Reading Notes #657

This week's collection of interesting articles and resources covers AI development, DevOps practices, and open source tools. From GitHub Copilot customization to local AI deployments and containerization best practices, here are the highlights worth your attention.

AI

• Customize AI responses from GitHub Copilot (Matt Soucoup) - I talked many times about it, but now this is it, thanks Matt we have finally a blog post about instruction

• Pondering About Using AI for Coding (Shawn Wildermuth) - Interesting post about AI in our code editors.

• Top 5 MCP Server Best Practices (Ivan Pedrazas) - mCP server is a very hot topic, thinking about riding your own, here are five best practices to make sure you will be successful.

• Local AI + .NET = AltText Magic in One C# Script (Bruno Capuano) - A cool way to use AI locally and nice integration of the new C# feature!

• Containerize Your Apps with Ask Gordon (Steve Buchanan) - I already have Docker desktop on my Windows pc, I should definitely give Gordon a try more to come

DevOps

• Local Deploy with Bicep (Sam Cogan) - A perfect short story, I'll explain why the hell bicep can now deploy locally and how to do it

Open Source

• Introducing OpenCLI (Patrik Svensson) - A standard that describes CLI so both humans and agents can understand how it works. Love it!

~frank

Reading Notes #653

Welcome to Reading Notes #653 another packed edition of insights, tools, and updates from the tech world! This week's roundup dives into legendary engineering wisdom, AI controversies, and the latest innovations in Docker, Azure, and VS Code. Whether you're exploring MCP, refining your scripting skills, or gearing up for the newest Azure Developer CLI release, there's something here for every developer.

Let’s get into it!

Cloud

• Azure Developer CLI (azd) - June 2025 (Kristen Womack) - Love that tool, great updates, so many new features and improvements in this version, very looking forward to try all of them, turning them all

AI

• Publishing AI models to Docker Hub (Kevin Wittek) - Running model locally is a lot of people are looking forward to it, so this is good news can't wait to try it

• Build Agents using Model Context Protocol on Azure - MCP is still a thing and can definitely be used in your app, and helps your agents. Learn more about how to get started in the doc.

• The Complete MCP Experience: Full Specification Support in VS Code (Harald Kirschner, Connor Peet, Tyler Leonhardt) - Sweet, looking forward to try it with the URL shortener mCP server that I created but notification scaling everything is looking very exciting

• How to Build, Run, and Package AI Models Locally with Docker Model Runner (Vladimir Mikhalev) - Nice new model feature integrated within docker..

• AI Toolkit for VS Code June Update (junjieli) - Nice update to a great extension, learn more about it

• What humans and Github Co-Pilot have in common (John Hilton) - This controversial tool, is it good or bad? I like the way the author of this post answers that question.

Programming

• Run C# Scripts With dotnet run app.cs (No Project Files Needed) (Milan Jovanović) - Really cool and light way to use C#. Nice post with real scenarios.

Miscellaneous

• Why Legendary Engineers Build Systems, Not Just Code (Peter Smulovics) - So true! It's all a question of time, but maybe not where (or when) you think.

~frank

Reading Notes #652

This week, we explore a variety of topics, from database containerization and AI security risks to the evolving landscape of gaming devices and cloud technologies. We also explore the shift towards security-first development and the integration of .NET Aspire with SQL Server for integration testing.

Let's dive in!

Suggestion of the week

• GitHub MCP Exploited: Accessing private repositories via MCP (Marco Milanta, Luca Beurer-Kellner) - AI tools are very powerful but also pretty new in our lives. It's important to stay up to date and understand the risks. Not scared, but to see the potential flaws and how to avoid them.

Cloud

• Azure Container Apps vs AKS: Which Is Right for Your Enterprise Application? (Chris Pietschmann) - This post answers a common question about those two services.

