Web Development Basics: User

As software developers making web applications, most of the time we are engrossed in our own code. Designing features, thinking of the best ways to build it, and fixing bugs are what we do most of the time. We often treat our application as a black box, a standalone unit that accepts requests and spits out JSON or HTML. However, this is a shortsighted way of doing web development.

In this series we will explore the realm beyond the application that we are building. We will think of this as the journey of a web request starting from the user’s Web Browser (User), as it traverses through the Internet (Transit), and finally when it reaches the backend (Server). read more

Declarative vs Imperative Goal Setting

Declarative vs Imperative Goal Setting

Goals come in all shapes and sizes. Life goals, year-end goals, New Year’s resolutions, Quarterly targets, and so on. A common approach to goal setting is:

  • Step 1: Define end goal
  • Step 2: Enumerate the steps needed to achieve that goal
  • Step 3: Perform the steps that were identified
  • (Hopefully) achieve the goal

This simple flowchart illustrates this:

Figure 1. Imperative goal setting

In computer programming, when you define the actions step by step until you reach your desired state, it is called imperative programming. As this same concept is evident in the diagram above, we can call this Imperative Goal Setting. When your plan consists of executing specific steps and actions, then your plan is imperative. read more

On Consolation

On Consolation

My sister passed away on February 24 after almost three years of her battle with cancer. She courageously persisted, and fought till the end.

Seneca the Younger (4 BC – AD 65) was one of the great Stoic writers. A Roman senator, he was exiled in AD 41 as he went against the reigning emperor. He wrote To mother Helvia, On consolationwhile on exile to provide comfort to his mother.

In death, the comforters usually are the surviving friends and family, but as Seneca is still alive in exile, he was able to do this himself using his own words. This writing, together with his other works about the shortness of life, provided me with insights on how to deal with the death of my sister. read more

How to deploy your frontend application using AWS Amplify

How to deploy your frontend application using AWS Amplify

In recent years, it became easier and simpler to deploy and publish your application in the internet. Previously, you will need to purchase your own virtual machine, install libraries and then configure to deploy your application. This requires money, time, and expertise if you decide to do it yourself. Today there are lots of free (or cheap) services that will build and deploy your application in a click of a button or a code update. read more

Buying Time

Buying Time

“I wanted to do that but I didn’t have time!“. Have you heard yourself say this before? I am certain everyone did at some point. We all wish we have the time to do the things we want. 24 hours is not enough for a day!

But think about other people whom you admire. Perhaps its someone who leads a successful business, or someone who produces amazing works of art. These are people who spent a lot of time practicing and honing their skills. How did they find time to do these things? Why am I not as skilled as them even though all of us had the same number of hours in a day? read more