Alberto on code life

While writing tests for you code goes without saying, there is much to be said about code coverage of tests. How much of your code is actually covered by these tens of tests you just wrote? If you work in a TDD approach most probably you don't have such "mundane" questions. Of course you code is 100% covered. You did make sure every test failed before you added that line in your code to make it pass... and that conditional statement... or did you? While purists would argue there is no chance of no coverage I beg to differ. Let alone if you write your tests after the code is written... After such and such years and experience in the industry when we are nearing deadlines some things are thrown out the window. They shouldn't but they are. TL;DR tools help with coverage. In this case .Net Core Test Explorer with coverlet and Coverage Gutters . Photo by  Startup Stock Photos  from  Pexels Coverlet to the rescue As I blogged a while ago I have made myself a warm

Visual Studio Code has been around a while. However most of the extensions or blog posts out there relate mainly to extensions that facilitate development in JavaScript environments such as Angular, React or NodeJs (to name a few) and even Rust! The IDE is getting great reviews as being fast to load and very responsive as opposed to its bloated and heavy bigger brother, Visual Studio. TL;DR I switched from Visual Studio for good Having worked on Visual Studio since version 4.2 I was used to it being heavy to load and at times even slow to respond. After experiencing VS Code with a little bit of NodeJs development I decided to try and make it my daily driver for .Net Core and C# development. I sought to find extensions to ease my day in the cubicle and see how comfortable will I be with it. I would give it a month on various tasks and workloads. VSCode showing off extensions The month became two months and then 3 months and here I am with a list of very handy (in my opinion)

I almost burst with cries of joy when I saw the release of .Net Core 2.2 with the much needed built in and standardized health checks. The preview was great and with each version until the release new blog posts emerged eager to show to the world the new wonder. But as I do like my frameworks fully baked and released I waited patiently for the real deal. TL;DR Implement your own service from IHealthCheck and inject it with whatever you want. It just works! Reading the instructions... The best article I found for the new healthcheck API was this one based on preview code and the best code samples where of course the official samples . However by looking at them something was missing. So I went on a quest to achieve what suited my needs. And my needs are simple. I need to be able to inject some testing code to my custom health check module. Healthcheck for your .Net Core2.2 Services On to the code After I practiced a little bit with the concept of tags I just added a heal

At my current workplace there is a healthy hunger for new technologies and a pragmatic view of the software industry in our corner of the planet. As a Microsoft driven shop, previous reservations of moving to different ecosystems and operating systems have melted away with the arrival and wide adoption of .Net Core. After all the language is the same. The developers need "only" to catch up on their containers. When I joined a month ago as a tech lead, little did I know that putting my money where my mouth is would mean having to deal with outdated Microsoft documentation or even S.O answers to questions such as "How do I run an Asp.Net Core app as a windows service without IIS". TL;DR add a reference to the NuGet package  Microsoft.Aspnetcore.Hosting.Windowsservices , publish and register your executable as a service. A Prophecy? Almost a year ago I wrote a blog post about porting  full framework projects to core . Ever since I have written my share of .Net Cor

A couple of weeks ago had my first public speaking chance. Two 12 minute sessions TED style, in front of an audience between 20-70 years old and non technical. Each sitting had 100 people. The session was about crypto/virtual currencies, real money and everything between them. 12 minutes, non technical, make the message count. Go! TL;DR It was a success and K.I.S.S Version 1 The first version, presented to the other lecturers of the evening for feedback, was rejected by the second slide. The words Bitcoin Mining were present in the slide. Shot down in flames? Yes. Discouraged? No. Slightly depressed. Yes. Version 2 Imagine... A world without bank accounts. Yes this is more or less how it started. as a story... with the song Imagine  playing in my head. I took my super technical slide deck and turn it into a story. How did I do it? Well I was given a tip. Tell a story.  Disclaimer: The "tips" here work for me. They are part of my experience. I suggest searc

Little over half a year ago I was present in an unprecedented blunder by a team leader. I saw how the fervor to succeed  made for a design mishap and how the same fervor made for a Mr. Know It All team leader. TL;DR detailed designs are for devs, not VPs or CTOs How to not design like a galley master and not be shackled like a rowing slave When one is asked to make the design document of a new development, one must be very very careful how flows are put on paper. These documents are binding and every word or terminology in them can and will haunt one for a long time. In order to try to minimize a possible mess here are some rules of thumb, gathered from my own experience Detailed documents glide up like migrating birds High level design documents may and will end up to the higher ranks of the corporate hierarchy. Be vague when describing functional parts. Do not put highly detailed implementation details in a high level design, otherwise once the details are stated and a VP of a

Sometime last year I decided that I too have something to say to the world. This is how this blog was born. I really feel it is time to take the next step and try my luck on public speaking. TL;DR this is not long hang in there.  Where to start There isn't really a recipe or a user guide on that one. One can start on meetups, try one's luck on a conference out of the blue... Just take your pick.  I am personally starting in my town of residence, giving a 12 minute session on cryptographic and virtual currencies to a non technical audience. These are people I see every day on my way to the country club, school, gym etc. This is as up close and personal as I could start.  Consider this... 12 minutes on such a subject and skip the technical jargon. This is quite a challenge! But as one tiny, great fictional green alien once said..  Where to go from there After that 12 minute challenge I plan to speak on friendlier ground. At work towards colleagues on a techn