Blog Articles

If you're curious about large language models, here's a great way to learn more about them. Most of the LLM tools run in Linux or on a Mac. Do you want run your own large language model in Windows 11? Here's exactly how to do it.

Looking for inspiration for your art? Here are 30 awesome styles you'll love, with prompts included

Want to generate AI videos from your machine? Stability AI just released Stable Video Diffusion, which you can download and run on your own machine. Here's the full instructions to set it up.

Here are some awesome Midjourney art styles you should check out for your next project, with example prompts!

How to run a Large Language Model (LLM) locally in Arch Linux. The setup is a little tricker than the Windows or Mac versions, so here are the full instructions.

Want to run a ChatGPT like chatbot locally? Without being connected to the internet? Here's the full instructions on how to do it.

OpenAI released DALL-E 3 with some great improvements. But is it better than MidJourney? Let's find out

A step by step guide to using the Arch Linux installer. If you want to install Arch without knowing commands and editing configuration files, the installer is a great option. Let's jump in!

Want to run GPT on your own machine? Me too. I took GPT4All for a spin on my Arch Linux Machine. Here's the results.

I was super excited when my M2 Pro Mac Mini arrived. But I returned it. Read to find out why.

How much better is the M2 Pro Mac Mini to the M1? Find out!

My recap of AWS re:Invent 2022, an exciting show in Las Vegas, Nevada

Here's how I studied for and passed my Part 107 exam to become a licensed drone operator. You can do it too.

Here's what you need to know about the latest version of Pop!_OS just released by System76.

You probably aren't optimizing your images enough. I'll show you a few ways to do it, and the results from each.

I love my Lenovo E590 Laptop and did some cheap upgrades to make it work great with Windows 11 and Visual Studio 2022

Here's a rant about coding interviews. I've been on both sides of the table. If you're an interviewer, here's what NOT to do.

Pop!_OS 21.04 has been released, with a variety of changes to the desktop environment, here are my thoughts.

Pluralsight is FREE for the entire month of April. Here are some cool things you can do this month

Clubhouse is a new social media darling, but is it worth it for Developers?

I build cool stuff, talk with amazing people, and have fun. Maybe you can join me

Can I use FreeBSD as a "Daily Driver" machine? This article explores my most recent attempt at it.

2020 was a year none of us will forget. For me, it was a transformative one, and I wanted to share what I've done this year, what I learned, and what I expect for the next.

OK, hear me out. Arch Linux is the best distribution for beginners who are just getting started with Linux.

Pop!_OS Linux, one of my favorite distributions, has relased a new version, let's check it out.

Pluralsight Live 2020 has launched! This FREE tech conference covers everything that's happening in tech right now!

Optimizing string comparisons in Go can improve your application's response time and help scalability. I'll show which methods are the fastest.

You want to become a full stack developer someday, so where do you start? Google's Go language is an excellent place.

A complete guide to building your first JAMstack blog, from start to finish. Let's build a JAMstack site together!

Deno is a hot new runtime that may replace Node.js. Everyone's talking about it like it's the next big thing. It likely is. Here's why.

I've been using Pop!_OS for front end development a lot lately. Here's how I set it up

I try out Ubuntu's Latest Release 20.04. Is it good enough to start stealing people away from Windows?

I recieved the PineBook Pro earlier this year, here's what it's like actually using it. A review after 90 days.

sharpening your core JavaScript skills can make you better at all front-end frameworks. Here are some courses to help with that.

Want to try Linux but don't know how? Here's a step by step guide to installing Linux without drastically changing your computer or complex repartitioning.

This week, I took a course on COBOL. Here's what a modern developer can learn from this decades-old language

The global shift to home isolation has unique implications for public education. The era of slow and steady plans to virtualize education was given a donkey kick by this virus and the quarantine, and here's what I've observed.

I recently made changes to my site, and as a result it's screaming fast. Here's how I did it.

Here's how you can donate your unused processing power to fight the coronavirus.

FreeBSD has been around for decades. Is it still relevant as a development machine in 2020? I find out.

If you want to be a React Developer, there's a lot to learn. You can get started in a weekend. Yes, in a single weekend, you can learn React and start developing some cool applications!

Everybody's talking about Pop!_OS but is it a good Linux distro? Is it the right choice for developers?

I was casually doing a security audit on my blog recently and decided to look a little deeper into my security logs. With a bit of Linux command line kung fu, some Golang, and Google sheets, I was able to get a pretty good idea of where the attacks are coming from.

The Pinebook Pro is a $200 laptop with ARM processors that promises a lot. Does it deliver?

NimbleText is the world's simplest code generator. It formats your data using the patterns you supply. Read about it here.

Blazor is Microsoft's hot new front end development framework. Here's how it works.

Want to try Blazor but you're not a Windows user? No problem!

