Accidental Technologist

Musings about Entrepreneurship, Technology and Software Development

“Are you building a business or learning a stack?”

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I always love when someone posts something online saying they have an idea for an application and ask, “What stack should I use?”

It’s a fair question, but the answers usually start with “it depends”.

What is a “stack”?

The “stack”, for those unfamiliar with the term, refers to what programming language, frameworks, and database a project uses to get its work done.

Examples could be Ruby, Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL, or JavaScript, NodeJS and MongoDB or maybe C#, ASP.NET Core, and SQL Server. All acceptable choices to build a web application.

Indie Hackers

There is a post on Indie Hackers, titled Tech Stack Suggestions. The original poster wants to build an MVP for his business idea and is soliciting opinions as to what stack to use.

He’s wondering about using a frontend framework like React and replies to someone suggesting he keep it simple:

Shouldn’t I be using a frontend framework in order to develop this? Backend Django + SQL has its advantages, in fact, the current project I’m working on in my organization is partially based on that. But, I’d like to implement things like GraphQL, NoSQL primarily to get a more hands-on on how they’d work in a real project. Would really appreciate your input.

Volkan Kaya replies with brilliant and practical advice:

Are you building a business or learning a stack?
If you want to learn a stack do it while being paid, not while starting a business.

Nick Haskins pragmatically suggests:

It’s really unfortunate that our industry has convinced you that you need to utilize tooling built for larger applications. On behalf of the industry, I apologize for that.
You do not need a front-end framework to develop a web app.
I’ve built multiple very large apps with Rails + Bootstrap. No ReactJS. No VueJS. No JS libs, just a sprinkle of jQuery.

These are examples of excellent and practical advice. The responses to the post include a lot of misguided answers as well.

Shiny Things

The thread from Indie Hackers sums up what it’s like to be a technologist who wants to build their software. You should give the thread a read.

It’s easy to want to build something and want to use the latest frameworks. It’s a great chance to learn something new. I’m all for learning; you should never stop. But, if your goal is to build a business and challenge yourself with new technology while doing it is not the best decision.

I’ve been guilty of trying to convince myself there’s some technology I need to use because applications that are created with it are faster or scale better. It’s not essential before you have that problem. People will try to justify using it anyway.

Don’t follow like sheep do…right off a cliff.

Love the One You’re With

It’s best to take a step back and breathe. Take stock in yourself and where your strengths lie. Ask yourself which programming language and framework you use most today? Which one do you make a living using today?

What is wrong with this combination that you wouldn’t want to use it to create your application? You want to make the right choice and not regret it later.

In its most basic form, people want to make an application and try to think too far ahead. Thoughts of scaling, finding developers, performance, and such things that don’t matter until later.

As a software entrepreneur, more appropriate questions you should be asking yourself are:

  • Am I solving a real problem?
  • Do I know people who will pay me money for my solution?

These are the questions to ask yourself now. Notice these have nothing to do with the stack you choose.

The simple answer to the stack question as a developer is to use the stack, you know, leading from idea to product in the shortest amount of time.

Why strap yourself with two hard problems? Toss the stack problem right out the window.

The best advice is to use the framework you are most comfortable with and will be the most efficient—the one you can get done what you want in the shortest amount of time. You’ll be happier and have something to show for it.

Don’t let people try to convince you their stack choice is better. They will have convincing arguments. None should sway you.

Exceptions

The above is my rule, but there can be exceptions.

As a Ruby on Rails developer, if I want to build a native Mac application, then I probably need to use Swift or Objective-C. Yes, I could use something like React Native; that’s not the point, so please don’t send me an email to the effect. If I don’t know the language, then I have given myself multiple challenges.

I’m sure there are other instances where I would need to learn something new, but the cases will be unusual when you’re deciding the application to build.

Conclusion

If you’re planning on starting a software business and you’re going to be the primary developer, then use the tools you know best. You are in a great position to get something out for your customers to see. Remember, they don’t care what your application is written in, only that it solves their problems.

