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If you haven’t been able to keep up with my blistering pace of one blog post per year (if that), I can’t blame you. There’s a lot going on right now. It’s a busy time. But let’s pause and take a moment to celebrate that Elon Musk destroyed Twitter. I can’t possibly say it better than Paul Ford (how could I?) so I’ll just refer you there:

Every five or six minutes, someone in the social sciences publishes a PDF with a title like “Humans 95 Percent Happier in Small Towns, Waving at Neighbors and Eating Sandwiches.” When we gather in groups of more than, say, eight, it’s a disaster. Yet there is something fundamental in our nature that desperately wants to get everyone together in one big room, to “solve it.” Our smarter, richer betters (in Babel times, the king’s name was Nimrod) often preach the idea of a town square, a marketplace of ideas, a centralized hub of discourse and entertainment—and we listen. But when I go back and read Genesis, I hear God saying: “My children, I designed your brains to scale to 150 stable relationships. Anything beyond that is overclocking. You should all try Mastodon.”

It’s been clear for a long while now that the social media strategery of “jam a million people in a colosseum and let them fight it out with free speech” isn’t panning out, but never has it been more clear than now, under the Elon Musk regime, that being beholden to the whims of a billionaire going through a midlife crisis isn’t exactly healthy for society. Or you. Or me. Or anyone, really.

I tried to be fair; I gave the post-Elon Twitter era a week, thinking “how bad could it possibly be?” and good lord, it was so much worse than I could have possibly ever imagined. It’s like Elon read the Dilbert pointy-haired-manager book on management and bonked his head on every rung of the ladder going down, generating an ever-growing laundry list of terrible things no manager should ever do. And he kept going!

It’s undeniably sad. I really liked Twitter, warts and all, from 2007 onward. In fact, it was the only “social network” I liked at all. Even when it became clear in the Trump era that Twitter was unhealthy for human minds, I soldiered on, gleaning what I could from Twitter. I’m not alone in that; Clay Shirky’s moribund signoff at the end of 2022 was about how I felt:

Indeed, Twitter was murdered at the whims of a billionaire high on Ketamine while it was (mostly) healthy, because of the “trans woke virus”.

I encourage you, all of you, to disavow Twitter and never look at it again. No one who cares about their mental health should be on Twitter at this point, or linking to Twitter and feeding it the attention it thrives on. We should entomb Twitter deep in concrete with this public warning on its capstone:

In the end, I begrudgingly realized, as did Paul Ford, that Elon unwittingly did us a favor by killing Twitter. He demonstrated the very real dangers of becoming beholden to any platform run by a king, a dictator, a tyrant, a despot, an autocrat. You can have all your content rug-pulled out from under you at any time, or watch in horror as your favorite bar… slowly transforms into a nazi bar.

I’ve been saying for a long time that decentralization is the way to go. We can and should have sane centralized services, of course, but it’s imperative that we also build decentralized services which empower users and give them control, rather than treating them like digital sharecroppers. That’s what our Discourse project is all about. I propose collective ownership of the content and the communities we build online. Yeah, it’s more work, it’s not “free” (sorry not sorry), but I have some uncomfortable news from you: those so-called “free” services aren’t really free.

Which, again, is not to say that “free” services don’t have a place in the world, they do, but please don’t harbor any illusions about what you are giving up in the name of “free”. Grow up.

I take a rather Tron-like view of the world when it comes to this stuff; in the software industry, our goal should be to empower users (with strong moderation tools), not control them.

So I encourage you to explore alternatives to Twitter, ideally open source, federated alternatives. Is it messy? Hell yes it’s messy. But so is democracy; it’s worth the work, because it’s the only survivable long term path forward. Anything worth doing is never easy.

I’m currently on Mastodon, an open source, federated Twitter alternative at https://infosec.exchange/@codinghorror – I urge you to join me on the Mastodon server of your choice, or quite literally any other platform other than Twitter. Really, whatever works for you. Pick what you like.

