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Day: May 6, 2022

Explaining Key Terms in Category Theory

Published 2022-05-06 by Kevin Feasel

Gulshan Singh describes three tricky terms for newcomers to functional programming:

Monoid is based on an associative function. Formally, a functor is a type F[A] with an operation
map with type (A => B) => F[B]. In functional programming one typically only deals with one category, the category of types. A functor is an interface with one method i.e a mapping of the category to category. Monads basically is a mechanism for sequencing computations. A monad is a way to wrap stuff, then operate on the wrapped stuff without unwrapping it.

If that wasn’t too clear, check out the post for more detail. And if you want a whole lot more detail, Bartosz Milewski’s YouTube series (and book) on category theory are great resources for dozens of hours of learning.

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Azure SQL DB ARM Template Conflicts with Azure AD Administration

Published 2022-05-06 by Kevin Feasel

Joao Antunes points out a potential timing issue around combining Azure Active Directory administration with Azure SQL Database ARM templates:

ARM templates are widely used when we need to repeatedly deploy solutions/infrastructures in the cloud. Leveraging the concept of infrastructure as code ARM templates are a powerful resource to ease our daily job, however we might face some challenges when using them.

When we are creating several resources within the same template – using Json or Bicep – it’s crucial to make sure that all resources are created in the right order, ensuring that all depending on resources are fully provisioned before you move to the next operation.

Error (internal server errors) and conflicts  can occur during our ARM template deployment and it could be difficult to troubleshoot or understand the root cause of them.

Read on for one annoying error and its fix.

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Debugging Powershell Modules in Visual Studio Code

Published 2022-05-06 by Kevin Feasel

David Wilson takes us through debugging Powershell code in Visual Studio Code:

Microsoft has a created a great Powershell extension for VS Code that makes it easy to work with Powershell files. Once the plugin is installed you get intellisense, syntax highlighting, and even visual debugging for files that have a Powershell extension. This debugger can be easily started by pressing F5 when you’re in a Powershell script. Stopping execution on a particular line is as easy as setting a breakpoint by clicking next to a line number.

If you’re coming at debugging from Visual Studio, the VS Code is a little more complicated than what’s in Visual Studio, at least in terms of things to set up first. Once you’ve tried it out a couple of times, though, it’s a pretty convenient experience.

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Data Products in Data Mesh

Published 2022-05-06 by Kevin Feasel

Paul Andrew takes us through a thought process:

In the context of an idealistic data mesh architecture, establishing a working definition of a data product seems to be very real problem for most. What constitutes a data product seems to be very subjective, circumstantial in terms requirements and interlaced with platform technical maturity. AKA, a ‘minefield’ to navigate in definitional terms.

To help get my thoughts in order (as always) here is my currently thinking and definition for a data mesh – data product.

Read on for Paul’s thoughts.

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Downloading a Report Authored in Browser as PBIX

Published 2022-05-06 by Kevin Feasel

James Bartlett solves a tricky problem:

Most of you have probably run into a situation where someone in your organization has authored a report in the Power BI web service, and now they want to make changes that can only be done with Power BI Desktop. So, you try to download the PBIX file from the Power BI web service, only to discover that you can’t, because if it wasn’t created as a PBIX, it can’t be downloaded as a PBIX. Infuriating!

Read on for a solution as well as a Powershell function to make it easier.

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