My Blog

New Video: Coding Making Sense of reactive() and ref() in Vue.js
New Video: Coding Making Sense of reactive() and ref() in Vue.js
January 30, 2022

I went on the WebRush podcast (with John Papa and Dan Whalin (et al.)) and had a discussion about reactive() and ref() in the Composition API that resulted in this video.

Crowdfunding My New Film
Crowdfunding My New Film
January 14, 2022

This is an important day for me. As many of you know, I've become a little bit of a film maker over the past few years. I feel like it's been building up to this new film I've spent the last two years making.

New Rant: On Revaluating Tech We Hate
New Rant: On Revaluating Tech We Hate
January 5, 2022

I'm back at my rants. In this sixth episode, I admit that I've been a bit hypocritical about my own dislike of some well known technologies.

Year in Review - 2021
Year in Review - 2021
December 31, 2021

Well, 2021 is finally over. I thought 2020 couldn't be topped, but 2021 wasn't much better for most.

New Coding Shorts: Angular Template Forms and Vite Builds
New Coding Shorts: Angular Template Forms and Vite Builds
December 21, 2021

I have two new Coding Shorts videos. Theh first is about Angular Template Forms and the latest is about using Vite for production builds.

New Video: Coding Shorts: TailwindCSS - You Might Be Missing the Point
New Video: Coding Shorts: TailwindCSS - You Might Be Missing the Point
October 25, 2021

TailwindCSS might seem like an odd way to build your CSS at first; but this would be viewing it through an opinionated framework (like Bootstrap). I think you might be missing the whole idea of TailwindCSS.

New Video: Coding Shorts: Structuring Minimal APIs - A First Draft
New Video: Coding Shorts: Structuring Minimal APIs - A First Draft
October 23, 2021

Minimal APIs in .NET 6 aren't even released yet, but I want to start thinking about how to structure larger projects. While Controllers are still a valid option, for medium size projects, you have options on how to structure your APIs.

New Video: Rants - Episode 5: On Language Elitism
New Video: Rants - Episode 5: On Language Elitism
October 21, 2021

After discussing language on Twitter, it got me thinking about my own role in programming language elitism.

Announcing Twain Films
Announcing Twain Films
October 12, 2021

As many of you know, I've been making films for a little while. Now that I have three shorts and one feature under my belt, it seemed like a good time to create an umbrella project for the films. Introducing Twain Films!

New Video: Coding Shorts: Vue 3.2 - Create Your Own Web Components
New Video: Coding Shorts: Vue 3.2 - Create Your Own Web Components
October 11, 2021

I've only started to look into Custom Elements (e.g. Web Components) and my trip started with Vue 3.2. They have a new facility to support custom elements created as Vue Components.

.NET Foundation: My Take
.NET Foundation: My Take
October 7, 2021

It's been a long week. I mean a really long week. As many of you know, I'm a board member of the .NET Foundation. This hasn't been an easy week for the foundation.

Shawn's Rants - We're Hiring Devlopers All Wrong
Shawn's Rants - We're Hiring Devlopers All Wrong
September 29, 2021

I've been thinking a lot about how we evaluate and hire developers. I think the value proposition is more tuned for recruiters and HR departments than for development teams. I think that needs to change.

New Video: A Conversation about Humanitarian Toolbox
New Video: A Conversation about Humanitarian Toolbox
September 22, 2021

We recorded this at KCDC 2021. It's a project I'm contributing to and I really like what it's trying to do.

New Video: Coding Shorts: Introducing petite-vue
New Video: Coding Shorts: Introducing petite-vue
September 21, 2021

When I first started using Vue, I liked the ability to just drop the vue library on a page, and create some simple interactivity. While this still works, most people use Vue for larger, compiled projects.

Kansas City Developers Conference - Done!
Kansas City Developers Conference - Done!
September 16, 2021

I finally got to speak at a live event! This week I headed to Kansas City for KCDC, one of my favorite regional events.

New Video: Rants - Episode 3: Not Everyone Needs a Blog...
New Video: Rants - Episode 3: Not Everyone Needs a Blog...
September 16, 2021

Over the years, I've talked to many a software developer. Some of the most common questions are about "how to become an Microsoft MVP?", "what language should I learn?", and "how do I make the most money as a developer?". The problem here is that people think there is one way to have a career - my path isn't necessary for everyone.

Coding Shorts: Prototyping with Minimal APIs
Coding Shorts: Prototyping with Minimal APIs
September 8, 2021

Setting up ASP.NET Core for APIs isn't what I would called complex, but it does involve it's own set of boilerplate. To provide flexibility, .NET 6 now supports Minimal APIs, let's dig into how it works.

Coding Short: Dapper and Entity Framework
Coding Short: Dapper and Entity Framework
September 6, 2021

I get tagged in a lot of discussion about Dapper vs. Entity Framework. This feels like nHibernate v. Linq2Sql redux. Well, I think about it very differently.

New Videos Covering Vue 3.2
New Videos Covering Vue 3.2
August 22, 2021

I'm finally finishing up my studio/office in the house. With that, I'm getting back to making my "Coding Shorts" videos. If you're enjoying them, please let me know.

I'm Starting to Live Stream Coding on Twitch!
I'm Starting to Live Stream Coding on Twitch!
August 9, 2021

I blame Joseph Guadagno. His post on how to setup a coding stream made it look too easy. So I'm diving in. I'm going to be live coding every Wednesday at 1pm (UTC-4).

Using Angular's Base HREF in Paths
Using Angular's Base HREF in Paths
August 7, 2021

I was recently working with a client and they were having an odd problem with Angular. They'd build their Angular apps in isolation then move them into an ASP.NET Core project and their asset links would break. Let's look at why this happens and how to address it.

Coding Shorts: Changes to Coming to Startup in .NET 6
Coding Shorts: Changes to Coming to Startup in .NET 6
August 4, 2021

.NET 6 Preview 6 is here. One of the big changes I'm looking forward to is how startup is changing. With this change, comes "Minimal APIs" too. While getting rid of the Startup class is a welcome change, I'm a little less excited about how Minimal APIs might be over-used.

Dipping My Toe into Static Website Generators
Dipping My Toe into Static Website Generators
August 3, 2021

Running a build for your Vue is a common task for many Vue developers. The team behind Vue has been working on a development server to simplify this. This project is called Vite.

Coding Shorts: Dependency Injection Explained
Coding Shorts: Dependency Injection Explained
July 5, 2021

Like most of you, I've been using Dependency Injection in my projects for quite a while. Whether it be the built-in .NET Core Dependency Injection layer, Ninject, StructureMap, Unity, MEF, etc. I've been using a DI layer to do this work for many years. But before I understood the benefit, I did so somewhat reluctantly.