John Ruble on Atomic Spin

Why I Switched from Skitch to Shottr

I have been using Skitch for marking up screenshots, but recently at the suggestion of a co-worker, I switched to a new tool: Shottr.

Exploratory Testing

2 Ways to Catch Software Deployment Problems Early

Have you ever introduced a bug that lurked undetected until deployment? I'll describe a couple of these bugs and early-warning systems to catch them.

Developer Tools

Stopwatch.sh: A Simple Tool to Measure Elapsed Time

Many tools will measure how long it takes for a computer to do something. Stopwatch.sh is one I keep up my sleeve for when none of those other tools fit.

React / Redux

Building a Terminal Wordle Game with React Ink

I recently decided to write my own Terminal Wordle and used Ink, a library that lets you build Terminal UI apps using the same patterns as web apps.

TypeScript

How to Organize Your TypeScript Project with Workspaces

Here, I’ll walk through combining Yarn Workspaces with TypeScript Project References to assemble something resembling other languages’ project structures.

Development Practices

Use TypeScript Assertion Functions for Legible Test Expectations

If you're working with Discriminated Unions, TypeScript's Assertion Functions can help keep your test expectations legible.

Development Practices

Runtime Configuration for SPAs

We recently had a need for runtime configuration in our web app’s frontend. In this post I’ll describe what that means and how we achieved it.

Extracurricular Activities

Host a Minecraft server with Docker

If you like to DIY, and you happen to already have a headless computer running 24/7 in your basement, then a Dockerized Minecraft server is pretty neat!

Developer Tools

Using Docker for Occasional Linux Access

Do you need to build or debug your app in Linux now and then? I’ll show you how to use Docker to put a Linux environment at your fingertips.

Developer Tools

Why I Prefer Makefiles Over package.json Scripts

Does your package.json file have a large scripts section? If you have more than a handful of extremely simple npm scripts, try Makefiles.

Extracurricular Activities

External Monitor Color Space, Part 2: Big Sur

How to override your display's EDID to force RGB mode when you get a problematic YCbCr/RGB connection on MacOS Big Sur (on Intel Macs).

Development

Shell Scripts to Clone Prod Data Locally

My latest shell scripts to clone a remote Postgres database (in AWS RDS) through an SSH tunnel and load it locally.

John Ruble

Keep up with our latest posts.