The perfect IDE in pictures: Part 1, *it* works for *you*

I don’t think the perfect IDE exists. But all the right ingredients are out there. Allan MacGregor wrote a post about VIM as the “perfect IDE” that started an interesting discussion on dev.to. But I’m skeptical about the pages-long config file, the dozens of independent plugins, and whether the result is really an “IDE”. This reminded…More

Testing the multi-subdomain Rails app

Writing tests for a multi-tenant, multi-subdomain app turns out to be very tricky to figure out, e.g.: I saw that, and understood the frustration. Integration tests (“request specs” or “feature specs“) are built on a stack of frequently changing libraries and shifting API’s. And the recipe for subdomain-aware testing isn’t documented in any particular tool’s notes.…More

What is a Design Pattern? (Answered.)

I recently answered that question: The entire concept of Design Patterns for software was popularized and maybe invented by the Gang of Four. This is the book. It’s an amazing artifact, organized differently from any other book I’ve seen. It’s worth checking it out from a library and reading at least the introduction and a…More