Programming

• Beyond DevSecOps: The Rise of Security-First Development (Industry Perspectives) - DevSecOps was a wake-up call, and we need to build our app security first. That seems to make sense, right? Have a read of this post to dig deeper into this idea and understand its foundation

• .NET Aspire dev-time orchestration for SQL Server integration tests (Ian Griffiths) - First post of a series about the spire and database, this one just set the initial setup. Stay tuned for more

Databases

• Running a MySQL database in a Docker Container (Mercy Bassey) - Running databases in a container is a real game changer for developers.

Miscellaneous

• SteamOS puts the pressure on Microsoft’s Xbox-branded handheld (Tom Warren) - Gaming devices are in a completely different world, and, normally, all OS need to adapt. A fascinating post about steamOS and the future of Windows in that scope

~frank

Reading Notes #651

Welcome to another edition of my reading notes! This week brings some fascinating insights into AI's real-world impact, exciting developments in .NET and containerization, plus practical tools for improving our development workflows. 

From local AI-powered code reviews to Docker security hardening and the upcoming .NET 10 features, there's plenty to explore.

 

AI

• The promise that wasn’t kept (Salma Alam Maylor) - Interesting thoughts about AI and its impact on our work but also on our life, and the planet.

• Local code review with Docker and smollm2 before pushing to git (Gerardo Lopez) - This is a really cool idea! I'll have to try it.

Programming

• Converting a docker-compose file to .NET Aspire (Andrew Lock) - Cool experiment. I must say I did the same thing, and I encourage you to do it too!

• Inside GitHub: How we hardened our SAML implementation (Greg Ose, Taylor Reis) - Very interesting post that pushes the curtain a little bit so we could see behind the scene how this very used but notification system works and has been updated

• Announcing dotnet run app.cs - A simpler way to start with C# and .NET 10 - .NET Blog (Damian Edwards) - That's a really cool new feature (that we can test in C# preview), It will be so useful in automation!

Cloud

• Introducing Docker Hardened Images: Secure, Minimal, and Ready for Production (Michael Donovan, Nikhil Kaul) - Security is the concern of everyone. I like this idea of like more secure but still flexible container images. Have a look and see for yourself

• Podman vs. Docker: Containerization Tools Comparison (James Walker) - A nice post that explains the difference at a high level. This isn't a command-to-command comparison, but more scenarios and performance.

Miscellaneous

• Enhance productivity with AI + Remote Dev (Brigit Murtaugh, Christof Marti, Josh Spicer, Olivia Guzzardo McVicker) - I love the dev container environments, they are so useful! And I also use the remote one when I'm not on my dev device so easy. Happy to see that Copilot will be right there with me.

~frank

Reading Notes #648

Welcome to this week's reading notes! Dive into the latest on Microsoft's new AI chat template, explore Docker's MCP CLI, learn about integrating AI into .NET applications, and discover how to automate .NET MAUI library publishing with GitHub Actions. 

Whether you're interested in AI advancements, programming techniques, or DevOps practices, there's something valuable waiting for you below.

MsDevMtl Meetup - Uno

Suggestion of the week

• Exploring the new AI chat template (Andrew Lock) - This new .NET template looks pretty useful and has a lot of components already baked in. This post explains those and shows how to customize it for our usage.

Programming

• Crates and Dependencies: NuGet, Meet Cargo - Chris Woody Woodruff (Chris Woodruff) - Interesting comparison there, a bit more love toward Rust, I think, but that doesn't make this series less valuable.

• How to Host Blazor WASM on Docker (Rikam Palkar) - Nice post with all the code you need to reproduce.

DevOps

• Packaging and Publishing a .NET MAUI Library with GitHub Actions - .NET Blog (Sweeky , David) - I'm always amazed by what we can do with automation. Second post of a series on .NET MAUI.

AI

• Getting Hands-On with the Docker MCP CLI (Sarthak Varshney) - How to get, use, and connect the brand new MCP tool from Docker.

• AI Repo of the Week: GitHub Copilot Adventures (Dan Wahlin) - When open-source meets AI, and this time, games! Interesting series where AI-related repositories are featured.