To encourage that leap of faith, I am currently auctioning off, with all funds to benefit the Trevor Project which offers assistance to LGBTQ youth, these 10 museum quality brass plaques of what I consider to be the best tweet of all time, hands down:

(Blissfully, @horse_ebooks is also on Mastodon. As they should be. As should you. Because everything happens so much.)

If you’d like to bid on the 10 brass plaques, follow these links to eBay, and please remember, it’s for a great cause, and will piss Elon off, which makes it even sweeter:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/225895658859
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225895658395
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225895657953
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225895656856
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225895655560
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225895655243
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225895654889
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225895654391
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225895654002
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225895653408

I will sign the back of every plaque, because each one comes with my personal guarantee that it will easily outlive what’s left of Twitter.

The topic of whether or not designers should learn to code is probably the most debated one in the industry. There are numerous forum threads and blog posts supporting both sides. Additionally, the steps to actually learning how to code are not always so clear. In this featured post we will run through some important steps to becoming a designer who codes along with the many benefits of combining your design skills with coding knowledge.

Introduction

Some say that a professional should have one focus only and not spread themselves too thin. Their main argument is – a jack of all trades can’t have a deep understanding of every field they operate in, so they can’t be a true professional.

Others believe that in the modern world, a multi-skilled professional is a huge benefit for business and there shouldn’t be any obstacles for a designer to get as many valuable skills as they deem necessary. After all, knowledge is power.

In this neverending debate on whether a designer should be able to code, we are definitely on the “yes” side. In this post, we will share our arguments on why being a designer who codes is great for everyone involved and give you a few tips on how to become one.

What kind of designers would benefit from learning programming languages or coding? If you are a web designer, UX designer, game designer, or app designer, then you will definitely expand your ability to design and open additional opportunities in your current vocation.

How to become a designer who codes

Learning to code might seem like an impossible thing to do. The code looks gibberish, and the task of learning to understand it seems boring and tedious. Yes, it won’t be a walk in the park. But it won’t be as difficult as you imagine. With enough motivation, you can master the basics of any programming language you choose in mere weeks.

Image credit: Adobe Stock

6 Tips On How to Learn Coding For Designers:

Why learning to code is a good idea for designers

The design industry is ever-evolving and competitive. In this environment, a professional has to maintain their edge, become more agile, strive to progress, and seek to innovate. The alternative is stagnation.

Image credit: Adobe Stock

Top 4 Reasons Designers Should Consider Learning How to Code:

What programming languages can I benefit from?

The choice of which programming language to learn largely depends on the industry you’re currently working in. Obviously, a web designer would need a different set of skills compared to an app designer or a game designer.

Image credit: Adobe Stock

How many programming languages are there?

Around the globe, there are literally hundreds of different types of programming languages and as we stated, they are industry-specific. So, for our web design friends, you should stick with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Java.

The Programming Languages You Should Start With

Wrapping Up

Becoming a designer who codes is not an easy path, but the benefits are definitely worth the time and effort you’ll put into it. Choose the right language, apply the knowledge you get in your day-to-day tasks, and you will see how your design career sky-rockets!

The post How To Become a Designer Who Codes appeared first on Web Design Dev.

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Hard to believe that I’ve had the same PC case since 2011, and my last serious upgrade was in 2015. I guess that’s yet another sign that the PC is over, because PC upgrades have gotten really boring. It took 5 years for me to muster up the initiative to get my system fully upgraded! ?

I’ve been slogging away at this for quite some time now. My PC build blog entry series spans 13 glorious years:

• Building a PC, Part VIII: Iterating (2015)
• Building a PC, Part VII: Rebooting (2011)
• Building a PC, Part VI: Rebuilding (2009)
• Building a PC, Part V: Upgrading (2008)
• Building a PC, Part IV: Now It’s Your Turn (2007)
• Building a PC, Part III: Overclocking (2007)
• Building a PC, Part II: Burn in (2007)
• Building a PC, Part I: Minimal boot (2007)

The future of PCs may not necessarily be more speed (though there is some of that, if you read on), but in smaller builds. For this iteration, my go-to cases are the Dan A4 SFX …

And the Streacom DA2 …

The attraction here is maximum power in minimum size. Note that each of these cases are just large enough to fit …

• a standard mini-ITX system
• SFX power supply
• full sized GPU
• reasonable CPU cooler

… though the DA2 offers substantially more room for cooling the CPU and adding fans.

