Welcome to Ravel's Blog

Hello fellow developers! Welcome to my blog at raveltan.com. I'm excited to share my experiences, insights, and learning from years of shipping software in various environments. Here, we'll dive deep into developer productivity, rapid feature development, and my personal favorite - test-driven development (TDD).

What to Expect

My posts will focus on practical, battle-tested approaches that have helped me and my teams deliver better software faster. You'll find content about:

1. Developer Productivity

I'm passionate about optimizing developer workflows. We'll explore topics like:

• Setting up the perfect development environment
• Effective use of shortcuts and automation
• Code organization patterns that speed up development
• Tools and extensions that actually make a difference

2. Rapid Feature Shipping

One of my core beliefs is that speed shouldn't compromise quality. I'll share techniques like:

// Instead of deeply nested conditions:
public function processUser(User $user): void
{
    if ($user->isActive()) {
        if ($user->hasSubscription()) {
            if ($user->subscription->isValid()) {
                // Process user
            }
        }
    }
}

// Consider this cleaner pattern:
public function processUser(User $user): void
{
    if (! $this->meetsProcessingCriteria($user)) {
        return;
    }

    $this->processValidUser($user);
}

private function meetsProcessingCriteria(User $user): bool
{
    return $user->isActive()
        && $user->hasSubscription()
        && $user->subscription->isValid();
}

3. Test-Driven Development (especially with Pest)

Pest has revolutionized testing in PHP. Here's how we can write expressive tests:

// UserRegistration.php
class UserRegistration
{
    public function register(string $email, string $password): User
    {
        return User::create([
            'email' => $email,
            'password' => Hash::make($password),
            'is_active' => true,
        ]);
    }
}

// UserRegistrationTest.php
test('it can register a new user', function () {
    // Arrange
    $email = '[email protected]';
    $password = 'secure_password';
    $registration = new UserRegistration();

    // Act
    $user = $registration->register($email, $password);

    // Assert
    expect($user)
        ->toBeInstanceOf(User::class)
        ->and($user->email)->toBe($email)
        ->and($user->is_active)->toBeTrue()
        ->and(Hash::check($password, $user->password))->toBeTrue();
});

test('it validates email format')
    ->expect(fn () => (new UserRegistration)
        ->register('invalid-email', 'password'))
    ->toThrow(ValidationException::class);

We'll dive into:

• Writing tests that actually help, not slow you down
• Using TDD to drive better design decisions
• Strategies for testing complex systems
• Finding the right balance between test coverage and development speed

My Philosophy

Throughout my career, I've developed a few core principles:

1. Simplicity First: The best code is often the simplest code. We'll explore ways to keep things simple while handling complex requirements.

2. Pragmatic Testing: Tests should give you confidence to ship, not become a maintenance burden.

3. Continuous Learning: Technology evolves rapidly, and so should we. I'll share my learning experiences and strategies for staying current.

Let's Connect

You can also find me on: - GitHub: @raveltan

Stay Tuned

I'll be posting new content regularly, focusing on practical, actionable advice that you can apply to your daily work. Subscribe to the RSS feed or follow me on social media to stay updated.

Remember: Good code isn't about writing more code - it's about writing code that solves problems effectively while remaining maintainable and testable.

Looking forward to sharing this journey with you!