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ardalis.com
ardalis (Steve Smith)
@ardalis.com
3.4K followers 760 following 2.4K posts
Software Architect and Force Multiplier of dev teams. Husband. Dad to 4 kids: 3 ADHD sons, 2 twins, 1 daughter.

💡NimblePros.com
🔥devBetter.com
🎥YouTube.com/ardalis
Pluralsight | Dometrain author
Microsoft Dev MVP

💥Combat Engineer veteran
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ardalis.com
And here's mine. I think it's a bit weird these aren't a January thing but hey blame Spotify I guess...
git-wrapped.com @ardalis 2025 Year in Code (not counting the end of December...) Universal Rank: Top 1% Longest Streak: 33 days Total Commits: 2,529 Most Active Month: December Most Active Day: Tuesday Total Stars: 92,848 Top Language: C#
December 9, 2025 at 4:50 PM
ardalis.com
My initial joy is shattered by the pop-up that shows up and says it won’t work, contact Microsoft support.

(note I’m leaving out a whole side quest in which I sign in using GitHub)
Choose a way to sign in Approve a request using my Microsoft app Use my password Sign in with GitHub Back I tried GitHub; auth succeeded but the operation still failed
December 7, 2025 at 11:51 PM
ardalis.com
Then it wants to verify me with the Authenticator app for MFA. No worries. It gives a 2-digit number. The Auth app pings me that an Auth request is pending. Brilliant, this might just work, I think. I switch apps, enter digits, look at camera which Face
Ids me (twice). I switch back.
18:39 86.88 119.61 50.80 g 93.81 = 93 TIME SENSITIVE now New sign-in request for your... Microsoft <steve@kentsmiths.com Check your Authenticator app 50 in your Microsoft app on your mobile device, select the number shown to sign in. 41 ■ Other ways to sign in I don't have access to my Microsoft app Terms of use Privacy & cookies …・・ Use private browsing if this is not your device. Learn more Request timeout We sent a sign-in request to a Microsoft app you use for approving sign-in requests, but we didn't get your approval. Try again to send another request. く Other ways to sign in I don't have access to my Microsoft app Try again
December 7, 2025 at 11:51 PM
ardalis.com
Seems Atlassian is having trouble this morning (despite status page being all green):

#atlassian #jira #trello
ATLASSIAN 3 ! Something went wrong while executing your request. We're working on it, please try again shortly. 6a540571-80a0-429c-a4cb-11c57e8f8d95
November 21, 2025 at 1:52 PM
ardalis.com
C'mon c'mon c'mon @github.com we're rooting for ya!

www.githubstatus.com
Git operation failures Update - We are currently investigating failures on all Git operations, including both SSH and HTTP. Nov 18, 2025 - 21:11 UTC Update - We are seeing failures for some git http operations and are investigating Nov 18, 2025 - 20:52 UTC Update - Git Operations is experiencing degraded availability. We are continuing to investigate. Nov 18, 2025 - 20:39 UTC Investigating - We are currently investigating this issue. Nov 18, 2025 - 20:39 UTC Subscribe ? Current Status: GitHub.com Git Operations Incident -. Webhooks ? Normal API Requests Normal ? Issues Normal ?
November 18, 2025 at 9:18 PM
ardalis.com
Clean Architecture on one slide:
Screenshot of my dotnetconf talk on clean architecture showing how the application is organized
November 15, 2025 at 4:59 AM
ardalis.com
This is interesting. A token-friendly format for passing data to #ai models.

github.com/toon-format/...
fficiency Ranking (Accuracy per 1K Tokens) Each format's overall performance, balancing accuracy against token cost: TOON ████████████████████ 26.9 │ 73.9% acc │ 2,744 tokens JSON compact █████████████████░░░ 22.9 │ 70.7% acc │ 3,081 tokens YAML ██████████████░░░░░░ 18.6 │ 69.0% acc │ 3,719 tokens JSON ███████████░░░░░░░░░ 15.3 │ 69.7% acc │ 4,545 tokens XML ██████████░░░░░░░░░░ 13.0 │ 67.1% acc │ 5,167 tokens TOON achieves 73.9% accuracy (vs JSON's 69.7%) while using 39.6% fewer tokens. Note on CSV: Excluded from ranking as it only supports 109 of 209 questions (flat tabular data only). While CSV is highly token-efficient for simple tabular data, it cannot represent nested structures that other formats handle.
November 14, 2025 at 10:14 PM
ardalis.com
#AI
Frame one: muppet Elmo at a table with some fruit on one side and what appears to be cocaine on the other. Fruit labeled “a well working useful product serving an actual purpose”. Elmo labeled “Investors”. Coke labeled “AI”. Frame 2: Elmo face deep in the coke. Originally shared with me via a signal chat.
November 14, 2025 at 11:57 AM
ardalis.com
And look what just arrived from #dotnetconf !