• Microsoft.Extensions.AI: Integrating AI into your .NET applications (Japhlet Nwamu) - This package is amazing. It allows you to connect to many models hosted in many different places. This post is the perfect place to get started.

Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week. 

If you have interesting content, share it!

~Frank

Reading Notes #647

This post is a collection of my latest reading notes, highlighting interesting articles and resources on AI, programming, databases, and more. Each link includes a brief summary of what I found valuable or noteworthy.

AI

• Getting Started with Azure MCP Server: A Guide for Developers (Lee Stott) - Quick post about this new feature.

• Protecting against indirect prompt injection attacks in MCP (Sarah , Den) - Security must be in our list of priorities in all types of projects. This post explains how we can secure them.

• How to build and deliver an MCP server for production (Colin McNeil) - That makes sense doctor is known to encapsulate and simplify the portability of application

Programming

• Set the default file encoding - Visual Studio Blog (Mark Downie) - Nice tip! As a developer who works daily on different operating systems, I know to well this issue.

• 4 real-life examples of using reflection in C# ( Ali Hamza Ansari) - Very interesting and useful post that go over 4 scenarios

• Microsoft Extends SLNX Solution File Support in .NET CLI - InfoQ - Have you tried yet the new format? It's still on my to-do list.

Databases

• DuckDB in Depth: How It Works and What Makes It Fast (Barry Smart) - This is a very interesting post that explains a little bit more how a vectoral database works and why it's so performant with documents

Miscellaneous

• Help yourself to thrive (Salma) - The human body is an extraordinary machine, extremely strong and conciliant, but it also requires a fine turning. Great post, we must learn from it.

Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week. 

If you have interesting content, share it!

~Frank

Reading Notes #646

Welcome to this week's collection of fascinating reads across cloud computing, AI, and programming! As technology continues to evolve at breakneck speed, I've gathered some of the most insightful articles that caught my attention. From securing MCP servers to exploring Rust, there's something here for every tech enthusiast. 

Dive in and discover what's new in our rapidly changing digital landscape.

Cloud

• Azure API Management Your Auth Gateway For MCP Servers | Microsoft Community Hub (PranamiJ) - Why all the fuss about MCP, we must not forget security. This post suggests a simple solution.

AI

• How Azure Copilot Helped Me Quickly Troubleshoot a Demo (David Giard) - That's a good example of how AI can help you not do the job for yourself but avoid mistakes and do it faster.

• Secure Remote MCP Servers With Entra ID And Azure API Management (Den Delimarsky) - Nice solution in Python to secure your MCP servers

Programming

• When ASP.NET Core Identity Is No Longer Enough (Andrea Chiarelli) - Authentication and authorization have an important place in our Apps. This post shares details about how things work and the different processes.

• New Docker Extension for Visual Studio Code (Remy Suen) - This extension was already a must, they made it better, it's a must must! But seriously give it a try and try it by yourself.

• From C# to Rust: A 42-Day Developer Challenge (Chris Woodruff) - Cool tease of an experiment that promises a lot of learning.

• How to Programmatically Create MS Word DOCX Documents with .NET C# on Linux (Bjoern Meyer) - Cool package that helps create Word documents. Perfect when running in a Linux container.

• Preview 2 of the .NET AI Template Now Available (Jordan Matthiesen) - New templates with AI, Qadran and Aspire, oh boy life is good!

Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week. 

If you have interesting content, share it!

~Frank

Reading Notes #640

Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week. 

If you have interesting content, share it! 

Cloud

• Azure Developer CLI (azd) - March 2025 - The azd CLI just got better, with some new features, improved error messages, and of course bug fixes. Don't forget to update your version.

• Dapr in Two Minutes: Simplifying Distributed Application Development (Whitney Lee) - A great explanation of Dapr. Spoiler, it's a great tool.

AI

• .NET AI Template Now Available in Preview (Jordan Matthiesen) - .NET new AI stuff, I love it! You can add new templates for you 'dotnet new' to get AI project!

