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2017

Taming the Erlang Beast

Becoming an Erlang developer has not always been easy, but over the last couple of years I’ve learned a few ways to tame the beast. It doesn’t need to become any other language, but there’s definitely room for improving the developer experience!

Creating Your First Chrome Extension

We all have our favorite web browser with our favorite extensions loaded, but have you ever considered writing your own? In the past few months I’ve created a couple extensions to suit my own needs. Here’s what I’ve learned!

What is an API?

An API is an Application Programming Interface, but what’s that really mean? In a more practical sense, it’s one programmer hiding the (possibly messy) details of their own code behind a nice veneer, in order to make it easier for another programmer to consume it in their own program.

What is charlieplexing? (a Raspberry Pi demo)

On past projects, when I needed multiple LEDs, I just connected each to its own GPIO pin. I knew the current only worked in one direction, but I didn’t think to take advantage of that fact. Charlieplexing is a method for arranging multiple LEDs so as to use the minimal number of pins possible.

How to Create a Git Alias

If you’re unfamiliar with Git’s “alias” feature, it provides a way to create shortcuts for other Git commands, which can save you a lot of time. They’re easy to setup and maintain too. Let’s see how.

5 Things You Can Do With a Locally Cloned GitHub Wiki

There’s a feature of every GitHub repo that in my experience doesn’t get a ton of love, and that’s the wiki. In all fairness, I’m not sure how much love it deserves - it’s sorely lacking in features. But did you know it’s a separate repo that you can clone and manipulate locally?

2016