Posts

AI assistants as customer service agents

Companies are using AI assistants to screen for their customer service agents and ultimately take on the role of those agents. Let’s look at the history of customer service and where it’s potentially going.

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Thursday, May 30, 2024 Read

Class modifiers in C#

It’s often easy to overlook class modifiers when we’re coding in C#. I’ve found myself regularly simply flagging something as public for the sake of convenience. Class modifiers don’t end with public and private though. Let’s dig into some of the class and property modifiers we find in C# 12. Public public is an access modifier that allows access unrestricted. This class can be instanced anywhere, whether it’s inside the same namespace or not.

Monday, April 1, 2024 Read

Jetbrains' AI Assistant Review

Recently, I decided to try out the AI assistant that’s become native in Jetbrains’ products. I use Rider for my backend code (predominantly) and WebStorm for front-endy stuff. After my initial trial ran out, I realised I hadn’t really gotten a good chance to use it so I forked out for the subscription and thought I’d do a bit of a review of my findings. What model is it running? It has been claimed that when asked what version of GPT the assistant is based on that it answered “GPT-3”.

Sunday, March 24, 2024 Read

My New Site

It has been a while since I posted something and the primary reason is that I’ve been moving my content from BearBlog to it’s own space (The site you are reading this on currently). There are a couple of reason for it so let me explain the “Why”, the “What”, and the “How”. Why The challenge sounded kind of cool. Nothing too difficult but a couple of smaller intricacies that would require a bit of thinking.

Sunday, March 17, 2024 Read

Powershell Tips for Linux Users

If you prefer the Linux shell experience but have to use PowerShell, here are some tips to help you through your day.

Saturday, March 16, 2024 Read

Navigating the Data Lifecycle - A Symphony of Skillsets

I have been digging into more and more data science for a while now, playing around with machine learning and MLOps using Azure ML Studio and even Fooocus just for fun. Something that I found was incredibly involved is the data lifecycle. From beginning to end it requires collaboration from Data Engineers, Data Analysts, Data Scientists, and Machine Learning specialists. In an effort to help myself better understand it, I thought I’d condense my notes into a fun blog post to publish.

Thursday, March 14, 2024 Read

Navigating Innovation Amidst Escalating Pressures - A Technical Leadership Approach

In the realm of technology, the relentless pace of evolution is both exhilarating and challenging. From the excitement of new Threadripper CPUs to the subtleties of collection expressions in C# 12, the constant influx of innovations fuels my passion. However, as priorities escalate and pressure compounds, the space to explore these innovations diminishes. The struggle to innovate under such circumstances is all too familiar, resonating with many of us in the tech industry.

Wednesday, December 27, 2023 Read

(Short) The Coding Soundtrack - Unlocking Productivity with Music

Ever analyzed the impact of your coding soundtrack on your productivity? As an engineer, I’ve discovered that music isn’t just an auditory backdrop; it’s a strategic tool that amplifies my focus on code. Here’s a breakdown of how music and coding form a harmonious duo: Optimising Cognitive Load: The right music modulates my cognitive load, creating an optimal environment for deep work. Instrumental tracks with a steady tempo often synchronise with my coding rhythm, reducing mental friction and allowing me to immerse myself fully in the logic flow.

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Tuesday, November 21, 2023 Read

(Short) Why are design patterns so great?

In the world of software engineering, design patterns are like the elegant blueprints that architects follow when constructing a skyscraper. They offer a structured approach to solving complex technical problems, making code more robust and maintainable. Let’s dive into why design patterns are essential for tech enthusiasts: 1 - Scalable Architectures: Design patterns, such as the Singleton or Factory Pattern, help us design scalable and extensible software architectures. They provide a solid foundation for growth without excessive refactoring.

Thursday, November 9, 2023 Read

Expanding on Unit Tests with GenFu and ChatGPT

In this chapter on unit testing, I’m going to discuss Moq and how it can effectively be used to ensure you are unit testing correctly without having to concern yourself (too much) with dependencies further down the chain. In this final (for now) chapter on unit testing, I’ll be showing you how to generate randomised data for our unit tests using GenFu as well as how we can use ChatGPT to write unit tests for us.

Tuesday, October 31, 2023 Read

Using Moq to complement your Unit Tests

In this chapter on unit testing, I’m going to discuss Moq and how it can effectively be used to ensure you are unit testing correctly without having to concern yourself (too much) with dependencies further down the chain. Sample Project I’ve used the base ASP.NET Code Web API project to start things off and made a few modifications to it, all of which can be found in the repo below:

Sunday, October 22, 2023 Read

Unit Testing in C# with FluentAssertions

Unit testing should be an essential part of your SDLC, especially when you have multiple contributors to a project. It’s a great way to ensure that your code is still returning the appropriate responses, even after someone else (who might have a different context than you) has tinkered with it. Don’t get me wrong, writing unit tests can be an exercise in tedium but it has saved my behind more times than I care to admit.

Tuesday, October 10, 2023 Read