I’m not sure you can physically build a smaller standard mini-ITX system than the DAN A4 SFX, at least not without custom parts!

DAN A4-SFX
200mm × 115mm × 317mm = 7.3 liters

Silverstone RVZ02 / ML08
380mm × 87mm × 370mm = 12.2 liters

nCase M1
240mm × 160mm × 328 mm = 12.6 liters

Streacom DA2
180mm × 286mm × 340mm = 17.5 liters

(For comparison with The Golden Age of x86 Gaming Consoles, a PS4 Pro occupies 5.3 liters and an Xbox One S 4.3 liters. About 50% more volume for considerably more than 2× the power isn’t a bad deal!)

I chose the Streacom DA2 as my personal build, because after experimenting heavily with the DAN A4 SFX, I realized you need more room to deal with extremely powerful CPUs and GPUs in this form factor, and I wanted a truly powerful system:

• Intel i9-9900KS (8 core, 16 thread, 5.0 GHz) CPU
• Samsung 970 PRO 1TB / Samsung 970 EVO 2TB / Samsung 860 QVO 4TB SATA
• 64GB DDR4-3000
• Cryorig H7 cooler (exact fit)
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 280 Ti GPU

Compared to my old 2015-2017 system, a slightly overclocked i7-7700k, that at least gives me 2× the cores (and faster cores, both in clock rate and IPC), 2× the memory, and 2× the M.2 slots (two versus one).

The DA2 is a clever case though less perfect than the A4-SFX. What’s neat about it is the hybrid open-air design (on the top and bottom) plus the versatile horizontal and vertical bracket system interior. Per the manual (pdf):

Check out all the bracket mounting options. Incredibly versatile, and easy to manupulate with the captured nut and bolt design:

Note that you can (and really should) pop out the top and bottom acrylic pieces with the mesh dust net.

I had dramatically better temperatures after I did this, and it also made the build easier since the case can fully “breathe” through the top and bottom. You’ll note that the front of the DA2 is totally solid, no air holes, so you do need that extra airflow.

I only have a few criticisms of this Streacom DA2 case:

• The side panels are tool free, which is excellent, but the pressure fit makes them fairly difficult to remove. Feels like this could be tweaked?
• (Don’t even think about using a full sized ATX power supply. In theory it is supported, but the build becomes so much more difficult. Use a SFX power supply, which you’d expect to do for a mini-ITX build anyway.)
• My primary complaint is that the power extension cable gets in the way. I had to remove it and re-attach it during my build. They should custom route the power cable upwards so it blocks less stuff.
• Less of a criticism and more of an observation: if your build uses a powerful GPU and CPU, you’ll need two case fans. There’s mounting points for a 92mm fan in the rear, and the bracket system makes it easy to mount a 140mm fan blowing inward. You will definitely need both fans!

Here’s the configuration I recommend, open on both the top and bottom for maximum airflow, with three fans total:

If you are a water cooling kind of person – I am definitely not, I experienced one too many traumatic cooling fluid leaks in the early 2000s – then you will use that 140mm space for the radiator.

I have definitely burn-in tested this machine, as I do all systems I build, and it passed with flying colors. But to be honest, if you expect to be under full CPU and GPU loads for extended periods of time you might need to switch to water cooling due to the space constraints. (Or pick slightly less powerful components.)

If you haven’t built a PC system recently, it’s easier than it has ever been. Heck by the time you install the M.2 drives, memory, CPU, and cooler on the motherboard you’re almost done, these days!

