Just Five Mins!

Well, a boring episode no doubt, but is prompt engineering still a thing?What do you think?I will be running a series of courses soon. Everything from getting started with modern coding to using AI to help code and also baking AI into your own code!Click here to join the waitlist!Hey, subscription to this podcast is FREE if you want to subscribe! Of course, if you wish to or must pay, then please feel free with a paid subscription or via PatreonOr just buy a unicorn a coffee here!Oh, and yes, I have ended up on YouTube (doesn’t everyone eventually?):https://www.youtube.com/@justfifteenmins but don’t worry, no ugly face to worry about (yet!). Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Taking the Raspberry PI concept a little further and providing a Linux platform, the Mecha Comet is (hopefully!) going to change how I look at Linux computers for sure!It has a modular design, snap-on extensions and lots of cool stuff! It can be a phone, games machine, electronic fiddling machine, you name it!Definitely worth checking out!Hey, subscription to this podcast is FREE if you want to subscribe! I hadn’t realised before it forced you to pay ;) Of course, if you wish to or must pay, then please feel free with a paid subscription or via PatreonOr just buy a unicorn a coffee here!Oh, and yes, I have ended up on YouTube (doesn’t everyone eventually?):https://www.youtube.com/@justfifteenmins but don’t worry, no ugly face to worry about (yet!). Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Oh goodness me, what a way to start 2025!Agentic systems - AI Agents - are indeed getting better and better (or worse?).Today we look at Magentic One and Autogen. We also discuss the split of Autogen from the original founders. Take a listen to learn more!Magentic OneAutogenHey, subscription to this podcast is FREE if you want to subscribe! I hadn’t realised before it forced you to pay ;) Of course, if you wish to or must pay, then please feel free with a paid subscription or via PatreonOr just buy a unicorn a coffee here!Oh, and yes, I have ended up on YouTube (doesn’t everyone eventually?):https://www.youtube.com/@justfifteenmins but don’t worry, no ugly face to worry about (yet!). Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, although I am a long-term user of OneNote, UpNote might just tempt me away!UpNote has an app for every platform (even Linux no less!) and syncs across seamlessly. A free version exists but also a very cheap monthly version as well as a really cheap lifetime deal.Worth a look? well, take a listen to learn more :)Hey, subscription to this podcast is FREE if you want to subscribe! I hadn’t realised before it forced you to pay ;) Of course, if you wish to or must pay, then please feel free with a paid subscription or via PatreonOr just buy a unicorn a coffee here!Oh, and yes, I have ended up on YouTube (doesn’t everyone eventually?):https://www.youtube.com/@justfifteenmins but don’t worry, no ugly face to worry about (yet!). Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Just a ramble about 2024 and the ever present AI goldrush…Hey, subscription to this podcast is FREE if you want to subscribe! I hadn’t realised before it forced you to pay ;) Of course, if you wish to or must pay, then please feel free with a paid subscription or via https://patreon.com/justfivemins?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkOr just buy a unicorn a coffee here!Oh, and yes, I have ended up on YouTube (doesn’t everyone eventually?):https://www.youtube.com/@justfifteenmins but don’t worry, no ugly face to worry about (yet!). Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

So, Figma has been around for a while. A designer tool for creating layouts of all kinds be it websites, mobile UI’s and so on.With AI, and specifically GitHub Copilot Vision, can you build user interfaces? and take that one step further to actually generate the code?Figma link hereGitHub Copilot Vision hereHey, subscription to this podcast is FREE if you want to subscribe! I hadn’t realised before it forced you to pay ;) Of course, if you wish to or must pay, then please feel free with a paid subscription or via PatreonOr just buy a unicorn a coffee here!Oh, and yes, I have ended up on YouTube (doesn’t everyone eventually?):https://www.youtube.com/@justfifteenmins but don’t worry, no ugly face to worry about (yet!). Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Hey welcome again!Okay, this time around is all about coding from anywhere. Why would you want a cloud development environment? Well, you can develop in the same environment no matter where you are or what computer you are using - even tablets like Android or iPad’s.Take a listen to learn more :)Thanks again to my good friend Tim for this suggestion!Unicorns drink a lot of coffee. Consider a one-off “Unicorn Coffee” here :)If you feel compelled to help support this on-going (and the YouTube Just Fifteen Mins channel), the click here to become a Patreon :)Links from the podcast below:DevPod - Open source and no vendor lock-inGitHub Codespaces Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

