Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur
779 episodes - English - Latest episode: 28 days ago - ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsThis podcast is for aspiring entrepreneurs and technologists as well as those that want to become a designer and implementors of great software solutions. That includes solving problems through technology. We look at the whole skill set that makes a great developer. This includes tech skills, business and entrepreneurial skills, and life-hacking, so you have the time to get the job done while still enjoying life.
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Episodes
Software Design - The Iterator Pattern
January 09, 2019 11:00 - 13 minutes - 19.2 MBAt long last, we come to my number one pattern. The iterator is one of those software concepts that you come across and do not know how you managed before you learned it. Maybe it is just my frequent need to work through a collection of objects, but I think this is one of the most fundamental behavioral patterns you can master. The Iterator Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the "Gang of Four" intent to set the stage for our discussion. "Provide a way to access the elements...
AWS Internet of Things Services
January 07, 2019 11:00 - 22 minutes - 31.6 MBOne of the latest advances is the Internet of Things. As one would think, this focus on small and connected devices has not been lost on Amazon. They may be one of the most visible adopters of this wave of technology. Thus, it should not be surprising that they have a large number of services to assist you in your IoT strategy. AWS IoT Core The core helps you connect devices to the cloud. This is a quick way to connect your applications to the cloud and exchange data through it. How...
Hosting Options - Free and Low Cost Solutions
January 04, 2019 11:00 - 22 minutes - 31.3 MB[podcast src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/8033606/height/360/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/preload/no/direction/forward/" height="360" width="100%" placement="top" theme="standard"]We turn to hosting in this episode of our search for free and low-cost tools. To be honest, free is not a long-term option with these tools although you can find a few that will start free. These are popular, provide excellent support, and a solid list to begin with if you need to build out a...
Software Design - The Interpreter Pattern
January 02, 2019 11:00 - 16 minutes - 22.5 MBIn this episode, we look at a behavioral pattern that is key for solving certain types of problems. These happen to be grammar and translation applications. Thus, the interpreter pattern gives us a way to do precisely that. We use this to interpret text into a set of commands. The Interpreter Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the "Gang of Four" intent to set the stage for our discussion. "Given a language, define a representation for its grammar along with an interpreter ...
Amazon AWS Analytics Services
December 31, 2018 11:00 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MBThe AWS analytics group of services has a lot of members. These are some of the newer offerings from Amazon. However, they are very effective to use in professional development and learning more about your enterprise environment. Amazon Athena Query Data in S3 using SQL. Store your data in S3. Then you can define your schema on top of the data set and run queries. The UI is not very awesome currently, but it is a way to avoid building out a data warehouse for your needs. This serve...
Hot Technology and Advances for 2019
December 28, 2018 11:00 - 19 minutes - 27.3 MBEvery year it is common to see articles about the next hot technology that will be part of our lives in the year ahead. We are not going to skip this opportunity to provide our thoughts on the matter as well. These items may seem obvious, but that does not mean you can treat them lightly. Here are some areas you should advance your knowledge to stay relevant in 2019. Azure and Office 365 Microsoft has been pouring features and applications into their Office 365 and now Azure offerings...
A Look Back on What We Learned in 2018
December 26, 2018 11:00 - 16 minutes - 23.3 MBOne of our annual topics is a look back at the year we have completed. In this episode, we cover precisely that and look at what we learned in 2018. Ok, maybe this is what we should have learned. In any case, this holiday special may give you some items to catch up on during your time off. Java Is Still Growing Microsoft has been pushing forward on C# and .NET languages. Java is now joining that rapid change approach. After some early rapid development (pre version 6) it stabilized ...
Making The Most of Your Holiday or Vacation Downtime
December 24, 2018 11:00 - 17 minutes - 24 MBIn this special episode before the Holidays, we look at some ways to make the most of your downtime. We have focused on how to squeeze more out of every minute. However, there are also times we need to rest and relax. When we use our downtime correctly, there will be a benefit in productivity, health, and even drive when our work schedule resumes. Downtime Rest Sleep and rest are often at the top of our list during these periods. We do not tend to sleep very much or often. Therefore...
