Category: Software Engineering
Don’t Design the Database First
Build bottom-up right? Start with the database schema, then models, then the UI, then ship it, right? Well, I think the majority of new projects would benefit from not focusing on the database until much later. Why not focus on the database from the start? Managing database changes in the early phases of a project…
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A Website Without Servers – Using Azure Functions: Part 7, Angular Service
If you haven’t been following along in this series, we are building an “Engineer Fashion App” using Azure Functions. I recommend looking back at Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 to see what we’ve done so far. Let’s assume we have an Azure Function that returns some JSON for our wardrobe and that…
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Agile Is Not A Silver Bullet, Part 1
Hopefully this headline got your attention. I considered trying to come up with a hashtag like #NoTDD or #NoEstimates that seem to be popular these days. I opted for a (hopefully) catchy title instead. The purpose of this post is not to bash agile methods or to somehow suggest that we should not be following…
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What We Mean When We Say “Software Engineer”
It’s very easy to throw terms around in our (or any) industry. In our hurried culture, we latch onto words or phrases that may not fully encapsulate their original intent. I’m afraid that is what has happened to the label of “software engineer”. And it has not been without consequences. I believe the real, working…
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A Website Without Servers – Using Azure Functions: Part 6, Some Basic Plumbing
If you haven’t been following along in this series, we are building an “Engineer Fashion App” using Azure Functions. I recommend looking back at Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 to see what we’ve done so far. At this point, we have an Angular site and we have a backend that can communicate with…
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A Website Without Servers – Using Azure Functions: Part 5, Pulling Wardrobe Data
Previously on Using Azure Functions, we set up a very simple Angular website. This week, we are going to set up an Azure Function that pulls some wardrobe data from an Azure Cosmos database. Why not just build the wardrobe into the app? Well I’m hoping to update the wardrobe by season, so having to…
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From Educator to Software Engineer, Part 3: Learning on the Job and Looking Toward the Future
Make sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the series if you haven’t done so yet. I am a 30-year-old developer finishing my first year as a software engineer. I didn’t get where I am by any traditional means, but I’ve learned some things along the way that might encourage someone to…
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A Website Without Servers – Using Azure Functions: Part 4, Angular Site
In part 1, we set up some basic infrastructure for our engineer fashion app. In part 2 and part 3 we configured some source control so we can work like sane people. Now we are going to stand up a very basic Angular site. Angular, do you mean Angular 1 or Angular 2? Well I mean…
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Services vs Objects
Cats vs dogs. I am a dog person. You could say I myself am needy for attention, but I like to think I enjoy the aggressive love of a dog. Our family dog constantly forces himself onto my lap while I am reading a book. Dogs really, really want to be included. Now I have…
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A Website without Servers – Using Azure Functions Part 3
In part 2 of this series, we learned how to set up source control for an Azure Function project. Now we are going to learn how to do it a better way, and probably the way you want to do it. Previously, we learned how to link a VSO source control location project with our…
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