YAAICE! (Yet another AI Code Editor)Yep, there are lots of these IDE/Code Editors popping up all based on VS Code since it is open source, and why not!We covered cursor.ai a few weeks back which caught me out as I just thought it was VS Code with a different skin, but oh no, it was much more than that.Windsurf is from the excellent Codeium company. Again, we covered Codeium a while ago. Codeium provided AI code add-ins to most of the known IDE’s and Editors out there allowing a CoPilot style interface but with a selection of LLMs to choose from.The Windsurf IDE is certainly based on VS code so you can still use all the wonderful extensions and so on, but with sooooo much more. Take a listen!Hey, subscription to this podcast is FREE if you want to subscribe! I hadn’t realised before it forced you to pay ;) Of course, if you wish to or must pay, then please feel free with a paid subscription or via PatreonOh, and yes, I have ended up on YouTube (doesn’t everyone eventually?):https://www.youtube.com/@justfifteenmins but don’t worry, no ugly face to worry about (yet!). Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Don’t worry, as long as no one creates an AI agent called “Smith”, I think we are all safe!FOMO time again perhaps, but AI agents ARE going to change the way you live and work. Like everything, it can be a positive or a negative - you choose, but choose wisely :)Hey, subscription to this podcast is FREE if you want to subscribe! I hadn’t realised before it forced you to pay ;) Of course, if you wish to or must pay, then please feel free with a paid subscription or via PatreonOh, and yes, I have ended up on YouTube (doesn’t everyone eventually?):Just Fifteen Mins but don’t worry, no ugly face to worry about (yet!).Thanks for reading/listening to Just Five Mins!! Subscribe for FREEEEEE to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, I did a podcast back in Episode 22 (crikey! 2022) covering a few of the key points regarding Docker vs WASM.It seems WASM (Web Assembly) and WASI (Web Assembly Infrastructure) is continuing to gain strength. WASM containers could be a more lightweight option and will run anywhere - no need to switch from Linux to Windows containers.Anyway, take a listen to find out more! :)Some links that can provide a deeper dive if you wish:InfoWorld Article on WASM vs DockerYes! You can run WASM based Docker stuff!If you really must support me, please do here via Patreon :).. and further information on the Docker infrastructure vs Containerd runtime:DockerDocker is a comprehensive platform for developing, shipping, and running applications inside containers. It includes several components:Docker Engine: The core part of Docker, responsible for creating and managing containers.Docker CLI: The command-line interface for interacting with Docker.Docker Compose: A tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications.Docker Hub: A registry for storing and sharing container images.containerdcontainerd is a container runtime that focuses solely on managing the container lifecycle. It was originally part of Docker but was later separated to become an independent project. Key features include:Container Lifecycle Management: Handles the creation, execution, and supervision of containers.Image Management: Manages container images, including pulling from registries and storing locally.Storage and Networking: Manages storage and networking for containers.OCI Compliance: Uses Open Container Initiative (OCI)-compliant runtimes like runc for standardization and interoperability.Key DifferencesScope: Docker is a full-fledged platform with tools for building, shipping, and running containers, while containerd is a more lightweight runtime focused on managing the container lifecycle2.Components: Docker includes additional tools like Docker Compose and Docker Hub, whereas containerd is primarily concerned with the runtime aspects.Usage: Docker is often used for development and deployment workflows, providing a user-friendly interface and additional features. containerd is used as a backend component in larger systems like Kubernetes, where it handles the low-level container operations.In summary, Docker provides a complete ecosystem for container management, while containerd focuses on the core runtime functionalities, making it suitable for integration into other container orchestration systems. Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, I originally took a look at Retool a while ago. It is a really rich application builder that allows self-hosting too (as a Docker container). I liked the idea of this given a company might want to have control of apps within their own infrastructure.Retool as come along leaps and bounds and now:* Still has an amazingly rich application building interface with lots of integrations options including your own API targets* “Hands-Free” PostgreSQL database! Use whatever datastore you want (including the Retool internal one) or indeed PostgreSQL to have full database control either via SQL code or SQL GUI :)* Has a really slick workflow module - you can trigger things, perform actions, and conditions and of course lots of integrations :)* Mobile! Just investigating this, but check it out for yourself!Hey, subscription to this podcast is FREE if you want to subscribe! I hadn’t realised before it forced you to pay ;) Of course, if you wish to or must pay, then please feel free with a paid subscription or via Patreon Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, AI is certainly helping in all areas of life, for better or worse!I decided to give GitHub Copilot a run for its money to attempt to create, or at least help, a command-line tool in dotnet to extract XML schema information (yes, they are still a “thing”) to generate SQL creation scripts i.e. table create / stored procedures and so on.As a bonus, even though I know nothing of the Rust language, my good friend Tim does! (that is the symbol “0x5” formerly known as Tim Abell!)So, I decided to ask our AI friend to convert the dotnet application to Rust… and it did! Well, it runs and seems to provide the same output as the dotnet app however, since I don’t really know Rust (yet!), this might give me some insight at least!Anyway, until the next time! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, if I could sell any software, I would be happy to pay for a Jetbrains subscription!However, if you are like me, you can now use Jetbrains Rider (for all things .NET) and Webstorm (for all things Javascript/frontend) freeeeeeeee!I can still seem to ramble on over 5 minutes even with something as simple as this!Anyway, take care. Until the next time… Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, inovation is continuous for sure. Just look at the amount of Javascript frameworks that exist at any one moment!So, we have cursor IDE. A new (ish) IDE (integrated development environment) for coding in whatever language you want. It is built on the same platform as VS code. The key selling point is it is an AI first IDE, meaning it has AI code assistance built in from the get go. Cursor has a free plan and also paid plans that allow you more flexibility and different AI models.Although I haven’t given cursor a good run as yet, the issue for me personally, is it is similar to VS code but not quite. I found myself doing things I would do, or look to do, in VS code but were not in the place I remembered from VS code. This is most probably down to just me, but it shows the bigger issue I guess - we all get stuck using things we know and are comfortable with. I have been trying to use Linux more and more but get frustrated by the squillion ways to do something - but again, I am not giving up - it is good to try to expand your own vision!So, cursor seems to be a nice proposition, but I feel if I am going to use something like that, I would keep using VS Code. In addition, Codeium is pretty cool! I did a podcast about it a while ago, and it is sort of like GitHub Copilot (mandatory $10 per month) but works with whatever editor you like (they state over 40+ IDE/editors!) as well as being a simple browser extension! The great thing is with Codeium, it has a very generous free plan and on the paid version (pro version is the same as GitHub Copilot at $10 per month), you can switch between AI models. Codeium is a nice modular way to get a similar experience across a wide variety of IDE/Editors instead of putting all your focus into just one thing like cursor. Again, not putting cursor down as I haven’t tried it for long enough, but there we go!So, take care until the next exciting episode ;) Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, what to say… 100 episodes! yes, polluting the digital airwaves for far too long!Taking a quick retrospective look back - he says, as if 100 episodes is an achievement! Ulysees the Unicorn will be happy to welcome you :)(You can subscribe free by the way!) Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, if you have ever heard of NodeJS then this might be of interest to you :)NodeJS has been around for quite some time, and used by a lot of large companies - but it did have some issues (not to mention the whole NPM world!).The creator of NodeJS went away a few years ago to create DENO (yes, switch those letters around!). DENO aimed to fix some of the failings of NodeJS but didn’t support a lot of the existing NodeJS ecosystem.DENO 2 does let you use the older NodeJS modules as well as it’s own newer modules which are, apparently, a lot safer.Also, I didn’t quite do my research - DENO 2 is built with RUST :)Deno is written in Rust and based on the V8 engine that powers Chromium browsers. "Rust has been crucial to Deno’s development, especially with Rusty V8, recently stabilized," Dahl told The Register. "Rust's unified build system simplifies adding third-party functionality compared to C++, keeping Deno fast and reliable for server-side apps."Anyway, take a listen and here are a few links if you need them.https://deno.com/https://fresh.deno.dev/DENO 2 Serverless hostingOkay, take care until the next time! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well now, are you using Docker? never heard of Docker? well perhaps you might want to ask AI to help there.If you do use Docker to create containers of your apps/micro-services then what about Fly.io?Fly.io is a public cloud infrastructure platform. Users deploy applications as Docker images, but Fly.io does not utilize Docker to run the applications.Docker images are actually OCI (Open Container Initiative) images, which are essentially stacks of tarballs (are these similar to harballs that a cat has?). Fly.io unpacks these layers onto virtual machines and can retrieve the container manifest from the Docker registry.Fly.io employs a custom registry to fetch and unpack image layers. It utilizes Firecracker microVMs for virtualization. Firecracker is a virtual machine manager that creates lightweight microVMs. Fly.io uses Firecracker to orchestrate these VMs, along with containerD for isolation. ContainerD is responsible for managing and unpacking application images, with each app instance running on its own isolated kernel.There are some generous free options described here. Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, what do you know? back to some frontend web stuff no less!I have been using bootstrap CSS for years, and still do, but when I eventually realised Tailwind CSS was “something”, I have since been trying a few projects out with Tailwind CSS. However, because I am lazy and have been using WordPress with Elementor (page builder), I stumbled across dev dojo and some of their product offerings, one of which is “tails” - a page builder using Tailwind CSS no less! It looks really cool and produces a webpage/site with Tailwind CSS for the display aspects.Interestingly, dev dojo also have a product called “pines” which using AlpineJS and TailwindCSS to build really stylish websites too… AlpineJS is an ultra-minimal JavaScript framework that I really must rediscover!Until next time, take care! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

