How To Code Well

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/software-blamed-faa-outage-three-decades-old-years-upgrade-official-sa-rcna65562

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

189 - Grounded by code Jan 15, 2023

This should not of been allowed to happen. I have so many questions. This is not how software should be developed or deployed.

Corrupt software took down the FAA system.

Join https://howtocodewell.net

Send me a message https://howtocodewell.net/contact

188 - Maintain the line Jan 06, 2023

Let's talk about the current https://howtocodewell.net maintenance mode.

Links

John Doe

https://john-doe.neocities.org/

Single Page show/hide using :target and anchor tags. Very good for portfolio sites

JSON crack

https://jsoncrack.com/

A great way to visualise your JSON structures

Infection PHP

https://infection.github.io/

Mutation testing which is used to measure the effectinvess of tests.

Update Angular.

https://update.angular.io/

A tool that walks you through how to update your Angluar app. Split into basic, medium and advanced apps.

Conferences

PHP Tek May Chicago 16th to 18th

https://tek.phparch.com/

International PHP Conference Berlin May 22 - 26 of May

https://phpconference.com/berlin-en/

PHP Day 2023 May 18 - 19

https://2023.phpday.it/

PHP UK 14 - 16 of Feb

https://www.phpconference.co.uk/

Symfony Live Paris 23 - 24 March

https://live.symfony.com/2023-paris/

SymfonyCon Brussels 7 - 8 December

https://live.symfony.com/2023-brussels-con/

Symfony Online June 15 to 16 of June

https://live.symfony.com/2023-online-june/

Laracon Libsbon Jan 26 - 27

https://laracon.eu/

Laracon Online September 14

https://laracon.net/

Laracon US Nashville July 19 to 20

https://laracon.us/

Laracon India 25 - 26 Feb

https://laracon.in/

Lots of Javascript conferences

https://confs.tech/javascript

We are Developers World Congress Berlin Germany 27 - 28 July

https://www.wearedevelopers.com/world-congress

React Miami 20 -21 April

https://www.reactmiami.com/

187 - 2023 Web development trends Dec 18, 2022

A high level roadmap for howtocodewell.net and a deep look into the web development trends of 2023.

BitTo AI

https://www.producthunt.com/posts/bito-ai

Courses on howtocodewell.net

Docker Machine

https://howtocodewell.net/course/docker-machine

Linux Bash for beginners

https://howtocodewell.net/course/linux-bash-for-beginners

PHP CLI basics

https://howtocodewell.net/course/php-cli-basics

PHP String for beginners

https://howtocodewell.net/course/php-strings-for-beginners

HTML for beginners

https://howtocodewell.net/course/html-for-beginners

MySQL console

https://howtocodewell.net/course/mysql-console

186 - Will ChatGPT be a better developer than you? Dec 10, 2022

Howtocodewell.net is now live! Signup to enrol in courses

PHP 8.2 is here. Check out some of the features https://laravel-news.com/php-8-2-0

Courses on howtocodewell.net

Docker Machine

https://howtocodewell.net/course/docker-machine

Linux Bash for beginners

https://howtocodewell.net/course/linux-bash-for-beginners

PHP CLI basics

https://howtocodewell.net/course/php-cli-basics

PHP String for beginners

https://howtocodewell.net/course/php-strings-for-beginners

HTML for beginners

https://howtocodewell.net/course/html-for-beginners

MySQL console

https://howtocodewell.net/course/mysql-console

185 - Costly Clouds Dec 02, 2022

Is React going anywhere?

By Ruben Casas

https://www.infoxicator.com/is-react-going-anywhere

Why we’re leaving the cloud

By David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH)

https://world.hey.com/dhh/why-we-re-leaving-the-cloud-654b47e0

Facebook hired over 15,000 new staff from January to September

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/facebook-parent-meta-doubled-staff-in-2-years-saw-covid-as-growth-time-3504755

Want to get in touch? https://howtocodewell.net/contact

My web development courses

Yes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiMo0zNdrt4

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

184 - Get better code reviews Nov 24, 2022

Change log

I’ve been traveling. Recently came back from holiday.
The GL- Travel route has been very useful. I need to still some time to do a full review
The PIA VPN has also been really good but I’;m not during all the features yet so would like more time to play with it.
I’m speaking at the PHP London user group on Thursday the 24th. The talk is titled - Code with Confidence using PHP_Code_Sniffer https://www.meetup.com/phplondon/events/289746815/

Feedback links

Do I have any PHP OOP tutorials?

181 - Elon Musk is not giving Web Developers enough time to fix Twitterhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_0pW25KhDo

Re Twitter: Glad to see you are on the side of reason in regards to banning people.

180 - Stop relying on other peoples codehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1WQhHgSJi0

168 - What is a design system? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY4jhhJ1YFE

PHP release dates

PHP 7.4 reaches end of life on the 28th of November 2022

PHP 8.0 reaches end of life on the 26th of November 2023

PHP 8.1 reaches end of life on the 25th of November 2024

PHP 8.2 will be released on December the 8th 2022

https://www.php.net/supported-versions.php

How to Make Good Code Reviews Better

https://levelup.gitconnected.com/how-to-make-good-code-reviews-better-172c5dc01d81

183 - The federated web is not what you think Nov 17, 2022

Change log

I'm traveling in the coming weeks have bought myself

- Travel router GL-AXT1800

- Private internet access VPN

I will be talking about how I get on with these upon my return.

The federated web is not all sunshine and rainbows

What is the federated web

okta.com/uk/blog/2019/05/what-is-federation-and-why-should-your-apps-support-it/

9 dark secrets of the federated web

https://www.infoworld.com/article/3676590/9-dark-secrets-of-the-federated-web.html

Benefits of the federated web

Own your own data
Choose the community/server you care about
Support that community
Privacy benefits
- No single company owns both the server and the client
No ads (Yet)
Competition
Open source
- Trust in the code base
The network will survive if your server drops

Negatives of the federated web

Many servers, Many admins and many problems
Fragmented experiences
Duplicated data is unsafe data
Logs logs logs. At scale this isn’t cheap
Stay off the block chain
The admins are sysadmins not just community admins

Let me know what you think https://howtocodewell.fm/contact

182 - Bringing down the walled garden Nov 10, 2022

Change log

- Having a code freeze for a few weeks :)

Twitter lay offs begin

Follow up on the Twitter story. It is reported that Elon has laid of nearly half of the Twitter staff.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/twitter-layoffs-elon-musk-fires-staff-how-many-rcna54799

EU bringing down the walled garden

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3678689/apple-must-take-another-brick-from-its-wall-says-eu.html

Microsoft teams has an update which makes it 30 percent faster

https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/04/microsoft_faster_teams/

Andrej Karpathy on the Lex Fridman podcast.

Former director of AI in Tesla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdiD-9MMpb0

181 - Elon Musk is not giving Web Developers enough time to fix Twitter Nov 03, 2022

Change log

- Code Quiz is still getting some good pull requests. There are 30+ issues that need your help. If you're a JavaScript, Docker or PHP developer then checkout the GitHub issues labeled as 'Help needed' and 'Good first issues'

https://github.com/howToCodeWell/code-quiz/issues

- The How To Code Well platform is nearing completion. I think the e-learning platform will be launched in the next month

http://howtocodewell.net

Web Development news

Adobe are now charging for Pantone colours. It will cost a further $15 dollars a month.

If you don’t have the Pantone colours package your colours will be black.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/adobe-pantone-color-subscription-fee#:~:text=11%3A00%20AM-,Adobe%20Just%20Held%20a%20Bunch%20of%20Colors%20Hostage,black%20unless%20you%20pay%20up.&text=Since%20the%201950s%2C%20the%20company,see%20in%20the%20real%20world.

Elon Musk has bought Twitter for 44 billion dollars and is floating the idea of charging $8 a month to be verified.

Can this feature be built in enough time?

https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/30/23431931/twitter-paid-verification-elon-musk-blue-monthly-subscription

VR has an identity crisis.

The oculus quest 2 is not for kids. Facebook will not allow kids under 13 to use their platform.

https://www.androidcentral.com/gaming/virtual-reality/meta-is-getting-serious-about-not-letting-kids-play-in-vr

If normal jobs interviews were like coding interviews

Joma Tech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn_KRzohcAo

180 - Stop relying on other peoples code Oct 27, 2022

Turbo pack

Vercel have announced Turbopack which they claim will be a Rust based successor to web pack.

https://vercel.com/blog/turbopack

Vercel are claiming speeds of up to 10x faster than Vite and 700 time faster than Webpack.

> “Turbopack only bundles the minimum assets required in development, so startup time is extremely fast. On an application with 3,000 modules, Turbopack takes 1.8 seconds to boot up, while Vite takes 11.4 seconds.”

https://vercel.com/blog/turbopack

> “Since we're not offering 1:1 API compatibility, most Webpack plugins won't work out of the box with Turbopack.”

https://turbo.build/pack/docs/migrating-from-webpack

Should you care?

Not right away
Not unless your’e always on the bleeding edge
Not unless you need speed over connivence

How to stop relying on frameworks and libraries

Decided if you can write feature yourself using only the core components of the programming language.
Check the knowledge of the team to find their base line skills.
Move away from opinionated code ecosystems
Avoid syntactic sugar covered standards
The framework you use today may not be the tool you use in the future
Code like you don’t have access to third party tools
Care more about core conventions (PSR) than framework guidelines

179 - PHP has 3 problems Oct 20, 2022

Changelog

Code Quiz

- We now have a Next JS website. This is also running a Docker image. No React components yet.

- Docker compose files are now in the root directory

Contributions welcome: https://github.com/howToCodeWell/code-quiz

Ideas for the future

Store Quizzes in Markdown files instead of PHP fixtures

Simplified - We have a single source of truth for code questions
Future proofing - We can use code snippets in the questions

PHP has these three problems

PHP has too many BC breaks which is making library authors uncomfortable
Voting is too centralised. You have to be in 'the club' to vote on RFCs
Funding is an issue

I personally think that PHP should only introduce BC breaks if:

There is a really good benefit in doing so.
All BC breaks should have been mentioned in the RFC with examples.
BC breaks are only allowed in major releases.
There is a large deprecation window between major releases.
Backward compatibility is important and should prioritised over new changes.

