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My Subconscious is a Better Developer Than I Am

· 2 min read
John Reilly
OSS Engineer - TypeScript, Azure, React, Node.js, .NET

Occasionally I flatter myself that I'm alright at this development lark. Such egotistical talk is foolish. What makes me pause even more when I consider the proposition is this: my subconscious is a better developer than I am.

But you can't die... I love you!

· 6 min read
John Reilly
OSS Engineer - TypeScript, Azure, React, Node.js, .NET

That's how I was feeling on the morning of October 6th 2016. I'd been feeling that way for some time. The target of my concern? ts-loader. ts-loader is a loader for webpack; the module bundler. ts-loader allows you use TypeScript with webpack. I'd been a merry user of it for at least a year or so. But, at that point, all was not well in the land of ts-loader. Come with me and I'll tell you a story...

a poster that reads: "But you can't die... I love you!"

Instant Stubs with JSON.Net (just add hot water)

· 5 min read
John Reilly
OSS Engineer - TypeScript, Azure, React, Node.js, .NET

I'd like you to close your eyes and imagine a scenario. You're handed a prototype system. You're told it works. It has no documentation. It has 0 unit tests. The hope is that you can take it on, refactor it, make it better and (crucially) not break it. Oh, and you don't really understand what the code does or why it does it either; information on that front is, alas, sorely lacking.

TFS 2012 meet PowerShell, Karma and BuildNumber

· 6 min read
John Reilly
OSS Engineer - TypeScript, Azure, React, Node.js, .NET

To my lasting regret, TFS 2012 has no direct support for PowerShell. Such a shame as PowerShell scripts can do a lot of heavy lifting in a build process. Well, here we're going to brute force TFS 2012 into running PowerShell scripts. And along the way we'll also get Karma test results publishing into TFS 2012 as an example usage. Nice huh? Let's go!

Coded UI and the Curse of the Docking Station

· 3 min read
John Reilly
OSS Engineer - TypeScript, Azure, React, Node.js, .NET

I’ve a love / hate relationship with Coded UI. Well hate / hate might be more accurate. Hate perhaps married with a very grudging respect still underpinned by a wary bitterness. Yes, that’s about the size of it. Why? Well, when Coded UI works, it’s fab. But it’s flaky as anything. Anybody who’s used the technology is presently nodding sagely and holding back the tears. It’s all a bit... tough.

UseStaticFiles for ASP.Net Framework

· 7 min read
John Reilly
OSS Engineer - TypeScript, Azure, React, Node.js, .NET

This is a guide on how not to expose all your static files to the world at large when working with the ASP.Net Framework. How to move from a blocklisting approach to a allowlisting approach.

Live Reload Considered Harmful

· 3 min read
John Reilly
OSS Engineer - TypeScript, Azure, React, Node.js, .NET

I've seen it go by many names; live reload, hot reload, browser sync... the list goes on. It's been the subject of a million demos. It's the focus of a thousand npm packages. Someone tweaks a file and... wait for it... doesn't have to refresh their browser to see the changes... The future is now!