We are not talking just chatbots - albeit more intelligent ones!An AI agent/assistant can be tasked to do specific things to reach a goal and work with other agents, either in parallel, or sequential (i.e. do all these things first, then does this).The cool thing is each AI agent can use a completely different model i.e. you don’t have to tie everything into just chatGPT/Open AI. You might find a different model or model sets beneficial for certain things.Also, the big component is a mix of RAG (retrieval augmented generation), goal setting and external “tools” or functions where you can call out to external systems.I will be creating a video (Just Fifteen Mins! as if I ever stick to any timeline!) to explain a few of these concepts in more details. I am also going to be creating a workshop course too! not overly technical, but mostly from a business perspective about the concepts and how they could benefit companies. Again, we are not talking just fancy chatbots!Until next time, take care everyone!Please consider subscribing too! It’s okay, you don’t have to pay - unless you want to of course! :) If you do pay for a subscription, you will get a free weekly update from the chief unicorn - Ulysses :) Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, for the time being, I am sticking with OneNote as I have so much in there! However, the way Obsidian Notes is moving, is looking tempting. Of course, the notes/data stay on your device which is a plus however, for convenience, you will most likely need the data synchronised to your other devices. It is possible of course!Also, AI is ever creeping in to everything in modern life - love it or hate it.ObsidianObsidian SyncObsistants for ObsidianUntil next time, take care! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Okay, two suggestions for the price of one! Both from my good friend Tim Abel who also has a podcast if you wish to take a listen.In fairness, the first GitHub Action thing, I have little idea of what/how this is used and even when I looked at the use case, I was still a little baffled! I guess you need to be “an actual developer” to appreciate this! :)On to the second suggestion, Playwright for browser web app testing. I get this and it is nice to remember that you don’t need to code lots of things like good old selenium. You can test your web app as a user would use your application. It has some wide support for different languages and seems to be easy enough to get started.Thanks again Tim! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

