RFC Weekly - 8th August 2016

Katacoda

There are a growing number of resource available to help you get up and coding as quickly as possible. I previously mentioned Hyper-Dev by Fog Creek.

Both of these offerings can get you developing in a matter of seconds – skipping past all the configuration and setup of a new development install. So both seem well suited to class learning – especially if you are the teacher – just prep everything up and away you go.

Were as Hyper-Dev is aimed more at providing a scratch pad for quick prototyping and then evolution into production (I’m rather worried that they are pushing the prototype into production thing – always a worry).

Katacoda goes down the learning route – providing a number of course structures straight away. Certainly worth a look to see what they have if you are learning a new language or system.

Humanitarian Toolbox

I’ve long been an advocate that if you want showcase your talents, then open source projects are a great place to do it.

The Humanitarian Toolbox is a good project to look at. It aims to provide technological tools to help humanitarian organisations in their work. I’ve not looked at the code, but the aims are good.

Bootstrap 4 – Visual Guide

Great article discussing the differences between Bootstrap 3 & 4.

Looks like some interesting changes – if nothing else the change in the grid sizes – one to watch out for.

Bootstrap 4 is still in Alpha (released 27th July 2016) – so likely to be more changes to come.

Augury

A Chrome extension to assist with the debugging of Angular 2 Application

I believe this used to called Batarang.

It is intended to augment the Chrome developer tools to assist with Angular 2 development. I’m probably a few months off playing with Angular 2, so one for the future todo list.

Progressive Web Apps

A site by Google showing developers how to take advantage of client side functionality to turn a mobile website into something closer to an offline app.

It looks to take advantage of HTML5 features like offline storage. Good first step into making your mobile website a better experience for the user.

Shameless self-promotion

Again a quite week.

I had hoped to complete my series on Asp.Net Core – upgrading from RC1 to RTM. Unfortunately technology is conspiring against me (feel free to remind me of the bad workman blaming his tools – I can take it). Good chance I’m going to have to rebuild my laptop (never something I enjoy doing).

I have also been working on an animated advert for RFC – something to use on LinkedIn & Website homepage. I’m struggling to get the audio to work any sense. This is very much down to me doing a DIY effort with the wrong tools (a lot of Powerpoint). Good chance that it will never see the light of day.

About the author:

Mark Taylor is an experience IT Consultant passionate about helping his clients get better ROI from their Software Development.

He has over 20 years Software Development experience - over 15 of those leading teams. He has experience in a wide variety of technologies and holds certification in Microsoft Development and Scrum.

He operates through Red Folder Consultancy Ltd.