Programming

• .NET Aspire and Dev Container (Laurent Kempé) - DevContainers are really a game changer. You don't have to be a container guru to use it, and it will make a dev environment constant everywhere on any device.

• A 10x Faster TypeScript - TypeScript (Anders Hejlsberg) - Very impressive results. The video is great.

• .NET Aspirations - Embracing OpenTelemetry (Alexandre Nédélec) - This nice post explains how the open telemetry is set in .Net Aspire Dashboard.

~frank

Reading Notes #633

This edition of Readings Notes covers the synergies between C# and Rust, open-source software licensing challenges, and securing the software supply chain. It also feature a beginner’s guide to programming C# in Visual Studio Code. Finally, we delve into the evaluation process of AI models for GitHub Copilot. 

Enjoy the read!

Programming

• Why Every C# Developer Should Explore Rust (Chris Woodruff) - Even though I heard of Rust I don't think I ever wrote a single line. This post gives a brief list of ideas where we could make a combo c#-rust, and where to get started. Hmmm.

• .NET OSS Projects: Better to Re-license or Die? (Aaron Stannard) - What are the options when a free OSS project changes its license? Nice post that provides an overview of a recent change like this.

• Protecting the Software Supply Chain: The Art of Continuous Improvement (Melissa Sussmann) - This post lists the tools available to help us keeping our app secured and clean.

• How to Program C# in Visual Studio Code (Claudio Bernasconi) - It cost nothing and it is simple to start coding in C#, from .NET as this tutorial shows.

Miscellaneous

• How we evaluate AI models and LLMs for GitHub Copilot (Connor Adams, Klint Finley) - This is an interesting post that shares the methods used to test the different models before they can be included. Testing a model is different than testing a regular piece of code, what are they looking for, and what's important?

Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week.

If you have interesting content, share 

~frank

Reading Notes #632

In this edition of ReadingNotes, we explore some fascinating topics in the world of cloud computing, programming, and AI. From integrating images with AI in C# to the latest updates in Git, there's something for everyone. Plus, don't miss out on insights into effective developer relations and a deep dive into a new AI agent for Docker. 

Enjoy the read!

Cloud

• Passing images to LLMs in C# with Microsoft.Extensions.AI (Mark Heath) - This a cool demo that shows us how to add images to our conversations with our AI

Programming

• Highlights from Git 2.48 (Taylor Blau) - A nice update with many new features and bug fixes. There are 93 contributors to this update. It's pretty impressive.

AI

• Meet Gordon: An AI Agent for Docker (Christopher Petito) - Oh! I like those specialized AI! One thing that could be nice is Docker could make accessible an Ask Gordon plugin that other AI like Copilot could use.

Miscellaneous

• How to be a Ghostbuster (Sean Killeen) - So many! I guess I knew it was possible that some, and I mean A very few exceptions but so many people and so little work!

• Defining paths to business value in Developer Relations (Salma Alam-Naylor) - As always, a very well-thought post about developer relationships (devrel) and how I can be useful for the business.

Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week.

If you have interesting content, share 

~frank

Reading Notes #630

This week, ReadingNotes shares some insightful blog posts that caught my attention. From embracing a positive mindset and integrating local AI models with .NET Aspire, to leveraging Docker for cloud-native development and exploring AI-powered Blazor Kanban, there's plenty to dive into. Happy reading!

Programming

• Beyond Containers: Unveiling the Full Potential of Docker for Cloud-Native Development (Giri Sreenivas) - Docker is known for revolutionizing container tools, but it is more than that. This post covers all of Docker's capabilities.
  
  
  

AI

• Using Local AI models with .NET Aspire (Aaron Powell) - This new integration with Ollama in .NET Aspire is super useful and simple.

• AI-Powered Blazor Kanban: Integration with Microsoft Extension Packages (Arun Kumar Ragu) - I'm always intrigued to see how other dev uses AI in their app, and this post is a treat! All the code is there with explanations.

