These days, it’s standard practice to run your unit and system tests with some degree of parallelism. When doing so, it’s important to ensure that the code being tested doesn’t interfere with other running tests. Usually, this comes down to the database layer. There are a few options for accomplishing isolation at the database layer. […]
Did you know that there’s a relational database hiding in your Unix shell? There really is, it turns out. A friend of mine was recently telling me about his discovery of the join command, which allows you to combine data from multiple files that contain tabular data. Let’s take a closer look.
One benefit of working at Atomic Object is our bicycle commuter reimbursement program. Although the benefit’s origin is a 2008 tax law that is no longer in effect, Atomic has decided to continue the program. The gist is that for each month that you bike to work at least 10 days, you can be reimbursed […]
Looking to level up your consulting skills? One thing I’ve observed among our more senior Atoms is a mastery of approaching work strategically.
I’m bootstrapping a web project for the first time in a while, and I was surprised to find that CSS-in-JavaScript libraries are now a thing. Despite my initial surprise, I’ve come to believe it’s actually a great idea.
VPNs are great for protecting your security when you’re on a network that you can’t trust completely, such as coffee shop or conference WiFi. However they don’t represent a complete solution by themselves. On macOS, Little Snitch can help you fill the gaps.
More times than I can count, I’ve found myself needing better concurrency primitives in JavaScript (or TypeScript) applications. Almost anything you might need is possible using the Promise API, but promises are complex, and there are many subtleties that easily manifest bugs.
Regardless of which editor I’m using, it’s common for me to change the font size depending on whether I’m using my MacBook Pro’s Retina display or the non-retina 27” Thunderbolt Display at my desk. It’s a small thing, but, when I started using Emacs, one of my biggest annoyances was the amount of friction involved […]
When it comes to my choice of editor, I find that I’m a nomad. I’m always switching around based on the needs of my current project and the editor I’m using. If I squint hard enough, VSCode starts to look like Emacs. Over time, I’ve found a few editor features I can’t live without.
After spending a bit of time learning Emacs, I’ve found it has a widespread compatibility with a lot of the basic movement and editing commands. Spending a bit of time learning these commands can make you more effective in a variety of places, even if you don’t use Emacs as your preferred editor.