Switching to Fathom Analytics

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Fathom analytics

I’ve used Google Analytics for many years, and continuing because it’s free. As time has gone on, I’ve decided to use Google products less and less.

Google Analytics always seemed to be complicated or maybe overly complex for the pieces of data for which I care. It gives many details I have never used.

Enter Fathom

I started looking for an alternative analytics tool. I discovered Fathom. Fathom offers excellent features and the ones I care about most. I like to be able to see:

  • What are people reading?
  • Where are they coming from?
  • What is the visitor’s geographic origination?
  • What browser are visitors using?

I did a quick informal survey of analytics tools on Twitter that resulted in a favorable response for Fathom. They offer a 7-day trial.

  • Fathom allows unlimited sites
  • Privacy – they don’t collect personal data
  • Great support, yes, I know first hand. Quick, helpful replies.
  • Pricing is by total page views over all your sites.

Installation

Installation is simple, add a JavaScript snippet to each page or template to start tracking. If you use WordPress, there is a handy plugin that adds the Fathom Dashboard to WordPress. One issue I had was getting the analytics dashboard to show up in WordPress and making sure sharing is enabled. You need to tell Fathom to share data with WordPress because it’s an external site.

Notice the setting, the default being Viewable by You. Change the setting to Viewable to anyone with the share password.

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If you ignore this setting, you won’t see analytics in the WordPress Dashboard, only a 404 error.

Support

I contacted Fathom support a couple of times, and they were quick to reply from both Twitter and email. A couple features were missing, and support informed me of their full pipeline where features are always being added.

After using Fathom for the past few of weeks, it’s a great solution, and happy I made the change. I purchased an annual plan. Glad to support an indie developer.

If you’d like to check out Fathom and help me out, use my referral link. 🙂

Tell Me My Value Up Front

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The hiring process is broken. I hear of people who are looking for work, either as a full-time employee or a contractor, go through an extensive interview process, and if they are lucky enough to be offered a role, they cannot afford the salary.

I’d like to see all companies looking to hire people to post the opening and have full-disclosure on the amount of money the candidate will receive if offered the job. I do see some companies offer a range but far too few do this. I think recruiters behave because they are reluctant to share too much information and lose a possible hire.

Imagine going through the hiring process companies many companies use today; 3-5 weeks of multiple rounds of interviews, coding sessions, and onsite visits to learn the money offered was too low. It would be draining.

When I talk to companies about possible projects, I get it the money topic out right away. This way, often the deciding factor, is out in the open.

Computer Science Education in the Past to the Present

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A quick but thought-provoking post from Fred Wilson about CS education in our K12 system.

As many of you know, I have spent a fair bit of my time over the last ten years on increasing the amount of CS Education in our K12 system in NYC and around the US.

My friend Rob sent me this short (2 1/2 min) clip of John von Neumann in the early 50s talking about how important CS Education and in particular K12 CS Education would be.

We largely ignored his advice for the last sixty years but I am optimistic that we are finally heeding it.

This video from the 1950’s shows John von Neumann talking with a young man about his future. This young man is considering being an attorney. Computer Science in those early days was virtually non-existent except in very small circles.

Fast forward to 1983 when I was in High School and was one of about a dozen students who had access to the only TRS-80 (with a cassette drive) in our school system. We were our own CS education. There were no classes to learn to program at that time. It was only a couple years later that the first BASIC programming courses appeared.

Continuing forward to 2018 where my daughter was a senior at the same High School I attended. The computer science program was certainly expanded but I don’t think it had a large focus. I can’t explain why, maybe the administration couldn’t find adequate teachers or probably more accurately, the administration felt there were other priorities.

This High School even has gotten into eSports, where students get credits for playing video games.

