{ Chris.Blackwell }

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Greetings! I'm a web developer from Ontario, Canada, who is passionate about creating web apps using Laravel and plugins for WordPress.

I write open source packages like LaraCogs and Quarx. I write weekly articles about programming, and share useful tips.

In Response to #NoTDD

I follow people online who write in a variety of different languages, using a wide variety of platforms. One of the blogs I follow is the MSDN blog. This can be a great source of information of upcoming web standards, or even new platforms Microsoft is trying out. I don’t always agree with everything I read, but I always take the time to reflect on a different viewpoint.

The viewpoint I’ve been reflecting on lately is the #NoTDD article that Eric Gunnerson wrote a few weeks ago. It’s very easy for one to throw up their arms in disagreement with such a bold statement. Let’s instead take a minute to reflect on the points Eric makes. Continue Reading

To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.

– Leonard Bernstein

Choosing Ember over React

Two years ago I chose Ember over Angular as my primary framework. At the time it was a hard decision. There is a much larger community around Angular, and React was starting to pickup steam. Ember uses Convention over Configuration, which really helps our team manage larger projects.

The team over at instant2fa wrote up a great explanation on why they chose Ember over React. It’s interesting to read their take on the decision. I’m hoping this will help educate people that React is just a view layer, and Ember is so much more.

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Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

– Abraham Lincoln

Hide Widgets on Specific WordPress Pages

The new reader centric version of my website launched last night. When I was setting up the new home and about page views, I needed to hide a widget. Normally there is a brief “about me” widget on most pages. This widget allows visitors who came directly to a page or article to learn more about me. Since the about page and homepage have their own dedicated areas for this information, I wanted to hide the “about” widget. Continue Reading

Marco Arment on the New Mac Pro

Apple blew everyone out of the water a couple weeks ago with the news that they were working on a new Mac Pro along with a Pro screen. I am very excited for this new machine, and I’ve been holding off on buying a new Mac desktop until I saw some major improvements. Marco Arment has now posted about what Apple must do to make the Mac Pro a real pro machine.

Marco writes about the many needs of pro users, and how broad the market is. He doesn’t come right out and say it, but I think his overall point is made clear. Just build a tower! A tower Mac would clearly solve 90% of the issues the community keeps bringing up. If Apple brought back the old Mac Pro design, and put some modern components in it, I wouldn’t be able to give them my money fast enough.

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Server Sent Events using Laravel and Vue

Recently I was working on a new project, where I had to stream stock data and display it on a chart. My first instinct was to setup a loop using setTimeout, but I quickly realized that wouldn’t work for my exact needs. Stock prices change so frequently, often happening several times a second. Doing an ajax call every second seemed like the worst overhead baggage I could possibly program myself into. After doing a bit of research, I stumbled upon Server-Sent Events.  Continue Reading

To not give a fuck about anything, is still to give a fuck about something.

– Mark Manson
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