Reading Notes #551

It is time to share new reading notes. It is a habit I started a long time ago where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week. 

If you think you may have interesting content, share it!

Cloud

• Microsoft Cost Management updates—March 2023 (Michael Flanakin) - Because we all need it and or worry about it. Learn the new features that are available for you in the cost management.

• Azure Spring Clean: Compliance for Bicep with Checkov (Sam Cogan) - That's a pretty cool tool to add to our box. I need to get that onto my pipeline...like now!

• Logic Apps Aviators Newsletter - April 2023 (Kent Weare) - One of my friends shared this with me, and I loved it! It's packed with information about new features, and upcoming events...

• This Month in Azure Container Apps: March/April 2023 (Anthony Chu) - I caught the live stream by pure chance and they pass through all the news contained in the post. Very happy to see Azure Container App growing so quickly!

Programming

• Run dotnet core projects without opening visual studio (Karthik Chintala) - Yes, it is possible and even fun! I code in VSCode 80% of the time.

• How to Do an Inner Join in LINQ? (Code Maze) - Nice post to get started about relations between tables type of joints and of course how to do it with LINQ.

• Running .NET Console Apps in Azure Container Instances (Mark Heath) - A neat way to run an application in the cloud. Have a special look at how the secret config is managed to avoid pushing them into the code repository.

Podcast

• Let's Chat About AI (Ep 76) (Community Pulse) - Extremely interesting episode about AI. Should we be worried, what would be the impact? So many great questions asked.
• 54. Cloud native and the Container landscape on Azure - with Daniel Paulus (Betatalks the podcast) - A little bit about the container's history, its present, and potential future.
• Chris Sainty: Blazor in Action - Episode 238 (Azure DevOps Podcast) - I already like Blazor, but I think you will also after listening to this episode.
• Down A Rabbit Hole with Seth Godin (A Bit of Optimism) - Great episode is about many different little things to make life better. You can feel the complicity between Seth and Simon.
• Windows WSL and Containers in 2023 (DevOps and Docker Talk) - WSL what it is and why people say it's so useful. All that and more in this episode.

Miscellaneous

• Technical Writing 101: Working with SMEs - Big Nerd Ranch (Cole Henry) - effectively.

~frank

Reading Notes #550

It is time to share new reading notes. It is a habit I started a long time ago where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week. 

If you think you may have interesting content, share it!

Programming

• Improving multi-platform container support - .NET Blog (Richard Lander) - I really enjoy those optimization posts. The explanation of why things as been decided, and how it was made. This is a very interesting post.

• Creating a ToolTip Component in Blazor (Steven Giesel) - What a nice little gem! This is a fantastic tutorial that explains how to create custom components.

• GitHub Copilot for the Command Line is amazing! (Christian Heilmann) - Wow! Those explanations are a huuuuge plus. Not only Copilote helps us at that time but then it also helps us to learn and improve. I like that. Looking forward to use it.

Miscellaneous

• Managing Workflows with the GitHub Actions Extension for VS Code (Anthony Bartolo) - This is a great extension! With highlights and all definitely useful when trying to understand a workflow.

~Frank

Reading Notes #497

Good Monday, 

Already time to share new reading notes. Here is a list of all the articles, blog posts, and podcast episodes that catch my interest during the week. 

You think you may have interesting content, share it!

Cloud

• How to Upload a File to Azure Blob Storage (Claudio Bernasconi) - A nice tutorial that builds using .NET a little application to interact with Azure blob storage. And there is also a video.

• New Azure for Operators solutions and services built for the future of telecommunications (Jason Zander) - Good news in the network spheres...That's good for all of us.

• Serverless Kubernetes with Azure Container Apps (Michael Ridland) - Now I understand not only how to create a container App but where does it fit in all the container services available in Azure. Very nice post.

Programming

• .NET GitHub Actions: Intro to GitHub Actions for .NET (David Pine) - This is a great post to get started with GitHub action. Thus one is about .Net o but of course, many other languages are supported. Right now the only thing I want is to add more workflow and improve the existing ones...

• Differences Between != And Is Not Operators in C# (Code Maze) - My first thought when I saw the title was well they are the same... And then I remember the differences. Great post the really take the time the explain the similarities and the differences.

• GitHub Previews Faster Codespaces Creation with Prebuilds -- Visual Studio Magazine (David Ramel) - This is awesome! I started to use containers for my development recently and the initial spark was codespace. You must try it.