I agree that CS education has gotten better, but it needs to get a lot better. K-12 today is the incubation channels for our kids and their future. I think it starts with early education to stimulate the minds of kinds to be creators. Creators with technology and the capabilities of the tech but what is possible for the future. The future they can build, with their minds.

Taking the Side of the Content Blockers

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UPDATE: Marco pulled Peace from the App Store today. Such a shame but I get it.

I’ve been following the debate lately about the ethics of using content blockers. The argument falls on two sides, those serving and hosting ads and the rest of us that are tired of all the junk loaded in our web pages. The average user browsing a web page is often faced with a barrage of ads and popups all while being tracked with every click they make.

Ghostery

I’ve been running Ghostery for a few weeks and the experience is great. A couple things I’ve learned in the time I’ve been using Ghostery:

  • The shear number of trackers on most web sites
  • How fast the web is without all these being loaded
  • How my WordPress sites were loading trackers I wasn’t even aware of thanks go some plugins

Think this isn’t really a problem? Visit the CNN main page. How many different mechanisms are either tracking you or serving an ad?

CNN

See that little red 14 next to the address bar? Yes, that’s how many. What are they you ask?..here’s a sample:

Ghostery

No, it’s not OK.

Mobile Content Blocking

The introduction of iOS 9 gives users the ability to use content blocking on their mobile devices too. Developers have stepped up right away and given users good add-ins. One such content-blocker is Peace, which uses Ghostery data to do it’s job. Peace is developed by Marco Arment.

Today, I’m launching my own iOS 9 content blocker, called Peace, to bring peace, quiet, privacy, and as a nice side benefit ludicrous speed to iOS web browsing.

This is really a game-changer. It’s not the only content blocker, there are a ton. This one uses Ghostery which works really well, so this is at least a solid place to start.

We depend on mobile more and more. Blocking content here helps us reduce bandwidth and speeds up our experience. Even Marco blocks the ads displayed on his site:

The Deck is unusually well-behaved for an ad provider: its ads are small, unintrusive, non-animated, and classy, and while it’s loaded by a third-party JavaScript include, it doesn’t set cookies or perform any tracking. That’s why I publish Deck ads on this site, and why many of my friends and colleagues do as well.

But Peace uses the Ghostery database, and Ghostery includes The Deck. It’s classified as Advertising, and even though it’s far nicer than most other entries in the category, it’s fair to call it advertising.

Who Loses

Obviously traditional advertises and tracking applications appear to be on the losing end of this wave of content blocking add-ins. The problem is, consumers aren’t respected..tons of trackers and advertisements are forced upon us. I don’t mind ads from networks like the Deck, they are very tasteful.

Tasteful, unobtrusive should be the goal of advertisers. Ad networks need to rethink how to make this work, take lessons from those like the Deck.

Many people are not happy with content blockers, calling them unfair. What’s unfair unknowingly being tracked and advertisements in our face.

Two thumbs up for the content blockers. Go try Ghostery and Peace and see how your web experience improves.

CODE Keyboard – The Best Mac Keyboard

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I have an addiction to keyboards. ?It?s more like an addiction to the pursuit of my ultimate keyboard. I?ve tried many including:

  • Apple Keyboard, wired and wireless
  • Microsoft Ergonomic
  • Microsoft Ergonomic 4000
  • Matias Quiet Pro Keyboard for MAC

Each seemed to work well at first but after a short time their weaknesses surfaced. I was able to return the Matias but I have a pile of lackluster keyboards.

Enter The CODE Keyboard

I used to love the original IBM PC keyboard. You know the one, it was loud and had a very responsive feel. I knew when I was pressing a key, no doubt about it. The feedback is fantastic from the IBM keyboard but those are a thing of the past.

Apple once made a keyboard very similar the one from IBM, but those are also a thing of the past. I understand you can still find them from time-to-time on eBay.

I remembered a post by Jeff Atwood where he talked about his dissatisfaction with keyboards, the solution?create his own. I never thought of creating my own but since Jeff is a developer, then maybe his wants were similar to mine. The result is The Code Keyboard.

