Hi folks!

In this update I have a few new blog posts and videos to share, as well as some podcasts and books I've enjoyed recently.

New Blog Posts

On our livestream series we’ve been building a GRANDstack podcast application. We've been making progress on the backend, building out the GraphQL API so I thought it would be helpful to write up our progress in a blog post series.

The Episode 2 blog post focuses on implementing user authorization in our GraphQL API. Instead of using an auth service like Auth0 (which is my usual go to) I wanted to explore rolling our own authorization functionality in the API and database.

GRANDcast.FM: User Auth & Podcast Subscribe Functionality

December 11, 2020 • 11 min read

Building A GRANDstack Podcast App: Episode 2

Neo4j

GraphQL

GRANDstack

JavaScript

In the Episode 3 blog post we look at parsing podcast RSS feeds using Cypher and importing into Neo4j. We then add episodes and playlists into the GraphQL API.

Parsing And Importing XML With Neo4j: Adding Episodes and Playlists To GRANDcast.FM Podcast App

January 09, 2021 • 11 min read

Building A GRANDstack Podcast App: Episode 3

Neo4j

GraphQL

GRANDstack

JavaScript

New Videos

In addition to the blog posts showing how to implement these features in our podcast application the recordings of each livestream are also available:

• GRANDcast.FM Episode 2: User Auth And Podcast Subscribe
• GRANDcast.FM Episode 3: Parsing And Importing XML With Neo4j

I was also invited by Robert Schäfer to give a lecture at the Systems Development and Frameworks class at HTW University in Berlin covering an introduction to Neo4j and a look at using GraphQL with Neo4j. The recording of that talk is available online as well.

Intro To Neo4j & GraphQL

Presentation to the Systems Development and Frameworks class at HTW University in Berlin

What I’m Listening To

Over the last couple of weeks I've listened to every episode of The Program Audio Series. The Program is a fictional podcast that was described as "NPR meets Black Mirror" which I think is pretty accurate. It addresses topics such as philosophy, economic inequality, societal impacts of technology and artificial intelligence in an immersive audio experience that can be a little bit spooky at times.

What I’m Reading

I was able to read three books that had been on my list for a while over the holidays.

• Exhalation - this is a collection of short stories which ponders some of the deep philosophical questions in sci-fi. It's been described as science-fiction that isn't dystopian.
• Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire A 500 Year History - in order to better understand what's happening in the US these days it can be helpful to put things in the perspective of the entire history of the country.
• Downriver: Into The Future Of Water In The West - the author recounts a rafting trip along the Green River in the western United States, pausing to understand how water from the river is used in various communities and what water scarcity means for the future of the western US.

What's Next

This week on the livestream we'll start working on the frontend of our podcast application. We'll get started using Next.js with GraphQL, implement client side authentication, and start pulling in data from our GraphQL podcast API. Follow along on Twitch or YouTube and let us know what kind of content you'd like to see next.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Cheers, Will

@lyonwj