• A Practical Guide to Dapper (Camilo Reyes) - A nice tour of the functionalities of the tool. It's clear how it can be useful in a Data Access Layer pattern. Not to be confused with Dapr.

Podcast

• Twenty Years of ASP.NET with Scott Guthrie (.NET Rocks!) - So nice to hear Scott Guthrie talk about those years and share a few stories.

• 568: How to Attract Attention, with Michael F. Schein (Coaching for Leaders) - An interesting conversation about our strengths and weaknesses with the author of the book: The Hype Handbook.

• Testcontainers: Using Code to Control Docker for Testing (DevOps and Docker Talk) - When, How, Why test the code running in containers... Nice episode.

• Jennie Allen On Finding Your People And Building Your Community (What's Essential) - A interesting discussion about what does it means to find your people, and how to do that.

Miscellaneous

• Why DevOps needs a change from a ‘me’ to a ‘we’ mindset (Chris Yates) - An interesting post about the required DevOps mindset.

~frank

Reading Notes #485

It's Monday,

time to share my reading notes. Those are a curated list of all the articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and books that catch my interest during the week and that I found interesting. It's a mix of the actuality and what I consumed. 

You think you may have interesting content, share it!

Cloud

• Announcing the Azure Identity 2.0 client library and plugin packages for JavaScript (Will) - Very nice update for the SDK that will be used with popular tools.

• General Availability of Azure Functions OpenAPI Extension (Justin Yoo) - What!? one year already and GA is on top of it. Wonderful.

• Is it time to start creating C# Azure Functions in isolated mode? (Mark Heath) - Nice post about the different options today and in the future.

• What is Cloud-Native? Is It Hype or The Future of Software Development? (Thorben Janssen) - My 2 cents, it's so much more than a heap. Excellent post that cover all the angles.

Programming

• Implicit Usings in .NET 6 (Scott Hanselman) - Ok yes, it's a cool feature to get started... BUT it's the first best practice you learn in VB (yes I remember Scott) do not use implicit... So fun, but that's it.

• 5 Reasons Why You Should use a DevTool (Michelle Pruit) - Yes, indeed and it is worth spending money on them to not be limited or blocked because you are using the free version or something.

• 7 unique software collaboration features in GitHub Discussions (Evi Liu) - I started using GitHub discussion while streaming and loved it. I was curious to learn different scenarios where there is also a benefit.

• Announcing ASP.NET Core in .NET 6 (Daniel Roth) - I've not been coding for a little while now, first thing on my to-do is to upgrade to.NET 6 my projects.

• [Cake v2.0.0 RC 1 released](Pascal Berger) (https://cakebuild.net/blog/2021/11/cake-v2.0.0-rc0001-released) - A great new version, and important notification of retirement. I should do a tour of my flows/ pipeline to avoid bad surprises.

• I made Squid Game with JavaScript (Shuvo) - I love it! Great post that shows us all the code used in this cool demo. There is also a short video to see the final game.

• Publishing Events from CRUD or Commands? (Derek Comartin) - Nice post/video about event-driven architecture.

• Should Controllers Reference Repositories or Services (Steve) - Very interesting dive into the layers of an application. There are reasons for different architectures.

• Shrink your WSL2 Virtual Disks and Docker Images and Reclaim Disk Space (Scott Hanselman) - Wonderful tips from Scott. To get back that pure performance of a clean dev environment.

Miscellaneous

• After Microsoft Ignite, keep the learning momentum going (Jeff Sandquist) - Very happy to see this news being public.

• How to get Windows 11 (John Cable) - It's out now and honestly, it is great! If you didn't get the automatic upgrade maybe it's because you don't meet the requirement. Following the steps, it could be a simple checkbox to check-in your current version.

• Introduction to GitHub Actions for .Net Developers (Dave Murray) - I'm not sure why but I always felt called by automation. Maybe because it's the ultimate proactivity of any task.GitHub Action is one of those extremely powerful tools that are worth your attention.

~frank

Reading Notes #465

Every Monday, I share my "reading notes". Those are a curated list of all the articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and books that catch my interest during the week and that I found interesting. It's a mix of the actuality and what I consumed.

You think you may have interesting content, share it!

Cloud

• Announcing Az Predictor preview 2 (Damien Caro) - Already preview 2 it looks so great.

• Ask About Azure: Why do resource groups need a location? | Dave Brock (Dave Brock) - Brilliant! This question is asked so many times, and the answer is perfect.

• Azure Communications Voice Calling QuickStart (Dan Wahlin) - Wonderful solution and I know some dev who is now very happy that they now have this tool.