There are a lot of interesting compact mini-itx builds out there. Perhaps that’s the primary innovation in PC building for 2020 and beyond – packing all that power into less than 20 liters of space!

AWS stands for Amazon web services. It is the leading cloud service platform occupying 47.8 percent of the public cloud services market.

AWS solution architect is one of the most sought after careers in the cloud domain as many businesses are running on the AWS cloud platform. Companies are always on the lookout for professionals with competence in AWS Cloud architecture or the ones who have done an AWS Developer Associate Certification Course. So, if you are looking for a lucrative career as an AWS solutions architect, the prospects are promising.

A Cloud service architecture comprises of the front end platform, back end platform, a cloud based delivery over a network.

You will require to design a technical and practical application using the cloud platform for your business problems as an AWS associate. One example could be to build the most cost efficient systems based on cloud architecture. Global Companies like Siemens and Shell have efficiently leveraged the AWS platform to beef up their cyber security against viruses, malware and other malicious threats. This is most exciting part of becoming an AWS- associate developer. You get to creatively solve business problems by using your expertise in cloud technology.

Your skills become valuable to a business when you give them value by generating efficiencies to it. A competent AWS solutions architect can earn a maiden salary of 1 lakh dollars on an average in United States of America and Canada.

What skills do you need to become an AWS solutions architect?

Business Acumen: Understanding the needs and problems faced by your business is the first skill you need if you want to work as an AWS solutions architect. A commercial sense more or less serves you well in any career.

Great communication and interpersonal skills: AWS solution architects work within teams so having great people’s skills is of utmost importance. The secret to getting projects done lies in your ability to communicate effectively with the team and managing your time properly.

Understanding customer needs and aligning them with business goals is also crucial. Therefore one needs to be very good with customer interactions and communicating objectively.

You must be adaptable in switching between tasks that may involve writing scripts, troubleshooting, and taking care of migrations amongst other things throughout the day.

Technical expertise: You need to have a working knowledge of one operating system at least. The most preferable is Linux. Prior knowledge of specific programming languages along with understanding of network security will make the path of becoming AWS professional potentially sound.

You need to pass the AWS solutions architect certification to become a certified AWS solutions architect.

Don’t worry; it is possible to become an AWS solutions architect even if you don’t have a prior any prior experience of AWS. In any career, learning the core concepts, getting certified or passing an exam and honing your skills through practical exposure is the most standard way to becoming a professional. So, you can divide your journey to become a AWS solutions architect into 3 steps as follows:

1. Learn the fundamentals of cloud computing with deep knowledge of the AWS cloud platform

You need to learn all the cloud computing concepts to know the nitty gritties of a career in cloud computing industry. There are plenty of free and paid learning resources available online to get you started with learning the theoretical aspects for the right building cloud solutions on a AWS platform.

Cloud technology is in a state of flux. It is a constantly evolving field. Make sure you choose the right learning resources that focus on a case study based learning environment to help you understand the practical application and implications of the cloud computing concepts and AWS fundamentals.

It is very important to keep yourself abreast with the latest developments in the field of cloud technology. Learn why companies are using the AWS enabled cloud platform to solve business

problems. What kind of benefits it offers to businesses. Make knowledge of cloud technology your forte to proceed on acquiring the technical skills and competencies to become an AWS solutions architect.

2. Ace the AWS solution architect certification Exam

AWS certifications stand out as they lay emphasis on hands on experience and best practices. The evaluation is a testimony of candidate’s thoroughness in working with AWS cloud platform. There are different certifications under the AWS certification umbrella. AWS solution architect-associate certification is the most sought after one for a fresher looking to venture in the cloud solutions industry.

The test is conducted in an MCQ format and lasts for 130 minutes. it tests a candidate’s knowledge on using AWS cloud architecture for application based project implementation using best practices and design principles to address customer needs and solve business problems.