It's a bold claim to say an IDE extension can make you a better developer, but you should install this new Pluralsight extension and see for yourself.

I decided to try out HAXE, a language you've probably never heard of but fun to play with

Intel's own distribution of Linux promises better performance, but does it stack up as good a Desktop machine?

Strut up to that whiteboard with confidence. You got this.

For the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, take a tour of the code of the Apollo Guidance System.

Do you want to be a coder? Are you on the fence about trying it? nervous to get started? The time is now. Time to pull the trigger.

The mythical reusable code idea has existed for decades. It showed up shortly after the first lines of code were written. We preach re-usability and sometimes strive for it but it rarely becomes a reality.

In this article I'll talk about the Andon Cord, an idea from the Toyota Production System and how you can use it in your organization

This article describes how to take the hassle out of moving IIS websites and applications by comparing two IIS Server configurations and syncing their settings.

Repeatable installs are all the rage in Devops these days. As developers we have this "automate everything" mentality, and for good reason. In this article I'll show you how you can do that with IIS installation as well.

How to set up easy file sharing from a Linux machine to Windows with Samba. I'll show you how easy it is to setup file sharing on your network using SAMBA. You can easily share files between Linux and Windows machines with a minimal amount of setup.

Want to try Linux for the first time? Not sure what to use? I can help you get answers with this comprehensive list

Application Pools in IIS can be somewhat of a mystery. Since they're created for you automatically many times Administrators don't give them a second thought. But understanding application pools is crucial to having a good running IIS server.

A great tool I've discovered recently is the Failed Request Tracing Tool is IIS. If you're building an ASP.Net application and having issues with requests it's a fantastic tool. I'll show you how to use it.

When you dual boot Windows and Arch Linux, any time you reinstall or upgrade Windows you lose the boot menu to get into Linux. In this tutorial I'll show you how to fix that.

Perhaps you've seen the term REST being thrown around lately and have been a little curious what it's all about. If that's the case, or you know a little about it but never used it, this article is for you. Today I'm going to give a small overview of what REST services are, and why it's awesome.

In working with some unit testing fairly extensively lately, I've gathered some guidelines I've tried to stick with over the years for writing better tests.

I was reading a post about some common C# interview questions, and thought I'd share some of mine. These are questions that I asked in interviews, or was asked in past interviews. Try them out and see you how you do!

One of the areas that cause a lot of confusion for new C# developers is the idea of properties and fields. It's an easy thing to mess up, and there aren't really any solid rules on it, but here are some general guidelines to help you decide how to use these members in your project.

Whether you're developing for a personal project, small business or Fortune 100, you should take the time to make sure your changes aren't going to break things. In times past this usually meant spending lots of money. These days the only thing you'll need to spend for quality is time, and not much of it.

Recently GitHub rolled out some improvements to their GitHub Pages static page hosting services. I decided to do a comparison and put them to the test.

With software projects it's rare that a failure can be pointed a single cause, or a certain person. Usually it's a culmination of many smaller mistakes. With technology and formal project management, best practices are usually well documented and available, but one thing that isn't talked about as much is attitude. The attitude of persons in your group or your group as a whole is one of the biggest factors of your success.

Making your images load faster is extremely important for page load performance on your site. Here are some free tools to help you shave down your image size while retaining quality

Linux Mint is one of the most under-rated Linux distribution out there, yet it really does provide a lot of value, even for seasoned Linux hackers. If you haven't tried it out yet, you're missing out.

Code Smells are becoming the new hotness again. You may have heard the term, here's what it means and a few to look out for.

The quickest way to disappoint everyone is by trying to please everyone and software is no different. Sometimes trying to make a one size fits all solution can get you into trouble.

There's a lot of genius in simplicity. This applies to many things in life and definitely in software development. SRP, or Single Responsibility Principle is one of the foundations building better software.

The famous words of Steve Jobs have been ringing in my head a lot since my Dad passed away last week. He and Steve Jobs were not very much alike, in fact probably complete opposites. Dad wasn't much of a dreamer or rock the boat kind of guy, and believed in treating everyone with respect.

What is a polyglot programmer and should you strive to be one?

Today I'm going to talk about Object Oriented Programming (OOP). This is the first in a series of articles that will aim to teach you more about OOP and how you can use it to develop better software.

Should you use a package manager to install your software or build from source? I take a look at some of the reasons for both

My story of turning an old G4 Mac into a sweet development machine

A fast website is important for usability and SEO. Here's how you can make your website faster today

While browsing a forum recently, I found a thread that really made me reminisce. Someone has asked about browsing the internet before it was popular, and what it was like.

I just had this problem tonight, so I thought I'd share the solution. In many languages you can do a string comparison in the following way

So you want to be a computer programmer? Want to write software? Here is how you can get started with this awesome hobby / profession right away, for next to nothing.