Voting is too centralised.

Mailing lists suck. There are better ways to manage communication in 2022
It does feel like an elitist club.
Follow the RFC guide here https://wiki.php.net/rfc/howto

Funding is a problem

Companies need to take PHP more seriously and pay for the communities time
Companies need understand that open source comes at a cost to both them and the community
Who pays for PHP https://thephp.cc/articles/who-pays-for-php

Google stadia is dead

https://www.protocol.com/newsletters/entertainment/google-stadia-shutdown-developers-aftermath

Follow on the socials

Twitter: https://twitter.com/howtocodewell

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/howtocodewell/

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

https://medium.com/swlh/building-systems-with-static-apis-631c165d3882

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Tuesdays 18:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

178 - Why you should create static API's Oct 13, 2022

Change log

Code Quiz (https://github.com/howToCodeWell/code-quiz)

OpenAPI generator is now working on the code quiz monorepo
Lots of great contributions to that open source project. Thank you :)

howtocodewell.net

Pre-production is now fully working after a few issues with infrastructure config.
I'm currently working on adding content to existing courses on the pre-production site.
Some features will be removed before launch via feature flags.

Today we are going to talk about static API's.

- What is a static API

- How do you create a static API

- What are the befits and disadvantages of a static API

Building Systems With Static APIs - Corey Butler

WTF is a Static API - Seancdavis

https://www.seancdavis.com/posts/lets-talk-about-static-apis/

177 - Is WAMP, MAMP or LAMP enough to be a successfully web developer? Oct 06, 2022

Change log

The first build of the http://howtocodewell.net pre-production Docker image is making its way through the GitLab pipelines towards the Kubernetes clusters
The Code Quiz has paused for a week as I'm taking some time off.
The Code Quiz API now includes the Open API generator which will be used to generate type script for the API client
Lots of great pull requests being added to the Code Quiz open source project http://github.com/howToCodeWell/code-quiz

Feedback from Abu Sales on the Best PHP tools of 2018 - Top 5 video

Great for professionals, However, for amateurs as am I, MAMP as environment, and WeBuilder (buy) or Notepad++ (free) as Editor are more than enough to fly toward the mountain !

What is WAMP?

Windows Apache MySQL PHP

Install WAMP

https://www.wampserver.com/en/

What is MAMP?

Mac Apache MySQL PHP

Install MAMP

https://www.mamp.info/en/downloads/

What is LAMP?

Linux Apache MySQL PHP, Python and/or Perl

How to install a LAMP stack

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-linux-apache-mysql-php-lamp-stack-ubuntu-18-04

176 - You're doing Agile spikes wrong Sep 29, 2022

Change log

Code Quiz API https://github.com/howToCodeWell/code-quiz
Thank you to MetinBaris and everyone else who has contributed to the Code Quiz project
Added dotenv package
Lots of bugs fixed
GitHub Actions on API client
EsLint added
Unit tests added

You're doing Agile spikes wrong

Let's talk about Agile spikes. What are they, why do we need them and why are you doing them wrong.

Follow on the socials

Twitter: https://twitter.com/howtocodewell

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/howtocodewell/

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Tuesdays 18:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

175 - Should beginner programmers learn JavaScript, Python or PHP Sep 22, 2022

Change log

Code Quiz API https://github.com/howToCodeWell/code-quiz
Added GitHub Actions to the JavaScript Api-Client
Added API Platform package and configured the API endpoints

Should beginners learn JavaScript, Python or PHP

Learn the programming concepts first.

It doesn’t really matter which programming language you start with as long as you START programming

Python is a good teaching language as it prevents sloppiness that JavaScript can allow.

Get the daily code quiz on

Twitter: https://twitter.com/howtocodewell

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/howtocodewell/

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Tuesdays 18:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

174 - Advice for Web Development Team Leaders Sep 15, 2022

Changelog

The Code Quiz GitHub repository now has a basic mock API client that uses a JSON Server. This was installed on the Tuesdays Live stream
Work has started on building a Vagrant box that houses MiniKube and the howtocodewell testing environments.

Code Quiz GitHub Repository: https://github.com/howToCodeWell/code-quiz

Building the Mock JSON API: https://youtu.be/OznPvJIjMDc

JavaScript Code Quiz answers: https://youtu.be/Tyvmq3gyZMY

Tips for newly appointed Web Development team leaders

1. How to manage your time when you are a coder and a manager?

2. Is it important for the lead to be the best coder in the team?

3. How to handle colleagues who are envious or felt that they should in the leader instead of you?

4. Do you need to know the whole system form top to bottom?

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Tuesdays 18:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

173 - What does Pre-Production mean? Sep 08, 2022

Change log

The second Code quiz has a bunch of JavaScript questions. Join in on Twitter (https://twitter.com/howtocodewell) or Instagram (https://instagram.com/howtocodewell)
The first of the code quiz answer video is out (https://youtu.be/Qmz0TvPLgpQ)
Fixed the issue with the Kubernetes assets paths. This required a nginx snippet that creates a proxy pass back to Object storage
We can now move to Pre - Production
My talk 'Code with confidence with PHPCS' from PHP Minds is available YouTube (https://youtu.be/s-94hf_DQ9A)

What does Pre-Production mean in Web Development?

In Film or TV Pre-Production means work done before full-scale production begins. So what does this mean in the context for Web Development.

In Web development Pre-Production is a term used for define anything that happens before deploying to production.

During Pre-Production many environments could be created such as

Development environments
Build environments
Staging environments
Demo environments
Shared environments

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Tuesdays 18:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

172 - Will Web Development die in 10 years? Sep 01, 2022

Will Web Development die in 10 years?

Some people think that JavaScript, PHP, Python and other Web Development technologies will die in 10 or even 20 years time.

Is HTML finished? Is it time to learn something else?

In this episode I explain my thoughts and answer this question.

Please let me know if you agree, disagree or if you have others https://howtocodewell.fm/contact

Change log

I'm working on an error with Kubernetes and S3 volumes.
Discovering deprecation notices before upgrading to Symfony 5.4. Checkout the video here
I've started publishing code quizzes to Twitter and Instagram
I've started publishing bite size dev tips Twitter and Instagram

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Tuesdays 18:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

171 - Full time vs contractor web developer. 5 Reasons to be a contractor Aug 25, 2022

Changelog

Big news the staging deployment is completed for the new howtocodewell.net platform

This contains

Kubernetes
Symfony
PHP 8

Full time vs contractor web developer. 5 Reasons to be a contractor

Lots of exposure to different ways of working

No two clients or projects are the same
Different tech stacks
Different processes and approaches
Lots of opportunities to gain more skills and experience

Flexibility

Work the way you want to work using the tools that you want to use
Drop in and out of projects when you’re needed
You don’t have to work if you don’t want too
Work from anywhere attitude
Have as much or as little holiday as you want

You are in charge of your progression

Know what skills you have and what areas you need to develop
Take training that matters to you rather than to the company
Have meeting that matter to you rather than the company

Money

Whilst money isn’t everything, contractors are often on more money then the normal full time developers
Certain taxable benefits that you can use
Helps fund hardware/software and other business requirements

Being your own boss

Better work life balance
Total control over what project you’re working on
Total control over how much you pay yourself
Total control over when you’re on holiday
Total control over what you want to learn
Total control over who you work for

Want to get in touch? https://howtocodewell.fm/contact

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

✉️ Get my newsletter

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

170 - Full time vs contractor. 5 Reasons to be a permanently employed Web Developer Aug 18, 2022

Change log

I’ve created 4 JavaScript YouTube short tutorials that will be released over the coming weeks
New talk coding with confidence using PHPCS. If you’re a PHP user group that wants a speaker then let me know

Full time vs contractor web developer. 5 Reasons to be a permanently employed

Defined Structure
Benefits
Training
Trust and loyalty gets rewarded over time
Family vs resource
External career progression

Want to get in touch? https://howtocodewell.fm/contact

My web development courses

https://odan.github.io/2020/12/22/php8-compatibility-check.html

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

✉️ Get my newsletter

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

169 - 5 things every contract Web Developer needs Aug 11, 2022

Changelog

I am giving a talk to PHP Minds tonight. The talk is called Code with confidence using PHPCS
I’ve been working on the videoThumbnail component for the React website
No updates on deployment yet

News/Articles

PHPCS compatibility checker By Daniel Opitz

PHP Security Audit

https://github.com/FloeDesignTechnologies/phpcs-security-audit

PHP 8.1.9 is released

https://www.php.net/archive/2022.php#2022-08-04-3

This isa bug fix release

PHP 8.2.0 Beta 2 is available for testing

https://www.php.net/archive/2022.php#2022-08-04-2

Deprecated dynamic properties in PHP 8.2

AllowDynamicProperties attribute can be used to create dynamic properties

https://stitcher.io/blog/deprecated-dynamic-properties-in-php-82

5 things every contract Web Developer needs

Choose to go sole trader or LTD. Most larger companies need you to be a Limited company, get insurance, get an accountant, get a website.
Record your expenses and income. Set time aside to do this every week if possible.
Create a space in your house that is solely for work.
Get a work only laptop and refresh it every 2 - 4 years.
Secondary hardware. Get a decent printer, mouse, keyboard, web cam etc..

If you want to hear more about contracting in Web Development then let me know at https://howtocodewell.fm/contact

168 - What is a design system? Aug 04, 2022

Changelog

I've created a playground in the mono-repo for ReactJS experiments
I have started working on a very lightweight design system
I am giving a talk to PHP Minds next Thursday. The talk is called Code with Confidence with PHPCS
PHP UK has announced their CFP and released early bird tickets. I have tickets.
This weekend I am off to see England versus Scotland in the Common wealth boxing

News/Articles

How to call rest APIs using React

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2020/06/rest-api-react-fetch-axios/

How to use the React Router to create an image link

https://bobbyhadz.com/blog/react-image-link

React higher order components

A higher-order component (HOC) is an advanced technique in React for reusing component logic. HOCs are not part of the React API, per se. They are a pattern that emerges from React’s compositional nature.