Cross Platform Mail Client - Free and Low Cost
December 21, 2018 11:00 - 30 minutes - 41.3 MBThere are those that say email is dead and texting is the most popular form of communication. However, those people are also the most likely to have an inbox with thousands of unread emails. For most of us, the mail client is one of our most used applications. While these applications have almost become a commodity, there are still some important distinctions among the top players. There are also some new kids on the block worth a look. Spark URL: https://sparkmailapp.com/ This is ...
Software Design - The Command Pattern
December 19, 2018 11:00 - 13 minutes - 19.3 MBWe continue our look into the behavioral patterns with an examination of the Command pattern. This is another one of them that will seem very familiar. In fact, you have probably made use of this in one way or another in your code. The Command Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the "Gang of Four" intent to set the stage for our discussion. "Encapsulate a request as an object, thereby letting you parameterize clients with different requests, queue or log requests, and suppor...
Amazon Mobile Services
December 17, 2018 11:00 - 18 minutes - 25 MBThe Amazon mobile services group is one of the newer ones in their offerings. However, that does not mean it is something you want to skip over. These solutions are likely to be very valuable to your mobile application development efforts. They will help you increase productivity and ease your integration with the AWS infrastructure when you use it for the solution platform. AWS Amplify This helps you build and deploy mobile and web applications. Amplify is a development framework (l...
E-Commerce Solutions - Free and Low Cost
December 14, 2018 11:00 - 24 minutes - 34.2 MBE-commerce is one of the primary drivers of the Internet. Although funny pictures of cats may seem like the largest draw, those pictures and social sites get their revenue from advertising. That advertising is only valuable when it leads to purchasing and e-commerce is becoming the way we buy our stuff. In this episode, we look at some excellent tools to get your electronic shop on the Internet and ready to take orders. Shopify URL: https://www.shopify.com/ SAAS, HTML/JavaScript E...
Software Design - Chain of Responsibility Pattern
December 12, 2018 11:00 - 13 minutes - 18.8 MBThis episode covers a pattern that is not as well known as some of the recent ones. This time we look at the chain of responsibility pattern. This is also our first foray into the behavioral patterns. These may be techniques you have used without knowing they had a formal name or related pattern. The Chain of Responsibility Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the "Gang of Four" intent to set the stage for our discussion. "Avoid coupling the sender of a request to its receiv...
AWS Application Integration Services
December 10, 2018 11:00 - 16 minutes - 22.6 MBThis week we look at a shorter list of services in the Application integration group. The list may be short, but these are highly useful and valuable services for application developers. These are excellent ways to integrate your applications (as you would expect from the name). AWS Step Functions Coordinate Distributed Applications The Step Functions free tier includes 4,000 free state transitions per month. All charges are metered daily and billed monthly. This service provides a ...
Time Tracking Solutions - Free and Low Cost
December 07, 2018 11:00 - 24 minutes - 33.9 MBWe all need to measure how much of our life is spent working. Thus, time tracking is one of those features that we all can make use of. The good news is that this is a problem that can be solved at a low cost and in less intrusive fashion than in the past. There may be a few "do you want to allow application X to do Y" questions to answer but otherwise, these tools can be quickly installed and utilized. Clockify.me Address: https://clockify.me/ This is free to get started and easy t...
Software Design - The Proxy Pattern
December 05, 2018 11:00 - 12 minutes - 17.9 MBWe continue a look at the structural patterns with a look at the proxy. This is much like the flyweight we reviewed in the last episode. However, it has a different focus. The flyweight can be used to implement a form of proxy but is a solution to a large number of instances where this is a different goal. The Proxy Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the "Gang of Four" intent to set the stage for our discussion. "Provide a surrogate or placeholder for another object to con...
