software development Articles
Planning-First AI Methodology: The Foundation of Successful AI Collaboration
Why starting with understanding, not code, is the key to unlocking AI’s full potential in software development Picture this: You’re 7 hours into your work day, you’re on your third cup of coffee, and the AI just generated 200 lines of code that compile perfectly… and do absolutely nothing you wanted. Sound familiar? If you’ve […]
The AI Coding Revolution: Why Your Development Team Needs to Invest Now or Risk Being Left Behind
A developer’s perspective on mastering AI coding tools for competitive advantage The software development landscape has undergone more transformation in the past year than in the previous decade combined. As AI coding tools evolve from novelty to necessity, development teams face a critical decision: invest heavily in learning these tools now, or watch competitors pull […]
Beyond Compare: The Diff Tool I Refuse to Live Without
I love boosting productivity. If you’re manually comparing files, squinting at Git diffs, or struggling to sync folders across servers, you’re wasting time and there’s a better way— it’s called Beyond Compare. I’ve been using this tool for over a decade, and I’ve paid for it with my own money. That’s how much I believe […]
Dodging Merge Conflicts in git
This article was originally posted on my personal blog under the same title, “Dodging Merge Conflicts in git.” Introduction Of all the source control management systems that have ever been created, git is certainly one of them. You’ve probably used it, and been burned by a particularly complicated merge conflict. Resolving merge conflicts can be […]
NeurIPS 2024 Developer Tools You Can Deploy & Use Today!
I learned about these open source and commercially licensed tools for developers at NeurIPS 2024. Most of the tools on this list are new to me, but not new to the world. You can deploy and use them today! …pssst – if your manager or your client would rather you make something from scratch instead […]
Agile Indy 2024 Trip Report
From the AgileIndy site: AgileIndy is a user group devoted to raising awareness, acceptance, and support to people who explore and apply agile values, principles, and practices to make building software solutions more effective, humane, and sustainable. This year’s conference took place on Friday October 18th at 502 E Carmel Dr, Carmel, IN 46032. A […]
AI Code Gen Tools Need Human Developers to Produce Good Code
Last year, AI code gen tools made a huge splash in the software development world. Again. Someone had the bright idea that “Hey, source code is text. Maybe we can generate that!”. What started as one big offering has grown to dozens of tools to write our code for us. These tools excite some, terrify others, and leave many wondering […]
Curious About How to Get Started with LLM App Dev? Let’s Go!
LLM app dev sounds scarier than it is. Luckily, open source frameworks exist with excellent guides, great documentation, and active communities. Find below a series of toys, tasks, and videos that will take you from “aware that LLMs exist” to “building an LLM-based app”. Wait, what are LLMs? Some of this article can be practiced […]
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Integration Testing in Flutter
Integration testing in Flutter is fairly well documented. The official docs have a get-started guide that will get you started, and it’s not hard to find answers to common issues on blogs or Stack Overflow. This isn’t going to be a walkthrough of setting up testing Flutter as the docs do a good job of […]
Your App Uses Xamarin.Forms, but That Tech is Going Away. Don’t Panic! 😱
You may be hearing a lot of chatter about Xamarin.Forms going away. If your app is built in Xamarin.Forms, this is probably concerning news to hear. Our advice? Don’t panic! 😱 We recently sat down with Adam Livingston, Staff Software Engineer, and Charles Tippett, Engagement Manager, to get the scoop on the upcoming transition from […]
Transferable & Soft Skills: The Unjustly Unsung Heroes of Software Development
“If you don’t figure out what you want to do for a career, you will fall behind in life.” I can remember hearing this loaded statement as early as 8th grade. Which, looking back on it, is about the equivalent of attempting to teach a dog new tricks as a squirrel scampers about in its […]
Best of 2022: SEP’s Top 6 Software Development Resources of the Year
Looking back at our most viewed software development resource articles throughout the year. #6. WSL, git, and Beyond Compare Since I’m a git command line kind of guy, being able to sudo apt install git was a slice of heaven on a Windows machine. Getting that up and running was pretty nice. However, there is […]