Todd Cooke

Hello! I’m Todd. This is my website.

Name Checker

I just created a tool called Name Checker. The idea is if you want to create a new project and don’t want to check all the places (npm, apt, GitHub) for a name collision, you can just use this tool instead. I started working on this because I noticed on HN folks sometimes create a new company and SAAS and they didn’t notice that the name was already taken. I intentionally have not checked (the irony) to see if a tool like this exists, because it seems like with over 8 billion people on the planet there will always be someone that got there more quickly....

How I stay focused

The world is a(n attention) vampire. Sites with infinite scroll designed to keep you engaged and clicking, phones with colorful app notifications with convincing calls to action. It’s hard to stay focused these days. Below are some tools and strategies I use to stay on task during the day. Phone Keep it on and keep the ringtone volume high, but leave it in a different room from your workspace. Uninstall games and social media apps....

Cars and complexity

A family member of mine just had their newish RAV4 stolen. Apparently this is becoming more common, but it shouldn’t be. A car is a huge investment; a new car today costs tens of thousands of dollars, and car ownership in America is generally required to survive due to zoning laws that prevent dense multi-use development. Back to the theft, I thought ahead somewhat and put an AirTag in the car....

TIL: MySQL best practices

I’ve been watching the excellent MySQL for Developers course, and the name is accurate. I took a SQL course in college, used SQL here and there professionally, but never really learned more than the basics. This course is great intermediate next step. The following are some things I found especially helpful. Schema Use the data type that reflects what you are modeling, use Date for dates, use Decimal for exact values....

First of Many

I’ve heard recently that a good way to learn is to write, that writing forces you to think and organize your thoughts and to create new connections while contemplating what to write next. It may have been the prevalence of screens in my last few years that convinced me that I could learn solely through passive consumption. Watching a video can be a good intro to a subject, but it’s no substitute for the slow and thoughtful act of writing and thinking....