devBlog of Michal Zalecki

Express is a microframework that according to 2018 Node.js User Survey Report is used by 4 in 5 back-end and full-stack node.js developers. Thanks to its simplicity, the always-growing range of available middleware, and active community the express userbase is still growing.

Code sharing is easy but doing it correctly is challenging. There are multiple ways you can do it, and your use case dictates what approach is right for you. The low hanging fruit is just copy-paste what you need from StackOverflow, GitHub, or your previous project. Despite the apparent benefit of being the most natural, copying and pasting wastes your time in the long run due to causing the maintenance burden of syncing changes manually.

This post is a step by step guide to configure Dokku to host multiple applications, supporting domains, subdomains, redirects, and secure connection via HTTPS using free certificates issued by Let’s Encrypt.

Well written set of tests plays a crucial role in delivering a reliable software. A good test suit ensures that the application works as intended and significantly reduces the number of bugs. It’s easier said than done. One of the steps to achieve this goal is adhering to boundaries of different test levels. In this article, I want to focus on the integration testing of decentralized applications that rely on web3. For integration testing, I’m able to sacrifice the speed of execution to gain the confidence that different components of the app seamlessly work together.

For me, podcasts are a great alternative to listen to music when I exercise, commute, do some chores, or cooking. Over the last few years, I’ve built up a decent-size list of almost 100 subscribed podcasts but happen to listen regularly to only a few. That’s my curated list of podcasts (not just about coding) which I think are very valuable for software developers.

There are two contexts for talking about confidentiality on the blockchain. When it comes to public and permissionless blockchains, there are projects like Monero and Zcash where privacy is the outcome of anonymous transactions. Transactions in Ethereum, the biggest smart contract blockchain, can be traced and transaction payload is readable.

Ethereum is a well-established blockchain that enables developers to create smart contracts — programs that execute on blockchain that can be triggered by transactions. People often refer to blockchain as a database but using blockchains as a data store is prohibitively expensive.

IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is protocol establishing the peer-to-peer network with resources addressed based on their content instead of the physical location like in HTTP. IPFS gives us some guarantees of blockchains like decentralization and unalterable storage at a fraction of the price you would have to give in transaction fees. Participation in the IPFS network is free.

Nebulas is yet another platform on which you can develop smart contracts. It offers a means of using JavaScript to develop Smart Contracts — an intriguing alternative to more established solutions, such as Ethereum.

Decentralized applications present a new set of challenges. One of them is testing. Transaction lifecycle is more complex than the old-school POST request/response flow and errors are often less than helpful. Although developer experience is getting better, this puts into perspective how testing is essential.