The Legend of Zelda is a series millions of gamers know and love, with a level of high regard comparable to Mario and Pokemon. With such a massive following, it’s interesting to see just how far the series has come. That’s why we’ll be taking a look at the top 10 Zelda games ranked by how many copies they sold. This list will only look at each game’s sales through its console’s life cycle. Games that have been released on multiple consoles at once, such as Breath of the Wild and Twilight Princess, will have their sales combined. Re-releases won’t be considered in this list, though, so don’t expect to see Ocarina of Time 3D or the Switch version of Link’s Awakening on here. The Top 10 Zelda Games Ranked By Sales 10. Link’s Awakening (GB) 9. Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons 8. Adventure of Link 7. Wind Waker (GC) 6. A Link to the Past 5. Phantom Hourglass 4. Legend of Zelda (NES) 3. Ocarina of Time (N64) 2. Twilight Princess 1. Breath of the Wild All images of box art taken from Unofficial Zelda Wiki 10. Link’s Awakening (GB) - 3.83 Million Copies One of the few Zelda games to not feature Zelda herself, Link’s Awakening sees the titular hero end up on a mysterious island. Only by collecting instruments and waking up the sleeping Wind Fish can he hope to escape. It’s a simple title, but one that garnered enough attention to warrant a modern-day remake. The remake actually sold better than the original game, , making it clear just how much of a classic this title really is. according to Nintendo’s reports 9. Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons - 3.96 Million Copies While these are technically two separate games, they have such similarities and cross-compatibility that they’ve been lumped into one for this list. Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons feature Link bending the laws of reality to save powerful beings from evil foes. If you owned both games, you could get a completely new ending in the one you play through later - a feature that surely helped these two titles make it to this top 10. 8. Adventure of Link - 4.38 Million Copies As the second-ever game of the Zelda series, Adventure of Link features a play style that’s unique even today. Being purely focused on sidescrolling, platforming action, Adventure of Link has you go on a quest to prevent the return of the greatest evil the land has ever known. The gameplay is vastly different from its predecessor, but Adventure of Link helped shape the series into what we know it as today. 7. Wind Waker (GC) - 4.43 Million Copies While its art style might not have been what fans were hoping for, Wind Waker still managed to become a vast success. By going on a journey across the sea, you set out on a quest to explore various islands and brave daunting challenges in order to save your friends and family. As the second 3D Zelda title, it refined on mechanics the ever-popular Ocarina of Time introduced, influencing the series even today. 6. A Link to the Past - 4.61 Million Copies With the extra power of the SNES, A Link to the Past gave players their first taste of an expansive Zelda story with massive worlds and varied gameplay. Even today, many people rank it as . It’s no wonder this game made it to the top 10 - it’s a true classic. the best 2D Zelda game of all time 5. Phantom Hourglass - 4.76 Million Copies The first Zelda game for the Nintendo DS - and one of the more unique ones at that - Phantom Hourglass featured a control scheme never seen before. Players would control Link through the touch screen, tapping on enemies to attack them and progress through dungeons. This gimmick was pretty hit-or-miss for most players, but as a Zelda game on a console that sold , it’s no surprise that Phantom Hourglass did well regardless. over a hundred million units 4. Legend of Zelda (NES) - 6.51 Million Copies Breaking into the top 5 is none other than the original, very first Zelda game. Legend of Zelda was the title that started it all, from Link to Ganon and the quest for the Triforce. While the gameplay styles have changed drastically over the years, this game is constantly looked upon by newer titles as a major influence. Some might find the NES Legend of Zelda dated, but its history can’t be denied. 3. Ocarina of Time (N64) - 7.6 Million Copies And just after the first 2D Zelda, we have the first 3D one. Ocarina of Time introduced a new dimension to the series - literally - with in-depth combat and intricate puzzles for players to face. Featuring numerous sidequests, optional challenges, and unique items, it managed to be the third best-selling Zelda game and , as well. It’s unsurprising to see high regard for this title being held even now. the fourth best-selling N64 game 2. Twilight Princess - 8.85 Million Copies Twilight Princess had some great timing going for it, releasing with darker themes and a more mature spin on the Zelda series just after Wind Waker’s debut. It also helped that it was a fantastic game in its own right, giving fans a brand-new experience that was still definitively Zelda. It’s plain to see how Twilight Princess managed to stay as the top game in the series for so long. At least, until Breath of the Wild happened. 1. Breath of the Wild - 23.2 Million Copies In a stunning upset, Breath of the Wild managed to completely blow the entire series out of the water. While its overall content might not be as impressive, it takes advantage of being the first fully open-world Zelda game by giving players the most freedom they’ve ever had. As a launch title for the Nintendo Switch, it quickly became essential for anyone and everyone. And now, almost half a decade later, Breath of the Wild has managed to be the best-selling Zelda game ever - and its numbers continue to grow. The rate at which the Zelda series has expanded, especially in recent years, is truly amazing. While it’s hard to say whether or not future titles will come close to these numbers, it’s hard to believe the series will end up in danger. And that’s something I’m sure millions of people will find welcome. References: IR Information : Sales Data - Top Selling Title Sales Units (nintendo.co.jp) Breath of the Wild now the second highest-selling Zelda game - Nintendo Everything