Concretely, a higher-order component is a function that takes a component and returns a new component.

https://reactjs.org/docs/higher-order-components.html

What is a Design system

A collection of reusable components
A place for collaboration amongst designers and developers
A set of standards that must be adhered too
A set of guidelines and principles that are relevant to the business

Not just a component library

A component library is a library of reusable components that other designers and developers can use.

A design system also sets out a series of rules and standards for the components and surrounding design. These include but are not limited to

Typography
Spacing
Branding
User experience
Language
Voice and tone
Colours
Patten

Often, a design system will explain what is allowed and what is not allowed.

Examples of design systems

IBM https://carbondesignsystem.com/
Shopify https://polaris.shopify.com/
Material design https://material.io/design
UK Gov https://design-system.service.gov.uk/

You can get in touch with me here: https://howtocodewell.fm/contact

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

https://digitalfortress.tech/tutorial/rest-api-with-symfony-and-api-platform/

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Tuesdays 18:00 - Live coding on YouTube

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

167 - Reacts killer feature Jul 28, 2022

Changelog

Lots of bitty bugs which have prevented me for progressing on the Kubernetes side of the howtocodewell.net staging deployments
Lots of PHP packages on howtocodewell.net have been upgraded
I was able to play around with the API platform.

News/Articles

API platform tutorial with Symfony

How to store Symfony sessions in a database

https://symfony.com/doc/current/session/database.html

What’s new with Composer 2.4

https://php.watch/articles/composer-24

Question from Alex regrading the How To Code Well Discord bot

https://github.com/howToCodeWell/discord-bot

New to the web platform in June by Rachel Andrew

https://web.dev/web-platform-06-2022/

Reacts killer feature

Components can be shared between React and React Native.

Reduces the code size
Reduces specialised skill sets
Helps create boundaries for mobile and web applications
Unifies the code base
Reduces pressure on the HR for finding other skill sets
Makes T shaped teams that can switch contexts

166 - 5 ways to Speed up Cypress automation tests Jul 21, 2022

Changelog

Lots of JavaScript package upgrades have been made to the frontend of howtocodewell.net including TailwindCSS, PostCSS, Webpack and Node itself.
I’ve decided to use PostCSS over Less and I’m seeing much faster results when generating the CSS
The plan for next week is to look at composer package upgrades as well as progressing with the staging deployment
In my contracting space I have been doing a lot of PHP 5.6, 7.4 and Angular work

News/Articles

Being on call sucks by Bobbie Chen

https://bobbiechen.com/blog/2022/7/20/being-on-call-sucks

Testing links in Cypress by Filip Hric

https://filiphric.com/testing-links-with-cypress

Enabling typescript in Symfony Webpack encore

https://symfony.com/doc/current/frontend/encore/typescript.html

How to secure applications on Kubernetes (SSL TLS certificates) by AVM Consulting Blog

https://medium.com/avmconsulting-blog/how-to-secure-applications-on-kubernetes-ssl-tls-certificates-8f7f5751d788

How to speed up Cypress automation tests by FeldsparTech

https://www.feldspartech.com/post/how-to-speed-up-cypress-automation-tests

How to speed up Cypress tests

In general

Discover how slow your tests are to start begin with
Don’t speed up your tests if you don’t need too
Work on the tests that take the longest. List all tests that take over x seconds/minutes and work on those
A small improvement can give you big gains in the long run
Only test what you need too and when you need too

Cypress

Group similar tests together into a single test
Separate tests that don’t need state, change of state or require a fixed state
Pay attention on the before and beforeEach hooks
Disable the video and screenshot creation on automatic builds
Enable video and screenshot creation on manual/nightly builds

165 - Flaky Tests Jul 14, 2022

Changelog

I’ve sorted the Kubernetes ingress controller for the staging deployment of howtocodewell.net
I’ve got a few problems with connecting services outside of the Kubernetes cluster but I am working my way through those.
I’ve been updating the pipelines to allow for certain manual jobs in GitLab.

News/articles

Python ASGI The future of Python Web Development

A new asynchronous standard for Python web applications.

WSGI = Web Server Gateway Interface

ASGI = Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface

https://www.infoworld.com/article/3658336/asgi-explained-the-future-of-python-web-development.html

Podcast 2.0

I have my eye on the podcast 2.0 movement and may start to add some backlog tickets to investigate what is involved from a technical standpoint to updating the RSS feeds.

https://medium.com/@everywheretrip/an-introduction-to-podcasting-2-0-3c4f61ea17f4

The Podcast Index
Podcasting Namespace
PodPing
Value-For-Value

Send Symfony logs to Slack

This could be a neat little future video tutorial. I could also do something similar with a Discord bot.

https://manyou.blog/send-symfony-logs-to-slack-with-symfony-notifier-as-a-monolog-handler

What’s a flaky test

A flaky test is a test that sometimes passes and sometimes fails. This usual happens randomly and is incredibly annoying.

What causes flaky tests

Under powered resources
Tests running in random order
Tests not cleaning themselves up afterwards
External programs or requests interfering with the tests

How to fix flaky tests

Run tests more regularly
Separate flaky tests and run them in isolation until fixed
Only test what is needed based on what has changed
Don’t ignore or skip tests if you can help it
Check the environment
Check inputs for non-deterministic values
Check timeouts
Check system resources
Check for race conditions
Check if there is any fixed order to the tests
Keep your tests maintained.

164 - My thoughts on Kubernetes after 3 months Jul 07, 2022

Changelog

My Kubernetes CronJob experiments are now working
On Tuesdays live YoutTube stream we fixed issues with the PHP implementation of Object Storage
On Sundays Twitch live stream we started the process of upgrading NPM packages

Some news/articles to share

StarLabs has teased a 4k linux laptop called the StarFighter

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/07/starfighter-15-6-4k-linux-laptop-from-star-labs

Why isn’t the internet more fun and weird

https://jarredsumner.com/codeblog/

Recommended podcasts regarding DevOps

Devops Paradox podcast

Self hosted

Linux Action show

Coder radio

My thoughts on Kubernetes after 3 months of learning it

Smaller is better
Kubernetes lends itself well to micro services and not monolithic applications
You don’t always need Kubernetes
The Kubernetes learning curve is huge
Monitoring and transparency is is super important with Kubernetes
Not all managed Kubernetes services are the same

163 - Why 10x developers are not paid any more Jun 30, 2022

Change log

I'm currently running experiments with Kubernetes CornJobs
I've done lots of under the hood security tweaks with howtocodewell.net
I've started using Jira to manage spikes and delivery tickets for the deployment stage of howtocodewell.net
I've added tickets for some upgrade work, Symfony 6, NPM 16 LTS, PHP 8.1
On Tuesday we progressed the PHP registertion course by adding the framework-less router.
Next week we will add some PSR interfaces for the HTTP messages to the PHP registration course

Why 10x developers are not paid any more

Programming productivity cannot be measured like the productivity of a sales person.
A sales person can make 10 more sales than their colleges and therefore make 10 times the amount of money.
An electrician could work faster and better than another contractor. This would allow them to complete more jobs and charge more than there competitors.
Better programmers write less code.
Some talented programmers get board and leave their posts.
Talented programmers are difficult to keep.
Experience is more important than the lines of code your write.
Programmers don’t get rates best on how productive they are. EG Bug (A) has the same monetary value as bug (B)
The best way to get a raise is to start a new position.

Contact me and let me know your thoughts or get something read out on air.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Sundays 15:00 - Live coding on Twitch

162 - Why I'm learning TypeScript Jun 23, 2022

Changlog

The deployment phase of https://howtocodewell.net staging site is going very well. I now have Kubernetes cluster is running via Terraform

Why am I leaning TypeScript?

I know many languages, some more than others. PHP is my goto and Python is the next biggest language I know. Of course I know JavaScript and other languages such as Java and Perl but I rarely use those.

In my opinion Typescript is what JavaScript should-of been to begin with.

- I’ve noticed more demand for Typescript jobs than JavaScript jobs.

- I’ve noticed no demand of Flow

- Typescript works well with Node so its kinda backend friendly. I wouldn’t consider using JavaScript on the backend without Type safety

- Typescript works well with React Native so mobile apps can be built for both Android and IOS

- Theres a bigger demand to convert Javascript apps to Typescript apps

Will there every be any Typescript tutorials

Yes, but not for a while.

161 - Did Google create a sentient being? Jun 16, 2022

Changelog

On Tuesdays live show I fixed all the databases tests for the PHP Registration course
I'm still playing with Gitlab pipelines

Has Google created a sentient being?

BBC news report
Medium article with Lamda interview

160 - PHP Version Stats Jun 09, 2022

Change log

- I’ve started learning typescript as I want to convert all the HTCW JavaScript code into TS

- I’ve started playing with a Kubernetes playground for HTCW staging

- On Tuesday we started planning how to build the controllers for the PHP registration course HPDevOne Is now available to buy and some people already have them.

WWDC WWDC is this week.

