Will Little @wclittle Subscribe

Managing Director at Prota Ventures.
I'm a bioengineer-turned-software-developer and venture builder/investor. Learn more about me professionally on LinkedIn, personally here, and check out the podcast I host, Ventures.

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Topic:   Software Development
 Will Little

Aug 10, 2021
Blockchains Software Development About Will Ventures Podcast Web3

Web 2.0 vs. Web 3.0 development, design, and data architecture concerns :: with Andrew Cronk

In this episode of Ventures, I start with a quick summer 2021 reflection and then dive into a short clip from Episode 48 with Andrew Cronk (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewcronk/). Web 3.0 entrepreneurs and decentralization application (dApp) developers will need to approach software engineering concerns such as user identity and data storage/querying in different ways than the Web 2.0 era. Andrew’s initial insights into this transition are enormously helpful.

Will Little

Apr 20, 2021
Startups Software Development Ventures Podcast Product Management

Technical product management, architecting a growing product team, and deeply understanding your customer’s needs :: with David Pierce

In this episode of Ventures, my guest David Pierce (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daviddpierce/) and I dive deep into the technical side of product management through his personal story. In a growing startup, not only is “product” relatively misunderstood, but embracing the nuances between the growth and technical sides of product management is often completely missed. In our conversation, we talk at length about how founders and enterprise managers alike can best elevate their technical product operations to achieve business success.
Will Little

Jan 20, 2021
Software Development Will's General Newsletter Social Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurship, Linting, and Automated System Testing

In this newsletter I write about the podcast from this week with Valerie Groth, and parts 9 and 10 of the technical founder training series.
Will Little

Jan 17, 2021
Software Development Ruby on Rails

Automated system testing with Rspec in a Ruby on Rails app :: Full-stack web development "Hello World" tutorials for entrepreneurs: Part 10 of 10

This post is the final part of a 10-part series within a series that is designed to teach full-stack web development for entrepreneurs. Here we’ll introduce the topic of automated testing with Rspec within a Ruby on Rails app. We’ll work through writing “system tests” as an example, which allows us to mimic the behavior of manually clicking through a browser and filling things out. Our system tests will be used to ensure our previously developed forms in Rails, React, and Turbo won’t break with future code commits.
Will Little

Jan 17, 2021
Software Development Ruby on Rails JavaScript

Code Formatting and Linting in Ruby and JavaScript :: Full-stack web development "Hello World" tutorials for entrepreneurs: Part 9 of 10

This post is part 9 of a 10-part series within a series that is designed to teach full-stack web development for entrepreneurs. Here we’ll dive into the topics of automated code formatting and linting to maintain consistent code styles and help us catch bugs before they get committed to our code repository.
Will Little

Jan 10, 2021
Software Development Ruby on Rails

How to upgrade Ruby versions for your Ruby on Rails app

Continuing our technical founder training series, in this short post we’ll walk through upgrading Ruby versions for our Rails app.

Will Little

Dec 30, 2020
COVID-19 Software Development Ventures Podcast Enneagram

Cybersecurity, Rapid Antigen Tests, Learning to Code, the Enneagram, and Meta-Level New Year’s Resolutions :: with Sol Cates

In this episode of Ventures, Sol Cates (https://twitter.com/solcates, cloud and cybersecurity expert at Thales) and I discuss advice for founders regarding technical infrastructure security. We also have a bit of a Random Show at the end of the year here as we discuss ways to combat COVID-19, provide technical founder training, practice self-discovery with the Enneagram, and think about New Year’s Resolutions.

Will Little

Dec 29, 2020
Software Development Ruby on Rails Hotwire StimulusReflex CableReady

Hotwire with Turbo Frames, Turbo Streams, StimulusReflex, and CableReady :: Full-stack web development "Hello World" tutorials for entrepreneurs: Part 8 of 10

This post is part 8 of a 10-part series within a series that is designed to teach full-stack web development for entrepreneurs. Here we’ll dive into the recently released Hotwire stack with Ruby on Rails and leverage Hotwire’s Turbo Frames and Turbo Streams. We’ll compare side-by-side how Turbo Frames can be used alongside StimulusReflex, and how CableReady can be used to expand upon the current feature set of Turbo Streams. In addition, since we already set up a comparable “Hello World” example in Redux/React in parts 5, 6, and 7 of this mini-series, we’ll demonstrate how “HTML over the wire” solutions like Hotwire and StimulusReflex/CableReady can potentially save startup founders a significant amount of time - compared to Redux/React - to achieve modern, reactive web experiences for users.

Will Little

Dec 29, 2020
Software Development Ruby on Rails

How to upgrade Ruby on Rails using Visual Studio Code's source control interface

This post is designed for those following along our Technical Founder Training series. Rails has a fantastic guide for upgrading versions, so in this post we are going to walk through it using Visual Studio Code, our code editor of choice in this series. Specifically, we’re going to use an example of upgrading from Rails 6.0 to Rails 6.1, which had a large number of feature updates. When upgrading Rails, it’s generally a good idea to update gems and Javascript libraries at the same time, so we’ll discuss examples of doing that as well.

Will Little

Dec 29, 2020
Software Development Ruby on Rails Hotwire

Course Update :: Technical Founder Training :: Dec 29, 2020

Since writing up the first seven parts of this “Hello World” tutorial series within a series a few weeks ago, a few notable things have been released: Ruby 3.0, Rails 6.1, and Hotwire.
Will Little

Dec 23, 2020
Health Science Software Development Ruby on Rails Will's General Newsletter

Virtual identities, a primer on antigens and vaccines, and the New Magic is Turbo

In this newsletter I write about this week's podcast, a primer I wrote on viruses, antigens, antibodies, contagiousness, vaccines, and COVID-19 testing, and the release of Hotwire and Turbo in the Rails community.
Will Little

Dec 16, 2020
Startups Software Development Will's General Newsletter Design Kickstarter

Bird Buddy, code, the kid years, and creativity

In this newsletter I talk about (1) the recent Ventures episode on the Bird Buddy story, (2) updates to the learn to code series, and (3) correlation between the early ages of life and the expression of creativity.
Will Little

Dec 13, 2020
Software Development Ruby on Rails JavaScript

Course update Dec 13, 2020: Learning to code (plus, office hours / class session **this Thursday** Dec 17)

A quick update about some questions and answers that I have been discussing recently with students.
Will Little

Dec 9, 2020
Software Development Will's General Newsletter

Web development, rockets, startups, and noninertial reference frames

In this newsletter I talk about my podcast episode on web development and thoughts on the analogy of startups as rockets.

Will Little

Dec 8, 2020
Software Development Redux Ruby on Rails React Ventures Podcast Stimulus.js

Web development for startups vs. enterprises, StimulusReflex vs. React, and New Magic with Ruby on Rails :: with Joe Clarke and David Parrott

In this episode of Ventures, my guests Joe Clarke (TaskBill.io) and David Parrott (ProtaVentures.com) and I dive deep into the world of web development. We discuss its history over the past few decades, languages and frameworks, tools for entrepreneurs, tips for those learning to code, and thoughts about the upcoming “New Magic” from the Rails and Basecamp communities.