Sometimes, I write.
I find joy in building things. Then, I find joy in writing about what I've learned in the process. I suspect I learn new things just for the sake of having catchy stories to write later on. This blog is where I gather my technical entries, from newest to oldest.
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How to write better specifications for your features
For years, I've worked without thinking much about feature specifications. Many teams endure empty Trello cards, neglected Jira tickets, and misaligned communication. So today, I want to share how to write better specifications for your features.
Read this essay →How to test your Rails models with RSpec
Today, I want to share how to test your Rails models with RSpec. Testing your models is a no-brainer strategy when building your applications. It gives you the confidence to make changes without regressions. We'll cover the fundamental testing strategies with RSpec's built-in features. And for fun, we'll check some extra tools to amp up your models' coverage.
Read this essay →The never-ending days of DEI's importance
A few weeks back, the creator of Ruby on Rails wrote a pamphlet rejoicing on - what appears to him as - the waning days of DEI's dominance. This rebuttal talks about how diversity, equity, and inclusion were, are, and will always be essential to workers.
Read this essay →From stained-glass master to software engineer: it starts with a mess
Changing careers is a long, often-overlooked process. But I want to share both the (linear) story and the (messy) history of how I became a software engineer. And as a lot of good stories, mine always starts with a lie.
Read this essay →Build a minimal feature flags manager in under an hour
Feature flags (or feature toggles) are a neat way to hide in-progress features from your users. For those who need a simple on-and-off system, here's a minimal feature flag manager that'll take less than an hour to build, using plain Ruby objects, the Rails configuration, and some neat variables organization.
Read this essay →Exploring dependency injection in Ruby
Classes depend on each other all the time. But the way you tie those classes together will determine how hard it is to change your code. Dependency injection can help you reduce that coupling and reduce your cost of change.
Read this essay →Introduction to Git Bisect: travel through time and bugs
No matter how thorough your test coverage is, you can't test everything. So when you introduce a bug in your application, git bisect will help you zero in on your regression's origin.
Read this essay →Upgrading Ruby on Rails: a beginner's guide
You're about to upgrade your application to the newest version of Ruby on Rails. And you've never done it before? Fear not! Here's my battle-tested companion to migrating Rails.
Read this essay →Building large features: my process for branches, requests and reviews
Working on large features can be tricky. I've spent the last few months refining a process that makes it easy to keep in touch with the main branch, to make reviews more manageable, and with little GIT overhead.
Read this essay →Introduction to RSpec: the syntax
In this second part of my introduction to RSpec, I want to focus on the syntax. Here's a glossary of the keywords you'll use the most when testing with RSpec: describe, subject, let vs let!, it, context, etc...
Read this essay →An introduction to RSpec: how to install RSpec, naming convention and basic files structure
When you start programming, it's not easy to know what to test, how to test, and why should you test? So let's start with an introduction to RSpec: how to install RSpec, RSpec naming convention and and RSpec files structure.
Read this essay →Always serving someone
It's easy to tell yourself it's not your job to provide a great service to your users. But taking time to write beautiful code will bring joy and value to you and your teammates.
Read this essay →Debugging with pry-byebug: moving in the stack frame
Time to level up your debugging game with frames, adding breakpoints on the fly, and some handy shortcuts.
Read this essay →Get started with ActiveRecord scoped associations
Active Record Associations are a great feature of Rails. But I never thought of using scopes with has_one or has_many associations until recently! So let me show you a neat little trick that'll make your code much much more expressive (and keep your N+1 queries in check).
Read this essay →How to wrap your head around a new codebase
For the last eighteen months, I've spent my time trying to understand bits of code I'd never seen before. Eighteen months later, I still don't know every corner of the codebase, but what I do know, is how to get efficiently familiar with new parts of a codebase.
Read this essay →How not to live stream your code
This week, I did my first live stream on Twitch and it didn't turn out so well (to say the least). Here's a recap of my rookie mistakes, what I liked about it anyway, and what I'm planning on doing.
Read this essay →Asynchronous HTTP requests in Rails
Let's look at how we can update parts of our app's pages with asynchronous HTTP requests. This is a step-by-step how-to with some good ol' Javascript fetch() method, and Rails native server-side partial rendering.
Read this essay →A hands-on tutorial to debugging your code with pry-byebug
Like most new developers, I started as a puts developer. Then, I discovered pry-byebug and debugging things got a lot easier. This is a beginner-level, hands-on, introduction to debbuging your code with pry-byebug. Behold the power of binding.pry!
Read this essay →Going remote: a live documentation on transitioning out of the office
Last week, I started the process of transitioning from an on-site position to a full remote one. I'll publicly document what happens as it happens here. Interested in remote working? Join in!
Read this essay →Don't sell yourself short
You've just graduated from university. Maybe you're in your first two years as a developer. You are, what the market calls, a junior developer. And you're a burden to companies. That's what you're being told. Well, this is bullshit.
Read this essay →