Posts

One of the key challenges in building efficient React applications falls on managing state updates effectively. This is typically the largest problem that occurs when a React application grows in size and complexity. In this post, I’ll explore how incorrectly managed state updates can lead to performance issues and how to mitigate these problems using popular state management libraries and techniques. When you look at a typical React application (not a static website) you will often find that the depth of the component tree can grow very large. A tree with many nested components is the first and most probable cause of performance issues. If any component high up in the tree updates its state every component below it in the tree will re-render as well. If your application performs a lot of operations when a component renders or is re-rendered this can lead to a very sluggish user experience with a single page change causing multiple seconds of lag. ...

From when I first upgraded my 3D printer to use Octoprint in 2020 one part of the setup that has been essential has been the ability to monitor and control my printer remotely. Initially I used a seperate Raspberry Pi 3b+ with a USB webcam streaming over octoprint’s mjpeg streamer. This worked well for a while but the quality was limited to 640x480 and the frame rate was low, making it hard to see fine details of the print. ...

One of the most useful tools as a software developer is a personal wiki. As a software developer I often have to deal with obtuse documentation, complex systems, and a lot of information that I need to keep track of. A personal wiki allows me to organize this information in a way that makes sense to me, and to easily find it when I need it. One thing I do want to clarify is the difference between wiki software and solutions like Google Docs or a something like Google Keep. Whilst these solutions can be used to take notes, they lack the structure and organization that a wiki provides. A wiki allows you to create a hierarchy of information, with pages that can link to other pages, and categories that can group related information together. This makes it much easier to find what you are looking for, and to see how different pieces of information are related. ...

I’ve been working with JavaScript and its ecosystem for several years now, primarily focusing on web development with libraries like React and experimenting with different runtime environments like Node.js and Bun. Recently, I decided to expand my programming skills by learning Go (Golang), a statically typed, compiled language known for its simplicity and performance. Why Go? Given my interest in web development and developing efficient backend services, Go seemed like a natural choice coming from JavaScript. I first considered learning Go after seeing that Microsoft was porting the TypeScript compiler to Go. There are many different projects in the JavaScript ecosystem that use a faster compiled language for the massive performance improvements. For example, the Deno JavaScript runtime is built using Rust and the Bun runtime uses Zig. Coming from languages like JavaScript and TypeScript I was curious to see how Go handled concurrency and multithreading, as these are areas where JavaScript often meets limitations. ...

Recently I added an upgrade to my 3D printer that I’m really excited about as it takes advantage of quite a few different technologies that I haven’t used before. Primarily the use of CANBus and Klipper’s multi-MCU processing capabilities. In short the upgrade uses CANBus to communicate between the printer’s mainboard and the PCB placed on the tool head, drastically reducing the number of cables down from ten plus down to four, two for twelve volt power and a twisted pair of CANBus wires for data and signalling. ...

Over the past few years, I’ve embarked on a journey into the world of self-hosting, starting with a single instance of Home Assistant and gradually expanding my services to include a variety of applications. This journey has been both exciting and challenging, filled with valuable lessons learned along the way. Inspiration: The Self Hosted Podcast I’ve been self-hosting for a number of years now, starting with one or two core programs and gradually expanding to host more than a dozen different services. A lot of my inspiration came from the Self Hosted podcast, which I discovered a few years ago. Every fortnight Chris and Alex would cover news in the open source and self-hosting world, as well as interviewing maintainers and covering new services that they had discovered. The podcast was a great way to learn about new tools whilst commuting and then arriving home to try them out. A lot of the services I run today were discovered through the podcast and I’ve learnt more than a few lessons from the hosts’ experiences. ...

For a long time, approximately 4 years I’ve been using Ultimaker’s Cura as my primary slicer for 3D printing, although it’s heavy leaning towards use with Ultimaker’s own printers it does a good job of supporting a wide range of other printers as well. When I initially received my CR-10 it was supported out of the box and there were a couple community profiles that made it easy to get good print quality out of the box. ...

Being nearly done with my university degree and looking for work I’ve begun to notice how many companies allow for a website or portfolio link on job applications. Before now I hadn’t really upgraded my personal website since this time of year in 2022 when I decided to invest a lot of time into building a full stack website using Remix, Postgres and the Slate rich text editor, paired with oAuth through Github and Discord for authentication. Admittedly though I did sometimes post new content to that blog I never really made a habit of it, and after I lost interest in the project I let it sit dormant for a long time. ...