Developer rants

How to run a proper work cafe?

It happens all the time. A local cafe advertise themselves as “the perfect remote work corner in the city”. You haul your ass and laptop there in excitement, sit down, only to meet another disappointment. The place is perfectly unsuitable for working. Whoever runs the place…

Typescript interface constants: you’re probably doing it wrong

I see this amateur mistake all the time. An interface definition, which is supposed to restrict allowed values to a set of predefined constants, is defined like this:

const CAT = 'meow';
const DOG…

Form validation in Windows Forms with C#

Looks like we are turning into a C# blog. I promise I will continue the AI series later.

Linking data files with your executable in .NET

Singletons in C#

Singletons are objects that exist in only one instance, and every attempt at instantiating a new one will return the original…

AI basics for programmers 1.

What is AI? How does it even work? Whenever you ask such questions, you’re doused with endless walls of text aimed at technically illiterate people, delving on irrelevant and trivial matters instead of getting on the point. Nobody ever seems to bother to explain it from a…

How to use Git submodules to maintain a boilerplate?

Imagine this scenario. You have an application boilerplate. It’s a skeleton of an application, with some ready-made components tightly coupled to it. You want to reuse this boilerplate to create several similar applications in the future.

What to do when npm complains about a self-signed certificate?

Simple thread handling in Python

Sometimes you find yourself in need of two or more application loops. This is why we have threads…

Agile has failed. Officially.

Either I’m a gifted oracle, and all of my friends are, or Agile really was just a stupid idea to begin…

The Tale of a Screwdriver

Gary, the average mechanic found himself in need of a screwdriver. He raised the matter at the next Scrum standup. This was a very modern and progressive factory.

“What is a screwdriver?”, asked the Scrum master.

Retrieving the total number of rows with a filtered dataset in PostgreSQL

The number of rows returned is often different from the number of rows passing the filter condition.

How to insert a JSON array into a PostgreSQL table with a single query?

One of the rare shortcomings of PostgreSQL is the lack of ability to transform a JSON array into a dataset. It’s not outright impossible, and you may have already tried using query parameters. Did it work…

How to collect various Azure SQL VARCHAR field values into a single JSON array

The reason for this oddly specific post is because I just figured it out, and this blog serves as much as a notebook for myself as a lunchtime read for you. Yes, I’m on an Azure project right now.

A simple method to check if an object conforms to a Typescript interface

For many years, Typescript did not allow us to inspect an object whether it implements a Typescript interface. Fortunately, there’s real progress in this world.

One cryptic error message less…

Don’t you love it when you bang your head at the keyboard all day, only to figure out that an error message was written by a retarded hedgehog?

I started getting this error message from Vite after a package update:

So much for Snapchat’s security!

My face when I accidentally hack into someone’s account… but it just happened! What sort of idiots are…

A word on “cargo cults”, coding, and a lost submarine

Preventing drag events from triggering over child elements

(The title of the article has nothing to do with LMBTQ issues.)

Even well-experienced seniors hardly develop more than one or two drag and drop UIs in their entire lifetime, so the chance you know this…

Quiz time!

I just inadvertently came up with a great job interview quiz question. Inadvertently, because I was researching my family history when I realized there’s a funny logical puzzle in it. Try to solve it if you’re a programmer!

No, there is no such thing as “prompt engineer”

Please stop making up professions. Identifying as a female lesbian squirrel is OK, but let’s not go farther. “Prompt engineer” isn’t a thing.

The term “software engineer” is already very dubious. While the English word…

An easy way to switch UI color schemes in Vue, React or Angular

Light mode, dark mode, pink mode, whatever mode. Flipping a switch and changing the colors of the UI is one of the things supposed to be easy, but it really isn’t. Here is a method you can use in any framework or in…

Will ChatGPT-like AIs really take over programmers’ jobs?