VMWare “Player” was always free, but the workstation (or Mac Fusion Pro) used to cost real money (not Unicorn dollars).No you can create VM’s on your laptop/Mac for freeeeeeeeHere is the post for VMWare“And now for something completely different”, as Monty Python once said:VS Code Profiles! yes, if you are like me and have far too many extensions in VS Code, maybe use profiles to split up the different categories of development! with different themes too! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Why? oh why?That is all… Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Okay, free for as long as you have an Azure subscription ;)Still, who doesn’t want a 32gb cloud-based Azure SQL database to play with?Check out the details hereOf course you can then use something like Azure Data Studio to work with the database - again for free! it even has a free version of Copilot for Azure Data Studio so you can look like a SQL pro! (I did say “look like” ;) )Hey and what the heck, why not throw a REST or GraphQL API at the database too - for free! using Data API Builder.I will be showing some of the above in action via a new-fangled device called a “video” - apparently all the kids these days are doing this…Just Five Mins! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

I remember the days when we had to create Docker containers to deploy our apps…Well, you still can use Docker - more on that later.Fermyon Spin (and so much more) is a framework to build WASM (Web Assembly) apps. I covered a little of this back in Episode 65 and an intro to Fermyon a while back.This episode was prompted by my good friend Tim Abel who also has a podcast called Software Should Be Free (check it out, some good insights here).Quite a bit to get into in this episode - hence it ran over to 10 mins! which reminds me, I really should delve a little deeper into some of these articles and produce a video on my “Just 15 mins” YouTube channel… BTW, it is just full of tumbleweeds right now ;)Anyway, Docker desktop also has beta support for running WASM modules too! Again, will get more details together and perhaps a video for that one!Dotnet is not forgotten either! since dotnet 8, experimental WASM/WASI features have been thrown in.Take a listen for more info Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Memory-Optimized Tables, also known as In-Memory OLTP, were introduced in SQL Server 2014. This feature was further enhanced in subsequent versions of SQL Server, including SQL Server 2016, 2017, and in Azure. However, in Azure, they're only available in the Premium tier.Memory-Optimized Tables in SQL Server are a feature that provides significant performance improvements by storing table data in memory and optimizing data access. Here's an overview:* What are Memory-Optimized Tables? Memory-Optimized Tables are tables that have their data completely held in memory, eliminating disk access except for durability purposes. This allows SQL Server to redesign how data access is handled, including locking and latching, resulting in substantially improved performance.* How do they work? Memory-Optimized Tables store their data in memory using multiple versions of each row’s data. This technique, known as "Non-blocking multi-version optimistic concurrency control", eliminates both Locks and Latches, thus achieving breakthrough performance. All row versions are maintained in the same table data structure. Row versioning is used to allow concurrent reads and writes on the same row.* Durability of Data: Memory-Optimized Tables are fully durable by default, meaning that like transactions on (traditional) disk-based tables, transactions on memory-optimized tables are fully atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable (ACID). A second copy of the table data is maintained on disk, but only for durability purposes. Data in memory-optimized tables is only read from disk during database recovery (e.g., after a server restart).* Non-Durable Tables: Besides the default durable memory-optimized tables, SQL Server also supports non-durable memory-optimized tables, which are not logged and their data is not persisted on disk. This means that transactions on these tables do not require any disk IO, but the data will not be recovered if there is a server crash or failover.* Limitations: Memory-optimized tables and natively compiled stored procedures support only a subset of Transact-SQL features. Starting with SQL Server 2016, and in Azure SQL Database, there are no limitations for collations or code pages that are specific to In-Memory OLTP. Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