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Mastering the Meta-Skill of Learning

This article provides tips and support for those interested in preparing for the CISSP exam. What is the CISSP exam? The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) is a valuable information security credential. According to , the demand for professionals certified in CISSP is growing. ZipRecruiter states the US national average of a CISSP certified individual is a well-paid $125,470. Cyberseek annual salary My Story: The Time I Took the CISSP Exam A few years ago, a friend suggested I take a course on cybersecurity from her training company.  Little did I know I had actually signed up for a CISSP preparation course. I told another friend I had signed up for the course and he remarked it might be a little hard for me considering I had no IT background. Feeling a little uncertain, I almost decided to back out of the class. Though I was not trying to change careers, the trainer convinced me to continue with the class. She told me I would get a lot out of the class even if I did not understand all of it. It sounded like an adventure, and of course, I did not realize what I had gotten myself into. I did not know the magnitude of the CISSP test or how much effort it would take to prepare. On the first day of the class, the cybersecurity teacher said to all the students, “Go ahead and schedule your CISSP test. It will help you with your test preparation.” I did. I scheduled it right after the last day of the 3-month cybersecurity class. I don’t regret it - even though ultimately I failed. I took the cybersecurity class and I started learning new ideas. The class was interesting and the teacher made it humorous. I read a couple of textbooks that were recommended. I kept learning. By this time, I realized I would not be able to pass the test I had scheduled only a few days away. I swallowed the $50 exam reschedule fee, and I rescheduled my exam. I kept reading about cybersecurity to keep learning. The pearls I have learned resulted in this CISSP preparation guide. CISSP Preparation Resources I Tried All the resources I used to study for my CISSP exam were high quality in my opinion. My biggest concern is that I did not use them properly. I used this resource as my main CISSP study guide: . Mostly, I read this book and its earlier edition like a novel. Several people told me not to do that, but the book is thick and heavy! The prospect of making hundreds of physical flashcards did not appeal to me at all. In hindsight, I could have used or to make better flashcards. Hindsight is 20/20. (ISC)2 CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide & Practice Tests Bundle Anki Quizlet Well-meaning friends “Make flash cards!” - I did not end up making flash cards until rather late in my CISSP studying process. There was a lot of vocabulary and acronyms that were new to me. Using flash cards would have been an excellent way to test my knowledge. I could have studied a few flash cards every night before bed to prepare for my CISSP exam. Pluralsight and O'Reilly Media Video Courses There are many study materials on these sites to help you prepare for your CISSP exam. These online libraries have great CISSP courses; one on is Sari Greene’s video course which was high yield. Another option that I used was . O’Reilly Media Pluralsight Despite this, what I learned about video courses for CISSP exam prep is that they lulled me into a false sense of security. By watching the video course, I thought I had studied, but actually, I had only taken in information passively. I found that taking in information passively delayed my learning. When I watched a video only one or two times, I found I would not be able to recall the information as well as if I had taken notes or used flashcards on that information. I watched several videos on CISSP preparation, but I think I could have used that time better had I engaged with the material in an occasional study group, with flash cards, or just simply taken notes as I read the study guide books. A big part of engaging with the material is testing what you know. It’s easy to avoid self-testing early in your CISSP studying process because it's not very motivating if you get a bad result on a practice exam. I learned that is exactly what I should do when studying for the CISSP exam! I needed to be testing myself early in my study process. Not engaging with the material was an important problem for me, and it's one of the key reasons I failed my test. Linkedin Learning had numerous basic courses on cybersecurity including CISSP preparation which I watched and found helpful. These courses helped me pass the CompTIA Security+ exam. LinkedIn Learning Thor's Udemy Course I used some of the hard practice tests from to self-test before I took the exam. I think I had waited too long to use these practice exams. Ideally, I would have been doing them from the beginning rather than at the tail end of my CISSP exam preparation. Thor’s Udemy course Create a Manageable Study Schedule to Prepare for Your CISSP I did not have a study schedule. Because the CISSP test covers so much material, it's a good idea to break the domains into smaller manageable chunks. Do not get overwhelmed. Starting your studying by creating a study schedule is a good idea. It can even be on your Google calendar. Get a CISSP study guide book and some practice tests. Create a simple study schedule in which you read 1-3 chapters per week while making flash cards. Read some flash cards every night before bed. Then self-test 1-3 times per week with practice exams. Take breaks when needed, but do not push your test back. I kept pushing back my test date because I did not feel ready. Do not do this. Use your exam date to motivate you to study for the test and use your study schedule to keep you on track. Don’t Underestimate Your Work Experience Work experience (even volunteer work experience) in the security field would have been helpful. The CISSP exam is an expert-level certification. If you do not have experience in technology or security, you will be at a disadvantage. I did not have any work experience in cybersecurity or even with technology. Basic practical knowledge is just as important as knowing the theory when it comes to preparing for your CISSP exam. What I Might Do Differently Next Time If I were to retake the CISSP exam, I might try these resources next time to help me prepare: has an excellent question bank for CISSP preparation that is not too expensive. They sometimes have sales on their CISSP test prep materials. The problem for me was that I was using a Mac and not a Windows computer. The program’s specifications they had at the time required a PC. Boson - I have not tried this though I have been getting numerous emails about the official test prep materials. It might be a good opportunity for those seeking to ace the test. CISSP official practice materials Key Take-Aways to Prepare for the CISSP Exam Make a study schedule. Do not reschedule your test. Find ways to actively engage with the material. Consider getting work experience if possible. Try again if you fail. I learned having a regular study schedule would have been a better, more organized way for me to study for the CISSP exam. I would have done better if I had made more flashcards and reviewed them more often. Testing yourself with small quizzes and practice tests would be a good idea. I hope you can take this knowledge so that you do not make the same mistakes I made. Proper preparation can lead to success! Take this CISSP preparation guide and use it to ace your test.