I’m still digesting my thoughts on the announcements. I may talk about my opinions next week.

m1windowsproject

An ambitious project by Amarioguy who is attempting to run Windows on Apples M1 chip

PHP Version installs

Stitcher.io

Packagist stats

Package installations by PHP minor version, monthly

39% on 7.4 28th of Novembers 2022 - Security support

23% on 8.1

21% on 8.0

159 - Deployment Stage Jun 03, 2022

Listen to the show: http://howtocodewell.net/159

Check which features are available in PHP versions http://caniusephp.com

The new HP Dev One laptop https://hpdevone.com/

Get the newsletter: https://email.howtocodewell.net/signup

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

158 - 5 Software Development Misconceptions May 26, 2022

Please consider supporting Anna Filina's Ukrainian relatives https://afilina.com/donate/ua-supplies

Other ways to support the people of Ukraine https://supportukrainenow.org

I actually have 7 Software Development misconceptions that I want to debunk

You have to code every day to get better at it
Women cannot code
Managers are sellouts who can’t code
You can’t get into this industry when your old
Testing is only for developers who have time to test
The fastest coder is the best coder
More people working on a project means that the project will be done faster

Please let me know if you agree, disagree or if you have others https://howtocodewell.fm/contact

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

157 - Remote working is not a one size fits all perk May 19, 2022

Please consider supporting Anna Filina's Ukrainian relatives https://afilina.com/donate/ua-supplies

Other ways to support the people of Ukraine https://supportukrainenow.org

Change log

PHP login course is has been tagged at v1.0.0
Most of the SQL for PHP registration course is done
Cypress tests are now running in the GitLab pipeline by they are very slow

Remote working is not a one size fits all perk

In todays show I am talking about remote working and why its not a right fit for everyone in software development.
If you're a Junior Developer and you've started in the industry as a remote worker then please get in touch and let me know your experiances.
https://howtocodewell.fm/contact

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

156 - You don't have to test your code all of the time May 13, 2022

Please consider supporting Anna Filina's Ukrainian relatives https://afilina.com/donate/ua-supplies

Other ways to support the people of Ukraine https://supportukrainenow.org

Change log

Due to the traveling we didn’t get to do the Twitch Live stream on Sunday so I’m hoping to finish the PHP login course off this Sunday (15th)

On Tuesdays (12th) YouTube live stream we continued building the proof of concept for the PHP registration course. Someone in the chat spotted that I wasn’t testing the code in PHPUnit, this raised a question about when to test the code. The code will certainly be tested but at this stage I’m just building a proof of concept and I’m literally throwing code at the IDE to see what sticks and to get a feel for the flow of the application.

You don't have to test your code all of the time

I don't believe you need to test your code all of time. Let me explain what I mean and if you disagree then please let me know at https://howtocodewell.fm/contact

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

155 - Monorepo experiment May 05, 2022

Please consider supporting Anna Filina's Ukrainian relatives https://afilina.com/donate/ua-supplies

Other ways to support the people of Ukraine https://supportukrainenow.org

Changelog

- This is another pre recorded show as I am traveling over the next few days.

- On Mondays Twitch stream we covered lessons 6, 7 and 8 of the PHP login course. I am planning to finish lessons 9 and 10 next Sunday.
- On Tuesdays YouTube live stream we started putting up the scaffolding for the PHP registration course.This was quite a fun and productive live stream as I was looking after both dogs whilst planning the PHP architecture. I’ve decided to do everything in OOP so we are building a mini PHP framework which handles database interactions.

I’ve been playing with a Monorepo

What is a Monorepo

A single code repository for all projects
Users of the repository have access to all the code
A single place to commit, merge and track code changes

In todays show I will explain why I've stared using a Monorepo and my predictions on the experiment.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

154 - 10 Tips for Continual Integration Apr 28, 2022

Changelog

Speaking at PHP UG MN on Thursday so this is not a live podcast
On Sundays Twitch stream we re-built the first 5 lessons of the PHP login course. I’m planning to re-build the last four lessons on Monday on Twitch
On Tuesdays YouTube live stream we started planning the new PHP registration course.
Lots of experimenting with GitLab

10 tips for Continual Integration

CI should take no more than 10 minutes
Reverting the changes should take 10 minutes
Use TDD if possible
Keep commits simple and small
Monitor the pipeline
Don’t leave broken builds
Run the pipeline locally first
Keep your branches up to date
Failures should be addressed immediately
Don’t confuse CI with CD

Join the show next week on YouTube at 20:00 on Thursday. Please see Twitter @howToCodeWell for schedule updates

153 - Self Hosted Vs Cloud Services Apr 21, 2022

Please consider supporting Anna Filina's Ukrainian relatives https://afilina.com/donate/ua-supplies

Other ways to support the people of Ukraine https://supportukrainenow.org

------ .

Change log

We’ve finally finished the 2nd pass of the PHP login course documentation. I will be doing a final run through on Sundays Twitch stream.
Next course starts next Tuesday
I won’t be doing a podcast next Thursday as I am giving a virtual talk to PHPUGMRN Join the meetup here

Watch the show on YouTube
Join the show next week on YouTube at 20:00 on Thursday. Please see Twitter @howToCodeWell for schedule updates

152 - Testing Testing Mar 31, 2022

Please consider supporting Anna Filina's Ukrainian relatives https://afilina.com/donate/ua-supplies

Other ways to support the people of Ukraine https://supportukrainenow.org

Watch the show on YouTube

Changelog

Yesterday I gave a talk at PHP Oxford
I will be speaking at PHPUGMRN in April
On Tuesday we updated the documentation for lesson 9 of the PHP Login Course
I'm still tired :)

This is the link to the PHP OOP Course

151 - What are Syntax Errors Mar 24, 2022

Please consider supporting Anna Filina's Ukrainian relatives https://afilina.com/donate/ua-supplies

Other ways to support the people of Ukraine https://supportukrainenow.org

Watch the show on YouTube

Changelog

Lots of Cypress E2E acceptance tests added to the howtocodewell.net CMS. I have a handful left to write which will cover the creation and publication of a free and paid course.
On Tuesday we covered lesson 8 of Login course documentation. So next week we move onto lesson 9 which focuses on PHP sessions
As I’ve been testing with Cypress I have also been thinking about post launch features.

Todays topic is on Syntax Errors

A Syntax error is an error that occurs in a program when the application is being run or complied. These errors are like little gatekeepers that prevent the code from executing further.

150 - What is Syntax? Mar 17, 2022

Please consider supporting Anna Filina's Ukrainian relatives https://afilina.com/donate/ua-supplies

Other ways to support the people of Ukraine https://supportukrainenow.org

Change log

Apologise for not doing a podcast last week. I was giving a talk to the PHPBenelux user group in Belgium.
My next talk with be a PHP Oxford on the 30th of March. The talk is Code with Confidence using PHPStan
On Tuesday evening I streamed on YouTube lesson 7 of the PHP login course
The next lesson will be streamed next Tuesday and that will include the nullish coalescing operation, ternary statement and other PHP goodies.

Todays topic is on Syntax

149 - Sugar that syntax Mar 03, 2022

How to support Ukraine https://supportukrainenow.org/

Change log

I’m working back in the land of legacy. PHP 5.6
Goose (My 2nd English Springer Spaniel) is now 9 weeks old and has razor teeth.
I’ve been working on using Vagrant, Docker, Parallels and Ansible to create a test lab for HTCW
We reviewed the documentation for tutorial 5 and 6 of the PHP login course on Tuesdays live coding stream
I am talking at PHP North West Drupal User Group NWDUG next Tuesday at 7PM so I won’t be streaming on YouTube on Tuesday

What is Syntax Sugar

This is a term used to describe code that is meant to be more readable and helpful to humans.

It’s sometimes called Candygramming
Can shorten code to one liners which can be helpful and easier to read
Can be difficult to change and maintain in the future
Can lead to hidden magic features that are used in the language eg _get and _set
Is sometime perceived as a lazy way to write code
Reduces the syntax needed to perform an operation
If done badly then it can lead to over complication, bad abstraction and even worse code readability then before

148 - The Best Bug Tracking Tools Feb 24, 2022

Change log

EP 147 is now available. In that episode I talked about the process of fixing a bug

PHP UK

Keynote: Never stop learning, or how cursory and cross pollination drives innovation by Pauline Vos
Talk on OpenAPI from Rob Allen - Lots of useful resources and a guide to the Yaml configuration
Talk on improving your documentation by Alexandra White
Embrace the pitfalls (Our stop start journey to Change)byStacy Cashmore
Closing keynote: Passwords are so 1990 by Sam Bellen
Keynote: Open source is good for business by Lorna Jane Mitchell
Talk on PHP fibers by Milko Kosturkov - Async PHP code
Talk on the blockchain and crypto (Hop on the PHP Block chain rocket to the MOON!) By Drishti Jain
Talk on Practical advanced static analysis by Date Liddament
From Betamax to VCR: Harden your API integration testing by James Second
Closing keynote: Leading in Tech by Michael Cullum

We have a new puppy called Goose

8 Weeks old
English Springer Spaniel
Super cute

I gave a talk to PHP South West (in person) and to the Symfony user group in Portugal (Remote)

Code with confidence using PHPStan

I want to give a shout out to JoelTheDeveloper who I meet at PHPUK, he has a his own YouTube channel which talks about development and the mindset of devs. He’s done a great video regarding handling your ego as a developer. Please checkout his channel

Bug tracking tools

It doesn’t mater what tool you use as long as you have eyes on the issues
Friction hurts progress.
- Tools should be easy to use
- Easy to integrate with the current toolset
- Easy to integrate outside of the current ecosystem
- Low learning curve
- Will it be self hosted
- Can you import your current bugs/tasks
- Can you export bugs/issues
- What are the security implications
- Can all devs on your team use it on their platforms
- Does it need to be mobile friendly
How can it integrate well with other tools
- Does it have an API

The Symfony user group in Portugal on the 22nd of Feb

Contact me and let me know your thoughts or get something read out on air.

147 - How to fix a bug Feb 24, 2022

Change log

- Yesterday I gave a talk about PHPStan and code confidence to PHP South West

- I’m going to give the talk again:

North West Drupal User group on the 8th of March

- On Tuesday we fixed a unit test which turned out to be a larger issue than I expected and uncovered a big code smell which I need to fix in the coming evenings.

- I did a YouTube, Twitter and Discord poll about stopping the music whilst live coding. I will leave the poll going until the end of the week but so far it looks like you lot prefer silence when I code.

The stages of bug fixing

Investigation and discovery
Testing and verification
Fixing
Testing and verification
Deployment

Contact me and let me know your thoughts or get something read out on air.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

146 - What makes an acceptable bug ticket Feb 03, 2022

Change log

We got to lesson 4 of the PHP course on Tuesday. Lots of bad documentation has been fixed
Working on a Jenkins server for HTCW as I want to move away from GitHub Actions
We’re getting another English Springer Spaniel called Goose in a few weeks time. He will only be a puppy
I am giving a new talk called coding with confidence using PHPStan at PHP South West next Wednesday.

What makes an acceptable bug ticket

Bugs are not equal and no bug should be treated equally. Therefore no ticket is equal nor should the ticket be created or processed equally.
Bugs come in various shapes and sizes.
There is a fine line between having too much or too little process
A ticket which requires over processing in its lifespan will slow down delivery of the fix. This is due to the amount of red tape needed to record and fix the bug
A ticket which doesn’t require the right amount of process during its lifespan will slow down the project as the actors that influence or oversee the ticket may have insufficient information required.

