Oct. 31, 2021, noon

PinkLetter - Upgrade those dependencies (today)

PinkLetter (odone.io)

Welcome to my PinkLetter. A short, weekly, technology-agnostic, and pink newsletter where we cultivate timeless skills about web development.

My Ramblings This Week

When is the last time you upgraded your project’s dependencies?

Too long ago, I know. But here’s a simple recipe to redeem yourself:

Test Dependencies

No risks; No excuses. Do it today.

  1. Upgrade
  2. Run the tests
  3. (Fix problems)
  4. Commit

Dev Dependencies

Low risk of fellow developers shouting at you; Not a good excuse. Do (at least patch and minor versions) today.

Runtime Dependencies

Sweating a bit here, huh?

Non-breaking changes should not be a problem: check the changelogs of each dependency for reassurance.

Bigger upgrades require some planning, or else they’ll never happen. The trick here is to make a rough roadmap, track progress for motivation, and set up reminders on your calendar.

Remember: upgrades are not an all-or-nothing thing. You can get some done today: “Just do it!”

Elsewhere on the Web

Type-Driven API Design in Rust by Will Crichton

In this talk, I will live-code the design of a simple Rust API. Through the evolution of the API, I will demonstrate how Rust’s type system (especially traits) can be used to design interfaces that cleanly compose with existing code, and that help API clients catch mistakes at compile-time.

(Riccardo: Dunno why I’m still in Ruby when I know what static types can do.)


Why We Need More Chaos - Chaos Engineering, That Is by Nora Jones

[Nora] discusses the benefits and challenges of establishing Chaos Engineering into your systems.

You just read issue #71 of PinkLetter (odone.io). You can also browse the full archives of this newsletter.

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