LowCode

• Friday Fact: You need to be logged in to open a workflow in Logic App Standard Designer inside Visual Studio Code (Sandro Pereira) - This is a nice tip that will definitely improve the experience of many. I forgot there was an extension in VSCode and have been going to the portal. I'll have to try it out.

Miscellaneous

• This Is The Most Fun Way To Make Your Life Awesome (Eric Barker) - From time to time, I feel like I'm seeing the glass half empty. This post shares ways to see it half full instead.

• How making an impulsive purchase made me realise I haven’t been OK since my dad died (Salma Alam-Naylor) - Salma is a great content creator and a very smart woman. And an example of determination.

Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week.

If you have interesting content, share 

~Frank

Reading Notes #625

Welcome to another edition of Reading Notes! This week, dive into the latest updates on Azure DevOps, Docker best practices, System.Text.Json enhancements in .NET 9, AI innovations from GitHub Universe, and more. 

Enjoy your reading!

Cloud

• Using Entra profile information in Azure DevOps (Andrew Brenner) - This is nice, I will save us to re-enter information and should make more profile more complete at the same time.

Programming

• Docker Best Practices: Using ARG and ENV in Your Dockerfiles (Jay Schmidt) - A nice post that improve how we are using Arg by going through a few examples.

• What's new in System.Text.Json in .NET 9 (Eirik Tsarpalis) - This is a nice post that explains with code sample the new features.

AI

• GitHub Spark (Devon Rifkin, Terkel Gjervig Nielsen, Cole Bemis, Alice Li) - Fascinating news from GitHub Universe. A new spin on the lowcode app but with code. Looking forward to trying it and see what I can build with it.

• GitHub Copilot in Windows Terminal (Christopher Nguyen) - There it is, Copilot making his entrance into our beloved Terminal. It's only in version Canary for now, but I'm sure it will help many of us when no sure what command to use, or the equivalent bash/ PowerShell.

Miscellaneous

• Releasing WinAmp source goes badly for its owners, anyway (Liam Proven) - A true story that looks unreal. It's a bit sad that this OSS opportunity was missed.

Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week.

If you have interesting content, share it!

~ Frank

Reading Notes #622

Welcome to this week’s reading notes! In this post, you’ll find a curated selection of insightful articles and tutorials covering various topics in technology and programming. Whether you’re looking to enhance your testing skills with .NET Aspire, improve your code comprehension with GitHub Copilot, or explore the world of Docker for DevOps, there’s something here for everyone. Dive in and enjoy these valuable resources!

If you have interesting content, share it!

Suggestion of the week

• Getting started with testing and .NET Aspire (Aaron Powell) - This is a great tutorial, with a video version if you prefer, to get us started with test when .NET Aspire is part obor solution.

Cloud

• Enhancing Code Comprehension: GitHub Copilot’s Features in Visual Studio 2022 17.11 (Rhea Patel) - This post is a must for all developers. Copilot becomes so much more efficient with those little tips don't miss it.

• How to use Azure Policy to enforce resource naming conventions in your DevOps pipelines (Luise Freese) - Naming is for sure not the most exciting topic,but it is the key to an healthy cloud subscription. Don't miss this post that shares a good way to keep consistent names.

Programming

• Exploring Docker for DevOps: What It Is and How It Works (Todd R. Weiss) - This is a nice post to learn more about Docker and how /why it could be used to improve the DevOps processes.

• .NET Aspire for Data Chatting (Tommaso Stocchi) - Super cool project to query our database without knowing SQL.

LowCode

• How to rotate secrets with Azure Logic Apps, Key Vault and Managed Identity (Luise Freese) - Cool idea o automation to do a important but boring task. And it doesn't required code!

Miscellaneous

• Hosting a (DevOpsDays) Tech Conference (Dewan Ahmed) - I went to this even and you could feel it was prepared with patio and care. It very interesting to learn about the behind the scene and all the work put both before and after.DevOpsDay Halifax you won my heart.