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Ahoy matey! During my sailing in the GitHub sea, I found some amazing lands to dock on. The extra one is mine. And I’d like to invite you to embark on my project. App Ideas Have you ever wanted to build something, but you had no idea what to do? Just as authors sometimes have “writer’s block”, the same is also true for developers. This list is intended to solve this issue once and for all! Go➡ The repos listed here are: Great for improving your coding skills Great for experimenting with new technologies Great for adding to your portfolio to impress your next employer/client Great for using as examples in tutorials (articles or videos) Easy to complete and also easily extendable with new features This is not just a simple list of projects, but a collection that describes each project in enough detail so that you can develop it from the ground up! Each project has the following features: A clear and descriptive objective A list of User Stories that should be implemented (these stories act more as a guideline than a forced list of To-Do’s. Feel free to add your own stories if you want) A list of bonus features that not only improve the base project but also your skills at the same time. All the resources and links to help you find what you need to complete the project The Book of Secret Knowledge This repository is a collection of various materials and tools that I use every day in my work. It contains a lot of useful information gathered in one piece. It is an invaluable source of knowledge for me that I often look back on. Go➡ Awesome Cheatsheets Awesome cheatsheets for popular programming languages, frameworks, and development tools. They include everything you should know in one single file. Go➡ Tech Interview Handbook No one has time to do a few hundred LeetCode questions. Here is a list of curated technical interview preparation materials for busy engineers, brought to you by the author of the Blind 75 List. Go➡ Besides the usual algorithm questions, other awesome stuff includes: How to prepare for coding interviews Interview Cheatsheet — Straight-to-the-point Do’s and Don’ts Algorithm tips and the best practice questions categorized by topic Interview formats of the top tech companies Behavioral questions asked by the top tech companies Good questions to ask your interviewers at the end of the interviews Helpful resume tips to get your resume noticed and the Do’s and Don’ts Front-End Interview preparation Help from you in contributing content would be very much appreciated! Why do I want this? This repository has practical content that covers all phases of a technical interview, from applying for a job to passing the interviews to offer negotiation. Technically competent candidates might still find the non-technical content helpful as well. Who is this for? Anybody who wants to land a job at a tech company but is new to technical interviews, seasoned engineers who have not been on the other side of the interviewing table in a while and want to get back into the game, or anyone who wants to be better at technical interviewing. E-Book Foundation — Free programming books This repo contains books, courses, interactive programming, podcasts, and more, everything is free and also translated to many languages. Go➡ [Extra] Make Our Lives Easier Again In this repo, I intend to gather a lot of useful stuff such as books, guides, developer tools, and much more. It’s still very primitive yet, but there are some interesting things. Go➡ You may also like Python Typing VS Code Shortcuts Find me around the web: All my links

