Showing posts with label markdown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label markdown. Show all posts

Reading Notes #532


Good Monday, time to share my reading notes. Those are a curated list of all the articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and books that caught my interest during the week and that I found interesting. It's a mix of the actuality and what I consumed.

If you think you may have interesting content, share it!

Cloud

Programming

Miscellaneous

~frank

Reading Notes #495


Good Monday, 
Already time to share new reading notes. It is a habit I started a long time ago where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and books that catch my interest during the week. 


Suggestion of the week

  • Include diagrams in your Markdown files with Mermaid (Martin Woodward, Adam Biagianti) - This is very interesting. For a simple little diagram, we can now do that in text in the same document... Looking forward to trying it. Mermaid is also supported in Azure DevOps

Cloud

Programming

Book



Author: Matthew McConaughey

This autobiography is funny, light, interesting, and even weird at some moments. But you know what? I liked it. I totally kept some quotes, as I found them good. I partially read it and listen to it. The audio version is done by Matthew and it's nice to hear him telling us his story.




~frank

 

Reading Notes #476

Every Monday, I share my reading notes. Those are a curated list of all the articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and books that catch my interest during the week and that I found interesting. It's a mix of the actuality and what I consumed.

You think you may have interesting content, share it!

Cloud

Programming

Podcasts

Miscellaneous


~Frank

Reading Notes #434

Every Monday, I share my "reading notes". Those are a curated list of all the articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and books that catch my interest during the week and that I found interesting. It's a mix of the actuality and what I consumed. 

You think you may have interesting content, share it!

Cloud


Programming


Podcasts


Miscellaneous


~☁️


Reading Notes #432


Every Monday, I share my "reading notes". Those are a curated list of all the articles, blog posts, podcast episodes, and books that catch my interest during the week and that I found interesting. It's a mix of the actuality and what I consumed.

You think you may have interesting content, share it!


Cloud


Programming


Podcasts


Books

Add caption
Title: Badass: Making Users Awesome 

Author: Kathy Sierra 

ISBN: 9781491919019

I took me about one year to read that book. Way longer then it should. It was a good book and it is really easy to read. Maybe it's the fact that it was a "real" book and not in my kindle? But I think it was the format. This book look like a comic book with a director cut. There those little story bubbles and there is the text. The content is amazing, but I felt like I was always losing the vibe while transitioning to the text, or the bubbles. 

However, the book is really great

Reading Notes #424


Suggestion of the week

Cloud

Programming

Podcasts

Miscellaneous

  • Visual Studio Codespaces (Nik Molnar) - I really like the new name I think it says more about what it is. And seriously how can I not like the new price! Less than 2$/day for a machine!

Reading Notes #354

Cloud


Programming


Books

Extreme Ownership_coverExtreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win (Jocko Willink, Leif Babin) - Very interesting book. Yes, it contains a lot of battle details, and first I was not sure, but then things "fall" all in place when you understand what the story was "demonstrating." It also contains more business focus examples. Everything is very clear, well explained in plain English.









~

Reading Notes #350



markdig

Cloud


Programming


Miscellaneous


Books

Fast FocusFast Focus (Damon Zahariades) - Great short book. Not like the other of his kind, this book goes right to the point and offers actionable item. It's very practical and accessible to everyone. At the end of the book, you know what to do to get started and improve your focus.



Reading Notes #338

ChocolateyGUI_main_screen

Suggestion of the week




Cloud


    Programming


      Miscellaneous





        Reading Notes #323

        Suggestion of the week


        Cloud


        Programming


        Miscellaneous


        Databases


        Books


        This book doesn't age! 

        This book may be old, but it's still incredibly true. I loved the way the reader was speaking and the rich vocabulary. It's definitely a must.

        ASIN: B003WEAI4E







        Reading Notes #321

        ester-eggs-2345859_640

        Suggestion of the week



        Cloud



        Programming



        Databases



        Miscellaneous


        Books



        When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing (Daniel H. Pink)

        A really amazing book packed of very interesting advice. Things that you kind of already knew, or at least had a feeling you maybe knew are clearly explained to you.

        After reading (or listening) this book, you will know why, and you can decide to fight it or change the when... improve your performance and use your time and energy on something else.

