Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur

E-commerce is one of the primary drivers of the Internet.  Although funny pictures of cats may seem like the largest draw, those pictures and social sites get their revenue from advertising.  That advertising is only valuable when it leads to purchasing and e-commerce is becoming the way we buy our stuff.  In this episode, we look at some excellent tools to get your electronic shop on the Internet...

This episode covers a pattern that is not as well known as some of the recent ones.  This time we look at the chain of responsibility pattern.  This is also our first foray into the behavioral patterns.  These may be techniques you have used without knowing they had a formal name or related pattern. The Chain of Responsibility Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the " Gang of Four " inte...

This week we look at a shorter list of services in the Application integration group.  The list may be short, but these are highly useful and valuable services for application developers.  These are excellent ways to integrate your applications (as you would expect from the name). AWS Step Functions Coordinate Distributed Applications The Step Functions free tier includes 4,000 free state transiti...

We all need to measure how much of our life is spent working.  Thus, time tracking is one of those features that we all can make use of.  The good news is that this is a problem that can be solved at a low cost and in less intrusive fashion than in the past.  There may be a few "do you want to allow application X to do Y" questions to answer but otherwise, these tools can be quickly installed and...

We continue a look at the structural patterns with a look at the proxy.  This is much like the flyweight we reviewed in the last episode.  However, it has a different focus.  The flyweight can be used to implement a form of proxy but is a solution to a large number of instances where this is a different goal. The Proxy Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the " Gang of Four " intent to se...

The AWS machine learning services are more examples of the newer offerings.  Nevertheless, these are growing fast and can help you embrace cutting edge technology.  Machine learning is a recent technology in general so the time you spend understanding these services may help you land that next job. Amazon SageMaker This service provides a method for building, training, and deploying machine learni...

This week we look at mailing and communication tools.  These mail services have a wide range of features and focal points.  That is just part of the reason why we also have a much longer list than typical.  These applications are not quick to evaluate.  Therefore, you should expect it to take weeks or maybe even months to truly find the best option for you. Common Features Most of the mail service...

We continue a look at the structural patterns with a stop at the flyweight.  This pattern is one I find ignored more often than it should be.  In particular, the large number of data items we typically model in modern applications are often best handled through this pattern. The Flyweight Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the " Gang of Four " intent to set the stage for our discussion....

The AWS media services are among their more recent offerings.  Nevertheless, these are applications you may find critical to your cloud strategy.  These may not be very familiar to you if media processing is not your thing.  On the other hand, they are what you hope for if it is your focus.   Amazon Elastic Transcoder: Easy-to-use Scalable Media Transcoding The first service we look at is the tran...

It is a great time for us to talk about technology toys you can give or put on your list.  As we wrap up our Holiday week episodes we have some fun and provide a few suggestions. Alternatives to Amazon Alexa devices: https://beebom.com/amazon-echo-alternatives-2018/ USB Toys: https://www.babble.com/tech/20-usb-desk-toys-to-keep-you-and-your-co-workers-entertained/ Popular USB Items: https://www.am...

We continue the Holiday week of episodes by dishing out some of what we are thankful for.  It is beneficial for all of us to occasionally sit back and revel in our blessings.  This episode shares our list of reasons for thanks and food for thought as you enjoy this week.

Affiliate marketing is a  popular form of passive income.  You just put out content and hope that visitors take advantage of your partners.  This approach can be improved by offering the latest deals from your affiliates to your community.  The passive part of income can be less so during the Holidays as retailers turn to weekly and even daily deals or coupons.  The good news is that this time of...

Cloud storage is one of the most game-changing products in recent decades.  We have seen the cost of storage drop on a regular basis, and these tools are amazingly affordable.  These applications combine with high-speed connections to make it almost invisible to store data on the cloud instead of your device. Many Cloud Storage Options The product landscape for these tools is full of players.  How...

In this episode, we look at the facade pattern.  This is one we have likely run into when we have dealt with complex systems.  In general, a facade pattern is an interface that summarizes a group of interfaces or objects in a functional group.  Without further ado, let's take a look at this simplifying pattern. The Facade Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the " Gang of Four " intent to...

The AWS Management Tools are an excellent way to set up, configure, and monitor a cloud infrastructure.  Many of these are free or have low fees that make them a no-brainer when considering whether to utilize them.  There are several services in this group so let's take each in turn. CloudWatch Monitor your Amazon AWS resources with this service.  You can select metrics and alarms related to varia...

One of the most significant choices a developer makes is the integrated development environment (IDE) they use.  Nevertheless, there are new options that become available each year and niche solutions that may improve productivity.  It never hurts to review what is out there and avoid getting in a rut. Eclipse http://www.eclipse.org/ The odds are that this will look familiar, even if you have not...

The Decorator Pattern is not only a common one, but it is also one of the best ways to embrace object-oriented design.  This approach is a form of "helper," and the idea of a decoration fits it perfectly.  It is an addition to a class without being a part of the class.  Let's look at this useful pattern. The Decorator Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the " Gang of Four " intent to set...

This second part of AWS compliance, identity, and security-related services should feel familiar.  These are solutions that nearly everyone needs, and has used, at some point.  Fortunately, these have free tiers and tutorials to help any user get started with them and building them into your environment in the cloud. Cloud Directory This is an all-important LDAP related service.  The power that th...

In this episode, we will look at Microsoft Office alternatives.  The suite of applications can run up to over one thousand dollars which are not in the budget of many of us.  However, there is almost no need to ever pay that amount for your office suite needs and here are some excellent alternatives. Office Online https://www.office.com/ The full products can be purchased via a monthly subscriptio...

The Composite Pattern is one that is not taken advantage of as often as it might outside of frameworks.  This is an approach to design that allows you to treat a family of objects the same.  It is a quintessential reason for and use of an interface.  The flexibility is critical to being able to handle groups of different objects the same way any individual one would be treated. The Composite Patte...

The compliance, identity, and security services of AWS covers a large number of offerings.  Therefore, we will review these in a multi-part series of episodes.  The power and infrastructure provided by choosing AWS for your cloud provider become apparent with these tools.  We have a lot to cover in this first part. Access and Identity Management This should be the first step in your use of the AWS...

Social networking is all the rage.  Unfortunately, all of those platforms that allow us to share our story can be hard to keep up with.  When you want to reach out to customers on more than one platform then it is time to look at these social site management tools. Social Site Management Most of the tools we discuss start with the ability to post content to multiple platforms.  While that is highl...

The Bridge Pattern is commonly configured but often due to templates and generators rather than understanding the true intent.  Since it is more of a design than code implementation, it can be easily missed.  Nevertheless, it is one we often have available and should probably take advantage of more often. The Bridge Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the " Gang of Four " intent to set t...

You may think of Amazon web services as all technology-focused.  That is not the case.  There are plenty of offerings to help you run your business.  In this episode, we look at a perfect example of these business services via the AWS Customer Engagement Tools grouping.  There are only a few services in this group, but they are extremely powerful and useful. Simple Email Service This is different...

Bug tracking and software ticketing systems are used in every shop I have ever worked with.  Some of these are decidedly low-tech solutions that are no more than a spreadsheet.  Some of these solutions can help you do far more than just track issues.  They can even help you raise the overall quality of your processes. Ticketing Systems Are Almost a Commodity Bug tracking and ticketing systems are...