Usually a bug is categorised by priority.

P1 is critical
P2 is less so and so on

We are skirting around the ITIL change management process

An incident is not the same as bug or an issue
An incident is an unplanned interruption. An incident could be a bug after investigation
A bug is a fault in the system found by a tester and accepted by the developer
A issue is a business question that could needs to be addressed. The app doesn’t work on X but should it?

I have not done ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) training so please don’t see me as an authority on change management or IT service management disciplines.

In my opinion the the minimum a that a bug ticket should have are:

A heading that quickly summaries the bug
Clear and concise steps to reproduce the bug
Clear requirements and environmental setup
Clear acceptance criteria (A definition of the correct behaviour)
Clear priority and the priority definitions
Clear understand of the bug impact

145 - 5 Things you should not do in Software Development Jan 27, 2022

Change log

- New personal site peterfisher.me.uk

- New job

- Speaking at Symfony user group in Portugal - Code with Confidence with PHPStan

- Won’t be streaming on Twitch this weekend as I’m traveling

5 Things you should not do in Software Development

1. Don’t rush

Re-read the problem more than once.
If it doesn’t make sense to you then re-write the problem in your own words and get it checked
Ask questions if you don’t understand
The first solution might not be the best
Break down the problem into smaller problems but try not over abstract

2. Don’t panic

Bugs can be solved
A computer only does what it is told to do
Others have come before you and others will replace you
If you can’t think of the solution then walk away but always come back
Software development is huge so take your time

3. Don’t worry

We all make mistakes. As long as you learn from them then you are improving
Keep away from the trends and focus on what you are having fun with
We all learn at different speeds and different levels.
At the start, don’t worry about how long you take
You don’t need to learn everything - you can’t

4. Don’t over do it

Learn to pump the breaks if you are reaching burnout
Holidays are holidays. Hands off the code
Learn how to identify burn out
Keep doing other things you enjoy outside coding
Socialise with other coders out side of work

5. Don’t over think it

Over abstracting a solution is a very big and common mistake
Its just syntax, just written in a different order
Learn the basics first before jumping into the deep end
You can learn by listening, watching, coding, and reading
Keep a log of what you’ve learnt and look back at your progression

Contact me and let me know your thoughts or get something read out on air.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

144 - 5 Build tools every Software Developer needs to learn Jan 20, 2022

Today I am going to talk about 5 build tools that every software needs to learn.

These include the following:

Step debugger
Command Line Interface (CLI)
Integrated development environment(IDE)
Output tools such as Postman
Project management tools

Contact me and let me know your thoughts or get something read out on air.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

142 - 6 Ways to improve your code tests Jan 14, 2022

Change log:

All the code notes for Docker for beginners course has been written. This is available on GitHub
I’ve started work on transcribing that course. This will take a long time.
I’ve fixed issues on howtocodewell.net regarding signup, forgotten password and other minor fixes
I’ve added the functionality to lock and unlock courses. This will turn them into private or public courses that require enrolment

6 ways to improve your testing

1) Automate as much as you can

Use CI pipelines
Run these locally even if your’e not committing any changes
Include other code auditing tools such as phpstan or phpmd

2) Statics are evil

There is no way to test a static method that calls another static method

3) Having many mocks is an indication of bad code design

4) Use tests to help refactor you code

If a unit of work cannot be easily tested then it usually means the code is not designed well
Break up your tests into smaller chunks
Tests can highlight micro and minor refactors
Refactor your code and then re test
Try and do this in a TDD fashion

5) Avoid flaky tests

Clean up state
Check for bottle necks which could cause timeouts
Mock external services or dependancies
Look into potential memory leaks

6) Re think what testing means to you

Testing is a contractual agreement between the programmer and the code
Testing is documentation - Gherkin, Acceptance Criteria, Business requirements
Testing is boundary setting which helps with focus
Testing is future proofing

Contact me and let me know your thoughts or get something read out on air.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

142 - 5 Ways to improve your business logic Jan 07, 2022

Business logic isn't just for businesses in the money making sense.

Business logic encapsulates entities and the business rules or policies that solve real world problems. Business logic is used to model entities that relate to business objects. For example your application may require orders, order items, payments, customers and the addresses.

5 ways to improve Business logic

Keep it portable
Keep it out of view logic
Small isolated rules
Avoid large recalculations of data
Don't over abstract

Contact me and let me know your thoughts or get something read out on air.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

141 - Web Development Guide for 2022 Dec 24, 2021

Web Development Guide for 2022

Web assembly won’t replace JavaScript.
TypeScript won’t replace JavaScript.
GitHub actions won’t replace you.
Next.JS won’t replace PHP.
PHP won’t replace Python.
AWS will continue to build more stuff that you don’t need but will be require you to use it for unrelated but coupled tasks.
Google Cloud will keep playing catchup.
Docker will continue to be the containerisation tool of choice.
Podman will not replace Docker.
Microsoft will sell developer focused laptops. Dell has done this but Microsoft could bundle the laptops with pre installed developer software tools.
Microsoft will attempt to by a Linux laptop manufacturer.
Kubernetes will continue to dominate the cloud.
Web 3 will not replace web 2.
Web services that offer subscriptions will introduce their own block chains and wallets.
A games manufacturer will release their own wallet and coins/tokens which can be exchanged for in game purchases or game expansions.
Open source could be funded by crypto.
A Spotify like company that focuses solely on podcasts could pay artists/creators based on the number of listeners or listen time. This could be done via the blockchain.
We will see more JavaScript frameworks with "meta" and "web 3" buzzwords their titles.
More NPM hacks.
More developers will try and downsize their dependancies using micro frameworks.
GraphQL won’t replace REST.
NoSQL won’t replace relational databases.
Job requirements will start to require experience with the blockchain and dapps.
Serverless won’t replace servers but serverless technology will become more popular and it will be a sought after skill.
CI/CD will become the norm.
In the next Covid lockdown or the next set of restrictions, the job market will be better then it was during the first lockdown
Remote working will become the default for all levels of developer.
VR will improve but we won’t need to put a helmet on to go to a meeting.
FaceBook or Twitter will start selling promoted adverts with crypto currencies.
API’s will still be king.
Headless CMS’s will become more popular.

Let me know your thoughts or get something read out on air.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

https://blog.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/2021/11/the-php-foundation/

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

140 - Code Iteration time is critical to web development success Dec 17, 2021

Change log

We’ve almost finished the first pass of the documentation for the new PHP course. I have 1 / 2 lessons to go. There are two more passes that I want to do before recording any of the lessons. The next pass will be to create the project from start to finish using the documentation but on a Ubuntu VM. The last pass will be to do the same bu on a Windows VM
Last weeks show that was on shopping carts went live earlier this week. I had some internet issues last week so I couldn’t do the live stream

Your feedback

1) Eric writes in on my hack to check if PHP is working YT short and asks if the next video will be on the PHP 8 match expression and when to use it.

I can’t promise that it will be the next YT short but I can say that It is on the schedule.

2) Keral writes in on my PHP array sum tutorial and asks how do we sum fields in a database.
There is a SUM function in MySQL. It takes one argument and that is the expression that you want to calculate. You can use it to find the sum of a field from several records by suppling the field name as the expression. Then add the reset of the query as usual.

For example, To get the sum of a shopping basket you could do something like this; Let’s say you had a table of order items with a foreign key linking to an orders table. Each order item record would also have a price field. You could get the sum of the orders price like so: select sum(order_item.price) from order_item where order_item.order_id = 4; Obviously change the table name of order to something else as order is a reserved keyword in MySQL.

If you have a comment that you want read out on the show then either write a message on a YouTube video or send me a message on our contact form.

Code Iteration time is critical to web development success

I want to talk about a blog posted titled 3 lines of code shouldn’t take all day https://devtails.xyz/3-lines-of-code-shouldnt-take-all-day by Adam Berg. In the post Adam talks about his time developing video games at Electronic Arts. He mentions that due to the testing tools and development requirements it could take up to a day to write 3 lines of code. This iteration time was greatly reduced when he used 'test beds'.

Adam mentions in his article that the test beds focused on particular areas of code which meant the tooling was slimmed down. This allowed him to laser in to the code that needed to be tested and as a result made the code iteration far quicker.

He goes on in the post to talk about using unit testing which also made his life a lot easier. These test packages only contained the code which was specific to his teams requirements. Again, this was a slimmed down portion of a game.

He mentions that these test packages took less than a second to compile and run. This made him less distracted and he could focus on the task at hand.

139 - Shopping carts are hard Dec 13, 2021

Changelog

No live stream tonight, My internet has been super patchy today so I’m not even going to try.
Unfortunately no PHP 8 short this week. It has been recorded, I just haven’t had the chance to upload and do the thumbnail yet.
We documented the 7th lesson of the new PHP course. This included some TDD, some array nesting and some PHP 8 array shapes

Shopping carts are hard

A shopping cart needs to be frictional-less to the end user (Customer). The quicker a customer can purchase a product the better.

There are many questions that need to be answered when designing the user flow of a shopping cart

These are just some things to think about:

Shipping

Will you be shipping a physical good and if so will the shipping cost be dependent on user location?
Will shipping be based on the item(s) weight?
Will shipping be discounted in certain regions?
Will you require shipping information to make a payment (Security checks)?
Will there be discounted shipping based on quantity?
Will there be a quantity limit based on different regions?

Currency

What currency will you be offering?
What is the conversion rate?
How will you track that?
What are the tax implications for you versus the customer?
How are you going to calculate tax?

Users

Will you require an actual user to login before and order is created?
Can someone make a guest account?
Will there be teams or individual accounts?
Will you require the customer to be verified before making a purchase. Some places like Stripe require a user email address?

Product

Is it a digital good?
Will there be stock?
How will the stock be recorded/monitored?
How will an out of stock product be displayed?
Can products be bundled?
Do bundled products get a discount?
How are products removed from the cart?
How are products updated on the cart?
How are quantities updated on the cart?

Checkout

What happens when a logged out user access the checkout page?
What happens to abandoned carts?
What defines an abandoned cart?
At what point does the cart get created in the database?
At what point does the cart get associated with the user?