I tried to do a “simple” overview of vector databases back in September 2023 (Episode 57 if you really want to know). I tried to get a basic overview back then and now, I figured, I would try to delve into this a little deeper.Oh, that was such a wrong decision! (or was it?)Vector databases, or at least vectors, are nothing that new but vector databases do seem to be quite a new thing although I suspect vector storage has been around for some time too of course.Anyway, my brain is most definitely pickled and if you want your brain to be pickled too, then take a listen (at your own risk ;) ).A few links from my ramblings:What is a vector database (Amazon AWS)About the k-NN algorithm - in this example, used within AWS OpenSearchPostgreSQL vector database features (pgvector)Microsoft: vector database explanationMicrosoft vector searchBack to school to learn some basic mathematics! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

So, you don’t want to go down the whole ETL (Extract Transform Load) route in order to access external data from your Microsoft SQL server?Okay, what about MS SQL Polybase?Take a listen to learn more and to see how you could access external data using T-SQL without having to ETL the data into your environment - leaving the external data where it is.For me personally, the CSV option via say Amazon S3 buckets, Azure Storage is an interesting option as well as being able to query SAP HANA data and possibly even joining to SQL database data ;)Here are some links to delve deeper if you so wish:What is Polybase / Data VirtualizationVirtualize a CSV file into SQLAccessing generic ODBC sourcesAccessing SAP HANA data via Polybase Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

We all love JSON data, don’t we?Well, unless you are working with JSON directly from say C# or whatever flavour of language you use, working with JSON data can be a challenge sometimes. Sure, if you are in native JavaScript land or one of the many plethora of JS frameworks, then “JavaScript Object Notation” (aka JSON) isn’t much use!jq is a really neat command line JSON processor. Written in portable C, it seems to be available anywhere… and I mean anywhere! even the old Solaris (Sun Microsystems).There is a great tutorial too!Thanks to my good friend Tim Abell for suggesting this one!Maybe check out Tim’s podcast too! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Okay, so just to be clear, DAB (Data API Builder) doesn’t simply expose your database ;) better make that clear!However, when you need to build the key components to work with a database i.e. CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete), then you can of course use whatever method you like. But what if an API can be delivered for you? better still you can have REST or GraphQL or both!Oh, and yes, it works with MS-SQL databases, Azure SQL but also noSQL databases and MySQL/PostgresQL too! :)Anyway, take a listen to learn more.Links from the podcast:Data API Builder on GithubMore in-depth MS Learn docs Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

What is the most popular database engine around?Well, a good contender is SQLite - it has been around for years and is in pretty much every device! yes, inside your Android and iPhone as well as many others including the web browser (I have only looked at using via WASM BTW!).SQLite is a flat file based SQL database with some rather nifty features (including functions, CTE and JSON support via plugins). It has an amazing ecosystem and has been around for a long, long time.SQLite cloud is taking the next step - SQLite, well, in the cloud! multi-region support, local/cloud sync and much more!Take a listen to find out more.Links below from the show:SQLite official docsSQLite CTE supportSQLite JSON supportSQLite Cloud! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, perhaps this should have been one for my other podcast (just experimenting with “What’s going on with…”) although, here it is trying to fit within just five minutes - not a chance!! :)Okay, so a ramble it is! Covering some AI investment observations as well as AI hardware - the brutal world of trying something new and attempting to break ground into new markets, even if you don’t need them ;)I reference a couple of links which are below:The investment video I mentioned is hereThe limitless AI site which includes the AI hardware pendant (where I would bet my AI hardware money) is hereOkay, if you managed to get through the whole podcast, I should honestly buy you a coffee or beer or whatever you care to enjoy!I promise I will not make too many of these weekend rambles! back to normal JFM’s now :)Oh, and if you want to understand/take a look at Nvidia GeForce Cloud Gaming, the link is here (I cannot believe I didn’t understand the whole proposition of this!) Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