The Hardware

code keyboard

The keyboard is actually manufactured by?WASD Keyboards, a company known for great keyboards with very flexible configurations.

This keyboard is HEAVY. It feels like the IBM PC keyboards of old. A solid, beefy and well-built keyboard. The CODE website says it weighs 2.42 pounds, but I don?t know which version it refers to.

The keyboard is offered in 87 and 101-key options. I chose the 87-key version because it uses less space and I don?t need a numerical keypad. The key options is what really drew me to this keyboard. Cherry keys switches are used offered in green, clear and brown. I?m using clear and picked these due to sound; of the three the clear switches have the last ?click? sound but still offer the tactile feel. ?Even though I have the clear switches, they aren?t silent:

Ultra-rare Cherry MX Clear mechanical key switches are the heart of the CODE keyboard. These switches are unique in the Cherry line because they combine solid actuation force with quiet, non-click activation, and a nice tactile bump on every keystroke. These hard to find switches deliver a superior typing experience over cheap rubber dome keyboards ? without deafening your neighbors in the process.

The keyboard is backlit, which is really nice. It?s not a feature I required but after having it, I love it. It?s useful when I have the lights off in my office and I?m working.

Configurable

There are a set of DIP switches on the underside, used to control various functions; such as turning backlighting on and off, keyboard layout (QWERTY, Dvorak or Colemak) and Mac support.

Keytool

Mac support was critical for me when searching out a new keyboard. I hate having Mac support as a second-class citizen. I want the command key where it belongs, next to the space bar. This is easy with the CODE, just a DIP switch change. The only problem, now the Alt key is in the wrong spot. Thankfully WASD has take care of this for us, they include a keycap puller in the box that allowed me to easily swap the keys I needed. ?Really nice touch.

WASD also offers replacement key sets in various colors and custom key sets such as the Mac command key and others. I found them to be a bit pricey so I just stuck with what came stock.

Usage

I?ve been using this keyboard for going on 3 months and could not be happier. I use this keyboard for writing software as well as my daily writing, emails and Twitter. It?s not ergonomic and I wondered if it mattered. So far, it has not mattered at all.

The key presses are smooth, no binding, just nice press with tactile response and a clean release. This is how a keyboard should be?no mushy keys. For the same reasons I use an Aeron chair, spending money on a good keyboard is as important as any piece of furniture.

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A nice touch is the media keys on the far right of the keyboard. These keys allow me to pause and play podcasts in Instacast and control the volume. A really nice touch with great positioning.

All the media keys are clustered together for easy reach, not spread out along the top of other keyboards.

I?m hoping this keyboard lasts a really long time because I love using it everyday.

Recommended?

You bet! This is a great keyboard. Considering the keyboards companies dare ship with their computers today it?s not really hard to make something better. ?The CODE is great, not just better.

The price is probably what will keep people from buying it. At $171 delivered to my door it?s not exactly inexpensive but either are the other tools I use. A craftsman who has the best tools isn?t necessarily a better craftsman but at least he can?t blame his tools.

If you?re in the market for a really well-built, durable Mac-compatible keyboard then you should at least consider this keyboard.

Website Filtering Using OpenDNS

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I happen to have a 15 year old at home who insists on using websites and chat services that distract her from more important academic activities. The ability to apply some website filtering is a topic I?ve learned a bit about over the past few weeks.

I can testify first-hand that the Internet can be a giant waster of time. Services such as ooVoo, SnapChat, Instagram and others can be fun to use and share with friends but can interfere with academic pursuits. We also found an increasing number of websites not family friendly.

Having a conversation with a friend who was facing the very same issues, he suggested?OpenDNS. Surprisingly, I had heard of them. I decided to take a look at their free service level.

Setup was really simple. The first step is to switch from using Google DNS to OpenDNS name servers. A quick router change and we were switched over.

