Learn Amazon Athena

What Will You Learn? What is Amazon Athena? What are the basics of Amazon Athena? What are the use cases for Amazon Athena? How can I import data into Amazon Athena? Where can I learn more about Amazon Athena? The Basics Learn Amazon Athena basics. Amazon Athena is meant for querying copious amounts of data. It’s a straightforward service based on Presto. The Presto Foundation calls Amazon Athena and Amazon EMR Presto Cloud on their website. ...

Learn SignalFx

What Will You Learn? What is SignalFx? How do I instrument a PostgreSQL database? Where can I learn more about SignalFx? The Basics Learning SignalFx, now called Splunk Application Performance Monitoring, can be overwhelming. There is a multitude of ways to integrate it with your applications. Choice overload can quickly set in; I like to narrow in on a fundamental problem first to simplify learning. I want to monitor a PostgreSQL database so here we go. ...

Learn Python

What Will You Learn? What are the basics of Python? What are the use cases for Python? How can I install Python? How can I create a virtual environment? How can I install packages? What are the fundamentals of Python? Where can I learn more about Python? This article assumes a working knowledge of the command line. The Basics Python is an object-oriented, interpreted, and easy-to-learn programming language. The syntax is concise and approachable to beginners. Python is a popular language for data analysis, machine learning, and web development. It was created by Guido van Rossum and first released in 1991. ...

Deliver macOS system mail

Deliver macOS system mail with the following instructions. These instructions apply to macOS Catalina. Why would you want to do this? You have cron jobs running on your system and want to receive emails when they fail. You want an email when certain things happen on your system through Automator or other means. Instructions Edit the /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd file sudo vi /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd Add this line of text, and create an app password. [smtp.gmail.com]:587 <Your Email Id>@gmail.com:<Your App Password> Run the postfix lookup table management command ...

Full Stack Developer VS Specialized Software Developer

Full Stack Developer vs. Specialized Software Developer, which is right for you? Let’s reframe the question. To specialize or not to specialize, that is the question. The software industry doesn’t face this question alone. Like the answer to most queries, it depends. In a corporate setting, specialization is common; within start-ups, the opposite. Specialization can impede our ability to create value in a small group. In a large group, the value of specializing may be off the charts. ...

Learn Terraform

In my last post, Learning Terraform, I committed to learning Terraform. I’ve started reading Terraform: Up and Running: Writing Infrastructure as Code. It has given me a great primer thus far. I’m converting my CloudFormation templates to Terraform. At this point, this is my preferred tool for building infrastructure as code. The Basics You’ll want to install the Terraform command-line interface. I ran into issues with the Homebrew version of Terraform, so I installed the binary. Terraform provides a single binary with zero dependencies, which warms my heart. ...

Install bash on Windows

Install bash on windows with a few steps. Why? You’re moving to Windows from macOS or a Linux distribution and use the command line there. You like using the shell for aliases, functions, Etc. You’re forced to use Windows, and the CLI improves your experience. Let’s Do It! Click the Start button Search for PowerShell Right-click the Windows PowerShell icon Choose Run as Administrator Run this shell command Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux Reboot! ...

Open in Visual Studio Code on macOS

Open in Visual Studio Code on macOS using Automator. Open Automator Choose a new Quick Action Search for the Run Shell Script action Configure the command with the following settings Workflow receives current: files or folders In: Finder Image (Optional): I used this image Pass Input: as arguments Command: open -n -b “com.microsoft.VSCode” –args “$1” Save your new quick action and name it something like Open with Visual Studio Code Open Finder Choose a folder you want to open with Visual Studio Code Double-tap or right-click depending on your input device Choose Open with Visual Studio Code Tada!

Date Driven Development – Deadly Cut 4

Date Driven Development is a prime reason most software quality sucks. In the consumer software world, this is especially true. Most modern software ships continuously with a loose intent and at the mercy of a deadline. This scenario is soul-crushing. Why do people believe a date provides value? The Deadline Death marches instill dread in software development professionals. The infamous death march is a grim reaper living within the memories of the damned. If you’re unfamiliar, a death march forces software development teams to substitute life with work. ...

Learning Elixir

It’s not a secret that Programmers like a great holy war. The echos of passionate programmers shouting with their banners high will live on Stack Overflow for eternity, or at least archive.org. The editor wars rage on. Like other holy wars, object-oriented vs. functional programming is an ongoing saga. Most programmers use functional programming while considering themselves object-oriented programmers. Many languages have incorporated object-oriented and functional programming language paradigms. I’ve enjoyed using the functional features of C# and dabbled a bit with F#. I’ve never dove headfirst into a functional language like Elixir, until now. I picked it up because I like The Pragmatic Programmer book and Dave Thomas as an author. I’m also interested in being able to do [concurrent programming with less hassle]. ...