I think I covered some basics about Docker dev containers a while ago when it was new’ish in beta.Recently, I have been playing more and more with dev containers to save cluttering up my local machine and being able to be truly portable. I can take my dev container with me :) Windows, Mac, Linux - all works the same.What is really fun is being able to say develop dotnet with SQL Server within a dev container, and have that same experience across any platform - including GitHub Codespaces - essentially developing fully in that infamous cloud! Might have to revisit a Codespace episode in the future!But for now, enjoy, and here are some links to get you started if you wish to do so:Docker Desktop - Windows, Mac, Linux, Palm PilotDev ContainersAs a bonus link, test containers! a clean test environment whenever you need it :)Test Containers Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

GitHub Copilot is great, you do have to pay and it integrates nicely with VSCode and Visual Studio but what if there was a generic AI code assistant that is free to use and you can use it anywhere (not on the moon I am guessing)?Codeium is the tool we are talking about.It has a lovely free account that is pretty feature rich and you can use it all over the place! in your favourite IDE/text editor and even as a browser extension :)Codeium also have trained their own models - no reliance on OpenAI or other API’s. Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, it was Microsoft build conference recently and although there were some interesting announcements most were, of course, AI and Copilot related.I have to say though, the new ARM based Windows “Copilot + PC’s” (my goodness, they need a better name!) do look rather interesting!New Windows 11 File Explorer - 7-zip/TAR and built in GIT source controlWindows Copilot + PCsCopilot runtime and library (local “SLM” small language models)Until next time, take care! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, moving single pieces of data from one system to other systems isn’t too complicated. What happens when you need to move batches of data?This is an old problem and an older scenario for sure - nothing that new here!Perhaps, just tweaking how you might approach staging data, might help. That is what I am talking about today :) Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, Tim Abel returns!My good friend Tim (see the link above for more about him!) kindly joined me to discuss software testing - specifically outside in testing!This podcast came about after I had listened to Tim’s podcast episode, and this spurred me on to ask a few questions! (well, three actually!)Since Tim is a contract developer/team lead type of person, he has some wonderful experience working with many teams, and especially larger teams.For someone like me, who isn’t a real developer these days, I wanted to try to understand where software testing is at these days. I remember doing some TDD (test driven development) and E2E (end to end) testing with some projects in the past, but these days I don’t get the exposure of larger scale software testing principles. It does seem things have moved on quite a bit!Tim has a great approach about outside in testing from a user perspective. Please check out his full episode (above link) as it is well worth the listen!Until next time, cheery bye! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, YARP - the open-source Microsoft dotnet (or .NET if you are old school!) reverse proxy (Yet Another Reverse Proxy). If you have watched the movie Hot Fuzz or live in the west country UK, then this might steal a laugh:Hot Fuzz YARP!So, YARP is used internally by Microsoft and within Azure I believe. It is essentially a web-service you configure to handle routing, authentication, transformations and all of that. The advantage is this is code, your code - you can host it where you need it.I have done previous episodes on Azure API management/gateways and also Zuplo, but for reference, the links to Zuplo and a new API management service I stumbled on, Treblle are below.Zuplo API managementTreblle API managementI have used Azure API management gateway a fair bit in the past however, I am a fan of Zuplo right now. I haven’t had chance to play with Treblle as yet so I will update once I have!Until next time!P.S: Just Fifteen Mins YouTube will be going live soon :) Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Well, another recording, ramble mode enabled (is it ever switched off?).If 2023 brought AI to the masses, then 2024 seems to be the rise of AI hardware. AI in your pocket (or in this case on your clothes!).Take a listen to get a quick (ish) overview of two AI devices pushing into our lives :)The humane AI pinThe new re-branded limitless.ai software and AI pendant Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Okay, a “real” ramble for a public holiday (well, here in the UK at least).dApps, smart contracts, blockchain? what the heck is all of this!Well, you must have heard of Bitcoin right?Ethereum (which has been around since approx. 2015) has had this idea of smart contracts where developers can create dApps for various distributed blockchain applications - everything from logistics type stuff to procurement and custom crypto currencies.Well, Bitcoin has primarily been just a crypto currency - until recently.BVM (Bitcoin Virtual Machine) is out providing a way to build on the Bitcoin blockchain network (known as L2 or Layer 2) in a similar way to Ethereum.If you must, take a listen to the ramble in this podcast. I will link to some further resources soon - especially how to build dApps/Smart Contracts, but for now:Bitcoin BVMBlockchain/ledge in SQL 2022dAppsI really need to re-visit the above two older podcasts and drill into the detail a bit - as well as bring them up to date :) Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Using .NET/dotnet? need some easy AI? Using at least dotnet 6?Smart components - from the great mind(s) that brought you Blazor!Still an experiment at the moment, but a neat way to create drop-in-replacement of say text boxes/text areas and combo/dropdown boxes that use some magic AI.Use cases are actually quite subtle and useful. Check out the podcast for further info and we have some links below to delve a little deeper if you need to.Github Repo for smart components Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

