL is easy and straightforward. You can insert, update and delete data easily, all in one operation, within a single transaction.
One of the joys of working with PostgreSQL is the ability to run full-text searches right out of the box. But how do you set this up? Better yet: when...
Another day, another database project in my repo! This time it's a pure PostgreSQL JSONB document storage API that you can drop in and get going with right away!
I'm in the middle of writing the next volume of The Imposter's Handbook and I found myself down a Rabbit Hole from the very outset: how can we, as programmers,...
Going through a coding interview is not fun. The questions you're asked can come off as pointless - there's a reason you're asked these things, however.
Understanding Big O has many real world benefits, aside from passing a technical interview. In this post I'll provide a cheat sheet and some real world examples.
I'm fascinated by people's stories and the decisions they made to move their career forward or, in some cases, backwards. I decided to take that to a whole new level...
It’s always fun to study the basics, and in this video we dive into the linked list and how to create one from scratch. Sounds ridiculous, but it can rescue...
Understanding Big O has many real world benefits, aside from passing a technical interview. In this post I'll provide a cheat sheet and some real world examples.
Most people will default to bcrypt when choosing a hashing algorithm for storing sensitive information - but why? Are there other choices? Indeed! In this video we'll take a look...
Think about the lines of code you would have to write in order to manage a scheduling system. Duration checks, start and end time requirements as well as checking for...
Handling dates properly is delicate business and, thankfully, Postgres gives you many tools to help make sure you store date information correctly. But that only works if you know what's...
In this production, a SQL Server DBA (Rob Sullivan) and a developer (Rob Conery) take a deep dive into PostGreSQL (v9.1) and are surprised by just how capable, intelligent and...
Getting over imposter syndrome is no easy task, but it starts by recognizing a cold, hard truth: you're being toxic to yourself and those around you. I'll share with you...
Writers often talk about "finding their voice", but what does that even mean? There are ways to loosen the control your internal filters have on your ability to express yourself....
Retirement is one thing, being where you want to be and doing what you want to do when your current job is finished in another thing entirely. What’s your exit...
Solving problems is what we do, but sometimes the solution is to burn it all down and start again, learning from your mistakes. How do you make this choice?
Vue is a very powerful framework that I love a lot, but understanding some of the builtin machinery can be extremely confusing. Here's how I deal with that.
I'm allergic to crappy, non-sensical, faked up demos that try to convey highly technical concepts. Yet I find myself falling into that lazy trap constantly. This requires intervention.
The hardest thing anyone can do is break down their own mental constructs, realizing they're toxic and destroy relationships. It's part of the journey.
TDD is one of those things that people talk about, argue about, and think is interesting. I'm one of those people, so I asked Brad Wilson to clear it all...
Many people are interviewing these days and you really, really should know the basics if you expect to do well. You'll find that here with common data structures and algorithms....
In this feature-length production, Scott Hanselman and Rob Conery offer suggestions and advice on how you can get out there, and get involved. Blogging, Twitter, Github, StackOverflow, User Groups and...
This is an excerpt for a talk I gave in 2016 at NDC London, featuring Elixir and the concurrency features it has, built in. It's easily the most annoying demo...
Digging through my archives once again and found this wonderful video with Jon Skeet doing what he loves to do: sleuthing date bugs and answering questions on StackOverflow!
Nitro is an exciting web server created by the unjs team, who are also the people behind Nuxt. Nitro is a study in simplicity and a wonderful tool for your...
Learning Elixir changed me as a programmer, and learning functional concepts changed the way I think about writing software. How about you? Is functional proogramming a useful thing to learn?...
