A big part of my work has to do with code. I’ve worked as system administrator – installing, patching, and configuring someone else’s code. I’ve worked as independent programmer, writing code on my own. I also programmed as part of the team. And on top of that, I worked as Team Leader and Project Manager, where I had to interact a lot with programmers. Programming world on its own is as huge as the universe. There is always something to learn. When I find something worthy or something that I understand enough to write about, I share it in this category.
Browserling – an awesome cross-browser testing service, has a collection of Web Developer Tools, which are as simple to use as possible. There are now more than 80 (!!!) tools, according to this Peteris Krumins blog post, that provide immediate help with things like converting dates and times, formats like CSV, JSON, Markdown, HTML, XML, etc, generating passwords, minimizing or prettifying HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more.
“Git Workflow Basics” is yet another take on the git workflow. This subject has been covered in a variety of ways before (here, here, and here, for example), but I think it’s super important for every developer to understand, so if all the other attempts left you puzzled and confused, have a look at this one. It’s pretty straight forward.
One thing in particular that I would like to emphasize:
And hey: remember to review your own pull request before asking for reviews of your teammates. You’ll spot a lot of small things you didn’t notice (style issues, typos, etc) and will allow your colleagues to focus on what really matters.
PHP backdoors repository is a collection of obfuscated and deobfuscated PHP backdoors. (For educational or testing purposes only, obviously.) These provide a great insight into what kind of functionality the attackers are looking for when they exploit your application. Most of these rotate around file system operations, executing commands, and sending emails.
One of the things from those files that I haven’t seen before is FOPO – Free Online PHP Obfuscator tool.
I first heard about the twelve-factor app a couple of years ago, in Berlin, during the International PHP conference. It was the basis for David Zulke (of Heroku fame) talk on the best practices for the modern day PHP applications.
The twelve-factor app is a methodology for building software-as-a-service apps that:
- Use declarative formats for setup automation, to minimize time and cost for new developers joining the project;
- Have a clean contract with the underlying operating system, offering maximum portability between execution environments;
- Are suitable for deployment on modern cloud platforms, obviating the need for servers and systems administration;
- Minimize divergence between development and production, enabling continuous deployment for maximum agility;
- And can scale up without significant changes to tooling, architecture, or development practices.
The twelve-factor methodology can be applied to apps written in any programming language, and which use any combination of backing services (database, queue, memory cache, etc).
Here are the 12 factors, each one covered in detail on the site:
These seem simple and straightforward, but in reality not always as easy to follow. Regardless, these are a good goal to aim at.
“The traits of a proficient programmer – Bridging the gap between competence and proficiency” is a good continuation of the recent “What is a Senior Developer?” discussion. This time, the question “Do you know what the difference between competence and proficiency is?” is asked and answered:
Competence means having enough experience and knowledge to get stuff done; proficiency involves knowing why you are doing something in a certain way, and how it fits into the big picture. In other words, a proficient practitioner is always a competent practitioner, but the opposite may not be true.
There are also some tips on how to become proficient.