Author: Andreas Plahn

(Answer from ChatGPT:)
In Angular 18, signals, computed, and effects are reactive primitives designed to handle state and trigger updates in a precise and efficient way. Here’s an overview of these concepts and guidance on when to use them:
1. Signals
What are they? • Signals are containers for reactive state. They hold a value and notify consumers when the value changes. • They are functions that can: • Get the current value by calling the function (e.g., signal()). • Set a new value using .set(). • Update the value based on the current one using .update().
Example:
import { signal } from ‘@angular/core’;
const counter = signal(0);
counter.set(5); // Update the value to 5 console.log(counter()); // Access the value: 5 counter.update(value => value + 1); // Increment value: 6
When to use: • Use signals for local, standalone state management, like managing counters, toggles, or other simple values that change over time. • Ideal when you want fine-grained reactivity without affecting the entire component tree.
2. Computed
What are they? • Computed signals derive their value from other signals. They automatically recalculate whenever the underlying signals change. • Think of them as “read-only reactive values.”
Example:
import { signal, computed } from ‘@angular/core’;
const firstName = signal(‘John’); const lastName = signal(‘Doe’);
const fullName = computed(() => `${firstName()} ${lastName()}`); console.log(fullName()); // “John Doe”
firstName.set(‘Jane’); console.log(fullName()); // Automatically updates: “Jane Doe”
When to use: • Use computed signals when you need to derive or transform data from other signals. • Common for calculated values or formatting outputs based on state changes.
3. Effects
What are they? • Effects are side-effect mechanisms that execute whenever a signal or computed signal they depend on changes. • They’re useful for triggering actions like API calls, DOM updates, or logging when reactive state changes.
Example:
import { signal, effect } from ‘@angular/core’;
const count = signal(0);
effect(() => { console.log(`Count changed to: ${count()}`); });
count.set(1); // Logs: “Count changed to: 1”
When to use: • Use effects for performing side effects tied to reactive state changes. • Examples include: • Triggering HTTP requests. • Updating a non-reactive DOM element. • Debugging or logging.
How to Decide Which to Use
Use Case Preferred Concept Storing a piece of state Signal Calculating derived state Computed Performing side effects (e.g., API calls, logging) Effect
Best Practices 1. Minimize Effects: Use effects sparingly for true side effects only. Avoid embedding complex logic within effects—prefer signals and computed signals for managing data. 2. Avoid Nested Computed/Effects: Keep the dependency graph clear to maintain predictability and avoid performance bottlenecks. 3. Compose Signals and Computed: Combine these primitives for a clean, reactive data flow.
By choosing the right concept for your needs, you can create Angular applications that are more efficient, readable, and maintainable【8】【9】【10】.

(Answer from ChatGPT:)
RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) in Azure is a method for managing access to Azure resources by assigning roles to users, groups, or applications. It ensures that permissions are granted based on the principle of least privilege, meaning users get only the access they need to perform their tasks.
How RBAC Works in Azure
RBAC uses roles and role assignments to control who can perform what actions on which resources. Here’s an overview:
1. Roles • Definition: Roles are collections of permissions that define what actions a user or application can perform on specific resources. • Types of Roles: • Built-in roles: Predefined roles like Owner, Contributor, Reader, and specific roles for services (e.g., Virtual Machine Contributor). • Custom roles: User-defined roles with tailored permissions.
2. Principals • These are entities that can have access assigned to them: • Users: Individual accounts in Azure AD. • Groups: Collections of users in Azure AD. • Service principals: Applications or services. • Managed identities: Azure-managed identities for services.
3. Scope • Definition: The level at which access is assigned. It can be: • Management Group: Highest level, applies to multiple subscriptions. • Subscription: Applies to all resources in a subscription. • Resource Group: Applies to all resources in a group. • Resource: Applies to a specific resource.
4. Role Assignment • A role assignment ties together a principal, a role, and a scope. • Example: Assigning the Reader role to a user at the subscription level gives the user read-only access to all resources in the subscription.
How RBAC is Used
RBAC is typically used to: 1. Control access: Assign roles to users based on their job requirements. 2. Secure resources: Limit permissions to reduce the risk of unauthorized actions. 3. Delegate tasks: Allow teams to work on specific resources without full access. 4. Audit and compliance: Monitor who has access to what, for compliance and security.
Example Use Case
Suppose you have a development team working on a project: 1. The project manager might get the Reader role to monitor resources without making changes. 2. The developers might get the Contributor role to manage and deploy resources within a resource group. 3. The DevOps engineer might get the Owner role for full control, including permissions management.
Key Benefits • Granular control: Permissions are precisely defined. • Flexibility: Custom roles can be created to fit specific requirements. • Ease of management: Role assignments can be scoped at different levels to simplify administration.
How to Implement RBAC 1. Navigate to the Azure portal. 2. Open the resource, resource group, or subscription where you want to assign a role. 3. Go to the Access control (IAM) section. 4. Click Add > Add role assignment. 5. Select the role, assign it to a principal, and choose the scope.
This setup allows Azure to enforce role-based access dynamically and securely across all your resources.

Dependency Walker is a free utility that scans any 32-bit or 64-bit Windows module (exe, dll, ocx, sys, etc.) and builds a hierarchical tree diagram of all dependent modules. For each module found, it lists all the functions that are exported by that module, and which of those functions are actually being called by other modules. Another view displays the minimum set of required files, along with detailed information about each file including a full path to the file, base address, version numbers, machine type, debug information, and more.
Dependency Walker is also very useful for troubleshooting system errors related to loading and executing modules. Dependency Walker detects many common application problems such as missing modules, invalid modules, import/export mismatches, circular dependency errors, mismatched machine types of modules, and module initialization failures.
www.dependencywalker.com/

Explaining the hard parts of modern CSS with information-dense visualizations.
build-your-own.org/visual_css/

mockserver is a library that will help you mocking your APIs in a matter of seconds: you simply organize your mocked HTTP responses in a bunch of mock files and it will serve them like they were coming from a real API; in this way you can write your frontends without caring too much whether your backend is really ready or not.
www.npmjs.com/package/mockserver