DEV Community: Jerome Thibaud

How to deal with the Frankenstein Software Monster

Jerome Thibaud — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 14:30:10 +0000

First, we have to salute the achievement. Creating life is no small feat!
We engage in this conversation with the utmost respect for all the Victor Frankenstein out there.

The Frankenstein Monster situation is definitely not limited to software. Every city is a Frankenstein monster, Every house of a certain age is one as well. Home improvements projects can leave our home looking like a patchwork of eras, architectures and interior designs. Picture a 1980’s Bathroom in a 1920’s house lit with 2020’s LED bulbs and digital dimmers on 1900’s knob-and-tube wiring .

It works but there are caveats.

Take Away

Frankenstein software is the result of complex interactions between many variables.

Frankenstein software has its place for the purpose of concept validation and bootstrapping.

Frankenstein software can appear gradually, over time. What was a deliberate desired state can become a liability.

Software is never finished, always in flux as the world changes, technology changes and we change. All those changing conditions can lead to the creation of a Monster if not managed properly.

Navigating out of Frankenstein requires experience and effort. In most cases, it can be done but don’t go alone!

The story of Frankenstein could have likely had a better ending if Victor had faced the situation and properly cared for his creation.

Read the full article:

https://www.jeromethibaud.com/en/blog/how-to-deal-with-the-frankenstein-software-monster/

How to build a chrome extension in 2024

Jerome Thibaud — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 15:52:05 +0000

Happy to be here!

This is a walkthrough on creating the 'Scrolling Zombie' chrome extension which tracks the amount of scrolling a user does to make them aware of their browsing behavior and help them fight dark UI patterns.

In this guide I walk you through my typical approach to bringing an idea to life. I cover:

Problem statement
Use Cases
Architecture
Implementation
A few Observations (Gotchas)

Read the full guide:
https://www.jeromethibaud.com/en/blog/how-to-build-a-chrome-extension/

Link to the extension in the store:
Scrolling Zombie extension in Chrome Web Store

Have a great day!

Onboarding as a Senior Engineer

Jerome Thibaud — Sat, 04 May 2024 15:13:40 +0000

A 30/60/90 days plan is a valuable framework to use for a smooth landing in your new company.

This suggested 30/60/90 day engineering onboarding plan is designed to ensure your successful transition as a new team member. Getting connected, delivering consistently and getting involved to best contribute to the company's goals.

Whether you are a manager welcoming new team member or an engineer starting in a new team, you can increase your chances of a successful onboarding by adopting this practice.

Time to Jack-in and dive into your Data Fortress

Jerome Thibaud — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 21:37:44 +0000

Bigger and bigger Cloud infrastructures can be effectively represented as a 3D scene to convey more information and result in a better understanding of its organization and purpose. In addition to that, a lot can be done to simplify interactions between the operators and the system with the advent of both XR/Spatial interactions and AI agents.

I postulate that building analogies with 3 dimensional “tangible” systems is the way to increase the value of interactions with our computing infrastructures.

Read the full story here

Have a great day!

How to deploy a Hugo site to S3 in 2024

Jerome Thibaud — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 14:32:47 +0000

Happy to be here!

Here's a step by step guide to deploying a static website created with Hugo, from GitHub to Amazon S3 using GitHub Actions. Following security best practices, explaining relevant concepts, I go into the details of the necessary configuration.

In this guide I cover:

Storing Source Code in GitHub
Web Hosting in AWS
Hosting in S3
DNS in Route53
Secure and Fast Communication using CloudFront
Continuous Deployment to S3 with GitHub Actions
Authentication and Authorization between GitHub and AWS
GitHub Actions Workflow

I hope this will be useful to peeps embarking on the same journey. Happy to clarify any part of it if needed.

Read the full guide:
https://www.jeromethibaud.com/en/blog/deploy-hugo-site-to-s3/

Have a great day!

Utils classes bury the lead

Jerome Thibaud — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 16:35:35 +0000

Happy to be here!

In my recent article, I relate a discussion I've had many times over: Utils classes are 'bad'. "Bad how" you ask? Like crossing the streams? I believe it's about information or the lack thereof. I discuss the problems with creating utility classes and I offer solutions for improving code organization and usability.

Think about your code as a product and other developers as your users.

The issues with 'Utils'

The name 'Utils' provides no valuable information, making it difficult for developers to understand the purpose of the code.

Lack of discoverability can lead to duplication, as developers might miss existing methods and create new ones.

Utility methods are often provided through static methods, which can cause challenges in testability and flexibility.

A few suggestions to make it better

To address these issues, I suggest a few things:

Consider the problem domain and choose informative names for your code, placing it near relevant domain types.

Leverage design patterns and language features to increase usability.

Organize code in a predictable way and providing information at each level of the source code hierarchy.

Ask questions about the intent, context, relationships, and problem domain to determine the best name and location for your code.

Use design patterns like the decorator pattern to add functionality to existing Types.

Avoid static methods to support testability and flexibility.

Utilize language features like extension methods and metaprogramming, especially when working with external libraries.

Conclusion

By following these guidelines, you can create more maintainable and discoverable code, ultimately saving time and effort in the long run.

You can read the full story on my site

Thank you for reading, I hope this was helpful.