~ Frank

Reading Notes #620

It's Reading Notes time and this week we learn how to improve our experience and security while using AI and containers

 a zip line spider?

Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week.

Cloud

• Securely Connecting Azure Container Apps to Azure OpenAI Using User Managed Identity (Yoshio Terada) - This is a nice and detailed guide that explains step by step how to leverage manage identity in Azure Container App and stay secure.

AI

• Avoid These 5 Common AI Project Mistakes for Success (Narcosa Admin) - AI is a great tool and with it's new easy accessibility more are integrating it into there services, This post shares tips to give you more chance of success.

• 7 Best Practices for Using GitHub Copilot (Visual Studio Code team) - AI is a great tool, but to enjoy it as much as possible there are a few things we can do, This post shares those tips that could make the differences.

Programming

• Docker for Web Developers: Getting Started with the Basics (Todd R, Weiss) - This is a very well written introduction to container and Docker, From the why should we care to running our first container,

• Building a GraphQL Client in ,NET with JetBrains Rider and StrawberryShake (Maarten Balliauw) - This is a nice post to get started with GraphQL, There is example an many references.

• Improving GitHub Copilot Completions in Visual Studio for C# Developers (Mika Dumont) - Great news! The Semantic Kernel files are now part of the context for Copilot, This improves the experience for the C# developers.

~Frank

Reading Notes #615

It's reading notes time! It is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week.

Back from a two weeks time off it was nice to get back into tech read.

You also read something you liked? Share it!

Cloud

• Azure Developer CLI (azd) – August 2024 (Grace Kulin) - Wow so many new features (many security related) and tons of new templates.

Programming

• Adding .NET Aspire to your existing .NET apps (Jon Galloway) - This great post explains step by step how to add .NET Aspire to your existing app, saying what you gain and how it's helping you to be faster at buildinba better application.

• Bring your AI Copilots to the edge with Phi-3 and Semantic Kernel (Arafat Tehsin) - First post of a very interesting and promising series to build our own local only AI app.

• Combining multiple docker images into a multi-arch image (Andrew Lock) - Another great article from Andrew that explains very clearly a Docker feature: generate multiple image under the same ta to target different OS and infrastructure (ex: x64,arm32)

• Logging in Banana Cake Pop (Pascal Senn) - What a amazing new feature! This will greatly improve development and debugging productivity!

• An Absolute Beginner's Guide to LangGraph.js (Anchit) - A great tutorial that requires not API key and provides detailed steps to learn using Node how to use AI.

• The ultimate guide to developer happiness (Jeimy Ruiz) - Many great tools and solution within GitHub "circle". This post provides best practices to improve developers productivity and announces when the next GitHub Universe is coming up.

• Different Containerising Options for .NET Developers (Justin Yoo) - So many options! The classic one with all the Docker command or the some more embedded... Your choice!

~frank

Reading Notes #614

In this edition of Reading Notes, we delve into a diverse range of programming topics, from stream manipulation in C# to the latest updates in Docker Desktop. Whether you’re interested in adding AI to your .NET apps or understanding the implications of .NET 6 reaching end-of-support, we’ve got you covered. 

Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week.

Programming

• How to Convert a Stream to a File in C# (Bozo Spoljaric) - Learn more about stream and file manipulation in this useful post.

• Add AI to Your .NET Apps Easily with Prompty (Bruno Capuano) - This is a nice tutorial to build an API using Semantic Kernel to communicate to Prompty and add AI to your project.

• .NET 6 will reach End of Support on November 12, 2024 (Rahul Bhandari) - NET 6 will be reaching end of support, okay but what does that means for you?This post covers it all.

• Disambiguating types with the same name with extern alias (Andrew Lock) - It's always a pleasure to read Andrew's post that goes deeper explains more complex scenarios.

