dash dash force Misadventures in software engineering
Creating SQL insert statements programmatically from CSV with Python
On tonights episode of “Reinventing the wheel” we have this useful little script I made. The problem I was facing was that I needed to create a lot of SQL insert statements for importing data that was originally sourced from a CSV file for testing out a new feature in a test database. Yes I realize many databases probably have built in ways to d... Read more 27 Nov 2023 - 5 minute read
How to sort by two keys in an array of objects in JavaScript
Had a problem at work the other day that felt like a good interview question. “Given an array of objects all containing the same keys, sort the objects by one key first, then another leaving them grouped by the first key.” Well I didn’t have to reimplement a quick sort or a binary search tree to do it but got to instead experiment with some of t... Read more 13 Nov 2023 - 2 minute read
Pragmatic Programmer Code Navigation Challenges in VS Code
Years ago I read Pragmatic Programmer by Andy Hunt and David Thomas. Because I was pretty new in my career, a lot of it didn’t sink in well or have a ton of meaning to me although it was still a very valuable read. Like watching that movie when you’re 9 years old that in adulthood takes on a whole new meaning. Well I’ve been re-reading it and th... Read more 23 Oct 2023 - 9 minute read
Shoshin 3: But what *is* JSON?
A friend of mine once said “if you ever get to the point that you start suspecting the compiler has done something wrong, you need to stop and think real hard about all the basics of what you’re doing because whatever it is it’s almost certainly your fault”. Well I didn’t get the point where I was questioning the Java compiler but I did chase my... Read more 25 Sep 2023 - 3 minute read
Learning Java with Co-Pilot
I’ve developed something of a habit now of starting jobs that require using programming languages I’ve never written a single line of. I know that’s not unusual in this industry but it’s becoming funny. This however is the first time I’ve had a tool like Co-Pilot and AI language models to help out with that process. This time around it’s Java. ... Read more 01 Sep 2023 - 6 minute read