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What is Tailwind CSS exactly? Tailwind is a utility-first CSS framework that is used to rapidly build modern user interfaces without worrying about naming conflicts. Utility class names describe what the classes do, like set padding to 4px, rather than where they go, like your . The extensive but carefully curated utility classes of Tailwind make it super simple to create beautiful and responsive websites without ever writing a single line of CSS. topnav Here are the top 10 reasons that Stackbit chose to style its component library with Tailwind CSS: 1. Tailwind is a Time-Saver Tailwind’s utility classes remove the headache of writing and maintaining huge piles of CSS from scratch. A utility class of Tailwind corresponds to a small set of CSS declarations. For example: means padding: 1rem (number suffixes in Tailwind are often multiples of 0.25 ) p-4 rem means margin: 1rem m-4 means font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem text-lg Putting it all together, this HTML with Tailwind CSS enabled <div class="p-4 m-4 text-lg">
  Hello world
</div> Is equivalent to this basic HTML: <div style="padding: 1rem; margin: 1rem; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem">
  Hello world
</div> With the help of these utility classes, we don’t have to build everything from scratch, and we can create better websites in less time. 2. Utility Classes Follow the Single Responsibility Principle Tailwind’s utility classes are designed to serve . For example: one specific purpose w-4 means width: 1rem; bg-transparent means background-color: transparent;
Few of the utility classes also encapsulate more than 1-3 CSS declarations at a time. These classes are almost like shortcuts for coding directly with style attributes. For years, this was generally considered to be frustratingly verbose to the point of being a bad practice, but lately, many developers have , you’ll find that it means your HTML elements don’t interfere with each other, which simplifies debugging. argued that once you accustom yourself to the utility class style For example, when there’s no site-wide .card class, and no site-wide .featured class, there’s no guessing what’s wrong with <div class="featured card"> Tailwind CSS includes thousands of such independent utility classes, and you can combine them creatively to build highly customized website components that “just work,” no matter where you put them on a page. 3. Documentation is Top-Notch Tailwind does a great job not only with the simplicity of its framework but also with the simplicity of its documentation. It’s a great place to start learning about how the framework works. You can easily navigate through any topic on their website. Searching width will take you to , but so will searching w-8, so it’s easy to navigate, even for developers who are new to CSS frameworks. the width guide 4. A Large and Growing Community It’s always a good idea to judge the popularity of a framework before shifting to it. For frameworks with a solid following, it’s easier to find great developers and supportive online communities to help when you’re stuck. Tailwind’s immense popularity in the developer community means potential problems can be solved more easily with community support. 5. No More Media Queries! Goodbye, media queries! Every utility class in Tailwind can be applied conditionally at different breakpoints, which means we don’t have to create separate media query files to make our component responsive. Tailwind, by default, provides 5 different breakpoints: sm: 640px md: 768px lg: 1024px xl: 1280px 2xl: 1536px Let’s see this with an example: <img class="w-16 md:w-32 lg:w-48" src="..."> Our image has been given a default width of 4rem, which will be overridden by 8rem and 12rem when the viewport grows to the md and lg breakpoints, respectively. If the default breakpoints are not enough, we can also create custom breakpoints. 6. It's Trivial to Create Component Styles Tailwind does not come with reusable component styles like or , but it lets us create reusable custom classes out of other Tailwind classes with its @apply directive. .modal .navbar Let’s create a custom utility class for ourselves to learn how this actually works: .card {
  @apply w-20 h-20 bg-blue-700;
