Howie Reith's Blog

In this video I provide an introduction to the most popular relational database in use today, PostgreSQL. We go over CRUD operations, joins, how indexing works and how to use it, aggregate functions, and the mechanics behind transactions.

In this video I discuss how to go about choosing a database technology for use in your web application. I go over what I think our priorities should be, the CAP and PACELC theorems, the differences between ACID and BASE, and then provide an overview of the five main database "genres" and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Looking for a way to become more productive? It might be surprising, but introducing a few breaks into your routine could actually improve your code quality and development speed. In this video, I discuss the science behind taking breaks, how often you should do so, and what break activities will serve you best.

In this video I talk about best practices in the version-control tool Git. I discuss what Git is, why we would use it, its possible shortcomings, some lesser-known but useful commands, the difference between "git merge" and "git rebase," and several "flows" to practice depending on your team's size.

In this video I present a tutorial on asynchrony in Javascript. I cover what asynchrony is, what I mean by it in the context of web development, how the browser handles asynchronous actions (the event loop, the task queue, etc.), and the three main ways to deal with asynchronous behavior (callbacks, Promises with .then, and async/await).

I’ve always found that the best way to make sure I’ve mastered a skill is to teach it to others, and the best way for me to clarify my own thoughts is to write and talk about what I’m thinking. Thus I've decided to make this blog.