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Today, not a lot of new GitHub stuff, but I did found some interesting articles about testing, databases (in source control, using postgresql), do you need to use a storage queue or the service bus and the binaryformatter in .net 9.

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GitHub Digest

There are many ways to deploy static web apps to Azure, but the Azure Developer CLI (AZD) is a helpful approach to provision and deploy your site. The latest version even include some nice speed improvements as well.

Read up on how to include this in your GitHub workflow.

Coding Corner

A comprehensive list of test options, focussed on automation. The author also describes mocking tools, static analysis and test flakiness.

Do you have your database under source control? It is not a simple task to bring your database structure (schema etc) under a source control system, and although several tools exists, I see a lot of dev teams struggle with this.

This almost sounds like an advertisement, but I get nothing for it. The Humble Tech Book bundle is a great way to get a set of highly valuable (e)books about coding, architecture, patterns, systems, microservices etc.

You might not read them all, but merely browsing through them is already helpful. So take advance of this offer.

Azure Updates & Insights

I recently ran into this nice gem; an overview of the naming convention used for Azure VM sizes. It helps you decipher what a M416ms_v2 or NC4as_T4_v3 actually is.

Andrew Lock provides an extensive comparison between Storage Queues and the Service Bus. If you do not need Pub/Sub capabilities, then the Storage Queue is a very attractive solution.

I have been using storage queues and never found much need for other solutions when you just need to process items from a queue.

Andrew includes Azure Functions as well to process Queue messages.

.NET Nook

The BInaryFormatter is finally gone in .NET 9. It has same serious security vulnerbilities in it and has been on a path to become obsolete since .NET 2.0

The below article describes why it is being removed and what the alternatives are. So time to say goodbye to this formatter if you are still attached to it.

Still something on my list to explore: Postgresql and Marten. From what I read, it is not only an excellent database, but by using Marten it acts as a nice document database as well. I m not really interested into maintaining schema’s, I just want a database that works, is clever enough to store the data, and has features which I expect from a more traditional SQL database like ACID principles.

The below article demos how you can use Postgesql in combination with Marten to store your data.

Ever wondered what that checked construct is? And why you would use it in combination with unsigned integers? Well, it provides protection against overflows. How this works? Check out the article by Khalid Abuhakmeh:

Closing Thoughts

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