Types in Elm: Decomposition and Ad Hoc Polymorphism
Two Elm type composition techniques: nesting union types to factor the update function, and approximating ad hoc polymorphism without type classes.
Archive
A collection of writing from earlier in my career. Preserved for historical context.
Privacy and Exposure, Gatekeepers and Privileged Consumers
Using Ruby's singleton classes and refinements to build controlled access patterns between objects, applied to a practical mediator layer for ActiveRecord.
On Maintainability: Gold Plating the Game of Life in Elm
A study of Elm maintainability through deliberate gold plating, revealing how the language's architecture keeps new features additive.
Common Table Expressions in ActiveRecord: A Case Study of Quantiles
An exploration of PostgreSQL common table expressions for quantile calculation, from raw SQL through ActiveRecord integration to an AREL abstraction.
Revisiting the Game of Life in Elm
A return to Conway's Game of Life in Elm, tracing how the language's shift from signals to commands and subscriptions changed application structure.
Using Defined Properties for Better AngularJS Directives
Applying JavaScript's Object.defineProperty to AngularJS directives, hiding business logic in custom getters and setters to reduce controller boilerplate.
Barebones Architecture in Elm
A reduction of Elm application architecture to its essential components, using a simple example to expose the underlying pattern clearly.
Writing Game of Life in Elm
An implementation of Conway's Game of Life in Elm, introducing signals and functional reactive programming through a sequence of progressively complete examples.
Lazy Ruby
An exploration of Ruby's lazy enumerator for building infinite sequences, demonstrated through Fibonacci with a memoization layer to offset the cost of naive recursion.
Hooks in AngularJS Controllers
A practical hook mechanism for passing data from nested AngularJS controllers back to a parent, with guidance on when to use it over events or services.