Reading Notes #678

In the ever-evolving tech landscape, this week’s reading notes blend cutting-edge tools with timeless insights. From Python’s growing role in .NET ecosystems to hands-on experiments with AI-powered data ingestion, there’s plenty to explore. Meanwhile, reflections on community, confidence, and finding our “second place” in a fast-paced world add a human touch. Jump into how developers are pushing boundaries, embracing new editors, and learning that growth starts with choosing courage, even when it’s scary.

Programming

• Python is First Class in Aspire 13 (Eric Erhardt) - As a .NET developer, I can totally see myself using that... In the near future

• .NET Conf 2025 Recap - Celebrating .NET 10, Visual Studio 2026, AI, Community, & More - .NET Blog (.NET Team) - The event is done, but the content is still there. I'm still going through myself, there's so much! All the slides, presentations, so much content available, everything about what and where to find

• Introducing Data Ingestion Building Blocks (Preview) - .NET Blog (Luis , Adam) - Pretty cool example using this new data block in C# file and AI to play with data.

• Trying out the Zed editor on Windows for .NET and Markdown (Andrew Lock) - I heard of Zed and was planning to try it, but this post saved me some time. The current unsupported razor pages is a show-stopper for me. But maybe later, if things changed.

Podcasts

• The 4 ways to rebuild your "second place" for belonging (Modern Mentor) - Did it all start because of a TV show?! Nevertheless, an interesting episode to help us find our spot and make those "first day work buddy" a better experience.

• Why you need to choose confidence (even when you're afraid), with Juan Bendaña (Modern Mentor) - Confidence isn't a character trait you're born with; it's a muscle you develop. I like the idea.

• World Leading Therapist: Why You Feel Stuck in Life & How to Get Unstuck (The Mel Robbins Podcast) - We talk to ourselves so much that what we say and how we say it can make a big difference. That's the topic of this very interesting episode.

Miscellaneous

• All good things must come to an end (Salma Alam Maylor) - I totally understand, but it is sad news to see her go out of the streaming business. She is amazing, I'm sure she's still rocks whatever she does.

~frank

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 #645

Welcome to this week's reading notes! I've found some great articles that caught my eye - from security tips for MCP servers to exciting updates in Rust and AI. Whether you're into cloud services, programming tools, or wondering about the future of coding with AI, there's something here for you.

Let's dive in!

 

Programming

• The Aspire Compiler (David Fowler) - I really appreciate Aspire. It's one of the tools that completely changed my experience as a developer. Learning more about it is, without a doubt, interesting.

• Verifying tricky git rebases with git range-diff (Andrew Lock) - Is it possible to really master Git? There is always something new to learn. Nice post going deep.

• Azure SDK for Rust Goes Beta (Nikos Vaggalis ) - Great news for the Rust developer, this is an important milestone.

AI

• Calling MCP Servers in C# with Microsoft.Extensions.AI (Mark Heath) - Many options, new tools, fresh possibilities, it's only missing our ideas.

• If LLMs Can Code, Why Are We Building More IDEs? (Mark Downie) - That's an excellent question, and I agree with Mark.

• Understanding and mitigating security risks in MCP implementations (Sarah Young) - The MCP servers are opening many opportunities, and it's important to know the risk. This post is a must.

• Build MCP Remote Servers with Azure Functions (Matt Soucoup) - A quick post that shows how a serverless MCP server can be hosted Azure and be secure; all code included.

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 #266

Suggestion of the week

• 22 tips to lower Azure pricing and optimize hosting costs (Matt Watson) - Fantastic list that overviews a lot of opportunities to lower the total of our Azure receipt.

Cloud

• Announcing the new Azure Marketplace experience (Shankar Sivadasan) - Another proof that Microsoft is really listening to his customers and partners, nice improvement.
  
• Azure Application Insights – An essential part of Microsoft DevOps Strategy (Subodh Sohoni) - Excellent post that explains why Application Insights is a must for all DevOps.
  
• Calling a Logic App from an HTML form (Jeff Hollan) - Nice usage of the HTTP trigger.
  
• Now available: Azure invoices emailed direct to your inbox (Adam Pickersgill) - Sweet! Now we talk.
  
• Understanding the Azure App Service Editor (Ken Cenerelli) - My first reaction was: No way, this is awesome! And it is. E was in place to implement this cool tool. However, remember that this is only to do some quick fix, because, at the next deployment, these changes will be lost.

Programming

• If You Automate Your Tests, Automate Your Code Review (Erik Dietrich) - Interesting post that explains the idea about automating our code reviews. It gives a book as suggestions to learn more about it.

Databases

• SQL Database Query Editor available in Azure Portal (Ninar Nuemah) - I was looking for this since the old query tool was removed. I will probably continue to use SQL studio management or VsCode, put what a time saving, and you are investigating a problem... Open a blade right from the Azure portal and voila!

Miscellaneous

• MVP API Intro (Daron Yöndem) - I love it! I already have few ideas in mind, and I'm curious to see what you will do guys.