Chris Farber on Atomic Spin

Visualizing Data with Vega-Lite

Have you ever wanted to chart data without coercing it into a spreadsheet? Or interact with multiple visualizations at once? Try Vega-Lite.

Developer Tools

macOS Catalina: Fixing Emacs After an Upgrade

After the recent macOS upgrade to Catalina, accessing the Documents folder using Emacs became difficult. Here are a few ways to fix the problem.

Developer Tools

Two Strategies for a Successful git-bisect

Sometimes git-bisect is the right tool, and if you don’t have any familiarity with it, you might not use it when you should. Here are two strategies I’ve found helpful.

Development Practices

The Hazards of Transactional Test Isolation

Although using database transactions to isolate your test suite is appealing, there are some important caveats to consider.

Developer Tools

There’s a Relational Database in Your Unix CLI

With the unix join command, you can process relational data at the command line. Here's a brief introduction on how to use it.

Extracurricular Activities

Automatically Tracking Bicycle Commutes with iBeacon

Atomic provides a bicycle commuter reimbursement program, but it requires you track which days you commute. Could iBeacon help me automate this?

Growing as Makers

Want to be a Better Consultant? Learn to Work Strategically

As consultants, our high-level goals are obvious. But once we get down into the details of actually creating software, they get a lot more nebulous.

Web Apps

Improve Your App with CSS in JavaScript

CSS-in-JS libraries can improve both your developer and user experiences. Here's how.

Developer Tools

Supplementing Your VPN with Little Snitch

Little Snitch for macOS can block traffic on untrusted networks until your VPN is activated, and in caes it disconnects. Here's how to set it up.

TypeScript

Correctly Managing Concurrency in JavaScript

Two easy utilities for managing JavaScript concurrency: ensure that only one instance of a process is running, and protect critical sections of code.

Developer Tools

An Emacs Keyboard Shortcut for Changing the Font Size

When I started using Emacs, one of my biggest annoyances was actually how much friction there was changing its font size. Here’s how I fixed that.

Developer Tools

Six Editor Features You Shouldn’t Live Without

When it comes to my choice of editor, I'm a nomad. I'm always switching around based on the needs of my current project. But I've found a few essential editor features I can't live

Chris Farber

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