When Alexander Bain invented the precursor of a fax machine in 1846, he probably did not expect the technology would be ridiculed a mere century and a half later: “Could you fax over a copy?” “No, I can’t fax because of where I live.” “Where do you live?” “The 21st...

In this post, we will take a parmeterized T-SQL query: select * from crime where crimedescr like ? limit 100 and use Auth0 Webtasks to turn it into an HTTP endpoint: > wt create crime.sql ... The endpoint can we used to execute parameterized T-SQL queries against a MySQL database...

Function as a Service seems to be the new black. But what is it? This brief post will explain it. First, there was a Function Here is the function, saved to the faas.js file: module.exports = function (ctx, cb) { cb(null, 'Hello from a Function'); } Second, we make it...

Auth0 Webtasks allow you to create lightweight, serverless web apps and microservices without worrying about hosting, yet giving you full flexibility of writing code in Node.js. This post explains how you can use webtasks with your own custom domain name and SSL, for free. TL;DR; Auth0 Webtask runtime is normally...

So you want to have a public Slack team for an open source project or community? Someone recently asked me if there is a Slack channel for Edge.js where questions can be asked. I thought it was a great idea to create one as a modern equivalent of IRC (kids,...

Can I ask you to buy me a coffee? A cup of tall dark rost costs $2.14 at my local Starbucks. Just click the button below and use your credit card. Haven’t clicked yet? I am not surprised, a payment button on a blog post does not inspire a lot...

The Edge.js project allows you to script CLR from Node.js in-process on Windows, OSX, and Linux. var edge = require('edge'); var helloWorld = edge.func(function () {/* async (input) => { return ".NET Welcomes " + input.ToString(); } */}); helloWorld('JavaScript', function (error, result) { if (error) throw error; console.log(result); }); Until...

This post is about ditching Kafka in favor of ZeroMQ, based on a year-long experience of using Kafka for real-time log aggregation in a production setting of Auth0 Webtasks. What, why, and how - read on. What is Auth0 Webtasks? Auth0 Webtasks is a hosting platform for Node.js microservices. You...

Customization is what distinguishes platforms from applications. The most powerful form of customization is extensibility through custom code. In this post I will talk about how modern web platforms can benefit from code-based extensibility exposed through HTTP, and how you can make your application or platform extensible using webtasks. Why...

If you are writing a Node.js application today, you have over 160,000 npm modules at your disposal. You declare the ones your application depends on within package.json. When the app is deployed, the hosting environment installs these modules before starting the app. The process typically takes between few and few...