Other items to consider

Refunds
Subscriptions
Cancelations

138 - The Coder Mindset Dec 03, 2021

Changlog

I’ve been plugging in Symfony events into the HTCW site when a user registers.
Due to being super busy I didn’t get to stream on Tuesday but I have done all the documentation for 6 of the 10 lessons in the course
I should be live on Twitch on Sunday

If I was to sum up the coder mindset in a single sentence:

If you were to boil down the essence of a programmer it would be to have a practical mind, attention to detail, the ability to think logically, to zone in and out of different scopes and the will to compete complex tasks without giving up.

Let’s break that down

Thinking practically

Practical thinking is important because it helps you solve real world problems.

Set clear goals and priotizing work. You can also use life experiences to help solve problems.

Attention to detail

This means you take pride in your work, you care about the small stuff as much as the big stuff. In programming bad things can happen from the smallest mistake.

The ability to think logically

Logical thinking is a skill that involves using reasoning in a way that allows an individual to come to a viable solution

This helps you re trace steps, think through puzzles and compartmentalise elements of a programs flow.

Logical thinking requires several reasoning skills and the ability to look at a situation objectively and work towards a solution based on the facts at hand.

Age shouldn’t be a factor when learning to code.

In fact the older you are the more life experiences you will be able to bring to the web development table.

There are lots of skills that are transferable which are very much required in professional web development. You may of gained some of this experiences in other jobs. Some of these skills may give you a distinct advantage over other web developers.

Programming is one of these things that no matter how old you are, if you get good at it, nothing can stop you.

137 - Hello PHP 8.1 Dec 02, 2021

Change log

The latest YT short teaches the nullsafe operator in PHP 8
The PHP login course has been fully coded. This Tuesday on the YouTube Live stream we added the final touches including CSS. I need to write up the lesson plan and record the videos. I’m planning to release the course next year.
I will be planning the next course live on YouTube in the coming weeks
There is an idea that I’m toying with to drop the development of the subscriptions for the new hotowocodewell.net site in favour of having one off course purchases. The subscriptions would be added afterwards.
I am going to be recoding December’s YouTube shorts in the coming days. So if you have any suggestions then do let me know at howtocodewell.fm/contact

News

PHP 7.4 looses active support in 3 days. (On the 28th of November 2021). It will have security support for a whole year
PHP 8.1 has been released today. It has active support until the 25th of November 2023 and then security support until the 25th of November 2024

8.1 has many new features including enums, Green threads or Fibers which will be used in ReactPHP, readonly properties, Op cache performance improvements and many more

PHP foundation

136 - Breaking Changes in PHP Nov 19, 2021

Today I want to discuss the Deprecate dynamic properties RFC in PHP 8 and give you my view on breaking changes in software development.

Changelog

New YT short PHP Union Data types
You can watch me struggle to get the new PHP course that I’m building to level 9 of PHPStan I did that live on Tuesday.
Over on Twitch I connected Googles YouTube API to https://howtocodewell.fm
I’ve started to use the new GitHub projects beta tool which lets you create a project that can have tasks from multiple repos which is proving very handy.
I’ve started to look into the blockchain and how it works. I can’t promise that I will do a course or a tutorial on that but I’m trying to wrap my brain around how it all works
I have my new M1 Max MacBook Pro. I haven’t had much chance using it as I’ve been so busy of late.

Get in contact and ask me a question

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

https://phpstan.org/blog/phpstan-1-0-released

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Tuesdays 18:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Saturday 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

135 - Web 3 is coming - Be ready! Nov 12, 2021

Changelog

November short PHP 8 tutorials have been scheduled. These include

Nullsafe operator
Named arguments
Union types

Phase 1 howtocodewell.fm features have been defined. Watch me build these live on Twitch on Sundays at 14:35 GMT

I'm planning a new PHP 8 course. I'm planning and creating this course live on YouTube on Tuesday evenings at 18:00 GMT

In the news

1) PHPStan 1.0 has been released

This release includes level 9 and a series of opt in features such as

unused visibility scope
Generic array function stubs
Recursive array type detection
And more

2) Jason Citron the CEO and founder of Discord teased a tweet showing an ETH integration to Discord. https://twitter.com/jasoncitron/status/1457841222995693570

3) A new Reddit employee who works on the Crypto team tweeted a long thread regarding blockchain integration with the Reddit network

https://www.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/qpdwt2/why_werent_mods_notified_about_the_new/

Get in contact and ask me a question

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Tuesdays 18:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Saturday 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

134 - Should PHP bugs go on GitHub Nov 05, 2021

There is an RFC https://wiki.php.net/rfc/github_issues which discusses the need to move the PHP bug tracker to GitHub. In this episode I am going to give talk about 5 reasons I think this is a good idea and 5 reasons why I think this is a bad idea.

I would love to hear what you think. Let me know

5 Reasons why the PHP community should use GitHub to host their bug tracker

1. Provides a Gatekeeper

Currently on bugs.php.net anyone can submit a bug report without registering an account. GitHub requires a GitHub account for issue submission.

2. GitHub EcoSystem

Issues on GitHub can be matched against code commits, change logs can be automated, GitHub has decent project management and work flow tools, GitHub actions can be used for automated tasks and there will be a unified experience across the other GitHub php repositories.

3. Everyone knows GitHub

GitHub has taken over the programming world. Everyone knows about it, everyone can use it. This lowers the barrier of entry whilst still ensuring that authors of issues are held accountable for their comments.

4. Not our infrastructure, Not our problem

The GitHub infrastructure is managed by GitHub not by the PHP community.

5. Time saver

We can spend our time building better things for the PHP world instead of building and maintaining a bug tracker.

5 Reasons why the PHP community should not use GitHub to host their bug tracker

1. If it breaks we can’t fix it

If GitHub goes down then we go down. PHP is at the mercy of GitHub and their issues.

2. Once you’re in the ecosystem it’s hard to get out

Making the decision to move away from GitHub will be harder than deciding to move away from bugs.php.net And if we needed to make the decision in the future we will need to support GitHub integrations.

3. We have to play by the GitHub rules

If GitHub doesn’t allow a country access then tough. We have to play by another companies rules

4. We could build something better

If time and money wasn’t an issue then we could build something better which is more tailored towards PHP and better meets the needs of the needs of the PHP community. The bug track could also be a great place to eat our own PHP dog food.

5. We have to follow the GitHub road map

Whatever that may be and where ever that may lead us.

Something about having many eggs in one basket

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

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⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

133 - New home, new code Oct 29, 2021

House keeping

1) We have a new website for the podcast with a shiny new contact form.

2) The assets are now back on the main site. Unfortunately due to a timing and backend error the images were unavailable for a short while. This has now been resolved.

3) I’m planning a new PHP course live on YouTube. I will be doing this every Tuesday at around 6 PM BST. The course is beginner friendly and free. It will cover PHP session management and the learner will be building a login form with a secured user dashboard. The course will use vanilla PHP and CSS. So no frameworks.

4) This weekend I will be streaming on Saturday on Twitch instead of Sunday. We re going to fix some bugs on the podcast website and work on some other related HTCW things.

5) I’ve been making more coder based YouTube shorts. I’ve recently published two short form PHP tutorials which are doing really well. The first teaches the spaceship operator and the second teaches the null coalescing operator. I have more to come including PHP 8 tutorials so keep an eye out for those.

News

1) Gentle reminder to update to PHP 8. PHP 7 was released in 2015 and loses Active support for PHP 7.4 will end on November 28, 2021. Extended support for PHP 7 will end on November 28, 2022. After November 28, 2022, Microsoft will no longer support PHP.

2) Bash autocompletion is coming to Symfony console. This adds support for autocompletion when using commands, option names and also allows dynamically contextually complete values for arguments and options. It means you can add custom completion support to your own commands, and OSS projects.

3) The Missouri governor has released a fund-raising video stating that “Digging around the HTML” is a crime in Missouri. This is after social security numbers of teachers were found in the HTML code. (Code that would be in clear text in HTML or at the least base 64 encoded). Apparently Journalists were able to hack the HTML source code. You can’t make this up. This is the problem with having someone in power who is surrounded by yes people.

4) Microsoft is losing confidence with some .NET developers after removing Hot Reloading feature from .Net

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

132 - Unleash the Apple M1 beast Oct 22, 2021

Symfony has updated their documentation design and it looks pretty slick.

Great index page. I think there are some spacing and UX issues but on the whole it’s a welcomed improvement but I do wish it had a search feature.

Package typo squatting.

A package that has a miss spelled name is being used to trick 300 million websites harmful PHP code

I have finally have upgraded my MacBook Pro, I got the MacBook Pro M1 Max -

16 inch
10 Core CPU - 32 Core GPU
64 GB unified memory
4 TB storage

It would seem that they have got two halves of their pro lineup. The first one is what they call Power to go. And the other is termed as Super charged for pros.

Some good things

Battery didn’t shrink so you can still use them on plans
They add back the ports
They made trade offs with weight and sizes.
They added a 1080p web camera but that comes with a notch
The pros still come with fans - 140W charger
Mag safe and USB C charging
Max allows for 7 streams of 8k video
Max has 400GB memory bandwidth
Allows for 4 monitors to be connected.
Magic keyboard with Touch ID
No more Touch ID

You can get the 14 inch pro machines with M1 Max but I’m not sure what the thermals will be like.

Possible concerns.

This is my first M1 MacBook and I’m not 100% of what ARM support all the Docker images I use have.
I’m not sure how the battery will handle USBC charging and Magsafe. I connect my monitors via USB-C
I’ve never used rosetta 2. I’m not sure yet what other tools that I use require it.
How does the new SSD’s support the Docker file system?
Will the delivery get pushed out due to shortages?

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

131 - 10 Git branching good practice tips Oct 15, 2021

Let's talk about 10 good practice tips when using Git.

Podcast Notes:

PHP News: Swoole is a PHP extension that has been forked due to on going security concerns. The current version of Swoole downloads a compressed file from the business Swoole site which is NOT GOOD! This file is a gzip file which is downloaded to your application.