OpenDNS has quite a few settings to restrict sites but nothing is turned on by default, so after switching name servers you really won?t be able to tell the difference. ?Name lookups seemed to be faster but that?s hard to measure.

Visiting all the settings pages isn?t really necessary but good to see what?s available.

Security Settings

Website Filtering - Security Settings

The security settings are flexible with nice defaults. These are the defaults and I haven?t really seen a need to change these.

Dynamic IP Update

Use a cable provider and have a dynamic IP address? No problem. Simply enabling Dynamic IP Update in Settings allows update of your dynamic IP address with the DNS update client. The client runs on your Mac or Windows PC and sits up in the toolbar just waiting for your Internet provider?s DHCP address to change.

I love when I can just set it and forget it.

Default Settings for Website Filtering

Website Filtering - Custom Security Settings

It?s easy to set a variety of different levels of security. You can view and customize any level. I wanted control over the categories being filtered so I chose the custom level. It?s just as easy to pick one of the three levels (High, Moderate, Low) and just customize their defaults.

Filtering this way takes a big swing at generally offensive website categories. Since each category is a curated list of websites, this may result in some sites being blocked you don?t wish to be blocked and some not blocked that should be. There is an easy way to take care of this ?Manage Individual Domains?.

Manage Individual Domains

Website Filtering - Manage Domains

The ability to add domains not on the groups of websites defined by OpenDNS is really nice. You have the ability to add a list of specific domains you want to make sure no one can visit.

You?d be surprised how many websites use doubleclick and googleleadservices. They get blocked and it feels pretty good to stop that bit of unwanted traffic.

Have a website being blocked but you need access? No problem, add to the list of sites you want to never block. Very flexible indeed.

Does it Work?

You bet it works and it works really well. Here is me trying to visit the oovo.com site:

Website Filtering - Blocked Domain

Stats

What good is a service without stats?

Website Filtering - Stats

I can see the total requests on the network, which domains are being blocked and how often, as well as see the domains which are not blocked and determine which are good candidates to add to the blocked list.

Website Filtering - Blocked List

Success

Implementing OpenDNS was really easy. Their onboarding experience was very straightforward.

Previously we had been using Google DNS and noticed slowness at times. Over the years I have felt less interested in using Google services, so moving to different DNS was a nice win.

Using OpenDNS seems to give us really fast name resolution but more importantly websites are being blocked that are not fit for young eyes. It also lets a data geek have good insight into all the domains we access daily and find more candidates to block.

Switched to DuckDuckGo

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Duckduckgo

I finally made the switch to using DuckDuckGo for search, full-time, and I couldn?t be happier.

I tried switching from Google to DuckDuckGo then to Bing and back to Google within the last year. The search results didn?t seem to be a good as Google?s, but that has seemed to change.

I made the most recent switch over a month ago on my main development Mac, which I use most of the day, as well as my MacBook and iPad. Since I can?t switch search providers on the iPad running Chrome, I have to use Safari but it?s a small price to pay.

The problems I used to see with DuckDuckGo was missing search results. I would compare results to Google and the results that helped me most were coming from Google. DuckDuckGo often had irrelevant or the least relevant first. This is not the case today. I spot check the results with Google and DuckDuckGo is spot on or better. When I see poor results in DuckDuckGo, I see poor results for the same search in Google.

Both search engines are good but I feel morally better supporting DuckDuckGo.

 

Feed Wrangler is My Go To RSS Reader Platform

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July 1 is fast approaching and Google Reader is shutting down. ?Many people in the world use this service to read and sync their RSS feeds. ?When I heard it was shutting down I was a bit annoyed but not surprised, but today I am anxious for it to shut down so people will stop talking about it. ?Google Reader, it’s been nice but not real nice. ?Goodbye!

I have found a paid service I am happy to pay for and support, Feed Wrangler by David Smith. ?Feed Wrangler costs $19 per year and it developed by someone I believe will do his best to be around tomorrow. ? I have officially dumped Google Reader about a month ago and been using Feed Wrangler ever since, and I could not be more happy.