So, more note taking apps!I am still a steadfast OneNote user and I have tried Notion as well as Microsoft Loop of late.Obsidian was something a saw a couple of years back but looked really basic. The selling point at the time (and one of the main points still) is your notes are stored locally or wherever you decided to save them i.e. not directly linked to a cloud provider like Microsoft, Google and so on.Obsidian as a nifty graph built in too - this is where the knowledge management aspect kicks in, and for all its gimmicky premise, it actually very clear and useful IMHO!Take a listen to learn more.Obsidian link herePricing information (keep in mind it really is FREE for personal use with all features!)A way better explanation of what is the Markdown Format here :)For Android, I am using this Folder Sync Pro app - not sponsored BTW! but seems to do the job!I did have an issue with the “two-way” sync TBH however, I just setup two one-way syncs to better manage things anyway! They do have an early release of a desktop app and MAC/Linux etc. coming soon.Okay, that is that - catch you next time. Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

… a bit like Michael Jackson’s “filler” song ;)Well, just a ramble (what’s new?) about a few odd things I have been reading.Amazon DynamoDB - How many requests per second? !!In 2021, there was a 66-hour Amazon Prime Day shopping event. The event generated some staggering stats: ○ Trillions of API calls were made to the database by Amazon applications. ○ The peak load to the database reached 89 million requests per second. ○ The database provided single-digit millisecond performance while maintaining high availability.All of this was made possible by DynamoDB.Amazon’s DynamoDB is a NoSQL cloud database service that promises consistent performance at any scale. History of DynamoDBIn the early years, Amazon realized that letting applications access traditional enterprise databases was an invitation to multiple scalability challenges such as managing connections, dealing with concurrent workloads, and handling schema updates. Also, high availability was a critical property for always-online systems. Any downtime negatively impacted the company’s revenue.There was a pressing need for a highly scalable, available, and durable key-value database for fast-changing data such as a shopping cart. Dynamo was a response to this need.However, there was one drawback of Dynamo. It was a single-tenant system and teams were responsible for managing their own Dynamo installations. In other words, every team that used Dynamo had to become experts on various parts of the database service, creating a barrier to adoption.At about the same time, Amazon launched SimpleDB which reduced operational burden for the teams by providing a managed and elastic experience. The engineers within Amazon’s development team preferred using SimpleDB even though Dynamo might be more suitable for their use case.But SimpleDB also had some limitations such as:* The tables had a small storage capacity of 10 GB.* Request throughput was low.* Unpredictable read and write latencies because all table attributes were indexed.Also, the operational burden wasn’t eliminated. Developers still had to take care of dividing data between multiple tables to meet their application’s storage and throughput requirements.Therefore, the engineers concluded that a better solution would be to combine the best parts of Dynamo (scalability and predictable high performance) with the best parts of SimpleDB (ease of administration, consistency, and a table-based data model).This led to the launch of DynamoDB as a public AWS service in 2012. It was a culmination of everything they had learned from building large-scale, non-relational databases for Amazon.Over the years, DynamoDB has added several features based on customer demand.The below timeline illustrates this constant progress.Operational Requirements of DynamoDBDynamoDB has evolved over the years, much of it in response to Amazon’s experiences building highly scalable and reliable cloud computing services. A key challenge has been adding features without impacting the key operational requirements.The below diagram shows the six fundamental operational requirements fulfilled by DynamoDB.Let’s look at each of them in a little more detail.Fully Managed Cloud ServiceA fundamental goal of DynamoDB is to free developers from the burden of running their database system. This includes things like patching software, configuring a distributed database cluster, and taking care of hardware needs. The applications can just talk to the DynamoDB API for creating tables. They can read and write data without worrying about where those tables are physically stored or how they’re being managed. DynamoDB handles everything for the developer right from resource provisioning to software upgrades, data encryption, taking backups, and even failure recovery. Multi-Tenant ArchitectureDynamoDB also aims to create cost savings for the customers. One way to achieve this is using a multi-tenant architecture where data from different customers is stored on the same physical machines. This ensures better resource utilization and lets Amazon pass on the savings to the customers.However, you still need to provide workload isolation in a multi-tenant system. DynamoDB takes care of it via resource reservations, tight provisioning, and monitoring usage for every customer.Boundless Scale for TablesUnlike SimpleDB, there are no predefined limits for how much data can be stored in a DynamoDB table. DynamoDB is designed to scale the resources dedicated to a table from several servers to many thousands as needed. A table can grow elastically to meet the demands of the customer without any manual intervention.Predictable PerformanceDynamoDB guarantees consistent performance even when the tables grow from a few megabytes to hundreds of terabytes. For example, if your application is running in the same AWS region as its data, you can expect to see average latency in the low single-digit millisecond range. DynamoDB handles any level of demand through horizontal scali

