Welcome to my PinkLetter. A short, weekly, technology-agnostic, and pink newsletter where we cultivate timeless skills about web development.
My Ramblings This Week
When is the last time you upgraded your project’s dependencies?
Too long ago, I know. But here’s a simple recipe to redeem yourself:
Test Dependencies
No risks; No excuses. Do it today.
- Upgrade
- Run the tests
- (Fix problems)
- Commit
Dev Dependencies
Low risk of fellow developers shouting at you; Not a good excuse. Do (at least patch and minor versions) today.
Runtime Dependencies
Sweating a bit here, huh?
Non-breaking changes should not be a problem: check the changelogs of each dependency for reassurance.
Bigger upgrades require some planning, or else they’ll never happen. The trick here is to make a rough roadmap, track progress for motivation, and set up reminders on your calendar.
Remember: upgrades are not an all-or-nothing thing. You can get some done today: “Just do it!”
Elsewhere on the Web
Type-Driven API Design in Rust by Will Crichton
In this talk, I will live-code the design of a simple Rust API. Through the evolution of the API, I will demonstrate how Rust’s type system (especially traits) can be used to design interfaces that cleanly compose with existing code, and that help API clients catch mistakes at compile-time.
(Riccardo: Dunno why I’m still in Ruby when I know what static types can do.)
Why We Need More Chaos - Chaos Engineering, That Is by Nora Jones
[Nora] discusses the benefits and challenges of establishing Chaos Engineering into your systems.