Apparently many attempts were made to raise this concern with the current maintainer of Swoole but nothing happened. After these concerns were un-heard the PHP community decided to fork Swoole and remove the ability to run remote code from the Swoole business site.

The forked alternative is called Open Swoole.

Read more about it here: https://news-web.php.net/php.pecl.dev/17446

Theres a new Apple event on the 18th of October.

M1X Mac book pro. 14 + 16 inch
Mac mini
AirPods Will the Mac Book Pro have 64 GB of ram, will I buy a new Mac?

10 Git Branch good practices

Run code audits before merging into a work flow branch to prevent pipeline blockages
Put config into a separate branch to the feature
Use a GUI to inspect right, left, middle merges
Communicate and talk through conflicts with other developers
Don’t squash commits. History is good
Regularly merge the main branch into the feature branch
Always get a team mate to review your code. Even if its the smallest code change
Keep to a good branch naming convention
Separate code maintenance, features and fixes into their own branches - Be aware of what other features use your code
Use messaging platforms like Slack or Discord to inform your team that something has been merged. Also use this to tell your team if the code audits have failed
Fix any failed code audits before doing anything else.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

130 - Why you NEED a side project! Oct 11, 2021

Today I am going to talk about side project in web development. Why you need one, how to stay productive and what projects to learn. Why is it good to have a side project?

Learn new skills in your own time at your own pace
Learn new technologies and techniques
Work without any constraints. If you don’t get it done then it doesn’t matter
They encourage creativity and thinking outside of the box
They help you keep focused on the main projects.
They can help with mental health by providing an escape from the ‘real’ work
They can be used as practice projects before working on production based code
Great for full stack devs how want to broaden their tool set
Great for getting out of comfort zone

Five ways to stay productive

Create a things to do list. I use GitHub projects
Create your own issues and PR’s with labels to help organise the different parts of the project
Time box the workload
If it starts to suck then stop. Update the task list and move on - You are in control of the pressure. So don’t worry if you don’t finish it.
Reduce the number of side projects you are working on at once.

Five side projects everyone can do

Learn how to automate backups with a cron job
Learn how to configure your dev machine via Ansible
Convert your blog into a web app/pwa/ native app
Start a podcast/YouTube channel that documents your learning journey
Rebuild your last project using a different programming language and document the comparisons

129 - Get ready for Symfony 6 Oct 08, 2021

Today I am going to talk about Symfony 6 and discuss why PHP developers should be aware of it.

What about Symfony 5.4 LTS?

It will be released in November 2021
End of bug fixes November 2024
End of security fixes 2025
So you still have over 3 years before Symfony 5 will be end of life

When will Symfony 6 be released

Release November 2021
End of support: July 2022

When will the LTS 6.4 version be ready and for how long

Release: November 2023
End of bug fixes: November 2026
End of security fixes: November 2027

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

128 - What is a software development environment? Oct 06, 2021

In todays software podcast we are going to talk about development environments. What they are and how development environments differ from a production or testing environment.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

127 - Is It Production Ready Yet? Oct 01, 2021

Today I am going to talk about what the term Production Ready means in software development

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

126 - Apple to save the children Sep 07, 2021

What is behind Apples plans to scan iMessage and iCloud photo content? What could possibly go wrong? Here is my take on what is going on with Apple. Also, updates on Sylius speed issues.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

125 - What would I do if I wasn't a Web Developer Sep 06, 2021

What career would you have if you weren't a Web Developer? Well in today's episode I will discover what I would do if I wasn't a web developer and it's probably not what you expected.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

124 - Why is jQuery so popular in 2021? Aug 13, 2021

Lets talk about jQuery and why it's so popular in 2021

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

123 - Load Testing With K6 Aug 06, 2021

In todays show I am going to talk about my mini adventure into load testing and give you my thoughts on K6.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

122 - Software sells the hardware. What if Microsoft did this? Jul 30, 2021

I talk about Microsoft from a Developers perspective and have fun predicting what they are going to do with all their development tools.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

121 - My 15 Minute Bug Fixing Rule Jul 16, 2021

I've come up with a 15 minute bug fixing rule which I would like to share with you on todays podcast.

If you have more thoughts on this subject please post a comment to Discord and continue the discussion.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

120 - Live Q&A Docker, Linux, Rumble and more Jul 09, 2021

I answer your questions from my tutorials and from Twitter.

How To Code Well is now on Rumble and Odysee

Recommended Book

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

119 - 26 Tips For Jr. Web Developers Jul 02, 2021

In episode 119 of the How To Code Well Podcast I give 26 tips to Jr Web Developers. This includes everything from learning the technical aspects of Web Development to furthering your Software Development career. If you have more thoughts on this subject please post a comment to Discord and continue the discussion.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

118 - Learning PHP - Listen to this! - 100 Days of PHP Jun 25, 2021

In today's episode I talk about a roadmap that I have created for learning PHP in 100 days.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

https://thevaluable.dev/dry-principle-cost-benefit-example/

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

117 - Service Unavailable Jun 18, 2021

In todays podcast we are going to talk about the 503 HTTP Status Code.

Error 503 = Service Unavailable

From the W3C: The server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server. The implication is that this is a temporary condition which will be alleviated after some delay. If known, the length of the delay MAY be indicated in a Retry-After header. If no Retry-After is given, the client SHOULD handle the response as it would for a 500 response.

Causes

DDOS attacks will result in high resource usage which will eventually overload the server. As a result the server will respond with a 503 error code.
A server might be temporarily un available if it is under going maintenance. Its a server issue and not a client issue. So this wouldn’t be an issue with the HTML or CSS or client sided JavaScript Trouble shooting
Check any monitoring dashboards or graphs for resource hungry trends. - Check the logs to find any server related errors.
Check the logs for access requests to see if its a spike in traffic.
Check if the server is going through an unexpected maintenance
Check for firewall config. Perhaps a firewall on the network is preventing traffic from flowing.
Check for long running scripts that could be causing memory leaks.
Check for disk usage. Perhaps you are running out of swap space if that’s configured.

Solutions

Stop any jobs that are running
Divert traffic using a load balancer to another server -
Scale your application horizontally by bring on other servers/containers to handle the traffic
Have an auto scaler which keeps adding or removing servers/containers when needed - Reboot the server/container

Resources:

https://metova.com/dry-programming-practices/

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

https://thevaluable.dev/dry-principle-cost-benefit-example/

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

116 - Don't Repeat Yourself Jun 11, 2021

In todays podcast episode we are going to talk about the DRY software principle. In software development DRY stands for Don't Repeat Yourself. Let's discuss what this means.

Resources:

https://metova.com/dry-programming-practices/

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

115 - Upgrading to PHP 8 Jun 04, 2021

Today I'm going to talk about how I upgraded to PHP 8. I will discuss the process of upgrading from 7.4 to 8.0.6, the problems and issues that I faced and the solutions I came up with.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

114 - Docker Nagware - How Docker is trying to get your money May 28, 2021

Today we are going to talk about Nagware and how Docker is trying to get your money in Docker Desktop version 3.x Docker requires a pro or team account to skip updates If you use Docker Desktop at work you may need to skip a specific update. For this reason, Pro or Team subscription developers can skip notifications for a particular update when a reminder appears. Free users will not be required to install any particular update, but they will continue to get reminders to update.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

113 - Software Frameworks vs Libraries May 21, 2021

Today we are going to talk about libraries vs frameworks in software development.

A software library is something you use that enhances your application. It's a bundle of code that you can plug into an existing project. A software library normally solves a specific task such as connecting to a database, making forms or providing routines that manipulate images. A library can co-exist amongst other libraries and this is also true for libraries that do the same task. For example you might have a software library that crops an image to a certain size. You may want to try another library that does the same thing.

A software framework provides a set of APIs such as user authentication, session management, templating, request and response handling and so on. A framework is a single package that could contain smaller packages that do different things. A framework is very opinionated. It provides specific places for you to add your and it controls almost everything about how your code interacts with it.

Generally you cannot add a framework to an existing project because it must be the top layer of abstraction.

Both libraries and frameworks are code that is written by someone else that you use to enhance your project.

When you use a library you are in charge of the application flow. You choose how and when the library is called in your application. On the other hand, a framework is a set of API’s that can be called at certain points in its defined flow. Usually a framework tells you what to do, when to do it and where to do it. Frameworks are normally developed by large teams or the open source community. Due to this, a framework normally adheres to best practices, a strict set of coding standards and the framework is regularly maintained.

There is a big learning curve with frameworks but popular frameworks are well known and sort after in the software industry.

In summary a framework tells you what to do whereas you tell a library what to do. You have full control over a library but you have to define the rules of your application. You have limited control over the framework and you need to adhere to rules set out by the framework.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are BST)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

112 - 10 Best Resources For Web Developers May 14, 2021

Here are my 10 best web development resources that have helped me progress in my career

This episode was recorded live on YouTube

Regex https://regex101.com or https://www.phpliveregex.com
W3CSchools
MDN
Stackoverflow
Replit
Free Code Camp
Github learning lab
Git
Smashing magazine
CSS tricks
David Walsh

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

111 - Where Do I Put My Algorithm? May 07, 2021

Let's talk about algorithms and where to put them in a MVC architecture. I will also discuss what algorithms are and how best to use them within software. This is live so questions are welcome during the talk.

This episode was recorded live on YouTube

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

110 - Apple Spring 2021 Event For Web Developers Apr 30, 2021

Let's talk about the Apple 2021 spring event and what the new iMac and iPad Pro can do for Web Developers.

This episode was recorded live on YouTube

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

109 - Should Software Developers write code on CRAPPY Hardware?? Apr 23, 2021

Today we're going to tackle the question; Should software developers write code on crappy old hardware?

I'm going to discuss the pros and cons of using old hardware and give my opinion on the matter.

This episode was recorded live on YouTube

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

108 - 10 Technical Interview Tips Apr 16, 2021

Here are 10 interview tips that every software developer should know.

