I've been writing a lot about various APIs over the last couple months, and this week it was the Ghost API, a RESTful JSON API built into the core of the Ghost blogging platform that I use for this site. I like Ghost, and it's been awhile since I really flexed my C# muscles, so I decided to write an API wrapper as an exercise. Check out the official docs and read about my experience testing the API too.
It's been a great chance to learn new concepts, including some of the new features in C# 6.0 and C# 7.0, how to use the popular RestSharp library to make REST calls to an API, and Ghost's very own query syntax called (drum-roll please) Ghost Query Language.
Speaking of "writing a lot", I didn't much this week since I was trying to tackle the aforementioned personal challenge. I'm good with it. I also finally purchased Developer Hegemony, which I've been meaning to do for awhile. Looking forward to cracking it open this week.
Some good articles from the week
In the future, developers will be judged on mindset over skillset
The future's not set in stone, but it's definitely worth thinking about where things are headed.
"What makes someone a developer is not knowing how to code, but showcasing a problem-solving mindset. Good developers can recognize problems, troubleshoot and come out the other side with a solution."
Fantastic Personal Websites and How to Make Them
I'm not sure I like all of these designs, some of which take long to load or are tough to navigate, but that's a very subjective thing. If you're looking for good ideas for something quirky, check this out.
Reality Check
Stumbled on more than a few articles this week that get back to the basics. Here's a couple.
Learning in a World Where Programming Skills Aren't That Important
Erik explains the diminishing returns of learning new frameworks. As he says, "Half of all software is always being written by people with very little experience. And, in spite of this, software still gets written."
I Am a 9 to 5 Developer (And So Can You!)
Matthew shares his experience on coming to grips with the fact that he'll never follow in the footsteps of those devs he reads about who spend all day coding, (over)working themselves in the process. After a decade of software development, he's decided it's okay. "If you are a 9 to 5 developer, it doesn't make you less of a programmer, it makes you better at time management."
Read the comments too. There's some real gems in there, like this one from someone in a leadership role: I was known for sending home programmers who thought working long hours was a "badge of honor" or that the workplace was a monastery and they were monks practicing some kind of religion.
The Internet is still the Wild West
In other news, Scott Helme reported on thousands of websites infected with a crypto miner, due to a popular script they all used that was compromised. While definitely different, it reminds me of the time the removal of an 11-line "program" from NPM broke thousands of projects - especially stupid since most languages include simple string manipulation. In C#: "Hello World".PadLeft(20, '*'); There are downsides to incorporating outside third-party libs in your project - especially if updates are automatically sucked down without manual verification.