        ISBN: 0525589333






        Reading Notes #256

        IMG_20161107_104028Cloud

        Programming

        Miscellaneous



        Reading Notes #241

        IMG_20160711_083348Cloud


        Programming


        Miscellaneous


        6 ways to go from Markdown to Azure Web App

        Everything started when I wanted to share a blog post in progress to someone for review. I didn't want to create a copy, and I was looking for an extremely simple way to share; like an url. This blog post is about all my journey to find that method and all the great possibilities available. I was really happy to that Azure Web App.
        I'm writing in Markdown, it's a syntax I really like because it's simple no special application is required to use it. To know more about it see my previous post: Why I switch to Markdown, First VSCode Tasks in less than 5 minutes and Meet my new best friend: Visual Studio Code. The more I use it, the more I like it. I started using it not only not only for blogging, but also for all kinds of notes.

        DropBox

        One very good thing about Markdown is the fact that is compatible with all platforms. Because of that, I keep my texts in Dropbox. Why not Google Drive or OneDrive? Because Dropbox automatically generates the HTML version so my reviewer could read it in a beautiful format. The file is share-able very easily and if authenticated my reviewer could write comment.
        dropboxpostsharing
        In the PRO version, of DropBox, you can give access only to specific user. That would be very nice for sharing files inside a business or more sensible information.
        Unfortunately for me, I don't want to force my reviewer to register. Another interesting fact is that relative paths for images aren't supported. So all images/ charts need also to be share individually before added in the text.

        Repositories: GitHub, Bitbucket, etc.

        By default, most repositories convert markdown file to HTML so very easy to read. It's also a very good way to have a saved copy. But then you need to have a public repository or give access to people...
        Only using repository was not good enough in my case because I don't wish to share unfinished work with everyone.

        Jekyll


        Option 1 - Jekyll

        Jekyll is a static website generator written in Ruby. It's really well integrated to Github, and you can even host your blog in a Github repository. However, since I would prefer to keep my in progress work more private, I decided to go with Bitbucket. Bitbucket is a great repository that supports Git and Mercurial system and allowed private repositories.
        We could have Jekyll in a Git repository host on Bitbucket that would be hook-up to an Azure Web App with a continuous deployment.
        Here the steps:
        1. First create a private repository from Bitbucket.
        2. Clone that fresh repository on your local machine.
        3. Now it's time to create your Jekyll site.
          • If you don't have Ruby or Jekyll already installed on your machine now it's time. It's very easy just follow the instruction on the official website.
          • To create a new site, open a command prompt and type the command: jekyll new NameOfMySite then cd ./NameOfMySite and jekyll serve
          To see your new site you just need to browse to http:localhost:4000. Add your Markdown files to the folder _posts and be sure they respect the naming convention YYYY-MM-DD-Title.md
        4. Now it's time to add all the files to our Git repository with the command git add -A, and before pushing let create a new Azure Web App.
        5. Go to http://portal.azure.com a create a new Azure Web App.
          CreateAzureWebApp
          • From the top left click the "+ New" button.
          • Select Web+ Mobile, then click on Web App
          • Fill-up the name, subscription plan and click the create button.
        6. After few second, the Web App will be ready. It's time to add a continuous deployment to it.
          AddContinuous
          Note: that right now the deployment settings are FTP.
          • In the Web App blade, if not already go in the Setting section.
          • Scroll done the Settings to Continuous deployment and click on it.
          • Now choose your source control, in this case Bitbucket.
        7. It's now time to publish our site to our Remote repository with git push.
        8. In the Azure portal, you will see the deployment progress and history.
          DeploymentHistory
        The combination Jekyll / Bitbucket / Azure Web App work great, but we need to generate the code locally and checked-in both source and generated content in the repository. Furthermore, since we need to generate the code, Ruby and Jekyll need to be installed on every machine we will be using.