Kick start your tech career with Amarachi Amaechi's new book Getting Started in Tech: A guide to building a tech career

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

107 - Not all code is equal Apr 09, 2021

In episode 107 of the How To Code Well podcast I am going to explain why I think that not all code is equal.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 20:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

106 - 5 Tools every PHP developer should know Apr 02, 2021

In episode 106 of the How To Code Well podcast we are going to talk about 5 tools every PHP developer should know

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

105 - 5 Reasons To Test Your Code Mar 26, 2021

In episode 105 of the How To Code Well podcast we are going to talk about software testing.

I'm going to give you 5 reasons why you should test you code and discuss how writing tests will help you become a better software professional.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

104 - 10 Web Security Tips Mar 19, 2021

Securing a webserver is not easy and it takes time. Security isn't something that you set and forget. Any security improvements must be monitored, maintained and well planned. Here are 10 basic webserver security tips.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

103 - The Flutter Effect Mar 12, 2021

Let's talk about Flutter and its impact on desktop apps. We also talk about Deno and Repl

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

102 - Minimum Requirements Mar 07, 2021

What are the minimum hardware requirements of a web developer in 2021

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule (Times are GMT)

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

101 - Technical Regret Mar 07, 2021

Oh I have sooo much technical regret. Lets rebuild the frontend of howtocodewell.net

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

100 - API Testing Mar 07, 2021

Lets talk about API testing

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

99 - HTCW 2021 Tech Roadmap Jan 28, 2021

This is the 2021 Tech roadmap for howtocodewell.net

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

98 - Learn MVC NOW! Jan 07, 2021

This is why you should learn MVC

- Understand how requests and responses work

- Gain an understanding of how to separate a web app - Companies require you to know this

- Enables you to build scaleable enterprise applications

- You Learn how to decouple code and application responsibilities

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

97 - 5 Things I would learn in 2021 if I was a new software developer Dec 17, 2020

If I was a new software developer in 2021 these are some of the things that I would learn.

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

96 - Why Top 5 Programming Languages To Learn In 2021 Lists Are STUPID Dec 11, 2020

In this live show I discuss why the list of the top 5 programming languages to learn in 2021 are meaningless and stupid.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

95 - 5 Reasons to learn Git Stash Dec 03, 2020

In this live show I give 5 reasons why learning how to use Git Stash will make you a better web developer.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule

Tuesdays 07:00 - Live coding on Twitch

Thursdays 21:00 = Live Podcast YouTube

Sundays 14:30 - Live coding on Twitch

94 - 5 Reasons to learn Git Pull Requests Nov 29, 2020

In this live show I give 5 reasons why you should learn Git pull requests to improve your career as a web developer.

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

Watch previous livestreams here

⏰ My current live coding schedule

Tuesdays 07:00

Thursdays 21:00

Sundays 14:30 All times are BST

93 - The things I learnt when upgrading Symfony 5 Oct 23, 2020

Welcome to the first live podcast show! In todays episode I talk about the things I learnt when upgrading the HTCW CMS and API to Symfony 5.

I discuss why I needed to do the upgrade earlier than I expected and how I planned to roll out the new system. The upgrade didn't go smoothly and lots of bugs were discovered after the rollout. As the system was being upgraded I kept notes of what I would and wouldn't do again and how to avoid the same problems. These notes will be used when I upgrade the system to PHP 8.

This episode was recorded live on YouTube: https://youtu.be/35DRtb4WM88

====================

📓 My web development courses

➡️ Learn How to build a JavaScript Tip Calculator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3cUp-HEmuI&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WVa4lhVwkCtQPSG8aqgjzjK

➡️ Learn JavaScript arrays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3WzmRXtExg&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WWaBGywrjhXjlJnilh6Z0NX

➡️ Learn PHP arrays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9gILLIyV-M&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WUWbArkekAHznqfJ60vW8V_

➡️ Learn Python https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYt8kFobRBc&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WXkZs76CYt5n9pW6j3WmWeJ

✉️ Get my weekly newsletter https://email.howtocodewell.net/signup

⏰ My current live coding schedule http://twitch.tv/howtocodewell

Tuesdays 07:00 Thursdays 21:00 Sundays 14:30 All times are BST

Which previous livestreams here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD0bfB1Xjhe0ZLXhhwXeJPQ/

➡️ In todays show I mentioned:

- My HTML, CSS, JavaScript Tip Calculator course https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZdsdjcJ44WVa4lhVwkCtQPSG8aqgjzjK

- My AWS S3 command line Udemy course https://bit.ly/3bV2Mzt

- Patrons and how to support How To Code Well http://patreon.com/howToCodeWell

➡️ Follow How To Code Well:

https://www.twitter.com/howtocodewell

https://www.twitch.tv/howtocodewell

https://www.facebook.com/howtocodewell

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92 - Hacktober headaches Oct 22, 2020

Today I'm going to talk about my views on Hacktoberfest and do a live Q and A.

Announcements

20% HTCW Merch throughout October with code OCTOCODER

My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

Watch previous livestreams here

⏰ My current live coding schedule

Tuesdays 07:00

Thursdays 21:00

Sundays 14:30 All times are BST

91 - Deep Dive Into Agile With Chris Ginn Sep 18, 2020

In today's podcast Chris Ginn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisginn1) and I do a deep dive into Agile. Chris is an Agile Delivery Lead and was first on the podcast in episode 78 where he talked about his career journey from a DBA to an ADL.

Chris shares his extensive knowledge about the Agile delivery process and breaks down the Agile methodologies into easy to understand segments whilst explaining the delivery of a typical system.

We discuss how a company can transition into an Agile work flow and Chris explains the typical Agile ceremonies such as sprint planning, daily scrums, sprint review, sprint retrospective and backlog refinements.

====================

📓 My web development courses

➡️ Learn How to build a JavaScript Tip Calculator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3cUp-HEmuI&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WVa4lhVwkCtQPSG8aqgjzjK

➡️ Learn JavaScript arrays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3WzmRXtExg&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WWaBGywrjhXjlJnilh6Z0NX

➡️ Learn PHP arrays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9gILLIyV-M&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WUWbArkekAHznqfJ60vW8V_

➡️ Learn Python https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYt8kFobRBc&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WXkZs76CYt5n9pW6j3WmWeJ

✉️ Get my weekly newsletter https://email.howtocodewell.net/signup

⏰ My current live coding schedule http://twitch.tv/howtocodewell

Tuesdays 07:00 Thursdays 21:00 Sundays 14:30 All times are BST

Which previous livestreams here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD0bfB1Xjhe0ZLXhhwXeJPQ/

➡️ In todays show I mentioned:

- My HTML, CSS, JavaScript Tip Calculator course https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZdsdjcJ44WVa4lhVwkCtQPSG8aqgjzjK

- My AWS S3 command line Udemy course https://bit.ly/3bV2Mzt

- Patrons and how to support How To Code Well http://patreon.com/howToCodeWell

➡️ Follow How To Code Well:

https://www.twitter.com/howtocodewell

https://www.twitch.tv/howtocodewell

https://www.facebook.com/howtocodewell

https://www.instagram.com/howtocodewell

90 - From Database Administrator To Agile Delivery Lead - Chris Ginn Interview Sep 11, 2020

Today I interview Chris Ginn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisginn1

During his career Chris Ginn was a DBA (Database Administrator) looking after hundreds of database servers for MessageLabs/Symantec, he then worked for the 5th largest company in the world (UnitedHealth Group).

Chris also worked in QA (Quality Assurance) and has loads of experience in working with enterprise systems.

After learning more about Agile, Chris changed his career direction and is now a certified Agile Delivery Lead. As a Scrum master he has helped improve the work flows and given support to his development team. If you would like to hire Chris as a Scrum Master, DBA or ADL then get in touch over Linkedin in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisginn1

You can watch this interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/bcWVO88UAUE

If you like this interview then check out the other ones: https://howtocodewell.fm/

====================

📓 My web development courses

➡️ Learn How to build a JavaScript Tip Calculator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3cUp-HEmuI&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WVa4lhVwkCtQPSG8aqgjzjK

➡️ Learn JavaScript arrays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3WzmRXtExg&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WWaBGywrjhXjlJnilh6Z0NX

➡️ Learn PHP arrays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9gILLIyV-M&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WUWbArkekAHznqfJ60vW8V_

➡️ Learn Python https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYt8kFobRBc&list=PLZdsdjcJ44WXkZs76CYt5n9pW6j3WmWeJ

✉️ Get my weekly newsletter https://email.howtocodewell.net/signup

⏰ My current live coding schedule http://twitch.tv/howtocodewell

Tuesdays 07:00

Thursdays 21:00

Sundays 14:30 All times are BST

Watch previous livestreams here https://www.youtube.com/howtocodewelllive

➡️ In todays show I mentioned:

- My HTML, CSS, JavaScript Tip Calculator course https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZdsdjcJ44WVa4lhVwkCtQPSG8aqgjzjK

- Patrons and how to support How To Code Well http://patreon.com/howToCodeWell;

➡️ Follow How To Code Well:

Twitter https://www.twitter.com/howtocodewell

YouTube https://www.twitch.tv/howtocodewell

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/howtocodewell

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/howtocodewell

89 - How I'm upgrading a headless CMS and API to Symfony 5 and PHP 8 Sep 04, 2020

In today's podcast I discuss how I am going to upgrade the HTCW CMS and API to PHP 8 and Symfony 5.

Upgrading a system to a major version is always tricky and requires a lot of planning and preparation.

If you rush into a major upgrade then you will risk having to do a lot of hot fixes to production after deployment so it is crucial to get it right the first time.

📓 My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python

⏰ My current live coding schedule

Tuesdays 07:00

Thursdays 21:00

Sundays 14:30

All times are BST

Which previous livestreams here:

➡️ In todays show I mentioned:

My HTML, CSS, JavaScript Tip Calculator course
My AWS S3 command line Udemy course
Patrons and how to support How To Code Well

➡️ Follow How To Code Well:

88 - How to make a JavaScript API Client Aug 01, 2020

What is an API client compared to an API endpoint and how do you build, test and document a API client? These are some of the questions that I answer in todays podcast. Essentially an API client is bit like a Software Development Kit (SDK)

In this episode I talk about how I am developing a JavaScript API client using tools such as Jest, Nock, Babel, EsLint and Documentation.js

📓 My web development courses

➡️ Learn PHP arrays

➡️ Learn Python