Webpack’s documentation is very good, but I wanted to document a very simple few steps to setting up Webpack, as a light introduction for those who want to see what it does before jumping in.
I prefer to use yarn over npm as I personally find it easier and more reliable. In most casts yarn & npm are interchangeable.
Setup
Create a new directory for your app and initialize it. Yarn will ask you some questions, which you can leave as the default by pressing `return` for each.
yarn initNext, install webpack, plus webpack’s CLI. These are added with the --dev flag as they are only needed for development, they aren’t modules needed for your application once it is built. …
Last year I experimented with Azure’s Cosmos DB. It didn’t end up getting used but I had a simple proof of concept that worked and I thought others might find it useful as an introduction to using Cosmos DB with Lucee or Coldfusion.
This is a very simple demo and the code is not structured how you would in a real-world project, but the aim was to make the code as simple to understand as I could.
As Cosmos DB is accessed through an API this demo is essentially a function that interacts with its API and its particular requirements. I’ve only covered the basic functions of CosmosDB in this demo but all other functions will be a case of reading the manual and updating the functions.
Software Architecture
With a blank slate in front of you, how do you turn a pile of requirements into a technical design?
Recently I was asked what my approach to a new technical design is. I realised I’d never written it down how I go from nothing to an initial technical design, and that it was probably worth doing so, as much for my benefit. So this is an attempt at that.
Agile Architectures
It is extremely unlikely that the first architecture diagram you draw matches what goes into production. The problem space you’re working in will evolve and shift and the influences upon your decisions will change as your understanding increases. …
Common sense should be defined as your current opinion, as influenced by outside sources that align with your existing preferences.
It is by no means guaranteed to be common, logical or sensible.
Therefore do not use common sense in discussions, to form your defining principles & stances, or make significant decisions in your life.
Software Architecture
Effective decision making strategies for software development.
The project you’re working on might well be in one of two phases: either you’re embarking on a new build and staring at a blank piece of paper; or you need to restructure or extend an existing application.
Either way, there are architectural decisions to be made. In this article I will look at four tools to help navigate the shifting sands of product development and how setting guiding principles and measurements of success early on can make future decisions easier and more likely to lead to success.
Use a Mission Statement
As a cynical Brit, many mission statements sound somewhat trite to my ears. However, the aim here is to write a single sentence or short paragraph for your project or requirement that doesn’t sound trite but instead conveys meaning and distils the goal of the project into a guiding principle. Focusing on project aspirations, not long term business goals, will make it meaningful and a tool for decision making. …
First, the disclaimer: I’m not a cryptocurrency or Ether smart contract expert, just blockchain-curious.
With a lot of buzz about cryptocurrencies and bitcoin forks lately (and forks that weren’t) my reading has triggered a fair amount of ICO advertising on my feeds.
One of those was for Lunar Fund, a crypto hedge fund using machine learning to trade, with the fund’s value spread across LNR Erc20 tokens. They tweet their trades on twitter and will return 60% of profits to the fund (90% for the first 6 months).
They’ve just opened up to a public sale of 10 million LNR tokens at a fixed price of 0.004 …
“The internet economy is fuelled by attention, and it’s far easier to seize someone’s attention with emotionally charged argument than mere information — plus you don’t have to pay for the expensive reporting required to ferret out the facts.”
Oliver Burkeman
How many people would pay a little over €1 a month to remove ALL advertising, sponsored links and promoted posts from their facebook feed? The same again for YouTube?
A couple of dollars a month is about how much each user is worth to these companies in advertising revenue, and how much you’d have to pay to cover their losses if advertising was removed from your feed. I for one would pay if only to recover the lost scroll time. …
Last week was the State Opening of Parliament in the UK. Before the event the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the building using lanterns, looking for barrels of gunpowder. Why? In 1605 there was a plot to blow up the ceremony by placing barrels of gunpowder in the cellars underneath the House of Lords. 411 years later they’re still checking to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
I found this funny because my immediate thought was “So, it’s not just us then.”
At work we all build up processes and institutional habits over time, be that weeks or decades, and I’d wager that in most companies they’re still searching the cellars. Something happened once, caused a stir, and a check or process was put in place to try to ensure it never happened again. However as time passes it may be that problem can never arise again but the process still exists. …
A year ago I joined a company with the goal of building a brand new team to support their web sites. In January we launched massively overhauled and enhanced ecommerce systems, in record time and exceeding expectations. This is some of what I’ve learnt:
Hire people who know more than you.
They will push you and inspire you. They don’t need to know more of everything but everyone needs to bring something to the table. …