The Apps

Out of the gate Feed Wrangler has a web site that can be used to read posts, mark them read/unread and add to Instapaper. ?It works very similar to Google Reader but with *much* cleaner interface. ?I never used Google Reader this way, I always used some third-party apps in my Mac, iPhone or iPad.

I have used a handful of client applications for Google Reader over the years and settled on a couple that worked really well on my Mac and iPad. ?When I heard about Google Reader shutting down my first concern was what I would use for applications.

Feed Wrangler has free applications for the iPhone and the iPad that work really well. ?I found a few little UI bugs or inconsistencies that I needed to get used to, but nothing I was unable to live with.

Thanks to the great API, third-party apps are starting to pop-up with Feed Wrangler support. ?Mr. Reeder for the iPad, and most important to me is ReadKit for the Mac. ?Both of these applications are fantastic and I am using them now.

The Syncing

The main part of what I consider the syncing platform is the backend web site and API which helps keeps the applications knowing what’s read and what has yet to be read. ?This is transparent and should be, I don’t need to know the details nor do I care. ?I just want to be able to go from device to device and not have to miss an article or mark something read more than once.

So far, it just works.

The API

One beautiful part of this platform is the open API for developers so they can create any number of client applications. ?Did I mention this is a supported and nicely documented API? ?Unlike what Google Reader had offered, this will be a pleasure to write application for.

As someone who consumes API’s for a living, the style of the documentation and examples is a lesson other developers should follow.

Finally

You have more choice popping up now that Google Reader is shutting down but David Smith has done some really nice work so far and I can only suspect he will new features all the time.

I am very happy and think Feed Wrangler is worth checking out.

Algorithms

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Daie algorithms I came across a great book on Algorithms?based on a course taught at Berkeley and U.C. San Diego and wanted to share with readers. ?As a computer scientist, Algorithms are one of the most fundamental elements of our trade.

Playing on the strengths of our students (shared by most of today’s undergraduates in?Computer Science), instead of dwelling on formal proofs we distilled in each case the crisp?mathematical idea that makes the algorithm work. In other words, we emphasized rigor over?formalism. We found that our students were much more receptive to mathematical rigor of?this form. It is this progression of crisp ideas that helps weave the story. Once you think about Algorithms in this way, it makes sense to start at the historical beginning?of it all, where, in addition, the characters are familiar and the contrasts dramatic:?numbers, primality, and factoring. This is the subject of Part I of the book, which also includes?the RSA crypto system, and divide-and conquer algorithms for integer multiplication,?sorting and median nding, as well as the fast Fourier transform. There are three other parts:?Part II, the most traditional section of the book, concentrates on data structures and graphs;?the contrast here is between the intricate structure of the underlying problems and the short?and crisp pieces of pseudocode that solve them. Instructors wishing to teach a more traditional?course can simply start with Part II, which is self contained (following the prologue),?and then cover Part I as required. In Parts I and II we introduced certain techniques (such?as greedy and divide-and-conquer) which work for special kinds of problems; Part III deals?with the ?sledgehammers? of the trade, techniques that are powerful and general: dynamic?programming (a novel approach helps clarify this traditional stumbling block for students)?and linear programming (a clean and intuitive treatment of the simplex algorithm, duality,?and reductions to the basic problem). The nap Part IV is about ways of dealing with hard?problems: NP-completeness, various heuristics, as well as quantum algorithms, perhaps the?most advanced and modern topic. As it happens, we end the story exactly where we started?it, with Shor’s quantum algorithm for factoring.

The examples are fantastic and very inclusive, ranging from Fibonacci and sorting to graphs, NP-completeness and Quantum algorithms. ?The book is 336 pages and has something for everyone. There’s a lot of math combined with some fine pseudo-code but don’t be dissuaded. Lots to learn, ponder and apply. ??Enjoy!