You have already done your ground work in the first step by acquiring the fundamental knowledge of how cloud technology works. Now you need to focus on acquiring niche skills and practical knowledge to get a thorough understanding of how cloud computing works in AWS enabled environment. The step may look a little challenging but it is definitely the most rewarding for starting out your developer journey in this field.

If you are looking for online courses to prepare yourself for the exam, make sure you choose the courses which blend practical hands on training along with learning the concepts. You must make it a point to cover each module included in the certification. A pro tip would be to take a one year free trial with AWS and play around with as many AWS services as possible with the trial version.

Look for resources that provide mock tests to help you practice in a real time simulation before taking the certification exam. Finding the right mentorship and learning will help you in clearing the certification exam with ease and confidence.

3. Make practical experience your priority when you start

It is advisable to get hands on experience with the AWS cloud service platform. Look out for entry level positions in the cloud architecture domain as soon as you decide to take the AWS certification.

Even Amazon recommends a desirable one year experience for taking the exam. An AWS certification can give you an added advantage at the pre screening stage of a job interview but bear in mind that it is your practical experience that takes you forward towards your dream 6 figure career from the interview cubicle.

Even after clearing the AWS certification exam, you must strive to find the right opportunities in the job market. Take the initial few months of your job as an extension of your learning. Look for training opportunities under senior solutions architect who have experience of handling a lot of projects and will give you opportunities to learn and grow.

The cloud computing field is always moving and you will always have something new to learn. It brings tremendous opportunities to grow as a professional. You can move ahead and take up the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional module after working as an associate for atleast 2 years with multi application based hands on experience of designing and deploying cloud architecture on AWS.

You should always know the pulse of the industry. Learning about other platforms like Microsoft Azure or Google cloud will help you getting a broader perspective and streamline your knowledge as an AWS solutions architect.

The post What is AWS? appeared first on Web Design Dev.

AWS stands for Amazon web services. It is the leading cloud service platform occupying 47.8 percent of the public cloud services market.

AWS solution architect is one of the most sought after careers in the cloud domain as many businesses are running on the AWS cloud platform. Companies are always on the lookout for professionals with competence in AWS Cloud architecture or the ones who have done an AWS Developer Associate Certification Course. So, if you are looking for a lucrative career as an AWS solutions architect, the prospects are promising.

A Cloud service architecture comprises of the front end platform, back end platform, a cloud based delivery over a network.

You will require to design a technical and practical application using the cloud platform for your business problems as an AWS associate. One example could be to build the most cost efficient systems based on cloud architecture. Global Companies like Siemens and Shell have efficiently leveraged the AWS platform to beef up their cyber security against viruses, malware and other malicious threats. This is most exciting part of becoming an AWS- associate developer. You get to creatively solve business problems by using your expertise in cloud technology.

Your skills become valuable to a business when you give them value by generating efficiencies to it. A competent AWS solutions architect can earn a maiden salary of 1 lakh dollars on an average in United States of America and Canada.

What skills do you need to become an AWS solutions architect?

Business Acumen: Understanding the needs and problems faced by your business is the first skill you need if you want to work as an AWS solutions architect. A commercial sense more or less serves you well in any career.

Great communication and interpersonal skills: AWS solution architects work within teams so having great people’s skills is of utmost importance. The secret to getting projects done lies in your ability to communicate effectively with the team and managing your time properly.

Understanding customer needs and aligning them with business goals is also crucial. Therefore one needs to be very good with customer interactions and communicating objectively.

You must be adaptable in switching between tasks that may involve writing scripts, troubleshooting, and taking care of migrations amongst other things throughout the day.

Technical expertise: You need to have a working knowledge of one operating system at least. The most preferable is Linux. Prior knowledge of specific programming languages along with understanding of network security will make the path of becoming AWS professional potentially sound.

You need to pass the AWS solutions architect certification to become a certified AWS solutions architect.