AWS Machine Learning Services
December 03, 2018 11:00 - 21 minutes - 30.1 MBThe AWS machine learning services are more examples of the newer offerings. Nevertheless, these are growing fast and can help you embrace cutting edge technology. Machine learning is a recent technology in general so the time you spend understanding these services may help you land that next job. Amazon SageMaker This service provides a method for building, training, and deploying machine learning models at any scale. This is a great way to try out machine learning. The time you spend ...
Mail Services - Free and Low Cost
November 30, 2018 11:00This week we look at mailing and communication tools. These mail services have a wide range of features and focal points. That is just part of the reason why we also have a much longer list than typical. These applications are not quick to evaluate. Therefore, you should expect it to take weeks or maybe even months to truly find the best option for you. Common Features Most of the mail services we are looking at in this episode offer a way to build and maintain a list of recipients. ...
Software Design - The Flyweight Pattern
November 28, 2018 11:00 - 15 minutes - 21.3 MBWe continue a look at the structural patterns with a stop at the flyweight. This pattern is one I find ignored more often than it should be. In particular, the large number of data items we typically model in modern applications are often best handled through this pattern. The Flyweight Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the "Gang of Four" intent to set the stage for our discussion. "Use sharing to support large numbers of fine-grained objects efficiently." Short and sweet...
AWS Media Services
November 26, 2018 11:00 - 21 minutes - 29.8 MBThe AWS media services are among their more recent offerings. Nevertheless, these are applications you may find critical to your cloud strategy. These may not be very familiar to you if media processing is not your thing. On the other hand, they are what you hope for if it is your focus. Amazon Elastic Transcoder: Easy-to-use Scalable Media Transcoding The first service we look at is the transcoder. It has a simple function of translating video media from one format to another. ...
Technology Toys for the Holidays
November 23, 2018 11:00 - 19 minutes - 27.1 MBIt is a great time for us to talk about technology toys you can give or put on your list. As we wrap up our Holiday week episodes we have some fun and provide a few suggestions. Alternatives to Amazon Alexa devices: https://beebom.com/amazon-echo-alternatives-2018/ USB Toys: https://www.babble.com/tech/20-usb-desk-toys-to-keep-you-and-your-co-workers-entertained/ Popular USB Items: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Computers-Accessories-USB-Gadgets/zgbs/pc/11548961011 Nintendo Swi...
Technology-based Reasons to be Thankful
November 21, 2018 11:00 - 16 minutes - 22.6 MBWe continue the Holiday week of episodes by dishing out some of what we are thankful for. It is beneficial for all of us to occasionally sit back and revel in our blessings. This episode shares our list of reasons for thanks and food for thought as you enjoy this week.
Affiliate Marketing Opportunities During the Holidays
November 19, 2018 11:00 - 16 minutes - 23.3 MBAffiliate marketing is a popular form of passive income. You just put out content and hope that visitors take advantage of your partners. This approach can be improved by offering the latest deals from your affiliates to your community. The passive part of income can be less so during the Holidays as retailers turn to weekly and even daily deals or coupons. The good news is that this time of year should provide you a boost over your typical affiliate revenues. Build On Your Affiliate ...
Cloud Storage Tools - Free and Low-Cost
November 16, 2018 11:00 - 24 minutes - 33.5 MBCloud storage is one of the most game-changing products in recent decades. We have seen the cost of storage drop on a regular basis, and these tools are amazingly affordable. These applications combine with high-speed connections to make it almost invisible to store data on the cloud instead of your device. Many Cloud Storage Options The product landscape for these tools is full of players. However, a few have distinguished themselves from the pack. Nevertheless, we have found a more...
Software Design - The Facade Pattern
November 14, 2018 11:00 - 17 minutes - 24.1 MBIn this episode, we look at the facade pattern. This is one we have likely run into when we have dealt with complex systems. In general, a facade pattern is an interface that summarizes a group of interfaces or objects in a functional group. Without further ado, let's take a look at this simplifying pattern. The Facade Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the "Gang of Four" intent to set the stage for our discussion. "Provide a unified interface to a set of interfaces in a s...
