Using Ephemeral Docker Containers as CLI Applications
Preslav Rachev in Programming, Docker, Python | 18 Mar, 2019
Docker containers have proven themselves extremely useful in allowing developers to sandbox environments and ease the deployment of services. Have a complicated service setup? No worries. Simply, describe the steps in a Dockerfile and you should be able to replicate the process on every host OS that has Docker support.
When I said services, I bet that the first thing you thought about was HTTP servers, or some sort of persistent, always running processes that send or accept requests to such services.
Use Dotenv Files When Developing Your Python Apps
Preslav Rachev in Programming, Python, Tips | 9 Jan, 2019
Hard-coding configuration is bad. This is one of the things that newbie programmers learn quickly after they realize that have committed sensitive information to a public GitHub repository. And it happens so easily. Often, you are in the spur of the moment, wanting to test something locally, when you figure out that you need some API key in order for your app to work. Adding the key to the code takes a second, and is just as easy to forget when committing.
Dependency Injection in Python: The Java Guy's Perspective
Preslav Rachev in Programming, Python | 20 Dec, 2018
Dependency Injection (DI) in Python? Seriously? 🤔
At this point, I am expecting people to yell at me for thinking like a Java guy, but just bear with me for a moment, will you? Spoiler: I am going to mention Spring only once in this post, I promise.
NOTE: If you are already familiar with Dependency Injection and want to see it in action, you might want to jump right to the example at the end.
Designing Well-Structured REST APIs with Flask-RestPlus: Part 1
Preslav Rachev in Programming, Python | 2 Dec, 2018
This is the first part of a two-part series. In this post, I will introduce Flask-RestPlus and demonstrate how to start organising APIs around its simple REST-based conventions. Next time, I will address the topic of request/response marshalling (serialisation) and validation.
A seasoned Spring developer, I felt a bit uneasy when designing and future-proofing a Flask-based API for the first time. I have recently started using Python way beyond my original intention to just play with data, and found Flask to be a super-easy micro-service alternative to Spring Boot or Ktor.
[Review] Bad Blood
Preslav Rachev in Books, Startups, Sillicon Valley | 18 Aug, 2018
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou. Also known as the story of Theranos. One of the best books I have read this year. A masterpiece of investigative journalism!
Verdict: 5⁄5
This is the story of a person who had set out to help humanity, but lost her morals along the way of corporate greed and secrecy. A story about control, secrecy, ego, and denial. Elizabeth Holmes had a vision which she genuinely believed in.
Data Science on Your iPad
Preslav Rachev in Data Science, Programming, Python, iOS | 12 Aug, 2018
This article is a follow-up transcription to a talk I recently gave at a local Munich machine learning meetup. Unlike my previous talk, this time I wanted to convey the idea of using an iPad for actively running data science experiments, as opposed to passively consuming information. I illustrated my point with a few example iOS applications I personally use on a daily basis, which I hope would be good starting points to get the audience interested in the idea.
Live-reloading of Python Modules in the Python REPL / IPython / Jupyter Console
Preslav Rachev in Programming, Python, Jupyter Notebook, Tips | 22 Apr, 2018
Often, I would work on a Python module and add changes to it live, which I would then want to test immediately. Piece of cake! Add the changes and execute the script again. Well, that’s certainly a way, but as modules get bigger, they tend to import other modules, or do some preliminary setup work.
With time, I have developed this practice of opening up a Python REPL (though I recommend IPython or the Jupyter Console for that), importing my in-progress module and singling out separate functions I would like to test.
Debugging Network Calls in React Native Using the Chrome Debugger
Preslav Rachev in Programming, JavaScript, React Native, Tips | 26 Mar, 2017
TL;DR! Just give me the code In your index.js file (or your platform-specific index file for that matter), simply add the following line to the top, directly after the import statements:
XMLHttpRequest = GLOBAL.originalXMLHttpRequest ? GLOBAL.originalXMLHttpRequest : GLOBAL.XMLHttpRequest; You will also need a Chrome plugin that overrides CORS. I use CORS Toggle. You may also decide to skip the plugin and start Chrome with CORS disabled:
chrome --disable-web-security then, as usually, start remote debugging from your app, and open: http://localhost:8081/debugger-ui on your computer.
Kotlin Basics: apply() and copy()
Preslav Rachev in kotlin | 26 Jun, 2016
Without any doubt, Java is a verbose language. This verbosity of the language makes it easy to understand Java code by new programmers. It is though one of the reasons, why many Java programmers find writing Java code tedious. Kotlin brings a touch of succinctness in places, where even programmers new to Java, may find code unnecessarily over-bloated.
How many times have you had to do the same thing over and over again:
What’s with the 50/72 rule?
Preslav Rachev in Programming, Git, Tips | 21 Feb, 2015
It is part of common sense to assume that the worthiest commit messages lie far from any extremes. Years ago, I often fell in the trap of hastily sending a commit after commit, annoyed by the fact that I have to add a summary to it (let alone a description). I’ve seen many projects whose commit summaries consist primarily of one-word verbs like [FIX], [CLEAN], [TEST], etc.
They don’t tell much do they?