• Docker Desktop 4.32: Beta Releases of Compose File Viewer, Terminal Shell Integration, and Volume Backups to Cloud Providers (Deanna Sparks) - Some great new features and improvement for this new update of Docker Desktop.

• How use a Blazor QuickGrid with GraphQL (Frank Boucher) - QuickGrid is an excellent component that came recently in Blazor. Optimized and compatible with tons of modern patterns to display,sort,filter our data.This post share a few o those things filling the grid with a GraphQL endpoint.

Miscellaneous

• What CrowdStrike teaches us about risks & resilience (Om Malik) - Nice post to learn more about that event,and understand the real risk.

~ Frank

Reading Notes #613

Good Monday! This week Reading Notes are more listening notes 😅 and we go from .NET Aspire and  containers, passing by communication with AI to camping!

Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week.

Cloud

• Creating an Azure Static Web app (moving from WordPress, part 2) (Michael Eaton) - Yes indeed it is simple to get started with Azure Static WebApp.This post shares a user journey while migrating.

• Windows ARM installing Azure CLI (Jani Nevalainen) - Cool tips to make CLI works on ARM processor device,until the real version comes out.

Programming

• Docker Best Practices: Choosing Between RUN, CMD, and ENTRYPOINT (Jay Schmidt) - Nice post that explains really clearly the differences between those three and provides cheat sheet and examples.

Podcasts

• Introducing .NET Aspire with Damian Edwards (Hanselminutes with Scott Hanselman) - Nice episode where .NET Aspire is really well explained, but yes it's kind of hard to say in a few words what it is.

• 687: Getting Better at Internal Communication, with Roy Schwartz (Coaching for Leaders) - Nice episode that talk how AI can help or harm a good communication. Used smartly it can definitely help...

• Camping Tips for Your Next Adventure with Lestarya Molloy (Wild Ideas Worth Living) - I grow up camping every summer, but for many they didn't have that chance and it's hard to start... But there an App for that!

• CosmosDB and AI with Mark Brown (.NET Rocks!) - AI and data! AI and data! AI and data! It's not a typo, I wrote it 3 times... It's everywhere, evolving fast and you must look at it.

• 86. Power Platform, Blazor and beyond: Maintaining internal apps - with Sophie van den Akker (Betatalks the podcast) - Nice episode about how and where use Blazor, the limits of Power Platform and more.

~Frank

Reading Notes #612

In this week’s Reading Notes, we explore cloud debugging, .NET Aspire, and more. Join us for insights, workshops, and podcasts covering a range of exciting topics! 🚀

 
Sharing my Reading Notes is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week.

 

Cloud

• GalaSoft Laurent Bugnion (Laurent Bugnion) - Nice post debugging investigating a bug, that cannot be reproduce locally only in the cloud.... But with the right tools it's much easier.

Programming

• Let's Learn .NET Aspire - Start your cloud-native journey live! - .NET Blog (James Montemagno) - The .NET Aspire workshop is been deliver in many languages and available online. To learn what it is, when should we use it and how it works, join a live session or watch it on demand.

• Exploring docker compose watch in Visual Studio Code (Julie Lerman) - That looks fantastic! And thanks to Julia we will avoid a few gotchas.

• Simplify Your .NET Aspire Caching With Metalama (Metalama Team) - 2 great tools in synergy make the result so much better. This nice post is good to get us started on caching.

• Join Us for .NET Aspire Developers Day – Elevate Your Cloud Native Skills! - .NET Blog (Mehul Harry) - July 23 - Check the date there will be a .NET Aspire event with more advanced stuff like building custom components and more.

• Why and How to Execute GraphQL Queries in .NET (Frank Boucher) - Shameless plug... Did you know GraphQL could improve the performance of your application by avoiding over fetching?

• Apprendre .NET Aspire en français (Frank Boucher) - Another shameless plug for French content this time. I did a 1h45 long video where I explain the basic of .NET Aspire by doing a workshop and providing details.