} Superb! Now we have created our own custom .card class in Tailwind, and we can freely use it as if it were a Tailwind class like any other. ( ) Including as part of the definition of another class with @apply. 7. Purging Unused Classes Minimizes Bundle Size To make our development experience smooth, Tailwind generates thousands of utility classes, most of which go unused in the production build. To overcome this problem, Tailwind has a "purge" feature that removes every unused utility class from the production build. Purging unused classes dramatically reduces the file size of the CSS shipped to our users, which ultimately results in a site that loads faster. 8. Style Opinions are Productive Like many other frameworks, Tailwind brings opinions with it. One example is the sizing factors used. means 1rem and means 1.25rem. So what about the 0.25rem in between? .m-4 m-5 We consider these to be productive opinions because they promote consistency in our design. There's very rarely a need to be more fine-grained than the options we're given with Tailwind. But, if we need to be, it's configurable and it's just CSS, so we can always set our own styles. 9. Avoiding the Need for Naming Conventions Naming classes in CSS is a big headache. (Seriously. Have you ever been in a meeting dedicated solely to discussing class names? We have. And we don't want to do that again.) Although there are naming convention guidelines, like BEM, Tailwind wins the battle by removing the need to write custom CSS classes in most common scenarios. Often its utility classes are enough to build your design to life. 10. It Feels Like Writing CSS Tailwind makes it easy to create amazing user interfaces for both junior and senior developers with the help of utility classes. As mentioned in #2, the utilities are mostly just a class reference to a specific style. It quickly feels just like writing CSS, compared to learning a framework like Bootstrap, which includes learning a system of named components. Still, It's Not Perfect Tailwind, like any other framework, isn't perfect. The most common complaint is that the long strings of classes can become difficult to read, even in common use cases. But after evaluating the options, the positives of Tailwind strongly outweighed the negatives. Messy (but structurally-sound) markup over messy CSS any day. Happy Coding! First Published here

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Stopping an EC2 instance that you don't need can save you money and improve security. In this post, I demonstrate how to use the to provision an EC2 instance that is automatically stopped when there are no open SSH or connections to it. AWS CDK Session Manager These days I most often use an EC2 instance as a . I use SSH or Session Manager to connect to it and access a protected database from there. This is usually just for occasional maintenance or debugging. An "always on" instance for this purpose feels wasteful since it would just sit idle most of the time. Because I only use it with an SSH (or Session Manager) connection we can automate the process of stopping it when there are no remaining connections. The primary downside of this is that I must manually start the instance (and wait for it to boot) when I need to use it. In my case, it is a tradeoff I'm happy to make. Bastion server Below I demonstrate how to use the AWS CDK to provision an EC2 instance that is automatically stopped when there are no open SSH or Session Manager connections to it. The full source code is available on GitHub at . https://github.com/mpvosseller/cdk-ec2-autostop The approach we take is as follows: Install a bash script on the instance to determine whether it is "active" or not and publish the result as a CloudWatch metric. report-metrics.sh Configure a cronjob on the instance to run once a minute. report-metrics.sh Configure a CloudWatch Alarm to monitor the metric and stop the instance when it is reported inactive for more than 15 minutes. Report Metrics Script Below is the script and it does most of the heavy lifting. It runs on the instance and determines whether it should be considered "active" or not. It then publishes a CloudWatch metric with the result. We consider the instance active if it has any open SSH or Session Manager connections to it or if the instance was recently booted. report-metrics.sh We use various tools and services to accomplish this job: The at 169.254.169.254 is used to determine the , , and of the instance. EC2 instance metadata service availabilityZone region instanceId is used to get the to which the instance belongs. ec2 describe-instances stackName is used to count the number of Session Manager connections. aws ssm describe-sessions is used to count the number of SSH connections. ss is used to publish our custom CloudWatch metrics. aws cloudwatch put-metric-data is used for parsing JSON API responses. jq #!/bin/bash

