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Matthew's Blog

Thoughts on software development

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Beavers and LLMs

How does ChatGPT and Bard compare when writing movie treatments about beavers?

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Cover Image for CDK Community Survey - 2023

CDK Community Survey - 2023

Here are the results of the 2023 CDK community survey.

Cover Image for Announcing my Advanced CDK Course

Announcing my Advanced CDK Course

After 4 years of working with the CDK I felt it was time to put together a course on it.

Cover Image for CDK Community Survey - 2022

CDK Community Survey - 2022

Here are the results of the 2022 CDK community survey.

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Developing Step Functions with the AWS CDK

Rapid Step Function development with the Workflow Studio can be integrated easily with the AWS CDK to create an enjoyable experience while keeping your state definitions properly in your infrastructure as code.

Cover Image for How to handle importing CloudFormation resources when you use the CDK

How to handle importing CloudFormation resources when you use the CDK

CloudFormation allows you to import resources, but there are some steps you need to take to make it work with your CDK code.

Cover Image for CDK Community Survey - 2021 Q1

CDK Community Survey - 2021 Q1

Here are the results of the 2021 Q1 CDK community survey.

Cover Image for Automating CDK Version Bumping with AWS Serverless and Github

Automating CDK Version Bumping with AWS Serverless and Github

I publish my CDK constructs for specific versions of the AWS CDK. Here's why and how I automated parts of the publishing process.

Cover Image for CDK Community Survey - 2020 Q4

CDK Community Survey - 2020 Q4

Here are the results of the 2020Q4 CDK community survey.

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Moving from AWS Amplify to the AWS CDK

I bootstrapped a side project with AWS Amplify but then hit some walls, so I transitioned to using the CDK.

Cover Image for CDK Community Survey - 2020 Q3

CDK Community Survey - 2020 Q3

Here are the results of the 2020Q3 CDK community survey.

Cover Image for Converting a CDK construct to using Projen

Converting a CDK construct to using Projen

There's a few steps required to convert existing projects over to Projen, but it's worth it.

Cover Image for Putting code in the right places.

Putting code in the right places.

Can the CDK help me put the right code in the right places when building Serverless apps?

Cover Image for Why the AWS Cloud Development Kit is taking off.

Why the AWS Cloud Development Kit is taking off.

The AWS CDK has become very popular, and now it's usage is spreading outside of AWS. Let's discuss why.

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Deno vs Node showdown!

Deno is hot, but is it good enough to replace Node for your Lambdas?

Cover Image for How to Create CDK Constructs

How to Create CDK Constructs

Creating reusable CDK Constructs is easier than you may think. Thanks to Github actions you have build and distribute a custom CDK Construct in under an hour.

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2019 - A Year in Review

2019 was probably the most active year I've had this decade.

Cover Image for The Wrong Way to Use the AWS CDK.

The Wrong Way to Use the AWS CDK.

I stumbled into a really wrong way to write CDK Constructs and would like to share how and why.

Cover Image for AWS's new NoSQL Workbench for DynamoDB is out! Is it for you?

AWS's new NoSQL Workbench for DynamoDB is out! Is it for you?

Does it have the right stuff?

Cover Image for Am I Misusing the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK)?

Am I Misusing the AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK)?

I recently built a solution in AWS using the CDK and other resources. I was very happy how it turned out, but wonder if I got lucky.

Cover Image for A Simple Event Source Based API Microservice and the AWS CDK

A Simple Event Source Based API Microservice and the AWS CDK

I wanted to build a simple Event Sourced-based AWS Serverless microservice for some time, and thanks to the AWS CDK I was able to build it the way I wanted.

Cover Image for The Pros and Cons of DynamoDB

The Pros and Cons of DynamoDB

DymamoDB is a powerful yet simple database system from AWS. Like any database, there are certain tradeoffs you may need to make.

Cover Image for Creating Idempotent Lambda Handlers with DynamoDB

Creating Idempotent Lambda Handlers with DynamoDB

Creating idempotent lambda handlers is not always trivial. Using DynamoDB as a short-circuit during message duplication is easier then you may think. This post covers a simple DynamoDB table setup you can use to ensure your lambda handlers are idempotent.

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A Typescript Runtime for Lambda and Why You May Not Want To Use It

What happens if you create a custom AWS Lambda runtime for a popular language that depends on compiling at runtime?

Cover Image for Creating a CICD for your Ionic 4 app in AWS in 5 minutes

Creating a CICD for your Ionic 4 app in AWS in 5 minutes

Ionic 4 Websites (or any static website) can now be deployed very easily.

Cover Image for Turning a CRUD Model into an Event Sourced Model

Turning a CRUD Model into an Event Sourced Model

Isn't switching to an Event Sourced model difficult? Probably not if you're using a really common repository pattern.

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CICD in AWS for Barracuda

For a recent project we setup a simple but strong CICD pipeline using CodeBuild and CodePipeline.

Cover Image for AWS – Verifying Outgoing SES Email Addresses Without an Email Server

AWS – Verifying Outgoing SES Email Addresses Without an Email Server

Sometimes you need to respond to a verification email but don't want to setup a full blown email server for your domain. With this little trick you can leverage SNS to forward it along to another email address.