Developer Tools

Compressing 3D Model Files with Draco

Historically used for CAD and video games, 3D computer models are working their way into the mainstream. This is, in part, due to the rise in popularity of things like augmented reality and 3D printing.

My current project uses 3D model data, and my team was looking for an efficient way to upload this data to our server. The file sizes for 3D models can often be very large, so compressing the files was a requirement. We initially tried using standard compression approaches (e.g., gzip, 7-Zip, etc.) and were able to make some progress, but even the compressed files were still pretty large. Then we discovered Draco. Read more on Compressing 3D Model Files with Draco…

Simulate Network Outages in Your App with Little Snitch

Modern development tools are super-convenient. XCode’s more recent builds let you debug an iOS app over WiFi, so you don’t have to succumb to the indignity of plugging in a Lightning cable (so 2017). React Native’s tooling goes a step farther, giving you the ability to run the native part of the app on a mobile device and execute the JavaScript side part of the app in a web browser on your development machine (where the JS inspection tools are more convenient). Networked debugging is amazing.

But sometimes, you need to test your app’s response to network outages. Read more on Simulate Network Outages in Your App with Little Snitch…

What’s Under the Hood in Git?

Git is the ubiquitous version management tool, but most of us work with it only through the higher-level commands. However, under the hood, it uses just a small set of powerful commands.

Today, I’m going to walk you through the process Git takes to go from untracked files to commits on master. I’ll cover some of these commands and show how they power Git, but I’ll skip some of the specific flags and details for brevity’s sake. Read more on What’s Under the Hood in Git?…

VS Code vs Spacemacs for TypeScript Development

I have been using Spacemacs as my go-to editor for around two years, and I use it on every project I can. After being assigned to a TypeScript project, I discovered Spacemacs support for TypeScript was lacking compared to Visual Studio Code. I grudgingly accepted that VS Code provided a better development experience and adopted it as my editor for this project. While I grew comfortable with VS Code, I never felt at home using it. Read more on VS Code vs Spacemacs for TypeScript Development…

Can You Get Turnkey IoT with Blynk?

In my last post, I gave an overview of Amazon’s tools for building Internet of Things devices and discussed the unique features that Amazon brings to the IoT space. Amazon has a lot to offer, but figuring out exactly which tools or components you need—and how to make them work together—can be challenging. If you want a more turnkey, off-the-shelf solution, you may want to consider Blynk. Read more on Can You Get Turnkey IoT with Blynk?…

An Emacs Keyboard Shortcut for Changing the Font Size

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 in changing its font size. Here’s how I fixed that. Read more on An Emacs Keyboard Shortcut for Changing the Font Size…

Amethyst & chunkwm – Comparing MacOS Tiling Window Managers

If you typically work with a lot of applications open at once on MacOS, you’ve probably noticed that things get pretty cluttered pretty fast. MacOS’s window manager has a few built-in features to help manage things, but I was never completely happy with it. In the last few months, I’ve been experimenting with using two tiling windows managers—Amethyst and chunkwm. In this post, I’ll give a brief overview of some of their differences and difficulties.

Read more on Amethyst & chunkwm – Comparing MacOS Tiling Window Managers…

A Simple Approach to Comparing Database Structures

On my current project, we are developing a replacement for a legacy system written in Visual FoxPro that our customer has used for the last couple of decades. Since there is a lot of risk in switching over, we have developed a bi-directional syncing tool that attempts to keep each system up-to-date with changes made in the other. Read more on A Simple Approach to Comparing Database Structures…