Raju Gandhi

Modular Monoliths: A happy middle

8:30 AM MDT

In this session we will discuss what modular monoliths are, what they bring to the table, and how they offer a great middle ground between monoliths and distributed architectures like microservices.

Monoliths get a bad rep. Experienced software developers have seen one too many monoliths devolve into a big ball of mud, leaving everyone frustrated, with an itch to do a “rewrite”. But monoliths have their pros! They are usually simpler, easier to understand, and faster to build and debug.

On the other side of the spectrum you have microservices—that offer scale, both technically and organizationally, as well as having the badge of honor of being “the new cool kid on the block”. But productionizing microservices is HARD.

Why can't we have our cake and eat it too? Turns out, we can. In this session we will explore the modular monolith—all the upsides of a monolith with none of the downsides of distributed architectures. We'll see what it means to build a modular monolith, and how that differs from a traditional layered architecture. We will discuss how we can build architectural governance to ensure our modules remain decoupled. Finally we'll see how our modules can communicate with one another without violating modularity.

By the end of this session you'll walk away with a greater appreciation for the monolith, and see how you can leverage this within your system architecture.

Measuring your architecture

10:30 AM MDT

It's not just architecture—it's evolutionary architecture. But to evolve your architecture, you need to measure it. And how does that work exactly? How does one measure something as abstract as architecture?

In this session we'll discuss various strategies for measuring your architecture. We'll see how you know if your software architecture is working for you, and how to know which metrics to keep an eye on. We'll also see the benefits of measuring your architecture.

We'll cover a range of topics in this session, including

Different kinds of metrics to measure your architecture
The benefits of measurements
Improving visibility into architecture metrics

\s+[Rr]eg(ular [Ee]xpression|ex[pe]?)s? for Mortals (Workshop)

3:00 PM MDT

Jamie Zawinski once said “Some people, when confronted with a problem, think “I know, I'll use regular expressions.” Now they have two problems.“. Many consider regular expressions to be indecipherable, but the truth is that every programmer should consider regular expressions an integral part of their toolkit. From the command line to your favorite text editor, from parsing user input to scraping HTML pages once you know regular expressions you will find a use for them in almost every programming context.

In this highly interactive workshop we will decipher the cryptic construct that is a Regular Expression. Starting with the basics, we will work our way towards advanced usage, including anchors, modifiers, groups, and look arounds.

This is a HIGHLY interactive workshop — Not only will we have a lot of exercises, we will use a playground that will allow us to experiment to our heart's content! Feel free to come in with issues you may have seen at work!

Agenda:
The basics and how to read regular expressions
Character Classes
Negation
Ranges
Shortcuts
Alternations
Repetitions
Word Boundaries
Capture Groups
Anchors
Modifiers

Let's once and for all make sense of this powerful tool.

I hope to see you all there.

\s+[Rr]eg(ular [Ee]xpression|ex[pe]?)s? for Mortals (Workshop)

5:00 PM MDT

Jamie Zawinski once said “Some people, when confronted with a problem, think “I know, I'll use regular expressions.” Now they have two problems.“. Many consider regular expressions to be indecipherable, but the truth is that every programmer should consider regular expressions an integral part of their toolkit. From the command line to your favorite text editor, from parsing user input to scraping HTML pages once you know regular expressions you will find a use for them in almost every programming context.

In this highly interactive workshop we will decipher the cryptic construct that is a Regular Expression. Starting with the basics, we will work our way towards advanced usage, including anchors, modifiers, groups, and look arounds.

This is a HIGHLY interactive workshop — Not only will we have a lot of exercises, we will use a playground that will allow us to experiment to our heart's content! Feel free to come in with issues you may have seen at work!

Agenda:
The basics and how to read regular expressions
Character Classes
Negation
Ranges
Shortcuts
Alternations
Repetitions
Word Boundaries
Capture Groups
Anchors
Modifiers

Let's once and for all make sense of this powerful tool.

I hope to see you all there.

On being an effective developer

8:00 PM MDT

As developers we not only operate in different contexts, but also often have these different contexts interplay as part of our work.
Each of the tools that we use — version control systems like Git (along with collaborative tools like Github/Gitlab), IDE's like Eclipse/IntelliJ, build systems like Gradle, Ci/Cd tooling like Jenkins, IaaC tools like Ansible, the command line — all introduce context.

To be effective developers we need to know when to operate in a certain context, combine or tease apart how these contexts interplay.
Can you improve your release announcements if format your commit messages consistently? You bet!
How should your build tool interact with your version control system?
What does naming your files have to do with how you use your IDE?

This session will take a look at several of these contexts — it will attempt to discern between them, explore when you should separate them and when you attempt to bring them together.

With lots of examples, and lots of quizzes this session will definitely leave you thinking about a few things.

Navigating turbulent waters—Beginning Kubernetes—Part I

9:00 AM MDT

Confused about Kubernetes? Don't know what it does? This is the session that will bring clarity for all things Kubernetes.

The orchestration wars are over, and we have a winner, namely Kubernetes. However, it's not easy to wrap your head around all the abstractions that Kubernetes uses.

In this two-part session we'll wade into the water, but quickly navigate to the deep end of Kubernetes. We'll use a demo-driven approach along with analogies and diagrams to bring clarity to understanding this massively complex, yet powerful, ubiquitous tool.