# Publish a CloudWatch metric to report whether this instance should be considered active or not.
# We consider it active when there are any open SSH or Session Manager connections to it or if it
# was recently booted.

availabilityZone=$(curl -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/placement/availability-zone)
region=$(echo "${availabilityZone}" | sed 's/[a-z]$//')
instanceId=$(curl -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/instance-id)
stackName=$(aws --region "${region}" ec2 describe-instances --instance-id "${instanceId}" --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].Tags[?Key==`aws:cloudformation:stack-name`].Value' | jq -r '.[0][0][0]')
uptimeSeconds=$(cat /proc/uptime | awk -F '.' '{print $1}')
uptimeMinutes=$((uptimeSeconds / 60))
ssmConnectionCount=$(aws ssm describe-sessions --filters "key=Target,value=${instanceId}" --state Active --region "${region}" | jq '.Sessions | length')
sshConnectionCount=$(/usr/sbin/ss -o state established '( sport = :ssh )' | grep -i ssh | wc -l)
((totalConnectionCount = ssmConnectionCount + sshConnectionCount))

# note that "ssh over ssm" connections are double counted

isActive=0
if [ "${totalConnectionCount}" -gt 0 ] || [ "${uptimeMinutes}" -lt 15 ]; then
    isActive=1
fi

metricNameSpace="${stackName}"
aws --region "${region}" cloudwatch put-metric-data --metric-name "ConnectionCount" --dimensions InstanceId="${instanceId}" --namespace "${metricNameSpace}" --value "${totalConnectionCount}"
aws --region "${region}" cloudwatch put-metric-data --metric-name "UptimeMinutes" --dimensions InstanceId="${instanceId}" --namespace "${metricNameSpace}" --value "${uptimeMinutes}"
aws --region "${region}" cloudwatch put-metric-data --metric-name "Active" --dimensions InstanceId="${instanceId}" --namespace "${metricNameSpace}" --value "${isActive}" Crontab File Below is the file. Nothing exciting here. It is a standard crontab file that requests the script to be run every minute. crontab report-metrics.sh * * * * * /home/ec2-user/report-metrics.sh CDK Application Below is the main CDK application code. If you are familiar with the AWS CDK it should be mostly straightforward. The most important aspects are: Install the package on the instance because it is needed by . jq report-metrics.sh Install the files and on the instance at . report-metrics.sh crontab /home/ec2-user/ Run the command to set up the cron job. crontab Grant the permissions required for Session Manager and . report-metrics.sh Create a CloudWatch Alarm that stops the instance when it is inactive over a 15 minute period. import * as cloudwatch from '@aws-cdk/aws-cloudwatch'
import * as actions from '@aws-cdk/aws-cloudwatch-actions'
import * as ec2 from '@aws-cdk/aws-ec2'
import * as iam from '@aws-cdk/aws-iam'
import { CfnOutput, Construct, Duration, Stack, StackProps } from '@aws-cdk/core'

export class CdkEc2AutostopStack extends Stack {
  constructor(scope: Construct, id: string, props?: StackProps) {
    super(scope, id, props)

    const vpc = ec2.Vpc.fromLookup(this, 'Vpc', {
      isDefault: true,
    })

