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The Latest from Our Team
What I’m Excited to See in .NET 8
.NET has evolved a lot since I first started using it years ago. I was introduced to it when it was released in 2002, but I wasn’t using it regularly until I started working at a new company in 2005. Microsoft recently announced the availability of .NET 8. This version of .NET is a Long…
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Asking ChatGPT to Play a Synthesizer
I’ve been developing against OpenAI’s chat completion API — the RESTful version of ChatGPT — for a little while and up until now, I’ve avoided learning about the “function calling” feature. Honestly I didn’t quite get it and I didn’t see it as useful to my use cases, but with the announcement of the new…
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Using JSON Server for Efficient Development in Angular
When I am working on an Angular application, there are times I want to run the app without the backing API running as well. I want fast feedback on the changes I make to components and want my site to work by itself. One way I have done this is to use a fake Angular…
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Reinforcing Software Development Topics with Capstone Projects
Our Pathways Program is a unique approach to educating new and leveling up existing software developers. While each of the four pathways (Optimization, Discovery, Transition, and Elevation) targets different levels of knowledge and experience, one thing all pathways share is the capstone project. Capstone Projects in Education If you’re unfamiliar with capstone projects in the…
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Building a Chat System Without Azure Chat – Part 1
In a previous blog post series, we built an entire chat system on top of Azure Communication Services. We focused on a lot of the details in building the system using Azure Chat. While Azure Chat helps solve a lot of the problems with these kinds of projects, it still took a lot of effort…
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Getting Started with OAuth2 Authentication
Authentication is a big and scary topic in the world of software development, but it doesn’t have to be. OAuth with PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange) is easy to implement. OAuth is short for “Open Authorization”. It is a common way to access data on the web. You often encounter OAuth when you sign…
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Git Techniques
Git is an indispensable tool for managing source code in modern software development. While basic commands like git clone, git add, and git commit are essential, they are just the tip of the iceberg. This guide is intended for developers who already have some Git experience and wish to unlock its full capabilities. We will…
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RIP Visual Studio for Mac
Visual Studio Mac is dead or will be 8/31/2024. This probably doesn’t affect many of you, but this is an interesting turn of events. Visual Studio Mac has a fascinating lineage. Microsoft created .NET years ago (2001), and alongside .NET an open-source alternative was created (Mono). Developers needed an alternative editor, which begot SharpDevelop. And…
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Using TypeScript/Node to Send Push Notifications to iOS
Sending push notifications is a common feature to add when building mobile applications. A push notification is a message sent from a backend server to your application running on an iPhone or iPad. One of the cool things about push notifications is that they will be handled by the phone even if your application is…
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Using html2canvas
Pictures often provide more meaning than can be provided by text. You know the pain if you have ever had to explain what is happening in an application but struggled to find the right words. Sometimes it’s just easier to send a screenshot. This is where html2canvas comes in. This handy little piece of JavaScript…
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