We'll cover the following:

• What is Kubernetes and why do we need such a tool?
• Kubernetes cluster architecture
• Pods, InitContainers and Sidecar containers
• ReplicaSets
• Deployments
• Volumes and PersistentVolumes
• ConfigMaps, Secrets and the Downward API
• Services
• Ingress
• StatefulSets

We'll also look into the tradeoffs of using tools like Kubernetes, and when it's appropriate, and if there are any alternatives.

Navigating turbulent waters—Beginning Kubernetes—Part II

11:00 AM MDT

Confused about Kubernetes? Don't know what it does? This is the session that will bring clarity for all things Kubernetes.

The orchestration wars are over, and we have a winner, namely Kubernetes. However, it's not easy to wrap your head around all the abstractions that Kubernetes uses.

In this two-part session we'll wade into the water, but quickly navigate to the deep end of Kubernetes. We'll use a demo-driven approach along with analogies and diagrams to bring clarity to understanding this massively complex, yet powerful, ubiquitous tool.

We'll cover the following:

• What is Kubernetes and why do we need such a tool?
• Kubernetes cluster architecture
• Pods, InitContainers and Sidecar containers
• ReplicaSets
• Deployments
• Volumes and PersistentVolumes
• ConfigMaps, Secrets and the Downward API
• Services
• Ingress
• StatefulSets

We'll also look into the tradeoffs of using tools like Kubernetes, and when it's appropriate, and if there are any alternatives.

Container Security Fundamentals Part I

1:30 PM MDT

Containers are everywhere. Of course, a large part of the appeal of containers is the ease with which you can get started. However, productionizing containers is a wholly different beast. From orchestration to scheduling, containers offer significantly different challenges than VMs.

In particular, in terms of security. Securing and hardening VMs is very different than that for containers.

In this twopart session, we will see what securing containers involves.

We'll be covering a wide range of topics, including

Understanding Cgroups and namespaces
What it takes to create your own container technology as a basis of understanding how containers really work
Securing the build and runtime
Secrets management
Shifting left with security in mind

Container Security Fundamentals Part II

3:15 PM MDT

Containers are everywhere. Of course, a large part of the appeal of containers is the ease with which you can get started. However, productionizing containers is a wholly different beast. From orchestration to scheduling, containers offer significantly different challenges than VMs.

In particular, in terms of security. Securing and hardening VMs is very different than that for containers.

In this twopart session, we will see what securing containers involves.

We'll be covering a wide range of topics, including

Understanding Cgroups and namespaces
What it takes to create your own container technology as a basis of understanding how containers really work
Securing the build and runtime
Secrets management
Shifting left with security in mind

Git features you aren’t using

5:00 PM MDT

In this session we'll take a tour of some features that you might or might not have heard of, but can significantly improve your workflow and day-to-day interaction with Git.

Git continues to see improvements daily. However, work (and life) can take over, and we often miss the changelog. This means we don't know what changed, and consequently fail to see how we can incorporate those in our usage of Git.

In this session we will look at some features you are probably aware of, but haven't used, alongside new features that Git has brought to the table. Examples include:

• Rebase and interactive rebase
• restore/switch and when to use them
• worktrees
• shallow-clones
• Git's filesystem monitor

By the end of this session, you will walk away with a slew of new tools in your arsenal, and a new perspective on how this can help you and your colleagues get the most out of Git.

Advanced Git

8:30 AM MDT

You have been using Git for a while. You know how to stage and commit your work, create and delete branches and collaborate with your team members using remotes. But Git often leaves your confused — ever committed to your work to the wrong branch? Even worse, ever accidentally delete a branch that you needed to keep around? And what is God's good name is “Detached HEAD state”? Why tag commits, when we have branches? Is there a better work-flow than just using merges? What's the difference between a merge and a rebase?

The answer to all of these questions, and more, lies in the constitution of a commit, and the directed acyclic graph (DAG) that Git uses to manage your history. This, right here, is the key to understanding everything in Git.

In this hands-on workshop, we will level up your Git skills. We will foray into the underbelly of Git, and reveal the mystery behind the arcane interface that is the Git CLI.

By the end of this workshop, you will have a keen understanding on how best to use Git, as well as know how to dig yourself any prickly situation you might find yourself in. You will become your team's hero(ine). Most importantly, you will walk away with a keen appreciation of how beautiful and elegant Git really is.

Advanced Git

10:30 AM MDT

You have been using Git for a while. You know how to stage and commit your work, create and delete branches and collaborate with your team members using remotes. But Git often leaves your confused — ever committed to your work to the wrong branch? Even worse, ever accidentally delete a branch that you needed to keep around? And what is God's good name is “Detached HEAD state”? Why tag commits, when we have branches? Is there a better work-flow than just using merges? What's the difference between a merge and a rebase?

The answer to all of these questions, and more, lies in the constitution of a commit, and the directed acyclic graph (DAG) that Git uses to manage your history. This, right here, is the key to understanding everything in Git.

In this hands-on workshop, we will level up your Git skills. We will foray into the underbelly of Git, and reveal the mystery behind the arcane interface that is the Git CLI.

By the end of this workshop, you will have a keen understanding on how best to use Git, as well as know how to dig yourself any prickly situation you might find yourself in. You will become your team's hero(ine). Most importantly, you will walk away with a keen appreciation of how beautiful and elegant Git really is.