MindByte Issue #101: From GitHub Receipts to Azure FinOps: This Week’s Must-Know Updates

Author

Michiel van Oudheusden
December 10, 2024

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Welcome back, tech enthusiasts!
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This week’s edition is packed with cutting-edge insights and tools to supercharge your development game. Whether you're here for GitHub updates, Azure insights, or exploring .NET features, there's something valuable for everyone.

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Here’s a sneak peek of what’s inside this week:

  • 🧾 A fun and quirky GitHub Receipt for your profile

  • 🤖 64k context windows for AI and 128k in VS Code Insider Edition

  • 💻 Best practices for generating unit tests with GitHub Copilot

  • 🔒 Validating your identity on Bluesky using GitHub

  • 📊 The latest updates in the Azure FinOps Toolkit

  • 📚 Exploring C# 12.0 inline arrays and implementing the Saga Pattern

No matter where your focus lies—exploring new tech, honing your skills, or just staying updated—you’ll find something here to fuel your passion for technology.

New here? Subscribe here to stay updated. Let's dive in.

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GitHub Digest

Totally useless, but fun nevertheless; your own GitHub Receipt. Just fill in your GitHub username and get your own version:

GitHub Receipt

Generate a receipt-style summary of your GitHub profile

gitreceipt.vercel.app

A larger token size, in this case 64K, means more data can be processed by the AI model. So more context can be supplied, which should give you better responses.

And when you have the VS Code Insider edition, you can even get a 128K context window!

Copilot Chat now has a 64k context window with OpenAI GPT-4o · GitHub Changelog

Copilot Chat now has a 64k context window with OpenAI GPT-4o

github.blog/changelog/2024-12-06-copilot-chat-now-has-a-64k-context-window-with-openai-gpt-4o

Sometimes you just want to work with the data returned by GitHub Models via an application. Using JSON as an output format makes more sense. This was already possible via the API, but now in the UI as well.

GitHub Models now supports the ability to retrieve structured JSON responses in the UI · GitHub Changelog

GitHub Models now supports the ability to retrieve structured JSON responses in the UI

github.blog/changelog/2024-12-06-github-models-now-supports-the-ability-to-retrieve-structured-json-responses-in-the-ui

We all know that unit tests can help improve the quality of your code. At the same time, it is also a very time consuming process and needs the right amount of attention as well.

Certainly with these kind of things, Copilot is your friend. Read along on how to use this tool to generate the best unit tests.

How to generate unit tests with GitHub Copilot: Tips and examples

Learn how to generate unit tests with GitHub Copilot and get specific examples, a tutorial, and best practices.

github.blog/ai-and-ml/how-to-generate-unit-tests-with-github-copilot-tips-and-examples/?utm_source=pocket_shared

Coding Corner

More and more people are switching to Bluesky and are leaving X (aka as Twitter) behind. I did the same, you can find me at https://bsky.app/profile/mindbyte.nl and I validated my identity by using my own domain name.

As verification is important (how else do you know who you are talking to), you can validate yourself with, for example, GitHub! Use your github account to host a file to prove your identify.

Validate your identity on Bluesky with your GitHub account

Fellow developers and OS Contributors, do you want to verify yourself on ...

www.poppastring.com/blog/validate-your-identity-on-bluesky-with-your-github-account

Azure Updates & Insights

FinOps is another interest for me, so I do want to share this new/updated FinOps Toolkit. This contains all kinds of guidance, tools and resources to implement FinOps on Azure.

A nice upgrade in the latest edition is the support for Private Endpoints, allowing for a more secure setup.

What's new in FinOps toolkit 0.7 – November 2024

techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/finopsblog/whats-new-in-finops-toolkit-0-7-–-november-2024/4352699

.NET Nook

Get a deep dive into arrays. A lot of technical details on how to create memory optimized, value type like, arrays.

C# 12.0: inline arrays

For most of .NET's existence, arrays have been distinct objects on the heap. C# 12.0 makes it possible for a fixed-size array to live entirely inside another data type, just like fields do. This is useful in some performance sensitive scenarios, and can also be helpful when interoperating with some operating system APIs, or libraries written for other languages.

endjin.com/blog/2024/11/csharp-12-inline-arrays

In a recent project at my job, we talked about sagas, state machines which can be used to coordinate distributed transactions.

The below article caught my eye as it shows an implementation of a saga using Masstransit.

Implementing the Saga Pattern With MassTransit

Long-running business processes often require multiple services working together, but traditional distributed transactions can be problematic at scale. Learn how to implement the Saga pattern using MassTransit to break complex workflows into manageable steps with proper error handling and state management.

www.milanjovanovic.tech/blog/implementing-the-saga-pattern-with-masstransit

Closing Thoughts

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