    const keyName = '' // for ssh you must enter the name of your ec2 key pair

    const instance = new ec2.Instance(this, 'Instance', {
      init: ec2.CloudFormationInit.fromConfig(
        new ec2.InitConfig([
          ec2.InitPackage.yum('jq'),
          ec2.InitFile.fromFileInline(
            '/home/ec2-user/report-metrics.sh',
            './assets/report-metrics.sh',
            {
              owner: 'ec2-user',
              group: 'ec2-user',
              mode: '000744',
            }
          ),
          ec2.InitFile.fromFileInline('/home/ec2-user/crontab', './assets/crontab', {
            owner: 'ec2-user',
            group: 'ec2-user',
            mode: '000444',
          }),
          ec2.InitCommand.shellCommand('sudo -u ec2-user crontab /home/ec2-user/crontab'),
        ])
      ),
      instanceName: 'AutoStopInstance',
      vpc,
      keyName: keyName || undefined,
      instanceType: ec2.InstanceType.of(ec2.InstanceClass.T3, ec2.InstanceSize.NANO),
      machineImage: ec2.MachineImage.latestAmazonLinux({
        generation: ec2.AmazonLinuxGeneration.AMAZON_LINUX_2,
        cpuType: ec2.AmazonLinuxCpuType.X86_64,
      }),
    })

    // WARNING: this opens port 22 (ssh) publicly to any IPv4 address    
    // instance.connections.allowFrom(ec2.Peer.anyIpv4(), ec2.Port.tcp(22), 'SSH access');

    // permissions for session manager
    instance.addToRolePolicy(
      new iam.PolicyStatement({
        actions: ['ssmmessages:*', 'ssm:UpdateInstanceInformation', 'ec2messages:*'],
        resources: ['*'],
      })
    )

    // permissions for report-metrics.sh script
    instance.addToRolePolicy(
      new iam.PolicyStatement({
        actions: ['ec2:DescribeInstances', 'ssm:DescribeSessions', 'cloudwatch:PutMetricData'],
        resources: ['*'],
      })
    )

    const alarm = new cloudwatch.Alarm(this, 'Alarm', {
      alarmName: `Idle Instance - ${this.stackName}`,
      metric: new cloudwatch.Metric({
        // this metric is generated by report-metrics.sh
        namespace: this.stackName,
        metricName: 'Active',
        dimensions: {
          InstanceId: instance.instanceId,
        },
        statistic: 'maximum',
        period: Duration.minutes(15),
      }),
      comparisonOperator: cloudwatch.ComparisonOperator.LESS_THAN_THRESHOLD,
      threshold: 1,
      evaluationPeriods: 1,
      treatMissingData: cloudwatch.TreatMissingData.NOT_BREACHING,
    })
    alarm.addAlarmAction(new actions.Ec2Action(actions.Ec2InstanceAction.STOP))

    new CfnOutput(this, 'InstanceId', {
      description: 'Instance ID of the host. Use this to connect via SSM Session Manager',
      value: instance.instanceId,
    })
  }
} Once deployed, I get an EC2 instance that can be manually started when needed and it will be automatically stopped when there are no remaining SSH or Session Manager connections to it. This lets me sleep just a tiny bit better at night. The full code can be found on GitHub at . https://github.com/mpvosseller/cdk-ec2-autostop If you found this helpful or have some feedback please let me know.

