Thailand might have seen the substantially refreshed 2024 D-Max, but Isuzu Philippines is still carrying on with the current version of their pickup truck and as proof, they have come up with this: the D-Max 3.0 4x2 Limited. Teased just last week, it ...

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Learn more about public art through an interactive walking tour hosted by the Greater Augusta Arts Council on Saturday, June 10. Humani-tree House owner and artist Baruti Tucker will guide guests through mural painting experience.

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To learn more, visit the All Events listing. Head out to Jackson for the Boondock Farms Revival music festival for its third year on Saturday, June 3. Local and regional bands like Big Sky Revival Band, Reedy River String Band, The Mason Jars and AJ Howell ...

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Having tried various boots over the years, I was genuinely intrigued when the Timberland PRO Boondock Boots landed at my doorstep

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Boondoc

boondoc

This Slack discussion by , and occurred in hackernoon's official #slogging-beta channel, and has been edited for readability. Dane richard-kubina austin Which video game weapon made you feel like a god? Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM the BFG, baby! richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM the BFG 9000, that is 🧐 richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM BFG for sure. and that moment in GTA V when you rob the bank in full body armor with a gatling gun with unlimited ammo and you just...destroy everything. or the gravity gun moment in Half Life 2... austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM oh! the sword in Metal Gear Solid 2 ❤  at the end, when you're just fighting off hordes of clone-soldiers... austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM For me I'd go with Wraithverge from Hexan. As a cleric you have this medieval gun that looks like a cross. When you fire it, a horde of ghosts fly out and rip everything in sight to shreds. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM oh man, I forgot about that game.. I always mix it up with heretic richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Dane never played that one, but it sounds incredible richard-kubina i think they were made by the same dev team austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM half-life has had some great weapons.. gluon gun and tau cannon in the first one too.  gauss jumping up and over everyone, raining down tau particles on unsuspecting foes was fun.. richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM The grenade launcher in Golden Eye was also pretty insane. Every time you play deathmatch, there is a mad rush to the grenade launcher. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Dane oh man, goldeneye...i'm pretty sure that game has ended friendships. 😂 richard-kubina i think i have to go back and actually beat the first half life now...never got to that part austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM I felt like the rocket launcher was a bit more deadly!  straight to the point and click splash damage action! i forget if the grenades blew up on contact though? or were they always on a timer richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM the tau cannon also auto targeted foes when shot through a wall 🤔 was pretty over powered on some levels richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM This example pales in comparison to modern games but I remember the invincible feeling of getting the fire flower for the first time in Mario Bros. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM the redeemer from unreal was a god weapon.. first person view of a nuke you controlled.. huge radius and damage when it exploded richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM The Lightblade in Halo was pretty insane. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM crash bandicoot, getting the three masks and becoming literally invincible for a short time, was absolutely awesome. it was also my first playstation game, my first 3d game, so i may be looking at it through nostalgia goggles. but i think it was still objectively cool. austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM omg the lightblade austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM The Thunder Beam in Mega Man was crazy. Too bad it used up so much energy. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM ahhh mega man...such a great series. my personal favorite was mega man 2, with the saw blades austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM we used to play toejam and earl with a game genie using a code that allowed you to use presents without consuming them. we used to love getting to the elevator before the other player and spawning hella Earthlings to guard it from the other player.. this is a true god weapon, wielding the power of creation! 😂 game genie in general was godly like that.. poking the game's code and what not richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Oh yeah, the saw blades were great. I also liked the power you got from guts man where you could pick up and throw giant blocks of rock. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM richard-kubina ah the game genie, such a magical little device ✨ nothing like PEEKing and POKEing the game's raw memory... Dane i forgot about that one! man, i need to play mega man 2 later... austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM I was 100% against game genie back in the day. My little brother loved game cheats and I persuaded him not to get it. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM oh yeah, i refused to play any of the GTA games with cheats. i was all about the missions, and cheat codes were...cheating! but i eventually got a gameshark disc so i could find the hidden areas in san andreas 👀 austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM naw, it added soo much replay value to games.  in golden eye we used game shark to open up the entire facility level because I found a code that you could bind a button on the d-pad to fire a gun that could destroy anything.. even that locked door :challenge-accepted: richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM i think it made games boring, if you overused it. like once you're invincible and you can do anything...omnipotence gets old fast austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM ah i'm thinking multiplayer games.  games you'd play with friends, sitting around a single television 🙂 richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM I can see using tools like that for replayability. I was just against using those tools to beat the game the first time. That was a major ethical stance I was somehow very strict about. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM it was like having mods on the console!  at least before consoles connected to the internet richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM What we used to do for replayability is come up with random restrictions and see if we could still beat the game. •We tried to beat Mario Bros by using our toes instead of fingers.                •In various football games, we'd say touchdowns weren't allowed and we had to kick field goals.                                                                                           •In Final Fantasy I, we decided we wanted to beat the game by playing through with every character being a single class. I think we made it through with priests and fighters. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM hahaha.. how'd you do with your toes on mario bros. ? richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM I believe we made it to level 8-1. You can warp there relatively easy but those levels just require too much dexterity. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM I recall some codes to change joe montana's football scoring rules, so you could have enforced touchdowns being zero points 😄 richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM I tried to play the first final fantasy on the NES.. it was already hard enough for me. I was awful ☹ richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM 8-1 with just your toes is very impressive... 👏 richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Oh yeah. We were pretty dedicated to learning to play with our toes. I think we wanted to join some kind of circus act or something. Kids have strange ideas... Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Oh, another "weapon" that made me feel like a god would have to be the crafting bench in Minecraft. That game in general gives you so much creative freedom. Being able to carve out and build your own world is very god-like. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM most definitely! in minecraft, the first time i got diamond weapons and armor, i felt invincible. of course, it wears down...but still austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Absolutely.  minecraft is so good for that ability to make the world what you want it to be.. richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Join us next time when we discuss the best 'god games' 😁 richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Minecraft also had the opposite of a god-like experience. Those fucking creepers that come along and blow up your shit kind of make you feel helpless. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM speaking of godlike feelings...what about the sims 👀 austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM hahah right.. at least there's creative mode 😌 richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM The original Sim City was fantastic. I can't say I felt a sense of power in any of the others though. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM sims, right.. i was thinking of sim city.  i never played spore but that seemed like a neat idea, guiding evolution of life forms richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Oh, I was so excited when they were developing Spore. I never played it though. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM oh man, i wanted to play spore soooo bad when i first heard of it...then i promptly forgot about it when the next issue of GamePro magazine came out 😅 austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM i bet you can get it for like $2 now austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM That was a PC game right? I doubt it would even run on modern systems. Computers would likely reject it out of pure disgust. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM dosbox ftw 😄 or use docker or virtualbox to run windows 2000/xp haha austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Nice! Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Seeing your icon makes me a little sad nobody (to my knowledge) ever tried to create a Bob Ross game. Phthalo green would have been a god-like weapon. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM whoa....sounds like a job for VR 👀 i'd play that austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM I would buy my first VR headset just to paint in a setting like Bob Ross. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM lol but would you have to use cheat codes to match bob's brush beating? richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM lol at the idea of using those hand trackers to do that richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Beating the devil out of your brush should trigger the cheat codes. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM it feels like so many games are in a rut, trying to be ultra-realistic and all that, copying the blockbuster bestsellers...it would be so nice to see something different like this austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM lmaooo richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM seriously! something creative for a change austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM like i don't wanna play Call of Duty 28 or whatever. i want Happy Little Trees with Bob Ross austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM I'd want an antagonistic Bob Ross mode. "That doesn't look like a happy little tree to me". Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM angry bob ross like that parody character in The Boondocks cartoon... 😂 austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM "When I said anyone could do this, I had no idea someone would come along as bad as you..." Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM lol richard-kubina Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM ok dane's writing dialogue, that settles it. we need to get bob ross's estate to sign off on this, it needs to happen austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM No way they'd agree to a game with an angry Bob Ross. Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM nah. but the original idea might fly austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM maybe his angry cousin Rob Boss comes in austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM Oh yeah, it could be like that version of Madden without real NFL teams. "Bobby Ross Paints" Dane Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM oh yeah!! NFL Blitz, was that it? such a great game austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM but yeah, could totally do a "fair use" parody sorta thing austin Nov 13, 2020, 6:25 PM And that's a wrap. Somehow we started by talking about a weapon clerics wield that unleashes a horde of ghosts onto your enemies and nicely evolved into what it would be like to paint as Bob Ross in a VR world. What god-like weapons did we overlook?