        Option 2 - Jekyll Extension to Azure Web App

        I found a really great Azure Web App Extension Jekyll Extenstion on GitHub. That will simplify a lot the process thanks to Cory's works. To use it simple follow the four steps explain on the Github page:

        1. Create an Azure Web App 
        2. Set an App Setting for SCM_COMMAND_IDLE_TIMEOUT to 600. From the Web App blade click on Settings and select Application settings.  Add the new line, and click the save button.
           SCM_AppSetting
        3. Install the Jekyll Site Extension
          • Always From the Web App blade click on Tools, then select Extension
          • Click Add button
          • Found and select Jekyll Extension AddJekyllExtension
        4. Now we need to hook up your Git repository or Push a local (in Azure) Git repository with your Jekyll site.
        I really liked this solution. It's very simple to install. Because it used a repository, I can keep a historic of all my texts. Moreover, only the texts and images are in the repository, and since the site is generated in the cloud, no need to install anything on other machines.
        WriteFromVSCode
        Directly from Visual Studio Code, I can write my article, and when I'm read I just need to do a push (still inside VSCode). The site will automatically be built and deployed in my Azure Web App.

        Santra.Snow

        NancylogoWhile doing my research, I found Sandra.Snow another static site generator inspired from Jekyll but in .Net using Nancy library.
        To use it, a little bit of work is required. The easiest way is to fork the Github project and compile the solution to get dlls and exes.
        • Create a new folder for your site [MySnowSite].
        • In MySnowSite folder, create another folder Sandra.Snow.Processor and copy/paste: Nancy.dll, Nancy.Testing.dll, Nancy.ViewEngines.Razor.dll and Snow.exe generated previously.
        • You can now copy the Sandra.Snow/SnowSite/Snow folder into MySnowSite folder.
        • Add deployment and deploy.cmd files from Sandra.Snow/SnowSite into MySnowSite folder.
        SandraSnowFolder
        Few changes were required in deploy.cmd (line: 29, 31, 56, 57)
        @echo off
        
        :: ----------------------
        :: KUDU Deployment Script
        :: ----------------------
        
        :: Setup
        :: -----
        
        setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
        
        SET ARTIFACTS=%~dp0%artifacts
        
        IF NOT DEFINED DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE (
          SET DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE=%~dp0%.
        )
        
        IF NOT DEFINED DEPLOYMENT_TARGET (
          SET DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=%ARTIFACTS%\wwwroot
        )
        
        ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
        :: Deployment
        :: ----------
        
        :: 3. Build Snow Site
        echo -----
        echo Start - Building the Snow Site
        echo Running Snow.exe config=%DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE%\Snow\
        pushd %DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE%
        call  %DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE%\Sandra.Snow.Processor\Snow.exe config=%DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE%\Snow\
        IF !ERRORLEVEL! NEQ 0 goto error
        echo Finish - Building the Snow Site
        echo -----
        
        
        IF NOT DEFINED NEXT_MANIFEST_PATH (
          SET NEXT_MANIFEST_PATH=%ARTIFACTS%\manifest
        
          IF NOT DEFINED PREVIOUS_MANIFEST_PATH (
        SET PREVIOUS_MANIFEST_PATH=%ARTIFACTS%\manifest
          )
        )
        
        IF NOT DEFINED KUDU_SYNC_COMMAND (
          :: Install kudu sync
          echo Installing Kudu Sync
          call npm install kudusync -g --silent
          IF !ERRORLEVEL! NEQ 0 goto error
        
          :: Locally just running "kuduSync" would also work
          SET KUDU_SYNC_COMMAND=node "%appdata%\npm\node_modules\kuduSync\bin\kuduSync"
        )
        
        
        echo Kudu Sync from "%DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE%\Snow\Website" to "%DEPLOYMENT_TARGET%"
        call %KUDU_SYNC_COMMAND% -q -f "%DEPLOYMENT_SOURCE%\Snow\Website" -t "%DEPLOYMENT_TARGET%" -n "%NEXT_MANIFEST_PATH%" -p "%PREVIOUS_MANIFEST_PATH%" -i ".git;.deployment;deploy.cmd" 2>nul
        IF !ERRORLEVEL! NEQ 0 goto error
        
        ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
        
        goto end
        
        :error
        echo An error has occured during web site deployment.
        exit /b 1
        
        :end
        echo Finished successfully.
        
        Like previously created a Azure Web App and hook up a Git repository or push to an Azure one. You can find a lot of information on the blog of Sandra.Snow creator Phillip Haydon.