• Azure REST API through Logic App (Brad Watts) - I love Logic Apps I think it's a tool that is overviewed by too many. Great post.

• Penny Pinching in the Cloud: Azure Static Web Apps are saving me money (Scott Hanselman) - Azure static web app for the win! Seriously they are amazing I use them a lot. It's still in preview. But all good.

Programming

• Easily nuke secrets from your Git history | Dominique St-Amand (Dominique St-Amand) - Interesting post going deep into Git spelunking artifact from our history.

• Installing Docker Desktop for Windows and WSL 2 (Andrew Lock) - This post guides ys in the installations of WLS2 with Docker on Windows. It is now kind of simple... But a lot of us are still afraid. We shouldn't, give it a try!

• Your Open Source Project Needs a devcontainer - Here's Why | LINQ to Fail (Aaron Powell) - The dev container tools are pure madness. BUT on the positive side. It is incredibly useful and easy to use. Pair with Codespace its magic. I'm looking forward to seeing the public release.

Miscellaneous

• How to: Deploy GitHub Pages on a Schedule to Publish Future Posts (Sean Killeen) - Omg! So simple. A wonderful post. Thank you so much for this.

~Frank

Reading Notes #458

Every Monday, I share my "reading notes". Those are a curated list of all the articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and books that catch my interest during the week and that I found interesting. It's a mix of the actuality and what I consumed.

You think you may have interesting content, share it!

The suggestion of the week

• Using Azure Key Vault to manage your secrets (Chris Noring) - Wow, this is a very complete post that explains with Azure Key vault is great and it also explains how to build a simple n\Node.js app to read a value from it.

Programming

• Blazor - Getting Started with Localization (Cody Merritt Anhorn) - Nice quick tutorial to get started.

• Generate a GitHub Actions workflow with Visual Studio or the dotnet CLI (Damian Brady) - This is extremely interesting for all .Net developers. We now have a super-easy way to create a workflow from everywhere using the CLI.

• How to fix Blazor WASM base path problems (Kristoffer Strube) - Interesting post that suggests a complete solution for a common issue. Could it be added to the framework and become native?

• Using Environments for Approval Workflows With GitHub Actions (Aaron Powell) - Pretty cool novelty looking forward to testing it.

Miscellaneous

• Looking back on Software Development in 2020 and forward to 2021 (Scott Hanselman) - A very interesting post and excellent follow up on the podcast topic. So after all it looks like 2020 was good at something.

Reading Notes #125

Suggestion of the week

• Get Better Acquainted with Azure (Mark BrownMS) - Wow! All kinds of resources are coved here. A post to read to find your next book or blog to subscribe.
  
• With great Azure VM comes great responsibility(which is why you really want an Azure Web Site) - Great post that compares website and VW.

Cloud

• Announcing Reduced Pricing on Storage - How can we be not happy to pay less for a nice service?!
  
• 2013 Year in Review: New AWS Technical Whitepapers, Articles and Videos Published - Great recap of all the AWS resources published in 2013.
  
• Identity in your own apps with Windows Azure Active Directory (MVP Award Program) - Great tutorial that explains how to use Windows Azure Active Directory in a web project with the new VS2013.
  
• Measuring all the things with Azure Web Sites and friends - Great post, a lot of information on the tools available to help us tracking info in our Azure website.
  
• Introducing Windows Azure WebJobs – Wow, webjob is so simple to use compare to all the steps that we needed to with a worker role.
  
• Stupid Azure Trick #1 – Rename Your Windows Azure Subscription (Bill Wilder) - Nice tips to get a more structured subscription list in Azure.

Programming

• Roslyn performance (Matt Gertz) - Cool post that gives a good insight about how performance is treated in Microsoft team.
  
• Simple Git workflow is simple - Good post that explained the workflow. Now we just need to practice it.
  
• Why TDD Makes Me a Happy Developer - Interesting opinion about TDD. If you don't know what is TDD, this post is for you.
  
• NuGet Package Manager Console tip (Girish stuartle) - Nice tips, like the author I had never tried that before.

Architecture

• What makes models interesting (Nick Malik) - Interesting post about enterprise business model.
  
• Why is Software Architecture Important? - Very nice analogy.

Miscellaneous

• Why You Should Stop Pretending To Be So Important - Wisdom post that remembers us to give time, to be there for other.
  
• Yak Shaving Defined - I'll get that done, as soon as I shave this yak. - Ha ha ha. It explains also why retreated people have no free time...

~Frank