Thanks! 🙏
A photo of a cardboard box holding a notebook, Rubik’s cube, luggage tag, and other swag labeled .NET 10
November 13, 2025 at 10:00 PM
ardalis.com
Same vibe:
Store with sign MEGAFLICKS But looks like MEGAFUCKS caption below: You should have used a different font
November 13, 2025 at 4:25 AM
ardalis.com
Teams keeps using my microphone as my speaker whenever I restart it (usually after a reboot). I asked Google why it doesn't use the defaults:

#msteams #teams
Q: why does teams desktop app not use my system defaults for mic/speakers? It keeps using my microphone as the speaker A: Teams may not be using your system defaults for audio because you have multiple audio devices connected, or the app's settings have been changed. To fix this, go to Teams Settings > Devices and manually select your preferred microphone and speaker from the dropdown menus, or use the Make a test call feature to verify and adjust the settings.
November 12, 2025 at 3:05 PM
ardalis.com
You might want to upgrade to #dotnet 10 if you're still on an earlier version...
15% faster 93% less memory .NET 10 compared to .NET 8
November 11, 2025 at 4:09 PM
ardalis.com
• Patronage System: A political practice where leaders provide government jobs, contracts, and favors to their supporters and allies in exchange for political loyalty and support. • Clientelism: This involves a broader, often ongoing, asymmetric relationship where patrons (those in power) provide benefits to clients (citizens/supporters) in return for political action, such as votes. • Cronyism: The practice of favoring friends and associates specifically in business dealings and political appointments, regardless of their merit. • Nepotism: A specific form of cronyism that involves favoritism granted to relatives or family members, regardless of their qualifications. These practices are often associated with oligarchy (rule by a few powerful people in their own self-interest) and can lead to significant corruption and inefficiency, as positions and resources are distributed based on personal ties rather than merit or qualification. The merit system is the direct opposite, where appointments are based purely on an individual's
November 9, 2025 at 7:37 PM
ardalis.com
It’s almost holiday baking season, as the song I just heard reminded me:

“Pizzelles… But Who’s Buying?”
🎶🎵🤘
A stack of pizzelles cookies
November 3, 2025 at 10:01 PM
ardalis.com
AI is so smart.

Did you know that you can use your phone's camera to open a QR code someone embeds in an email that you've opened on your phone?

Here's how (per Google AI):
- Open your camera app
- Point your phone camera at your phone's screen
- Click the link that appears...

🤔🤔🤔

#AI #Google
AI Overview To use a QR code in your email on your phone, open the email, then use your phone's built-in camera app to scan it. Point your camera at the QR code on the screen, and a notification or link will appear that you can tap to follow the embedded link or action. If your phone doesn't have a built-in scanner, you can download a QR code scanner app like Google Lens. Using a built-in camera Open the email on your phone and display the QR code on your screen. Open your phone's camera app. Point the camera at the QR code. You don't need to take a picture. A notification, banner, or link will appear on your screen once the code is recognized. Tap the notification to go to the link or perform the action.
November 3, 2025 at 6:05 PM
ardalis.com
Unironically calling your company “Big Brother” in London… apparently some folks never read the book 1984.
#orwell
Sign reading BIGBROTHER® Security and technology you can trust WARNING These premises are protected by Big Brother All Security FIRE • INTRUDER • CCTV • ACCESS • MANNED GUARDING
November 2, 2025 at 7:35 PM
ardalis.com
This giant spider at KEW London was pretty cool.
October 31, 2025 at 11:42 PM
ardalis.com
Good tip 👇
Use my data for generative AI Toggled OFF
October 31, 2025 at 5:04 PM
ardalis.com
Theater of people ready for the talk
October 29, 2025 at 5:15 PM
ardalis.com
More great stuff from @dylanbeatt.ie tonight at @ndcconferences.com Porto
October 23, 2025 at 8:30 PM
ardalis.com
Ready for day 3 of @ndcconferences.com Porto!
Cappuccino with flower art in foreground Dylan Beattie on stage preparing Screen behind reads welcome to NDC Porto
October 22, 2025 at 7:43 AM
ardalis.com
Yes the tunnels were great!
Sintra pond Sintra well Sintra Leda Sintra tunnel
October 18, 2025 at 1:42 PM
ardalis.com
Indeed. Probably time to switch to a real photo here. When first I moved from other sites. Wanted to keep this avatar so folks know me by it but I’ve been slowly switch over to this one:
Steve ardalis Smith speaking at Techorama
October 18, 2025 at 1:34 PM
ardalis.com
Some nice views in Cintra yesterday.
At Moorish castle with Pena palace in background Castle Grotto Small watchtower
October 18, 2025 at 7:05 AM
ardalis.com
The OP goes on to note:
what i found in those 47 codebases: like 89% had zero database indexing. ZERO. your app is slow because youre searching through 100,000 records on every single request. thats not a bug thats just... why 76% were paying for like 8x more servers than they needed. the average is 13% utilization - youre paying for 100 servers and using 13 of them. burning $3k-15k a month for nothing 68% had auth vulnerabilities that would make any security person have a panic attack 91% had no automated tests at all. so every new feature is literally russian roulette
October 14, 2025 at 12:27 PM