        Bonus

        For both Jekyll (option 2) and Sandra.Snow that used Azure Web App continuous deployment use can use Dropbox instead of Git repository. Why would you use Dropbox? Well, since Dropbox is available on any kind of platform, you would be able to write from your iPad or android tablet, or anything! To learn more about how to do it, see one of my previous post: Setup an automatic deployment on Azure with Dropbox in 5 minutes.
        Just for the fun, I created one theme for Sandra.Snow that I put on GitHub: Sandra.Snow.NotesTheme, feel free to use it.

        Enjoy!

        ~Frank Boucher

        Reading Notes #220

        Logic-AppSuggestion of the week


        Cloud


        Programming


        Data

        Book

        • Software Development Book Giveaway! - Cool! A great opportunity, 3 free books are given: Building Microservices, Working Effectively with Legacy Code, and Javascript: The Good Parts.

        Miscellaneous



        Reading Notes #187

        2015-05-30 12.54.59

        Cloud


        Programming


        Miscellaneous



        First VSCode Tasks in less than 5 minutes

        I'm working on solution to automating the generation of my weekly post: Reading Notes. While this work is finished, I still need to do many steps manually. I introduced in a previous post VSCode, that already supports markdown. In fact, from any markdown file, you can press Ctrl+Shift+V to preview the oupput. However, today, it's not possible to do anything with this preview. This post explains how we can use VSCode task to fix this problem.

        Goal

        Create a task that will quickly transform my current open markdown file in HTML.

        Step 1 - Get a Markdown parser

        First, we need Markdown parser. I'm sure many different are available, but in this post, I will use markdown-js, a Node.js parser that is available on github. To install it, just execute the following command:
        npm install -g markdown
        

        Step 2 - Create a Task

        Secondly, we need to create our task. Open Visual Studio Code, and type Ctrl+Shift+P to open the Command Palette and then start typing Configure Task. Press Enter or select “Configure Task Runner”. This will create a new file tasks.jon, with many different samples of tasks. Before you replace the content of the page by the following code, take a look at the comment block at the top of the page. You will see different context variables that are available.

        // Simple Task to transform MarkDown to Html
        {
            "version": "0.1.0",
            "command": "md2html",
            "isShellCommand": true,
            "args": ["${file}"]
        }
        

        This defines our task using the json format. The command name in this case is md2html and we pass the name of the current open file as parameter using the variable ${file}. Finally, the "isShellCommand" is set to true so the task will be triggered by pressing Ctrl+Shift+B.

        Step 3 - Try it

        To try it, open a markdown page, hit Ctrl+Shift+B, and voilà! You should see in the output the HTML code generated.




        References



        ~Frank

        Meet my new best friend: Visual Studio Code

        On the last week of April, Microsoft was having a huge event call //Build. During three (3) days many great conferences were presented. You can watch them on-demand on Channel 9. The keynote of day one is a must! It was during this keynote that Microsoft reveals many amazing news. One of them: Visual Studio Code. In this post, I indent to share my impression of this tool after one week of usage.

        The Beast

        You may be thinking: VSCode, it must be a light version Visual Studio... To that, I will reply it's not.
        VSCode doesn't go without remembering other modern text editor like Sublime text, or brackets. The interface is far different from Visual Studio though. At this day, three themes are available but you can customize e v e r y t h i n g.

        VSCode_Theme_contrasteVSCode_Theme_darkVSCode_Theme_light
        VSCode is free, and it runs on Windows, Linux and Mac, it includes great tooling for web technologies such as HTML, Asp.net, Nodejs, CSS, LESS, SASS and JSon. It has syntax highlighting and a true IntelliSense. It also included: package managers, repositories, Git experience, debug tools, tasks, and so more!

        I could continue over and over, but all the features are well explained on the official website.

        My experience

        It took me less than a minute to install on my "old" surface one. The interface is fast, and everything was looking good... Until I try to do something.

        First, I was a bit confused. How should I open or create a project? Where is the menu? How do I use the debugger? After few minutes reading the excellent documentation on the official website, everything became clear. Visual Studio Code is sharing his name with his big brother, but he is really different. VS Code is using a folder approach, and a lot of shortcuts (so you keep your hands on the keyboard). And you quickly learn to use the Command Palette (Ctrl + Shift + P) to do more specific work.

        My initial test was why Ghost. I cloned the repository directly from Github to my computer. Then from VSCode, open the folder. Without changing / editing anything, VSCode knew my project was in JavaScript, and the coloring and IntelliSense were working. And(F5), the debugger and I felt already more at home.

