1. Rules for Clean Javascript

   Rules for Clean Javascript 2017

   Create MORE functions (rather than large functions)

   • Helps with DRY

   • Easier to refactor

   Use Lodash rather than custom looping code (when you can)

   • Optimised for most common cases (much more optimised than underscore)

   • Peer-reviewed for bugs and performance

   • Creates more shareable code as long as both projects are using lodash

   Use a consistent code format throughout the whole project

   • Make it auto-format on save

   • Can use Standard or SemiStandard

   • Auto convert tabs to spaces (IDE plugin or automated task)

   • Auto remove any excess spaces at end of line (IDE plugin or automated task)

   • Benefit: Removes noise from Pull-Request reviews

   Use Longer names when possible (as long as they are more descriptive)

   • It’s better to have longer variable/function names than comments that explain the purpose of a variable (see: Clean Code)

   2017/07/30

2. Magic Assert

   About Magic Assert

   The test framework Ava has introduced a very useful new feature that they call “Magic Assert”.

   It is basically a normal assert statement, but when the result is not expected it shows a nice diff explaining what it go and what it was expecting.

   Screenshot of Ava Magic Assert

   

   This is the main feature that pulls me towards using Ava instead of Mocha or Jest testing frameworks. However it got me wondering, why not have an assert library that is generic enough to work with all test runners. Similar to how Chai works seamlessly across these frameworks it would be great to have a “magic-assert” library that also works with the testing framework of your choice.

   Watch this space! 😉

   2017/03/08

3. Automatically Format Javascript and HTML files on Save with Grunt

   Create the config

   The following jobs will require a config variable is set, so it knows where all your javascript files are located.

   var config = {
       all_js_src: ['./app/**/*.js']
   }
   

   Remove trailing whitespace on lines

   First I wanted to automatically make sure I haven’t left any trailling whitespace on any lines. This will remove them automatically and can run on file save.

           //
           // # Trim trailing whitespace on lines
           //  * needed as this is a warning in Sonar
           //
           trimtrailingspaces: {
               all: {
                   src: config.all_js_src,
                   options: {
                       filter: 'isFile',
                       encoding: 'utf8',
                       failIfTrimmed: false
                   }
               }
           },
   

   FixMyJS

   You will need to have created a .jshint file with your preferences in the root directory of your project.

           //
           // FixMyJS - Automatically fixes common JS Lint erorrs
           //
           fixmyjs: {
               options: {
                   config: '.jshintrc',
                   indentpref: 'spaces',
                   camelcase: false,
                   quotemark: true,
                   curly: true,
                   multivar: true,
                   asi: true,
                   eqeqeq: true,
                   ext: '.js'
               },
               all: {
                   files: [{
                       expand: true,
                       cwd: './',
                       src: config.all_js_src,
                       dest: './'
                   }]
               }
           },
   

   Make it beautiful

   This will sort out the styling of the code to make sure all your files are consistent.

           //
           // # Prettify Javascript files
           //
           'jsbeautifier': {
               files: config.all_js_src,
               options: {
                   js: {
                       jslintHappy: false
                   }
               }
           },
   

   Grunt Task

   Add this grunt task to your Gruntfile.js if you want all the tasks to run as one:

    //
       // # This task will run all the automated javascript code cleaning
       //
       grunt.registerTask('cleanjscode', [
           'trimtrailingspaces',
           'fixmyjs',
           'jsbeautifier'
       ]);
   

   Run on file Save

           //
           // # Watches files for changes and runs tasks based on the changed files
           //
           watch: {
               dashboardjs: {
                   files: config.all_js_src,
                   tasks: [
                       'cleanjscode'
                   ]
               },
   

   Git commit hooks

   If you want to automatically do this just before commiting you can add the following grunt task:

           //
           // # Pre Commit Git Hooks
           //
           githooks: {
               all: {
                   // Will run the jshint and test:unit tasks at every commit
                   'pre-commit': 'cleanjscode'
               }
           },
   

   2016/11/29

4. Installing Apache mod_auth_openidc OpenID Authentication

   Purpose: I wanted to use OpenID Authentication to restrict access to a few directories on my apache server

   First download the installer from github

   wget https://github.com/pingidentity/mod_auth_openidc/releases/download/v1.8.7/libapache2-mod-auth-openidc_1.8.7-1ubuntu1.trusty.1_amd64.deb
   

   Install the package

   sudo dpkg -i libapache2-mod-auth-openidc_1.8.7-1ubuntu1.trusty.1_amd64.deb
   

   Install Dependencies

   sudo apt-get install -f
   

   Enable the module for apache

   sudo a2enmod auth_openidc
   

   Restart Apache

   service apache2 restart
   

   2016/02/07

5. rarfile.RarUnknownError: Unknown exit code [1]: bsdtar: Unrecognized archive format Python

   So recently I have been trying to unrar files in python with limited success.

   After spending what felt like hours trying to track down the problem it was quite a simple fix.

   So if you get this error: rarfile.RarUnknownError: Unknown exit code [1]: bsdtar: Unrecognized archive format

   Then you just need to install the unrar executable like so:

   On Mac:

   brew install unrar

   On Ubuntu:

   apt-get install unrar

   Good luck!

   2015/03/04

My Popular Repositories