AWS Management Tools
November 12, 2018 11:00 - 23 minutes - 31.7 MBThe AWS Management Tools are an excellent way to set up, configure, and monitor a cloud infrastructure. Many of these are free or have low fees that make them a no-brainer when considering whether to utilize them. There are several services in this group so let's take each in turn. CloudWatch Monitor your Amazon AWS resources with this service. You can select metrics and alarms related to variances in those values. The free tier allows for a few alerts and dashboards. This is a valu...
Integrated Development Environment Tools (IDE) - Free and Low Cost
November 09, 2018 11:00 - 26 minutes - 36.4 MBOne of the most significant choices a developer makes is the integrated development environment (IDE) they use. Nevertheless, there are new options that become available each year and niche solutions that may improve productivity. It never hurts to review what is out there and avoid getting in a rut. Eclipse http://www.eclipse.org/ The odds are that this will look familiar, even if you have not used it. Eclipse is the basis for a large number of IDE's due to its flexibility and expa...
Software Design - The Decorator Pattern
November 07, 2018 11:00 - 18 minutes - 26 MBThe Decorator Pattern is not only a common one, but it is also one of the best ways to embrace object-oriented design. This approach is a form of "helper," and the idea of a decoration fits it perfectly. It is an addition to a class without being a part of the class. Let's look at this useful pattern. The Decorator Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the "Gang of Four" intent to set the stage for our discussion. "Attach additional responsibilities to an object dynamically. ...
AWS Compliance, Identity and Security Services (Part 2)
November 05, 2018 11:00 - 24 minutes - 33.9 MBThis second part of AWS compliance, identity, and security-related services should feel familiar. These are solutions that nearly everyone needs, and has used, at some point. Fortunately, these have free tiers and tutorials to help any user get started with them and building them into your environment in the cloud. Cloud Directory This is an all-important LDAP related service. The power that the Amazon service brings to this universal need is the ability to integrate and go across mul...
MS Office Alternatives - Free and Low Cost
November 02, 2018 10:00 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MBIn this episode, we will look at Microsoft Office alternatives. The suite of applications can run up to over one thousand dollars which are not in the budget of many of us. However, there is almost no need to ever pay that amount for your office suite needs and here are some excellent alternatives. Office Online https://www.office.com/ The full products can be purchased via a monthly subscription instead of that upfront cost. This approach is not only less drain on your budget; it i...
Software Design - The Composite Pattern
October 31, 2018 10:00 - 17 minutes - 24.5 MBThe Composite Pattern is one that is not taken advantage of as often as it might outside of frameworks. This is an approach to design that allows you to treat a family of objects the same. It is a quintessential reason for and use of an interface. The flexibility is critical to being able to handle groups of different objects the same way any individual one would be treated. The Composite Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the "Gang of Four" intent to set the stage for our ...
AWS Security Services (Part 1)
October 29, 2018 10:00 - 24 minutes - 33.8 MBThe compliance, identity, and security services of AWS covers a large number of offerings. Therefore, we will review these in a multi-part series of episodes. The power and infrastructure provided by choosing AWS for your cloud provider become apparent with these tools. We have a lot to cover in this first part. Access and Identity Management This should be the first step in your use of the AWS services. AIM is a framework or set of features to help you define users, permissions, rol...
Social Site Management Tools - Free and Low-Cost
October 26, 2018 10:00 - 25 minutes - 35.3 MBSocial networking is all the rage. Unfortunately, all of those platforms that allow us to share our story can be hard to keep up with. When you want to reach out to customers on more than one platform then it is time to look at these social site management tools. Social Site Management Most of the tools we discuss start with the ability to post content to multiple platforms. While that is highly useful (and time-saving), it is just the beginning. The more advanced tools offer the abi...