Well, Unicorns aside for a moment, let us delve into the world of API gateways and why you might need one - certainly if you build API’s that is!I have used Azure API gateway management for quite some years now, since it first appeared on Azure actually! But that’s nothing to brag about since it has changed immensely over recent years.So why do you need an API gateway? what’s in it for me you might ask. Well, have a listen and found out :)Thanks to the lovely Scott Hanselman for providing the insight for this JFM. Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Work with databases? especially Microsoft SQL Server or Azure SQL? then roll up, roll up for yet more AI - just when you think you can’t eat anymore AI, there is room for just a bit more :) Optionally (and it is a bit gross in a funny way) it reminds me off Monty Python’s Mr Creosote: Anyway, back to business!Even though the name “Azure Data Studio” has “Azure” in it, you can use it as an updated replacement to say SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). ADS is built on the same foundations as VS Code and therefore can be used cross-platform (yeah, you can use MS-SQL on Linux don’t you know!). In fact, a lot of my local dev work uses MS-SQL 2022 within a Linux based docker container. Saves me having a local instance running and I can switch between versions much easier!ADS (when you install some “needed” extensions from MS!) is almost on par with SSMS and has a lot of advantages. Because ADS is built on the same foundations as VS Code, you can install extensions. Also, you get really good IntelliSense i.e. completion of commands and so on. You can manage PostgreSQL and MySQL as well as MongoDB and Azure Cosmos DB. So, no surprise that ADS now has GitHub Copilot :) Yeah, you need to pay for GitHub Copilot, but you do get lots of immediate assistance right there when working with SQL or data structures (as opposed to jumping over to ChatGPT).Here are some links as noted in the podcast:Overview of Copilot in ADSGetting started with ADS Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

I can just hear the Rocky theme music (eye of the tiger) playing in the background…So, why produce a filler episode? hey well all TV series seem to so why not me!Nothing too detailed this time around just the sheer gasp of the revenue these cloud providers are making. Sit back, sip your favourite beverage, and perhaps perform a good old face palm (is that still a thing?) at the magnitude of these figures! P.S: I am not condoning the above, just a casual observer :)The link to the original article is you wish to read further… Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

AI Overload (for now!) Oh yes, AI overload for sure! This time around we take a casual stroll around Open AI assistants and GPTs. GPTs are custom chatGPT instances anyone can create. For example, you can create your own GPT to allow an upload of PDFs (or several) and perform some "chatGPT" type stuff on that or those specific PDFs. Lots more you can do, so check the links below. Assistants are similar to GPTs however, this is more for developers. You do not get an easy front-end to create GPTs, you use code to call assistant APIs. But this also provides some deeper options for creating multi-model GPTs or chaining (langchain) multiple requests to different models (i.e. understanding text, then images, sound etc.). Assistants make it possible to create more complex AI based apps and allow for fine tuning of prompts, setting the tone (i.e. "You are a design specialist in the area of website building") to name a few. Anyway, take care until next time! OpenAI GPT store and how to create your own GPTs OpenAI Assistants - the developer side of creating your own GPTs Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Welcome back! For this episode, kindly suggested by my good friend Tim Abell, we have a privacy first knowledge management app for all of your devices. You could download the code, run as a docker container which means you could keep everything on your own environment instead of letting those massive corporations control you! ( :) ). Anyway, take a listen for more and the links as mentioned are below: Link to Logseq GitHub main page here (scroll down a bit to see the main read me) Link to the main website of Logseq - I forgot to mention they have iOS, Android and Desktop covered! The wonderful Tim "whispering Bob" Abell Software Should Be Free podcast Finally, a direct link to the codebase read me for Logseq if you want to explore further Until the next time, take care! Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

We all love to aspire to be something better :) even robots! .NET Aspire is a new way to build out microservice type projects. I believe I am correct in saying Aspire definitely had some foundations from project TYE which was an experiment a year or so back. In addition, DAPR is also a similar offering however, Aspire aims to be rather opinionated (which can be a good thing!) and DAPR is more of a pick and choose offering. Anyway, a few links below, but take a listen for some further ramblings! Aspire release preview 2 Some info on how Aspire and DAPR are different but complimentary DAPR - the distributed application runtime thingy! Until next time, take care. Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe

Welcome back. Whhhaaassup with WASM and WASI - look, I'm trying okay! Anyway, WASM and WASI - what does all of this mean? That is what we are talking about today! Some links on WASM/WASI: Get on the Blazor Train - WASM from the dotnet world Original JFM about Fermyon From the dotnet perspective - WASM/WASI The next level of cloud compute? Get full access to Just Five Mins! at www.justfivemins.com/subscribe