Upcoming Presentation: DevNexus 2016

From February 15th to February 17th 2016 I will be at DevNexus 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a developer conference relating to many different technologies such as Java, Node.js, and the mobile platforms.

TPDP Episode #2: Picking the Right Mobile Development Technology for Your Needs

In this episode of The Polyglot Developer Podcast I discuss the differences between native and hybrid mobile application development and my experience in both. Episode #2: Picking the Right Mobile Development Technology for Your Needs covers quite a bit and is broken into the following four sections:

1. My background as a mobile application developer
2. What is native mobile application development
3. What is hybrid mobile application development
4. How do you choose between the two types of mobile application development

This podcast episode is heavily based on my opinion, but I try to keep it honest based on my experience as a developer.

Create A Raspberry Pi Automatic Network Backup Server

I have a few Raspberry Pi units that I’ve picked up over the years. As of now I have a RPi 256MB, RPi 512MB and a RPi2 1024MB unit. I’m currently using the faster model as a RetroPie which I’ll discuss in a future article, but for the older models I have them doing server stuff. For example, I have my 256MB model acting as a network backup server that one of my computers automatically uploads to.

Here we’re going to look at what it takes to get an automated backup server rolling with a Raspberry Pi and how exactly it can be useful to you.

Upload Files To Node.js Using Angular

When I build web applications, my least favorite part is always in the realm of file uploads. They are often complicated to do and take a lot of time. Pretty much every web application lately, regardless of what it is, requires file uploads, even if it is just to upload a profile picture.

Since I’m all about Angular lately, I figured it would be great to show how to upload images (or any file) to a back-end. In this particular example I’m using Node.js.

Use Your Raspberry Pi As A Headless System Without A Monitor

I have a few Raspberry Pi computers all doing different things around my home. With the exception of my RetroPie, which I’ll talk about in a different article, they were all configured and running as a headless system. So what exactly is a headless system?

Headless Systems via IoT Agenda:

A headless system is a computer that operates without a monitor, graphical user interface (GUI) or peripheral devices, such as keyboard and mouse.

I use an iMac and my TV has all HDMI ports in use making it a hassle to switch them around. This means I needed to configure and use my Raspberry Pi in a different manner.

Fill Empty Space With UI Elements Using The NativeScript GridLayout

So recently I found myself needing to create a screen in a NativeScript Android and iOS app that had a ListView that sat below, or above, a Label UI element. The problem I faced was that there were issues with element sizing. On my first attempt I ended up with a Label and ListView that only took up a small portion of the screen, when I wanted the ListView to take up all remaining space. This is where the GridLayout comes in with its ability to have custom row and column sizing.

Using a GridLayout you can specify how rows and columns are fit around the screen.

Create A Full Stack App Using Java & Couchbase Server

Full stack development is all the rage right now. Knowing how all the bits and pieces of an application works is a necessity in modern development. Previously I demonstrated how easy it was to create a full stack application using the Couchbase, Express, AngularJS, and Node.js (CEAN) stack, but this time we’re going to be swapping out Node.js for Java.

We’re going to look at creating a full stack application where Java and Couchbase Server acts as our back-end and AngularJS, HTML, and CSS acts as our front-end.