THE BLOG
Exploration of Thought
Thoughts on autonomy, self direction, digital business and life.

Why Mobile is Not the Future …
That's right, I don't feel that mobile apps are the future. I’ve been saying this for years. As someone who has spent the last decade plus working solely in the mobile space on Android, this is a hard realization to accept. Hell, I’ve even written books about mobile development and how to make apps. Some…Donn Felker - November 2, 2020
Freehold Township Logo
I was looking for a vector version of the Freehold Township logo, but I couldn't find one ... so I made one. Feel free to download and use it as you need to. Download [png] [jpg] [ai] [svg]Donn Felker - October 6, 2020

Code Comments
When it’s it appropriate to comment code? I follow a simple set of rules: If the code is confusing - I try to refactor the code so that it’s not confusing anymore. If a refactoring is not possible, I document the “why”, not the “how”. The “how” is already documented: that’s the code. The “why”…Donn Felker - October 25, 2019
Dagger Open JDK Version Mismatch
While working on a client project I recent received this error: An exception occurred: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: not a valid name: <set-?>Provider Googling for the error didn't return any results, so I'm posting the fix here that I got from Philippe Breault (thanks Phil 👍). There have been some issues filed that match this error here on…Donn Felker - October 25, 2019

How To Fix: Jest Did Not Exit
I was recently doing some work on a Node.JS project and I decided to use Knex.js with Objection.js for my data access to PostgreSQL. Problem In usual fashion, I wrote some tests to validate the behavior of the application and while writing the tests in Jest I found the tests were not exiting. I was…Donn Felker - October 23, 2019

Fix: Deploying Docker Instances to AWS Elastic Beanstalk without Default VPC
File this under "I hope this helps someone else in the future". I was learning Docker and Kubernetes recently and I was trying to get my docker instance running on Amazon AWS Elastic Beanstalk on the us-east-1 region. I had to configure my beanstalk environment to use a t2.small instance because the npm install command…Donn Felker - August 21, 2019

Flutter Just Might Work
I’ve been posting on twitter about how mobile developers should not ignore the Flutter technology and in response I received a lot of questions to why I’m stating this. I hope this post clarifies why I’m bullish on Flutter. Build the iOS and Android App at the Same Time There are many reasons why I…Donn Felker - May 23, 2019

What Blog Platform Should I Use?
In a very recent email I wrote about how you need to have a blog. The question that pops up next is usually … What blog platform should I use? Medium? Wordpress? Gatsby? Jekyll? Or something else? This is a HUGELY important question that needs a bit of thought put into it … but first…Donn Felker - May 9, 2019

Podcast Equipment and Software
Audio quality is our #1 concern (other than content) on the Fragmented Podcast (a Podcast for Android Developers). Our goal is to give you, the listener, the experience of sitting with us (and our guest) as if you were there in person. Nothing will kill a podcast faster than shitty audio. I can’t tell you…Donn Felker - April 28, 2019

You Need a Blog
Yeah, that’s right. You need one. Maybe you already have one. If you do, you might be reading this and thinking ... Crap I haven’t written anything in a long time. Why? Who knows. I was that way. Sometimes I still am. The last couple of years my blog has been a desert riddled with…Donn Felker - March 18, 2019

That One Person
I follow a simple mantra when giving presentations, talks, writing a blog, creating a video, a podcast or creating anything public for that manner. Improve the life of ONE person My belief is that … If I improve the life of ONE person with my content then my job is complete and I’m happy. If…Donn Felker - February 27, 2019

Achieving Your Goals Feels Good
Do you know what feels good? Achieving a goal. When you work for yourself, all you do is set your own goals. If you don’t achieve your goals in business you’ll fail fast and hard. Getting things done in a self-directed manner is paramount to your success. Self-discipline = Success. Even something as simple as striking something…Donn Felker - February 19, 2019









