Clik here to view.
Why Ruby on Rails Is Still Worth Your While as a Developer
What are the basic reasons a developer might choose Ruby on Rails over any of the newer frameworks, such as Next.js or Vue? There are plenty of choices today; recently I looked at Eleventy, for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Introduction to MoonBit, a New Language Toolchain for Wasm
WebAssembly (Wasm) combines the efficiency inherent in low-level code programming with the ease of component transportability typically found in Linux containers. In some respects, it competes with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
AI and IDEs: Walking Through How JetBrains Is Approaching AI
Colleagues using Java have always rated IntelliJ, and more recently Rider for C#. So when I was given the opportunity to try JetBrains AI, which is an AI service that refers to itself as “AI...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Introduction to Omakub, a Curated Ubuntu Environment by DHH
Although it sounds like a Genesis album from the 1980s, Omakub is actually a heavily curated Ubuntu environment. Its creator David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) describes Omakub as turning “a fresh Ubuntu...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 Agile Techniques To Help Avoid a CrowdStrike-Like Issue
One of the underplayed strengths of the Agile software development approach is its ability to quantify the value of “what if” questions without risking the coherence of the project. That is, Agile has...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tauri: Mixing JavaScript With Rust for GUI Desktop Apps
In my first review of Tauri in January 2022, I noted that it is a framework to build desktop applications with any frontend framework and a Rust core. Since the Rust language has significantly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Introduction to Flutter — How Does It Compare to Tauri?
When I looked at Tauri last week, I was asked how it compares with other similar app-building projects. Flutter is more of a platform and uses the Dart language, but I think with Tauri supporting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Building With Flutter Using Visual Studio Code: A Dev Guide
In my previous post, we looked at the construction of a small Flutter app. It was dense, but provided a very strong idea of how Flutter apps are constructed: An overall stateless widget that is the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meet Toddle: the Next Open Source Web App Builder
Usually the posts I write are for developers who are controlling the majority, if not all, of their stack. But there is also a need to understand how low-code solutions can or should be used. Toddle,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
TiddlyWiki: An Open Source Alternative to Notion or Obsidian
In most cases I come across new software, use it, and then write about it. This post is a little different, because I have known about this software for a rather long time, I know the creator (the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Devs: Don’t Just Read About Design Patterns, Implement Them
While design patterns have helped to document software as an engineering discipline, they don’t really help much as a teaching aid. It is useful to confirm the existence of repeatable patterns after...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Introduction To Plotly Dash, the Most Popular AI Data Tool
The go-to language for data analysis, and to some extent AI development, is Python. Plotly Dash is a presentation graphing tool for supporting data apps. Or in their words, “Dash is the original...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Introduction to Datasette, a Frontend to Tabulated Data
Like all larger open source projects, the best way to approach Simon Willison’s Datasette is to play with it a bit to get an idea of what you could achieve. Aimed to be used by “data journalists,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Introduction to Payload, a Headless CMS and App Framework
One of the interesting things about web development has always been the attempt to merge the worlds of visual design with that of data design. While they need to come together in websites and web...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Using Cursor AI as Part of Your Development Workflow
Since I last reviewed it, Cursor AI has gotten very popular. The common reported experience is that after trying alternatives, Cursor produces better results. This is perhaps due to the Claude 3.5...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An Introduction to Zed AI and How It Compares to Cursor AI
After revisiting Cursor in my last post, I thought it was also time to revisit Zed, which has been busy integrating AI into its multiplayer code editor. Zed AI is “free during our initial launch...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Introduction to Vercel, Frontend as a Service for Developers
A few weeks ago I looked at Payload, which wants to be the universal backend for any CMS app. So it feels somewhat appropriate to look at Vercel, which wants to tie up the frontend. Vercel builds a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Pros and Cons of Web Components, Via Lit and Shoelace
While developers enjoy working with components in framework libraries, web components are gaining more interest because they work with HTML and CSS and reduce the need for JavaScript. But they also...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Introduction to Laravel for Ruby on Rails or Django Fans
Having developed for Ruby on Rails when it was cool, I certainly recognize who Laravel is attempting to attract by referring to a “web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax.” I don’t...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Get Started With Meta’s Llama Stack Using Conda and Ollama
I like to show tech working in my posts, and on my modest pre-silicon MacBook. So when Meta’s Llama 3.2 and Llama Stack for developers were released, I was keen to try it out. However, I discovered...
View Article