Don’t worry; it is possible to become an AWS solutions architect even if you don’t have a prior any prior experience of AWS. In any career, learning the core concepts, getting certified or passing an exam and honing your skills through practical exposure is the most standard way to becoming a professional. So, you can divide your journey to become a AWS solutions architect into 3 steps as follows:

1. Learn the fundamentals of cloud computing with deep knowledge of the AWS cloud platform

You need to learn all the cloud computing concepts to know the nitty gritties of a career in cloud computing industry. There are plenty of free and paid learning resources available online to get you started with learning the theoretical aspects for the right building cloud solutions on a AWS platform.

Cloud technology is in a state of flux. It is a constantly evolving field. Make sure you choose the right learning resources that focus on a case study based learning environment to help you understand the practical application and implications of the cloud computing concepts and AWS fundamentals.

It is very important to keep yourself abreast with the latest developments in the field of cloud technology. Learn why companies are using the AWS enabled cloud platform to solve business

problems. What kind of benefits it offers to businesses. Make knowledge of cloud technology your forte to proceed on acquiring the technical skills and competencies to become an AWS solutions architect.

2. Ace the AWS solution architect certification Exam

AWS certifications stand out as they lay emphasis on hands on experience and best practices. The evaluation is a testimony of candidate’s thoroughness in working with AWS cloud platform. There are different certifications under the AWS certification umbrella. AWS solution architect-associate certification is the most sought after one for a fresher looking to venture in the cloud solutions industry.

The test is conducted in an MCQ format and lasts for 130 minutes. it tests a candidate’s knowledge on using AWS cloud architecture for application based project implementation using best practices and design principles to address customer needs and solve business problems.

You have already done your ground work in the first step by acquiring the fundamental knowledge of how cloud technology works. Now you need to focus on acquiring niche skills and practical knowledge to get a thorough understanding of how cloud computing works in AWS enabled environment. The step may look a little challenging but it is definitely the most rewarding for starting out your developer journey in this field.

If you are looking for online courses to prepare yourself for the exam, make sure you choose the courses which blend practical hands on training along with learning the concepts. You must make it a point to cover each module included in the certification. A pro tip would be to take a one year free trial with AWS and play around with as many AWS services as possible with the trial version.

Look for resources that provide mock tests to help you practice in a real time simulation before taking the certification exam. Finding the right mentorship and learning will help you in clearing the certification exam with ease and confidence.

3. Make practical experience your priority when you start

It is advisable to get hands on experience with the AWS cloud service platform. Look out for entry level positions in the cloud architecture domain as soon as you decide to take the AWS certification.

Even Amazon recommends a desirable one year experience for taking the exam. An AWS certification can give you an added advantage at the pre screening stage of a job interview but bear in mind that it is your practical experience that takes you forward towards your dream 6 figure career from the interview cubicle.

Even after clearing the AWS certification exam, you must strive to find the right opportunities in the job market. Take the initial few months of your job as an extension of your learning. Look for training opportunities under senior solutions architect who have experience of handling a lot of projects and will give you opportunities to learn and grow.

The cloud computing field is always moving and you will always have something new to learn. It brings tremendous opportunities to grow as a professional. You can move ahead and take up the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional module after working as an associate for atleast 2 years with multi application based hands on experience of designing and deploying cloud architecture on AWS.

You should always know the pulse of the industry. Learning about other platforms like Microsoft Azure or Google cloud will help you getting a broader perspective and streamline your knowledge as an AWS solutions architect.

The post What is AWS? appeared first on Web Design Blog | Magazine for Designers.

If you are building a data-driven web or mobile application, then key concerns you need to address is how data will be surfaced to the client, and how the client can update the state on the server. This is not a new problem, and one that we have been trying to solve for decades.

GraphQL provides one way to address this problem, and uses an approach that provides significant benefits over previous RPC-based approaches. GraphQL was originally created at Facebook several years ago. It has been widely adopted since by Github, Concur, Airbnb and more. We’re even now adopting it at DocuSign. If you are doing React development, GraphQL has become the de-facto way to query from React clients.

What is GraphQL?

At its heart, GraphQL is several things.

