Thanks to the MSYS2 project, now there is an easy way to utilize Clang to build C/C++ application on Windows. This works equally well for both 32-bit and 64-bit programs. MSYS2 is a fantastic (and better) reimagination of Cygwin, it is like taking the best part of a typical modern Unix environment (...

Thanks to the MSYS2 project, now there is an easy way to utilize Clang to build C/C++ application on Windows. This works equally well for both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.

Developing cross-platform applications presents a major challenge:, how to ensure that every commit does not break some combinations of operating systems and CPU architectures. Fortunately, thanks an array of online services and open-source tools, this challenge becomes easier to tackle. For this de...

Developing cross-platform applications presents a major challenge:, how to ensure that every commit does not break some combinations of operating systems and CPU architectures. Fortunately, thanks an array of online services and open-source tools, this challenge becomes easier to tackle.

Now that WSL 2 packs a true Linux kernel and supports Linux containers (via Docker), it can be a perfect setup to perform application cross compilations.

WebAssembly is getting more popular than ever. The use of WebAssembly outside the confinement of a web browser also starts to gain traction, as evidenced from projects such as WebAssembly Interface. Understanding the memory model of WebAssembly will be important in order to fully comprehend its powe...

React Native emerged as a popular framework to build Android and iOS applications from a single code base. Verification of React Native apps during the development phase is not always easy, but thanks to a host of managed services, the CI/CD process can be simplified a lot.

Traditionally, setting up a continuous integration system for iOS development is not always trivial. Since building can only happen on macOS, this requires a dedicated machine or alternatively, a machine you can rent (in the cloud). With all the hosted CI these days offering macOS support, such a ta...

Azure Pipelines emerged as a new compelling all-in-one solution for continuous integration. How difficult is it to use it to compile, build, and package an Android app? Apparently, not difficult at all.

When developing a web app, it is important to verify that the app works with various web browers. A very comprehensive way to do this is to use a Selenium Grid with a wide selection of web browsers connected to the grid. A complementary approach is to ensure that the continuous integration includes ...

What is the purpose of being an engineering manager? After studying it for a while, I realize that there is a strong reason to believe that it is very much similar to the responsibility of a teacher to their students, a coach to their athletes, and a mentor to their mentees.

Previously, I have shown that running VPN all the time on modern smartphones should not cause any battery concern. In this follow-up, rather than using a commercial VPN service, we look at the simple steps to set up an OpenVPN ourselves.

The use of Kanban boards is fairly popular in the context of a sprint-style software development, as a form of a lightweight project management. Extending the use of Kanban boards to handle general management tasks will give the benefit of encouraging transparency and promoting accountability.

While Linux text-oriented command-line tools run natively on Windows 10 these days, there is also the possibility of running the graphical applications which use X11. All we need is the corresponding X Server on the Windows side.

A simple software project with one developer working on it, perhaps it is you and your open-source project, does not need an elaborated description of its progress. In fact, the state of your project can be binary, either it is still in development or it is available for the public consumption. But ...

High-end smartphones, such as the latest Apple iPhone and Google Pixel 2, offer the so-called Portrait Mode when taking pictures. This mode blurs the background so that the foreground object stands out, thereby creating a professional-looking photo with almost zero effort. Fortunately, this act of b...

We are notoriously bad at password hygiene. Yet, it is crucial for our digital lives. How many of us managed to convince our friends and family members to use a strong and unique password for every service which they use? How about the grumpy response when you suggest them to always use a password m...

Because the particular nebulous definition of cloud computing, an organization which does not carefully perform a proper assessment typically ends up using sub-optimal cloud services. A very common mistake is to stick with IaaS, while moving to SaaS can yield a better outcome for all parties involve...

Many forms of technical communication (functional specification, sprint planning, test plan, etc) need to demonstrate clarity. Unfortunately, clarity is often sacrificed – sometimes unconsciously – by an excessive use of ambiguous references.

Professional public speakers are always confident in their delivery. For the rest of us mere mortals, the confidence level can be boosted by our ability to maintain eye contact and demonstrate a good posture. Of course, it also helps to avoid any speech fillers as best as possible.

This sample site demonstrates the use of CSS Animation along with CSS 3-D Transform.

This sample site demonstrates the use of Battery Status API.

This sample site demonstrates the use of HTML5 client-side form validation.

This sample site demonstrates the detection of preferred language for the browser.

Being able to communicate with clarity and conciseness is a critical skill to the success of every engineering manager, tech lead, and software architect. A very typical approach to achieve that is by having a lot of deliberate practice.

This tool can undo the so-called mix lingo, a code-mixing style famously practiced around (South) Jakarta.

This sample site prints navigator.userAgent reported by the web browser.

There is no shortage of ready-to-use CSS-based loading spinners. Yet, it is still fun to derive a spinner from scratch, particular if the constraint is to use only one DOM element.

Firebase is an attractive service from Google to build web, Android, and iOS applications. Visual Studio Team Services is an amazing service from Microsoft to host code and to run deployment script. How can we combine these two services together?

If you are running an HTTP server and would like to enable SSL, an easy way to do that is to use a terminating proxy. Among others, stunnel is relatively simple and very easy to use.