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 #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 #398

Cloud

• Developing your first Azure Durable Function (Saturnino Pimentel) - An excellent tutorial that explains the durable function. Very well done.

Programming

• Setting expectations for open source participation (Brett Cannon) - Excellent post (also available in video) about open source, where based on his experience the author share with us great advice. Thanks, Aaron for that reading suggestion.

Miscellaneous

• Be a Technology Tourist (Scott Hanselman) - A very nice and inspirational post.

• Interactive tabletop RPG table — The MagPi magazine (Rob Zwetsloot. ) - Simple yet sooooo cool! I always wanted to play does games.

Books

10-Minute Focus: 25 Habits for Mastering Your Concentration and Eliminating Distractions 

(Daniel Walter)

Nothing new here but it's clear and very well explained. Honestly it good to revisit those productivity/ focus habits... It helps to stay on our toes...

Reading Notes #388

Suggestion of the week

• Experiment with New Languages and Frameworks with VS Code Remote Development in Containers (Anthony Chu) - Wooooh.This looks way easier than I though. I do not install any preview anymore!

Cloud

• What happens to sleeping instances when you update long-running AWS Lambdas, Azure Functions, and Azure Logic Apps? (Richard Seroter) - Fantastic post, where Richard find-out how are react our serverless components to changes while running (hot-swap)

Programming

• Configuring a Server-side Blazor app with Azure App Configuration (Brady Gaster) - This is a nice tutorial that explains how to use the preview version of .Net Core and blazor to add authentication.
• 21 VSCode Shortcuts to Make Coding Faster and More Fun (Christopher Tran) - I love shortcuts... This post provides a nice list of then with a quit use case.
• ASP.NET Core and Blazor updates in .NET Core 3.0 Preview 6 (Daniel Roth) - Nice thatt explains the chnges in this new version and also how to migrate.
• Authentication in server-side Blazor applications (Gunnar Peipman) - Nice overview of the authentication feature now available in .Net Core version 3
• How to create your own custom URL shortener in 10 minutes for free & deploy to GitHub 5535756960 (Liyas Thomas) - This is a cool project. I like the idea that it can even live in GitHub.
• Take your Linux development experience in Windows to the next level with WSL and Visual Studio Code Remote | Windows Command Line Tools For Developers (Craig Loewen) - Nice tricks to get the best of two systems altogether.
• What is Blazor and why is it important for .Net developers and the web (Maourice Gonzalez) - If you think blazor is a jacket, here where to start to learn more about this awesome about one of the latest Microsoft project.

Podcast

• Coding after work - Episode 43 - Blazor with Ed Charbeneau (Jimmy and Jessica) - Nice episode, where Ed talks about what's cool in Blazor and how Telerik started working on components for it
• Hanselminutes - Creating video games with C# and Mono with Tom Spilman (Scott Hanselman) - Very interesting conversation around games and C#. I thought most big games were done in C++... Nice discovery.
• Coacing for Leaders - Find Your Leadership Voice, with Johanna Nalau (Dave Stachowiak) - Nice episode explaining how a group can help you to grow and become a better "you", and that blogging is still a great way to structure/ but together our thoughts.

Miscellaneous

• How To Develop Apps Like PUBG (Apoorv Gehlot) - An interesting article that gives us an idea of how a game like pugs got that success, and who they manage that rapid growth.

~