Software Design - The Bridge Pattern
October 24, 2018 10:00 - 13 minutes - 19.3 MBThe Bridge Pattern is commonly configured but often due to templates and generators rather than understanding the true intent. Since it is more of a design than code implementation, it can be easily missed. Nevertheless, it is one we often have available and should probably take advantage of more often. The Bridge Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the "Gang of Four" intent to set the stage for our discussion. "Decouple an abstraction from its implementation so that the two...
AWS Customer Engagement Tools
October 22, 2018 10:00 - 17 minutes - 24.2 MBYou may think of Amazon web services as all technology-focused. That is not the case. There are plenty of offerings to help you run your business. In this episode, we look at a perfect example of these business services via the AWS Customer Engagement Tools grouping. There are only a few services in this group, but they are extremely powerful and useful. Simple Email Service This is different from WorkMail. That service provides a server for managing your email accounts and directin...
Software Ticketing Systems - Free and Low-Cost
October 19, 2018 10:00 - 24 minutes - 33.3 MBBug tracking and software ticketing systems are used in every shop I have ever worked with. Some of these are decidedly low-tech solutions that are no more than a spreadsheet. Some of these solutions can help you do far more than just track issues. They can even help you raise the overall quality of your processes. Ticketing Systems Are Almost a Commodity Bug tracking and ticketing systems are ubiquitous. A lot of companies have even built custom solutions for their internal use. Th...
Software Design - The Adapter Pattern
October 17, 2018 10:00 - 16 minutes - 23.3 MBThe Adapter Pattern is one of the easiest to understand and relate to the real world. We see adapters used every day and they have become a critical factor in our daily success. Almost every device we have utilizes an adapter in some way. The Adapter Pattern Defined As always, we will start with the "Gang of Four" definition to set the stage for our discussion. "Ensure a class only has one instance, and provide a global point of access to it." There are many names for an adapter patt...
AWS Business and Productivity Tools
October 15, 2018 10:00 - 24 minutes - 34 MBThis episode tackles the AWS business and productivity tools group of services. It includes Chime, Alexa for business, WorkMail, WorkDocs, and we add a quick look at WorkSpaces. These combine to provide a set of solutions for small to large companies that are not focused on tech workers. These services are aimed at handling everyday business needs like document storage and sharing, communication, and your workspace/desktop. WorkDocs This service is Amazon's answer to products like Dro...
Customer Relationship Management Tools - Free and Low-Cost CRM
October 12, 2018 10:00 - 22 minutes - 31.4 MBCustomer Relationship Management Tools are big business. You can see examples in vast and expensive solutions like SalesForce.com. However, not every answer is world-class and focused on the enterprise customers. There are also plenty of options all the way down to the free and low-cost arena. We will look at some of these contenders that not only can serve your needs. They also can be easier to implement than SalesForce. CRM Tools Are Broad in Features One of the most significant ch...
Software Design - The Singleton Pattern
October 10, 2018 10:00 - 19 minutes - 27.4 MBThe last of the creation patterns we will cover is the Singleton. This is a pattern that has a little controversy around it and may even be an anti-pattern. It is easy to implement, but the reason for needing one can trip you up. The Singleton Pattern Defined It helps to start with the "Gang of Four" definition and then we will dig into that. "Ensure a class only has one instance, and provide a global point of access to it." This is what we use when we need one and only one instance....
AWS Developer Tools - Your Entire Environment
October 08, 2018 10:00 - 23 minutes - 32.8 MBAs we move through the groups of AWS services, the developer tools group is one of the most impressive. Amazon does an excellent job of providing you everything you need to jump right in and get into writing code. Buckle up as we look into this broad group of services. Code Commit The options for version control go beyond Git. However, it seems like the other choices are becoming less and less viable. Thus, Amazon skips looking at any other option. They have provided Code Commit as ...
Content Management Tools (Free and Low-cost)
October 05, 2018 10:00 - 23 minutes - 32 MBContent management systems were all the rage about a decade ago. However, that market has settled down a lot and has only a few top contenders. That may not matter to you or your customers. A CMS is going to be a tool that can provide a large amount of value if it works closely to how you do. Therefore, it is worth your time to stay up to speed with the latest offerings. There are significant differences in how they approach managing content. Content Management Usually Means WordPress...