• A schema that allows defining a structured view of data that will be surfaced to / queried / updated by a GraphQL client.
• A query language for interacting with a GraphQL endpoint to retrieve, update, and subscribe to notifications.
• Tooling and SDKs for building GraphQL clients and servers, or interacting with GraphQL endpoints such as the GraphiQL editor, clients like Apollo and Relay, and servers like Apollo, and GraphQL for .NET, and more.

A few things that have stood out for me that I have really liked about GraphQL.

• It provides a standard way to query and update data including non-crud based actions. It supports “graphs” of data allowing queries to pull hierarchical data.
• It puts power in UI teams hands to be able to hand craft queries with the data they need, without having to constantly send custom requests to the API team.
• It has GraphiQL which is an awesome intellisense-driven tool for querying GraphQL endpoints that you can provide to developers for interacting with the endpoint.
• It can work side by side with, and wrap existing “REST” APIs
• It is not opinionated about where data resides, it is not bound to a database. Data could live in MongoDB, SQL, in documents like S3/Azure Blob, or even in memory. It is really easy to make GraphQL work with any data store
• It allows full control from the server-side as to what data is exposed.

There are also plenty of tradeoffs with GraphQL vs traditional APIs and it is not a silver bullet. Fortunately it is not mutually exclusive and can live side by side with “REST” APIs. Still you should go in with eyes open (as with any other technology or approach).

GraphQL with .NET

Yes you can develop GraphQL solutions with .NET! There are several open source projects that enable this, my favorite one being GraphQL for .NET. GraphQL for .NET lets you create GraphQL schemas and queries in C#, and then surface them via an ASP.NET core endpoint. It also provides a C# client which you can use to issue queries from an application such as as a Xamarin mobile client. All of the libraries are also available on NuGet. If you head to the GraphQL for .NET documentation you can find out more.

I’ve also created an ASP.NET Core example endpoint which can be ran on Windows, Mac or Linux which you can download from here. The readme contains lots of example queries you can run using the GraphiQL editor that is built in.

Check out my LinkedIn Learning Course

If you are interested in learning more about GraphQL for .NET, you can also check out my LinkedIn Learning Course: API Development in .NET with GraphQL. In the course I’ll take you through building the Orders GraphQL endpoint above from scratch in ASP.NET Core. I show you how to use GraphQL for .NET to define your schema, queries, and mutations, and subscriptions and expose them via ASP.NET Core. It’s heavily code based so you can follow along and build it with me.

GraphQL is growing

GraphQL is exploding in traction, with more and more companies adopting it as the standard. All signs are that will continue. It is exciting to know that this powerful ecosystem is available to .NET developers!

If you are building a data-driven web or mobile application, then key concerns you need to address is how data will be surfaced to the client and how the client can update the state on the server. This is not a new problem, and one that we have been solving for decades.

GraphQL provides one way to address this problem and uses an approach that provides significant benefits over previous RPC-based approaches. GraphQL was originally created at Facebook several years ago. It has been widely adopted since by Github, Concur, Airbnb and more. We’re even now adopting it at DocuSign. If you are doing React development, GraphQL has become the de-facto way to query from React clients.

What is GraphQL?

At its heart, GraphQL is several things.

• A schema that allows defining a structured view of data that will be surfaced to / queried / updated by a GraphQL client.
• A query language for interacting with a GraphQL endpoint to retrieve, update, and subscribe to notifications.
• Tooling and SDKs for building GraphQL clients and servers, or interacting with GraphQL endpoints such as the GraphiQL editor, clients like Apollo and Relay, servers like Apollo, GraphQL for .NET, and more.

A few things that have stood out for me that I have really liked about GraphQL.

