All entries of my technical and business blog

Composer Security Concerns with Create Project

Jan 21, 2019 composer php security

One of the lesser known pieces of functionality from Composer is the ability to create a project from skeleton/scaffolding. This ability allows you to create a project structure, directory, files and requirements based on the suggested setup from the project maintainer. A common installation mechanism of Laravel uses this functionality. (Even I use it to save time and set up my own custom configuration for new project skeletons.)

Keep Data Migrations Separate from Database Migration

Jan 7, 2019 laravel mysql php

By now, you’ve probably written many database migrations in Laravel. But, then something else happens. Perhaps your business model changed, your data attributes changed or you’re just refactoring to a stronger architecture. Doesn’t matter which, you’re going to need to convert and migrate some data.

Techniques to Battle Expensive PHP Constructors

Dec 31, 2018 php

Whether you’ve made the class yourself or you’re using a pre-made SDK, there are times when the construction of an object might be expensive. Expense, in this case, pertains to memory, time, CPU cycles, basically anything that is above baseline.

What I Learned from My Most Recent Corporate Gig

Dec 24, 2018 business

I kind of hate that phrase, that buzzword-worthy label “corporate gig,” but I don’t know what else to call it. Office job? Large company employment? Anyway, I thought I’d take a bit to reflect on my last one and share a few things I learned.

Make Meetings 5 Minutes Shorter

Dec 17, 2018 business

Having many meetings, one after another, is not only tiring, it’s a recipe for memory disaster. You don’t have enough time between meetings to finish notes, gather your thoughts or even use the bathroom. Because of this, I’ve started doing something different:

HTTP Only Cookies Aren't Perfectly Secure

Dec 10, 2018 javascript php security

When you’re creating cookies on your server side application, it’s good security practice to flag the cookie as HTTP Only. This way, it instructs the browser that it should sandbox this cookie from the client side scripts. It still will send it between client and server on each subsequent request, but javascript can’t access it directly.

PHPUnit Runs Data Provider Before Setup

Dec 3, 2018 php phpunit testing

I started noticing a disturbing trend on one of my projects: developers were doing too much logic in the setup and data provider methods of their PHPUnit tests. However, before we could address this, a “limitation” popped up which helped them kick this habit.

The Many Motivations of Money

Nov 26, 2018 business

Motivation is a very hard thing to master. When used properly, you can get great things and enormous productivity. When misunderstood, a whole host of things appear to go wrong. Getting into all of the motivations of an employee or developer would take a book, one that I’m not ready to write yet! But, I wanted to focus on just one, money. And, in that motivation, only three types of the many ways and mixes that people can be motivated by money.

2 Ways to Use Alfred to Set Status on Slack

Nov 19, 2018 business

I’m a huge fan of Alfred - but I had to upgrade to get the pro version to get workflows. Because I use Slack a lot, I’ve been trying to set up status automation and workflows. When using my phone, I have an automated system that sets my status. You can find that here. But, what about using Alfred for some automation?