Your Codebase is Your Prompt
Everything in your repo is part of the prompt. The loudest signal wins — even when it's wrong.
Andrew Cairns - Software Development Blog
Articles about software development, design patterns, and programming best practices
Latest posts
Evaluating our Test Pyramid
Our DX survey says the feedback loop is too slow. I had a hunch our test pyramid was off. So I built an analyser to find out — and the real problem wasn't what I expected.
Cognitive Debt
The growing gap between the code your team ships and the code your team understands. It's not technical debt. It's worse.
Devlog #4: Hidden Coupling
When eager payload generation exposed a years-old dependency on ORM lifecycle hooks. A simple test revealed how domain events were secretly coupled to database infrastructure.
Devlog #3: Event Inconsistencies
Discover how mutable events caused hidden inconsistencies during a microservice extraction. In this devlog, I share the investigation, lessons learned, and why immutable events are critical for reliable event-driven architecture.
PHP Pipe Operator Explained — Cleaner, More Readable PHP Code
Explore how a native pipe operator could improve code readability and composition in PHP. Understand current alternatives and what future implementation might look like.
Devlog #2: Implementing Branch by Abstraction
Learn how to implement Branch by Abstraction pattern effectively in legacy system modernization. This detailed developer guide explores practical strategies for managing service boundaries, implementing composite services, and gradually transitioning from old to new implementations while maintaining system stability.
Devlog #1: The Profiles Bounded Context RFC
First installment of the devlog introducing the Profiles Bounded Context RFC
Primitive Obsession
Discover Primitive Obsession in code: recognize symptoms, understand implications, and learn effective fixes with value objects.
Composition over Inheritance
A lot can be learned about software development by playing retro games.
Accidental Intent Cancelling
In this article, I introduce a form of Accidental Complexity I've been referring to as Accidental Intent Cancelling.