• It provides a standard way to query and update data including non-crud based actions. It supports “graphs” of data allowing queries to pull hierarchical data.
• It puts power in UI teams hands to be able to hand craft queries with the data they need, without having to constantly send custom requests to the API team.
• It has GraphiQL which is an awesome intellisense-driven tool for querying GraphQL endpoints that you can provide to developers for interacting with the endpoint.
• It can work side by side with, and wrap existing “REST” APIs
• It is not opinionated about where data resides, it is not bound to a database. Data  could live in MongoDB, SQL, in documents like S3/Azure Blob, or even in memory. It is really easy to make GraphQL work with any data store
• It allows full control from the server-side as to what data is exposed.

There are also plenty of tradeoffs with GraphQL vs traditional APIs and it is not a silver bullet. Fortunately it is not mutually exclusive and can live side by side with “REST” APIs. Still you should go in with eyes open (as with any other technology or approach).

GraphQL with .NET

Yes you can develop GraphQL solutions with .NET! There are several open source projects that enable this, my favorite one being GraphQL for .NET. GraphQL for .NET lets you create GraphQL schemas and queries in C#, and then surface them via an ASP.NET core endpoint. It also provides a C# client which you can use to issue queries from an application such as as a Xamarin mobile client. All of the libraries are also available on NuGet. If you head to the GraphQL for .NET documentation you can find out more.

I’ve also created an ASP.NET Core example endpoint which can be ran on Windows, Mac or Linux which you can download from here. The readme contains lots of example queries you can run using the GraphiQL editor that is built in.

Check out my LinkedIn Learning Course

If you are interested in learning more about GraphQL for .NET, you can also check out my LinkedIn Learning Course: API Development in .NET with GraphQL. In the course I’ll take you through building the Orders GraphQL endpoint above from scratch in ASP.NET Core. I show you how to use GraphQL for .NET to define your schema, queries, and mutations, and subscriptions and expose them via ASP.NET Core. It’s heavily code based so you can follow along and build it with me. If you check out the course, let me know what you think.

GraphQL is growing

GraphQL is exploding in traction, with more and more companies adopting it as the standard. All signs are that will continue. It is exciting that this powerful ecosystem is available now to you as a .NET developer!

Today marks the first time in nearly a decade that I am no longer an MVP. I will be joining the MVP alum in the MVP Reconnect program.

Getting the MVP award every year has become a great side benefit and validation, but the real achievements have been in working with the community and all the things that we’ve accomplished over the last decade!

When I first received the Microsoft MVP award in 2010, it was an achievement I had been working towards and it was something that really validated the work I was doing in the community. It was a goal I had set – to become a Microsoft MVP. When I got it, I was so excited and felt like Microsoft folks were really paying attention to what I was doing. Keep in mind back then that open source wasn’t even a contribution category, but I was doing a lot of talks in the community and working on the Chuck Norris Framework.

After achieving the award for the first time, my focus shifted to primarily doing great things in the community. A lot of that for the last few years has been hands on and I’ve been at the forefront of those efforts. And accordingly, Microsoft continued to validate that what I was doing was important and helpful for developers using Microsoft technologies.

Over the last few years, my role has shifted a bit to building a long term viable business to support the Chocolatey community. This means managing a business and building an amazing team that can help move my vision forward. This last year especially I’ve been focused in that effort of building a great team and that has meant that I’ve had less visible contributions. I’ve been focused enabling my team to do great things, and two of them are MVPs, which is fantastic!

I’m certainly very appreciative of my time as an MVP and have met a lot of amazing folks in the MVP community! I would have loved to have that 10 year blue disk, but Microsoft has rightly saw that my contributions over the last year have not been up to the standard of other folks out there and has made a proper decision on that front.

One thing I will miss is filling out the renewal paperwork every year as it forced me to take some time to reflect on all the great work we were doing in the community, and it put numbers to that work. I think I will look for my own time to do that reflection at some interval, hopefully a bit more often than annually. I always think of this Ferris Bueller quote when I take a moment to reflect. It’s certainly a great quote to apply to your life:

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Thank you Microsoft for the opportunity and validation over the years – I’m going to continue doing great things in the community and maybe that will bring me back to the MVP award, but maybe it won’t. And that is totally fine.