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Hey Hackers! I’m Tanaka Mutakwa and I’m the VP of Engineering at Names & Faces. First of all, a huge thank you to the HackerNoon community and staff for nominating me for a 2021 Noonies award! I’ve been nominated in the following categories please do check out these award pages and vote: HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - engineering : https://noonies.tech/award/2021-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-engineering As someone in the software engineering industry, I believe that the most exciting technology of the present is Javascript because it can be used for multiple platforms (Web, Mobile, Backend). Learn more about my thoughts and opinions on software engineering and my journey in the tech industry via the interview below. 1. What do you do and why do you do it? (tell us your story) I'm a technology leader who is driven to help software engineers have fulfilling careers. I have a passion for technology, leadership, and building high-performing teams. I currently work as the VP of Engineering at Names & Faces. My role is to make everyone in the engineering organization successful by influencing architectural decisions, establishing best practices, setting work cadences and cultural norms, and overcoming the issues that get in the way of the team’s success. 2. Tell us more about the things you create / write / manage / build! I'm currently writing The New Developer ( ), a newsletter on Substack. The New Developer is a guide for new and aspiring software developers. The goal is to help software developers prepare themselves for the real world - working in a real team at a real company. https://thenewdeveloper.substack.com/ 3. How did you end up in your current career path? Do you like it? I started using computers in primary school - . However, I only started computer programming towards the end of high school. I then studied Computer Science at the University of Cape Town and this is where I built solid computer science fundamentals. After graduating from the University of Cape Town I’ve had the opportunity to work in technology teams at various companies. https://mutakwa.com/how-i-got-started-in-computers-programming/ 4. What tech are you most excited or passionate about right now and why? I’m most excited about Javascript at the moment. The language has matured and can be used on multiple platforms (Web, Mobile, Backend). Frameworks such as React and Vue make the experience of creating frontends much better. If someone was starting out their software engineering career now I would encourage them to learn Javascript. 5. What tech are you most worried about right now and why? Any legacy technologies that have struggled to keep up with the fast-paced technological advances. Being stuck in legacy technologies can make your skills irrelevant in a few years. 6. If we gave you 10 million dollars to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why? I believe technology still has a big role to play in improving education. Making education more accessible and cheaper for the whole world. If I was given 10 million dollars to invest in something today I would invest it in advancing education using technology. 7. What are you currently learning? I’m currently focused on growing the following skills: Growing my technical writing skills. Growing my technology leadership skills. Growing my product/business understanding. The goal is to have a good understanding of how to launch technology products to the world and build valuable technology companies. 8. What’s the best advice you’ve ever given someone? “Even if you fail at your ambitious thing, it’s very hard to fail completely. That’s the thing that people don’t get.” 9. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? “Life learning from Computer Science: you can scale almost everything much more than you'd think, and the things that break are hard to predict.” 10. Please give us the links to all your relevant social media profiles so we can use them to promote this interview! (Twitter and LinkedIn would be a huge plus) Substack Newsletter - https://thenewdeveloper.substack.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/GeneralMutakwa LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/trmutakwa/ 11. Would you also be interested in joining us on the HackerNoon podcast? If so, what would you like to chat about? Yes, I would love to join the HackerNoon podcasts. I can chat about the following topics: How to find a mentor Pair Programming with more experienced software engineers Growing your software development skills outside of work About HackerNoon’s 2021 Noonie Awards The annual Noonie Awards celebrate the best and brightest of the tech industry, bringing together all who are making the Internet and the world of tech what it is today. Please be sure to , nominate, and vote for the people and companies who you think are making the biggest impact on the tech industry today. check out our award categories The 2021 Noonies are sponsored by: by bit, , and . Thank you so much to these sponsors who are helping us celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees. Dottech Domains Avast

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HackerNoon Tech Stories Archive October 30th, 2021

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HackerNoon Tech Stories Archive October 30th, 2021

10 Best Zelda Games of All Time Ranked by Sales

@mm22Marc Magrini

Mastering the Meta-Skill of Learning

@roxanamurariuRoxana Murariu

CISSP Preparation Guide: What to Do and What Not to Do

@turbulenceAmy Pravin Shah

Treasure Hunt: 5 Juicy Repos on GitHub

@limaadsDaniela Lima

10 Reasons To Use TailwindCSS In Your Next Project

@ashutoshmishraAshutosh Mishra

How to Run A Cronjob That Stops an EC2 Instance When SSH or Session Manager Connections are Closed

@mpvMike Vosseller

"With $10m I would invest in advancing education using technology" - Noonies Nominee

@tanakamutakwaTanaka Mutakwa

@mm22
Marc Magrini

@roxanamurariu
Roxana Murariu

@turbulence
Amy Pravin Shah

@limaads
Daniela Lima

@ashutoshmishra
Ashutosh Mishra

@mpv
Mike Vosseller

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