Is it possible to make code easier to read than to write? After all, code is read more often than it is written when multiple developers work on the same codebase. If developers spend less time to understand how the existing code works, they can start writing code faster…

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What happens when a function call fails? Can you retry without causing any unintended side effects? If the answer is no, then your function is probably not robust enough…

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Over the years I’ve seen all sorts of SQL mistakes made by developers on my teams, and I’ve made quite a few of them myself. I’d like to share what I’ve learned with you, starting with security first…

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One of the most effective methods for detecting invalid types is to validate function arguments in runtime. Instead of using an all-purpose validation library designed for validating a wide range of data types, it might make more sense to use a library tailor-made to validate function arguments. With that idea in mind, I’ve created a lightweight JavaScript function argument validation library called fn-arg-validator…

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Since you can buy two to three pairs of KEF Q150 for the price of one pair of LS50 Meta depending on whether there’s a sale or not, I decided to build an LS50 clone using a Q150 driver to see if they would sound similar after equalization. The clone wouldn’t have the beautiful curved front baffle and better crossover of LS50 Meta, but it would otherwise be very similar in construction….

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When Design Patterns first got published, the year was 1994, a rather primitive time when functional programming languages that support first class functions were rarely used outside academia. These days, though, we have mainstream languages such as JavaScript and Python that can be used to trivially implement many of the design patterns described in the book with only a few lines of code…

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You’ve probably seen programmers calmly writing code at 200 keystrokes per minute to solve hideously complex problems under strict deadlines, and the programs they wrote run perfectly on the first try, often only a few seconds before something blows up real good…

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There are many ways to write automated tests for testing code, and you may have heard about test doubles for making testing easier. Some of the code we write is hard to test, so we replace those parts with fake test doubles that are easier to test…

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B2B (Business-to-Business) software is different from B2C (Business-to-Consumer) software for several reasons, but the most important one is this: In B2B, each customer isn’t an individual but a company with its own unique needs and workflows. If your software isn’t compatible with the way a company operates and there are no convenient workarounds, you are out…

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If you are a cash-strapped startup, you can usually get away with a team of just one or two developers and hope for the best. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if you have the funds to add new members to your team, don’t just go with more developers. Developers aren’t generally very good at designing products people want to use – they are good at implementing well-specced features…

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I use pro audio power amps in my home theater. They provide tons of power for little money. There is one major downside though. Most models feature noisy fans, and for a good reason – pro audio power amps are often run at their limits, and many manufacturers prefer to err on the side of caution. For home use though, you can usually get away with replacing the built-in fans with quieter ones…

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A few months ago, I bought an entry-level CNC router from a local supplier, knowing full well that I would probably need to modify it extensively. The price of the machine was right, and in case I decide to build a better one on my own, this machine would be a good starting point to learn how all the parts are connected together…

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