Chris Towles's Blog

Chris Towles's Blog

I'm a software engineer and Solution architect. Usually in AWS, Vue, Typescript, Python and tinkering with everything else.
Blog

Writing about the following

Recent Posts
A llama looking at a screen with code on it
AI

Using Ollama and Continue as GitHub Copilot alternative

Guide on how Ollama and Continue can serve as an alternative to GitHub Copilot
Chris Towles
Kids holding fire tablet
android

Fire tablet and YouTube Kids

Getting YouTube and YouTube Kids to work on Amazon Fire for kids
Chris Towles
desk with 3 monitors and lots of code open
productivity

Oh My Zsh on your server

Why i'm installing it on servers I ssh into a lot.
Chris Towles
A laptop with a data analytics
airflow

Apache Airflow Part 1 - Why and Goals for a near Serverless ELT

Reasons I want to use Airflow for a Proof of Concept near Serverless ELT
Chris Towles
A Toolbox with hand reaching in
productivity

Why you should make a toolbox repository

the perfect place to put everything that doesn't belong anywhere else
Chris Towles
A laptop with a dark matter theme
Productivity

Why using Conventional commits is useful

Helping everyone to understand the commit history and its purpose
Chris Towles
A laptop with a dark matter theme
Blog

I am a Dark Matter Developer

Reflecting on my career and the type of developer I am.
Chris Towles
css on screen

Migrate Vue 2 with Vuetify and Jest to Vite and Vitest

So my main project at work is a Vue 2 and Vuetify 2 site, but privately I have been playing with Vue 3 and loved the Composition API to avoid mixins. Due to some new features, we are planning to build soon. I wanted to write it in Vue 3, to prevent needing to migrate it later.
Chris Towles
picture of tests passing in vitest

You do not have time to not have tests

So first a full disclosure: I was late to get on the testing bandwagon.
Chris Towles
What is this blog about?

Why should you listen to me?

Because I've been doing this for over 20 years and learned a thing or two the hard way.

Take Notes

Always take notes. You will forget given time. Leave a clue for future you.

Setup CI/CD

if its worth deploying, its worth doing so in a repeatable way.

Tests

tests help you! Want to refactor and improve things? Tests let you do that!