I recently completed my final project for the Flatiron School’s Full Stack Web Development program. This project consisted of a React front-end paired with a Ruby on Rails API backend. As the project came to an end the question became, how to deploy this thing? Read more...

I started the Flatiron School’s Online Web Developer program in March 2016. Sitting here on September 1st, 2017, with the completion of my final project, I’ve invested over 1,200 hours, completing over 650 lessons and 5 major projects. React Timer, my final project for the Flatiron School, represents the culmination of this effort. For me it represents a big step in my progress as a software developer. Here is a little bit about how React Timer came together. Read more...

Carb Tracker was originally created as my Ruby on Rails project for the Flatiron School’s Online Web Developer Program. Following the Ruby on Rails coursework, the program continues with JavaScript, jQuery, and working with Rails APIs. The JavaScript material culminates with updating your Ruby on Rails project with some JavaScript and jQuery. The following is some information about the my JavaScript based updates to Carb Tracker. More information the original Carb Tracker project can be found here. Read more...

Carb Tracker allows users to track their nutrition in order to reach their health goals. The original idea for the app was to build a tool to help users manage their diet based on The Primal Blueprint Carbohydrate Curve. Users are able to add foods, create recipes, and log their food consumption. Total nutrition statics are provided to help users understand their total consumption. The Nutrition Ix API was used to allow users to search for foods and automatically receive nutrition data when creating recipes. Carb Tracker uses the Ruby on Rails web development framework. The project was created for the Flatiron School’s Online Web Developer Program. Here is an overview of the process for creating the web app. Read more...

One part of the Ruby language has tripped me up on several occasions. In Ruby, passing an object (i.e. just about everything in Ruby) as an argument to a method gives you a reference to that object. Therefore changes to the object inside of the method are reflected on the original object. Read more...

Photo Vistas provides customized browser homepages using photos from Unsplash. The app enables users to link their Unsplash account and add Unsplash photos they’ve liked or added to collections to their Photo Vistas queue. Homepage photos are rotated daily. Photo Vistas uses the Sinatra web development domain specific language (DSL). The project was created for the Flatiron School’s Online Web Developer Program. Here is an overview of the process for creating the web app. Read more...

In November 2016 I gave a talk at the Central Pennsylvania Open Source Conference about creating static sites with the Middleman static site generator. Read more...

RetroCasts provides a command line utility (cli) for quickly accessing episode data from RailsCasts.com. It provides a quick and convenient way to search the site without leaving the terminal. This post discusses the process for making the RetroCasts gem. The first major project for the Flatiron School’s Online Web Developer program is the “CLI Data Gem Project.” So far the program has had several other larger projects, but this is the first project where a test suite is not provided as a framework. Read more...

In August 2016 I gave a talk at the Lancaster Front-End Meetup about static web sites and the static site generator Middleman. Read more...

As part of the Flatiron School’s Online Web Developer Program, the students have been asked to write regular blog posts. The first topic asks why we decided to learn software development. I think that my reason is best told by a story about why I joined the program. Read more...