Software Design - The Prototype Pattern
October 03, 2018 10:00 - 17 minutes - 23.5 MBOur tour of the creational patterns takes us to one of the fastest ways to create a new instance. The prototype pattern provides an option to clone an instance rather than create and then set values. This approach has a variety of uses that can reduce coding and execution time. The Prototype Pattern Defined It helps to start with the "Gang of Four" definition and then we will dig into that. "Specify the kinds of objects to create using a prototypical instance, and create new objects ...
The AWS Networking and Content Delivery Services
October 01, 2018 10:00 - 23 minutes - 32.6 MBThe AWS networking and content delivery services provide you the means to put your infrastructure in the cloud. These offerings are focused on the networking side of things (as the name tells us) rather than the actual servers. This is where we go to direct users to our solutions or and protect our systems from outsiders. AWS Networking In general, the Amazon services are on the Internet and open to the world. That is why most of them start out in a "locked down" mode. Amazon assumes...
Web Tracking and Visitor Recording Tools
September 28, 2018 10:00 - 27 minutes - 38.3 MBA few years ago I stumbled across the ideas of heatmaps and recording for websites. This is one of the most potent user experience improvement tools available. The ability for visitor recording alone brings the task of watching a room full of users to your fingertips. Visitor Recording If you have not experienced this sort of tool, it is a game-changer. The way visitor recording works with these tools is that you place a javascript snippet on your web page. That is it. The code is t...
Software Patterns - Factory Method
September 26, 2018 10:00 - 18 minutes - 26 MBWe continue our exploration of the creation patterns with a look at the Factory Method. This is a pattern where we see that instantiation is sometimes better when deferred. We do not always know all we need to at instantiation time. Thus, we need a pattern to address holding off on that step until we have the required information. The Factory Method Defined It helps to start with the "Gang of Four" definition and then we will dig into that. Define an interface for creating an object...
The Amazon Migration Services
September 24, 2018 10:00 - 17 minutes - 24.4 MBIn this episode, we look at the migration group of services. We have already discussed a few of these and will focus on the ones that are new to us. These services are the Migration Hub, Application Discovery, and the Application Migration Service. We looked at the database migration service and the "snow" family of services in prior episodes. These make it easy to move a database to the cloud or large amounts of data. The "snow" (ball, edge, mobile) services make it easy to move data w...
Code Review and Analysis Tools (Free and Low-Cost)
September 21, 2018 10:00 - 25 minutes - 35.3 MBThere have been a lot of excellent free and low-cost reviewed already. However, this week we continue our "shopping" with a look at code review and analysis applications. This used to be an area where all of the solutions were pricey. Fortunately, SAAS options, improved automation, and well-defined best practices (with a touch of open source) have made these affordable. Yes, even the individual developer can find affordable options. Keep It Cheap There are a lot of great tools availa...
Software Patterns - The Builder
September 19, 2018 10:00 - 20 minutes - 28.4 MBIn this episode, we look at the Builder pattern. This one is another creational pattern that helps us construct the class instances for our application. It is another pattern that could be skipped through brute-force and a wide range of constructors, but I think you will see this is a much better approach. The Builder Defined It helps to start with the "Gang of Four" definition and then we will dig into that. Separate the construction of a complex object from its representation so th...
AWS Database Services - Relational to Big Data
September 17, 2018 10:00 - 22 minutes - 30.9 MBThe AWS database group of services is positioned to cover any need you have for storing and accessing data. We have looked at files and general storage. These services are more specific and are true database solutions. Aurora The popularity of MySQL and PostgreSQL was recognized by Amazon. Thus, they saw that a high-speed solution that was compatible with those SQL platforms was going to be worthwhile. They have made it easy and cost-effective to spin up an Aurora instance. I highly...