How to Build a Maven Plugin
Apache Maven is still the most popular build tool in the Java space, thanks to the popularity of its ecosystem of plugins. It’s easy to find an existing plugin to do almost anything your application needs, from ensuring your source files have license headers, to validating binary compatibility between versions. Occasionally though, you need to write a custom plugin to fulfill a requirement in your product. In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how...
Build a NodeJS App with TypeScript
As dynamically typed languages became prominent during the last decade, typeless (or should I say lawless?) programming became the norm for the backend as well as the frontend. Many people believe the simplicity of “just writing” code is efficient for providing a proof of concept or prototyping applications. However, as those applications grow, the typeless code used to build them often becomes incredibly convoluted and more difficult (some would say impossible) to manage. In the...
Build a Simple .NET Core App on Docker
Wouldn’t it be great if stuff just worked? Especially in the ever-changing world of software. Chasing dependency issues and debugging arcane operating system errors - not a good use of time. One important aspect of “stuff just works” – reliability. Recently, the software community has made strides in test-driven development and continuous integration processes to drive up quality, and of course, that improves reliability. But it can only go so far. Operating systems perform many...
Build an Application with Spring Boot and Kotlin
In 2011, JetBrains, the company behind IntelliJ, decided to create a modern language that would run inside the Java Virtual Machine and address common concerns with Java at the time like its verbosity. This project became Kotlin, a quickly growing and popular language. Google then announced official support for Kotlin on Android, further accelerating its adoption. Many companies started to replace Java with Kotlin as their main language to take advantage of the new features...
Why Public Key Cryptography Matters
40 years old and as relevant today as when it was first invented, public key cryptography is the unsung hero of modern cybersecurity. Most people take unknowing advantage of it many times a day. So what is it, and how does it work? Let’s start by reviewing the concept of symmetric encryption, which allows you to encrypt information using a shared secret key. It’s not a modern idea—even Julius Caesar used it to code his...
How to Connect Angular and MongoDB to Build a Secure App
MongoDB is often the first suggestion when it comes time to select a NoSQL database. But what is a NoSQL database, and why would you want to use one in the first place? To answer this question, let’s step back and look at SQL databases and where they shine. SQL databases are a good choice if you have well-defined data that will not change much over time. They also allow you to define complex relationships...
Build a Simple CRUD Application with Node and MySQL
NodeJS + Express is a popular technology stack for building APIs and backend services. Often times a backend database is required. There are several popular relational databases used in both enterprise and hobby projects. MySQL’s spike in popularity came with the rise of PHP during the early 2000s and today - more than 20 years after the initial release - it’s used on a wide array of technology stacks. In this post, you’ll learn how...
Build a Simple Laravel App with Authentication
PHP remains the single most popular language choice when creating the backend of a new web application. Within the PHP ecosystem, there are many options when starting a new project: you can use a content management system (CMS) like Wordpress or Drupal, or one of the many frameworks with large user bases and active communities in the PHP world (such as Symfony, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Yii, Zend Framework). However, if you look at the PHP framework...
Securing REST APIs
When machines ask each other for information online, they don’t need elaborate browser interfaces or clickable buttons. They just need raw data in a machine-readable format. Today, many applications get the data they need via a REST API–a powerful way of serving up information online that underpins many modern online services. Like any technology, REST APIs bring their own unique security challenges. The question that remains is how to reduce those vulnerabilities. What is a...
Get Groovy with Gradle
In the Java world, there are two main build systems: Gradle and Maven. A build system chiefly manages potentially complex webs of dependencies and compiles the project. It also packages the compiled project along with all the resources and meta files into the final .war or .jar file. For simple builds, the choice between Maven and Gradle is pretty much one of personal taste, or perhaps the taste of your CTO or technical manager. They...