Category: Software Development
27 Feb, 2018
Migrating to Elastic Search: A Case Study
I am a member of a development team that has nearly completed the task of replacing Apache Solr with Elasticsearch for our web application. This case study is a recounting of the methods used and challenges faced during the experience. Read on to learn why and how we pulled...
13 Feb, 2018
Atom as an Alternative Development Environment
In years past the best development environment was almost always expensive, both to acquire and maintain. When these tools moved to a subscription model based on specific tech stacks and languages, cost and complexity for developers only increased. Even widely-adopted alternatives such as Eclipse, while open source, suffers from...
03 Feb, 2017
Angular 1 or 2: Which is the Best for Your Project?
With Angular 2 coming out of beta, it is now available as a front end framework for your new project. Yet, some developers are still choosing to code new applications with Angular 1. My colleague wrote back when Angular 1 was relatively new about why you should care, but...
10 Jan, 2017
Software vs The Evil Forces of Entropy
Requirements evolve, technology evolves, processes evolve, and users evolve. So why is it that the systems, applications, and their underlying architectures seemingly get built in a way that after a couple iterations of extension, they become brittle and saddled with “technical debt”? More importantly, is there anything that can...
08 Nov, 2016
6 Out of Scope Ways to Add Value to your Company and Clients
It seems to go without saying that adding value is important. As consultants, we add value through our work; otherwise, our clients wouldn’t hire us. Every day, we try to maximize our delivery according to the Statement of Work (SOW) we have in place and the business needs of our client. Value...
18 Oct, 2016
Web Accessibility Should Be a Goal for All Sites
For many businesses, web accessibility is viewed as more of a hassle or statutory requirement than a good business practice. Accessibility only becomes important when compliance with Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (or a similar state regulation) is required to win a contract. The reality is that an accessible website enables your business...
04 Oct, 2016
Running Successful Technology Assessments
These days, almost every business relies on technology products and platforms to run daily operations and meet its goals. Unfortunately, your business needs and the functionality and performance of your supporting technology frequently fall out of alignment. A technology assessment is a good way to baseline where you are: what works,...
24 Aug, 2016
Springing the JSON Template into Postgresql
Two popular open source components used in full stack development are Spring and Postgres. Spring gives the developer a plethora of opportunities to integrate with third party ORM libraries, such as Hibernate and iBatis. Frequently, rather than use a separate ORM library, developers elect to use the Spring JDBC...
19 May, 2016
Customizing in LimeSurvey: A Developer’s Perspective
From door to door canvassing to electronic questionnaires, surveys are a tried and true way to collect customer information. There are several software solutions available for the conduct and management of electronic surveys, ranging from COTS products to open source implementations. Open source survey solutions allow for greater customization...
03 May, 2016
Desktop Manufacturing: Our Work In Jerk Controlled Motion Explained
Over the past few years, Ten Mile Square has developed deep expertise in developing hardware and firmware solutions that improve computer numerical control. We have put this expertise into real world use. We have been working with our partner, Synthetos, on an open source effort called TinyG, which seeks to radically improve...