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Programming Ponderings

Ryan LaRue Articles, Consulting, Opinion, Programming 2 Comments

Editor’s Note: After nearly 20 years in software development, Ryan LaRue introduces three lessons he has learned in his programming career with takeaways that apply to all levels of experience.

Open Door Policy
One of the reasons I’ve always loved Software Development is its open door policy to new entrants. No MBA, PhD or, heck, degree required.

If you’re smart, like to solve problems, and get things done, then you will be welcomed with open arms.

At a recent client, one of the company’s permanent developers was, in her near-term past, a police officer. At some point, she decided she didn’t want that lifestyle anymore and worked her way into a nice position with a company that valued her work ethic and programming skills….

Programming With Stenography

Garrett Hopper Articles, Development Technologies & Tools, Programming, Python 8 Comments

As developers, we spend a ton of time typing, so any small improvements in speed or comfort are well worth it.

If you’re anything like me, then you spend a full day typing at work only to come home and continue typing into the wee hours of the morning. With so much of my life spent typing, things like RSI are a serious concern. I’ve tried a variety of different ergonomic keyboards and I’ve even switched to Dvorak, but none of it made any significant difference in speed or comfort.

In my search for alternative text input methods, I discovered stenography. In this blog, I will give an introduction to stenography and how programmers (like me) have implemented it in an effort to make typing more comfortable and efficient.

Migrating to Java 9

Billy Korando Articles, Development Technologies & Tools, Java, Programming, Spring, Spring Boot Leave a Comment

Java 9, after many delays and failed votes, looks to be finally arriving this September.

Java 9 will bring several new features: enhancements to Streams, a REPL, improvements to Collections, among others. But by far the biggest and most controversial change is Jigsaw. Jigsaw is introducing modularity to the JDK, a long topic in and of itself, but it is one of the major reasons upgrading to Java 9 will be more difficult than previous major releases of Java.

In this blog we will take a look at some of the benefits of running in a Java 9 environment, how to migrate a Spring Boot application to Java 9, and finally review some of the common problems you may run into and strategies for resolving them…

Got Swagger? (i.e. How I Got My Swagger on and How You Can Too)

Aaron Diffenderfer Articles, Development Technologies & Tools, Programming, Tutorial Leave a Comment

Most developers attempt to ignore and put off documentation as long as possible during the development process. However, the return on investmentย is worth the time and effort — far more than most of us realize.ย This is particularly true with API documentation.ย 

Working with a recent client, I had the opportunity to use Swagger to document APIs and provide structureย around the development process. During daily standups, I may have been known to say that my task for the day was to “get my Swagger on.”ย 

In this post, I want to walk you through my journey with Swagger along with general thoughts, tips, and tricks that I’ve learned along the way so that you too can “get your Swagger on.” Let’s get started…

Getting Started With Angular CLI Commands

Brett Smith Angular, Articles, JavaScript, Programming, Single-Page Application Leave a Comment

A tool that helps the journey of learning Angular is the Angular CLI. The CLI is a useful tool that can help set up and add different elements to your projects. It follows some of the best practices that have been laid down by the Angular team, even handling some of the plumbing for you so that things will work well together.

This post shows some of the basic commands available within the CLI. We will look at some of the basic commands that can help get a project started and built, paying particular attention to the different commands and what they produce, as far as application structure and file layout is concerned…