Podcasts

• Martin Hinshelwood: Migration Azure DevOps Server to the Cloud - Episode 302 (Azure DevOps Podcast) - Interesting episode about migrations and how to approach them. Because so many stories start by a migration.
• GitHub Evolving with Damian Brady (.NET Rocks!) - Great episode to learn all things GitHub... and these days that mean a lot.
• 416: Going Light + How Spatial Video Really Works (Merge Conflict) - Great episode. Is going with two phone is going light however? Hhmmmm...
• Episode 287: Why You As A Developer Must Care About Managing Your APIs (Web Rush) - The 1M questions episode! Answers are optional because the fun is about being curious... right?
• Mitch Denny: .NET Aspire Architecture - Episode 304 (Azure DevOps Podcast) - Learn more about .NET Aspire what it is, because yes it's hard to explain, and what's the road map.
• How to finally have that dreaded conversation (Modern Mentor) - Yes it's hard, but pause, and do those talks.

Miscellaneous

• What is platform engineering? (Julia Kulla-Mader, Chuck Lantz) - Platform engineering is gaining in popularity, but what ibis really. This article gives a good explanation to start our learning journey.

Reading Notes #611

Welcome to this week’s edition of Reading Notes! In this roundup, we explore a variety of topics across cloud, programming, databases, and AI. From understanding Docker’s USER instruction to styling Blazor components with CSS, I’ve got you covered. Let’s dive in!

Suggestion of the week

• Understanding the Docker USER Instruction (Jay Schmidt) - A great post to that explains really clearly the basic usage of user when building our container. After reading this post you should feel confident to follow this best practices.

Cloud

• Azure Static Web Apps–SWA CLI behind the scenes (Bart Wullems) - Cool post to that quickly explains how the CLIworks and a few different tools.

Programming

• Blazor Basics: Styling Blazor Components with CSS (Claudio Bernasconi) - That will solve an issue I was having... Blazor for the win!

• Is Your ASP.NET Core Application Running In A Container? (Adam Storr) - Very neat tip to know when the App is or not in a container.

• Setting up NGINX load balancer for .NET WebApi (Oskar Dudycz) - Very well done tutorial to set a reverse proxy.

Databases

• Automating SQL Deployments using GitHub Actions - Part 2 (Eduardo Pivaral) - That's pretty neat. Of course, there is a SQL option but I never thought about it. Excellent idea to keep everything in one place with versions.

AI

• Updated Documentation for Semantic Kernel (Sophia Lagerkrans-Pandey) - Nice update in the documentation, new content new look.

~frank

Reading Notes #609

It's reading notes time! It is a habit I started a long time ago, where I share a list of all the articles, blog posts, and books that catch my interest during the week.

You also read something you liked? Share it!

   

Cloud

• It's Finally Possible To Hibernate Azure VMs (Sam Cogan) - This new feature must be such a relief for all the VM users. Make sure to read this post to know the requirements of the VM tone able to hibernate it.

• Enhancing Performance in Azure Container Apps (Cary Chai) - This post gives us an history of the different algorithm used in ACA but also explains briefly how does one works.

Programming

• Visual Studio 2022 - 17.10 Performance Enhancements - Visual Studio Blog (Ashok Kamath) - Impressive improvement going up to 50% in specific cases! Congratulations to the team,event the smaller speed improvement will be feel.

• Setting up NGINX load balancer for .NET WebApi (Oskar Dudycz) - Very well done tutorial to set a reverse proxy.

• What's new for the Microsoft Fluent UI Blazor library 4.8 (Vincent Baaij) - awesome update just before summer! (well, in the north hemisphere).

AI

• Using Phi-3 & C# with ONNX for text and vision samples - .NET Blog (Bruno Capuano) - Nice post that shows that when using great tools it can be really simple todo amazing things.

• I Will Fucking Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again — Ludicity - ChatGPT and other tools have an impact and it disturb the flow. Some embraces the change other don't like the change. Interesting post where the author shares his concerns.

~frank