Oct 11, 2021Pagination and Infinite Scroll in PhoenixWith Phoenix Hooks and Ecto Queries. Data gets big, really big. You can optimize your data retrieval with faster algorithms, but at some point, there’s simply too much data for your client or server to handle. That’s where Pagination comes in. What is Pagination? Think of your data like a big massive book…Ecto6 min readEcto6 min read
Oct 5, 2021Playing Factory Builder Games Makes You a Better Developer.My Multi-Hour Gaming Sessions Are Productive. I Swear. For those who aren’t familiar, Factory building games are a genre of video game where the goal is to build factories that produce items, which are then used to produce more items, and so on. Input and Output Jumping into the genre as a software…Factorio3 min readFactorio3 min read
Sep 27, 2021The ‘use’ Macro in Elixir.How to Use ‘use’ and ‘__using__’ Usefully In Your Modules. Information on ‘use’ is Hard to Find. I found learning ‘use’ unintuitive. Partially because I think it’s hard to find documentation for. ‘use’ is not searchable: Google searching “how to use ‘use’ in elixir” doesn’t return much information. ‘use’ is hidden in the elixir documentation: It’s in…Elixir5 min readElixir5 min read
Sep 20, 2021From Elixir Newbie to Elixir Developer: Create Your Learning Path.The Steps to Take to Become an Employable Elixir Developer. Your Elixir Learning Path. Deciding what you should learn is critical. You need to be exposed to new information and understand what the Elixir ecosystem looks like. You can waste a lot of time learning things that aren’t critical and never learn key skills…Elixir4 min readElixir4 min read
Sep 17, 2021How Pair Programming Makes You Faster.When You Optimize For Thinking Speed, Then 1 + 1 = 3. — Pairing is the process of creating software collaboratively. It’s usually done between 2 developers though other forms of it involve more people. Typically one person will be the navigator, and the other person will be the driver. The Driver. The driver is the person who controls the keyboard. The driver worries about…Phoenix4 min readPhoenix4 min read
Sep 13, 2021Mocks in Elixir/Phoenix using Behaviors and Environment variables.With Real World Examples Mocking SMS with Twilio. Mocks simulate real-world behavior for the sake of convenient testing. José Valim wrote an excellent piece on mocks and explicit contracts, and I recently had to opportunity to implement a Twilio Mock on my current project. …Elixir4 min readElixir4 min read
Sep 6, 2021Testing Permutations of Interactions Between Features in Elixir and Phoenix.Learn How to Maximize Test Coverage Using a Book Search Example. Testing Interactions Between Features. When testing interactions, permutations of test cases grow exponentially. What does that mean? Well, imagine you have to test a single feature. For example, you want to be able to search a list of books by title. …Elixir5 min readElixir5 min read
Sep 3, 2021How to Pick Your Next Side Project.Thoughts on Building Your Portfolio and New Skills. If you are a new developer, you might be in the portfolio-building stage of your new career. Deciding on which project to build to increase your skillset and build a portfolio can be overwhelming. …Elixir5 min readElixir5 min read
Aug 30, 2021Elixir/Phoenix How You Can Cut Test Time by 80% With Development Specific Test Suites.Use The --slowest and --exclude Flags to Profile Your Slowest Tests. Tests are wonderful. Tests are little rules and assertions that you can put in your codebase that guarantee you haven’t broken anything while developing your feature. However, as lovely as tests are, they also suck up a lot of…Elixir5 min readElixir5 min read
Aug 27, 2021Phoenix/Elixir: Chain Composable Queries with Ecto Named Bindings.Make Easily Composable and Reusable Queries. In my earlier article, Ecto with Phoenix in 4 Minutes, I summarized how Ecto handles data persistence and validation in your phoenix app. If you would like a refresher on Ecto queries, I recommend you start there. What are composable queries? Composable queries are a way of building…Elixir4 min readElixir4 min read
