When a Pull Request Balloons, Extract
My refund feature's pull request grew past 3,000 lines. Instead of shipping it whole, I've been pulling out the bug fixes and tests into their own PRs.
Posts tagged “software-craft”
30 posts.
One Pipe, One User Story: The Case for phoenix_test
Why phoenix_test makes Phoenix feature tests read better and fail more usefully.
An Agent Skill for Updating Elixir Dependencies
What agent skills are, and a walkthrough of the one I lean on to update Elixir dependencies and open a documented pull request.
Shimming Your Way Off a Dead Elixir Dependency
An abandoned dependency was blocking a major upgrade I needed. Here are the two ways I retire one, and when a shim beats a big-bang rewrite.
Guarding Against AI Drift: My Automated Elixir Quality Checks
I have hardened LocalCents with more automated Elixir quality checks than I have ever run. The whole guardrail setup, wired in a real repo.
My Notes on Three Years of Coding with AI
Notes on how my use of AI has changed over three years, and what's working and what isn't inside LocalCents.
What Is Good Code?
We all nod along to "good code" but rarely define it. Here are the four attributes I look for, and the practices that protect each one.
A Place for Everything: How I Track Work
How I track work, from issue statuses and types to pull request conventions, with sample PR templates you can copy.
Decision Records, Playbooks, and Other Acts of Kindness
You open a project you did not write, hit a wall, and find no one left to ask. The habits that spare the next developer that moment.
A Few Good Memes
My meme about code reviews, got some great replies. I have to share.
Personal Elixir Code Aesthetics
Documenting the code aesthetic choices I made in Flick, my side project, as it reached its MVP milestone.
Notes about Technical Debt
Some captured notes about technical debt from recent book club discussions.
Elixir Context Accessor Function: Which Return Type Do You Prefer?
Should a context accessor return `{:ok, noun}` or a bare `noun` or `nil`? Why I am moving toward fetch functions and tuples.
The Curse of Test Fixtures
Please heed my warning or be cursed with coupled code!
Elixir Style: Prefer Unnested Aliases
I recommend avoiding nested aliases since it negatively impacts your ability to text search a project for module usage.
Improve the Clarity of Your Elixir Code Through Expressive and Consistent Language
A list of terms I try to use consistently in my Elixir code, and a nudge to build a shared vocabulary with your team.
Video: Using Fixtures and Test Assets in Swift Unit Tests (9m)
Use fixtures in your Swift unit tests to quickly build business objects and validate scenarios.
Renaissance Man
Bouncing between iOS, Go, C, and Kotlin on one client project, and why I think good programmers are better off knowing many languages.
Code Documentation
Professional iOS projects document two ways: inline comments on the types, and guides that explain the thinking above them.
Code Consistency with SwiftLint
Why consistent code style matters more than which style you pick, and how SwiftLint keeps an iOS project honest about it.
The README File
The README is the first thing anyone meets in your project, including future you. Here is what I make sure mine covers.
New Series: Professional iOS Projects
Kicking off a series on what separates a professional iOS project from a hobby one, starting with why I keep learning new languages.
I'm Teaching a Half Day iOS Refactoring Workshop in July
I am running my half-day iOS Refactoring workshop publicly in July, on mastering small improvements instead of risky rewrites.
Regarding Knight Rider and Delegation
Students no longer get the Knight Rider analogy for delegation, and that is a small tragedy for a Big Nerd Ranch instructor.
Quick Launching for Cocoa Unit Tests
A small tip that makes Cocoa unit test runs launch faster by bailing out of the app delegate early when tests are the target.
Code Patterns Talk, Video Now Available
My Philly CocoaHeads talk reviewing a handful of iOS code patterns, and where to find our growing archive of meeting videos.
Think of the Smallest Possible Code Change, and Then Make It Smaller
A 1,780-line pull request gets a worse review than a small one. Why I keep working to make my changes smaller than that.
An “App Architecture” Kata
An architecture kata I ran at a CocoaHeads Side Project Saturday. Pair up, design one app, then compare what everyone built.
Philly Craftsmanship
Notes from the first Software as Craft Philadelphia meeting, a good mix of discussion and hands-on pairing.
Focused Testing in Xcode
An Xcode tip found while wrestling with RestKit serialization. How to run only the tests you care about right now.