        Firstdebug

        A little message informed me that I needed to specify the starting point in the configuration file and voilà! I was debugging a Node.js project, that was easy.


        Verdict

        After a really short adaptation, Visual Studio Code reveals to be a reel gem. I strongly suggest that you spend few minutes reading the documentation before, to enjoy all his capabilities! The further I use it the more I become completely addicted. Visual Studio Code is an indispensable tool for everyone doing web development or looking for a powerful code editor.

        VSCode_Markdown
         
         
        Reference:
        • Visual studio code: Official website where you can find documentation and download VSCode for your favourite platform.

        Reading Notes #174

        gitSuggestion of the week


        Cloud


        Programming


        ~Frank Boucher


        Why I switch to Markdown

        The Markdown is not a new video game, but a way to write in plain text that can easily be converted in HTML. This "new" standard is gaining in popularity for many reasons. In this post, I will explain why I like it and show you some basic syntax, and nice tools.

        What is Markdown

        The exact Markdown's definition can by found on the Markdown website and look like this:
        Markdown is a text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers. Markdown allows you to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid HTML.
        The syntax in Markdown is very easy to learn. In fact, it will come mostly by itself since it will look nice in any text editor.  For example, title and subtitle and list look like:

        Title and sub-title
        This Is My Title
        ================
        
        Subtitle 1
        ----------
        
        Here some items:
        - Item 1
        - item 2
        - item 3

        That easy right?! Let's add two more sample, this time a bit more "complex": Links and images.

        Link

        For links, two styles are possible:

        Inline:

        [Link Text](http://www.frankysnotes.com)
        Reference:

        [Link Text][1]
        [Another one][link2]
        
        ...
        
        [1]: http://www.frankysnotes.com 
        [link2]: http://www.frankysnotes.com    

        I personally prefer the reference style, because it keeps the text clean and easy to read. To add an image it's mostly the same two style again, but we add an exclamation point in front of the square brackets.

        Image
        ![alternative text](http://frankysnotes.com/images/logo.png)
        
        ![alternative text][logo]
        
        ...
        
        [logo]:http://frankysnotes.com/images/logo.png
        
        
        This these simple things cover mostly everything we need when writing documentation, blog posts or reference documents. Obviously if you need more you can always go on the Markdown website. I also put online this full article in Markdown format.


        Why Markdown is so nice

        First, I really like Mardown because I can edit my files on all platforms. Since they are regular text files, any text editor on Android, IOS, Windows Phone, PC and Linux will do the job perfectly. Plus, your text will never lose is formatting, while changing from a device to another one (like with Word documents).
        Likewise, since I'm working on different devices, I usually put my file in a shareable place like Dropbox or OneDrive. A simple text file is very small and quick to synchronize.

        Tools, apps and more

        Yes, you can edit your file in any text editor, but here are some nice tools that are available that will improve your experience.

        MarkdownPad

        MarkdownPad is a full-featured Markdown editor for Windows. It`s available in a free and pro version. Some interesting features are:
        • Instant HTML Preview
        • Easy Markdown formatting with keyboard shortcuts
        • Spell check
        • Use your own CSS
        • HTML and PDF Export
        Website: http://markdownpad.com/


        Denote
        Denote is a Markdown text editor for Android that provides effortless syncing with Dropbox. Files created with Denote are saved as text (.txt) files.
        • Live preview for Markdown and HTML
        • Cloud based: Denote stores all its data in a subfolder on your personal Dropbox account so you can access it via your Mobile devices, Mac or PC
        • Offline support: changes are synced with Dropbox next time you're connected
        • Email files created in Denote
        • Customize font size and type face used for notes
        Website: http://www.2storks.com/denote


        Atom
        This great text editor from GitHub has a nice Markdown Preview package, that will convert the markdow in HTML.
        Atom Website: https://atom.io/
        Markdown Preview package: https://github.com/atom/markdown-preview


        Sublime Text
        Sublime text is a well knowed text editor in the developer community and many different packages are also available.
        Sublime Text Website: https://atom.io/
        Markdown Preview package: https://github.com/revolunet/sublimetext-markdown-preview

        In conclusion

        I hope this post will motivate you to give it a try. Thanks for reading. Any comments, suggestions and/or questions are welcome.


        ~Frank Boucher