Which video game weapon made you feel like a god?

is shaking up the mortgage industry by providing a fully transparent and comprehensive lending experience. Block66 The upcoming network is a matchmaker connecting borrowers with lenders. No longer will prospective homeowners be solely reliant upon local banks and credit unions. Blockchain tech can break the bricks of walled gardens surrounding exclusionary industries. You may remember how high-risk loans — coupled with rising housing prices — were so instrumental in the last global financial collapse? Well, putting the mortgage industry — often prone to predatory, shady, profit-hungry practices — on a chain is long overdue. But before we get into how Block66 plans to straighten a crooked walkway, let’s ensure we understand each other… Disclaimer : This is not investment or financial advice. I’m not a financial expert by any stretch of the imagination. Most information within this article is speculative and merely my own personal opinion. Always conduct your own research before contributing to any startup projects. Always remember that what you do with your money is your decision to make. And if that decision proves too difficult for you alone, seek guidance from a financial professional. I may or may not receive a small allocation of tokens for creating this content. That said, I will do my best to remain unbiased and fair. I try to avoid all FOMO and FUD and never wish to impart those emotions on my fellow crypto-heads. A House Full of Problems The mortgage industry is in such a state of disarray that it’s tough to pinpoint where we should start. The industry can be classified as a fixer-upper that needs lots of work. But we must start somewhere… First, we’ll examine some of the mortgage industry’s shortcomings. And then we’ll take a look at how Block66 is using blockchain tech to mop up the mess. A Flood of Paperwork If you’ve been there, you know. Buying property is NEVER easy. Bring extra pens when you meet your realtor because you may just run out of ink. But then again, you’re in a realty office that’s swimming in pens. Daily Amazon deliveries ensure they never run out. Sure, blockchain tech improves efficiencies and drastically trims costs. But disintermediation — reducing the need for a middleman — takes everything up a few notches. In this case, home buyers don’t need a realtor to facilitate a loan on their behalf, taking a cut in the process. The entire process can occur via smart contracts. Thanks, Chrissy, you’re wonderful but I’d rather tokenize my loan. Have you ever been in the depths of escrow paperwork hell? I have and it’s ridiculous. Hurry up and sign this so you can wait weeks for a decision. Oh, you were just here in our office yesterday? Come on back today and give us more of your initials. A digital immutable ledger rather than a pile o’ paperwork is natural progress for the mortgage industry. And recording data on the blockchain rather than fallen trees is, thankfully, increasing in popularity. However, there’s much more at play here. The blockchain-powered benefits run deeper than avoiding cramped, ink-stained hands. But before we continue, let’s get you familiar with what Block66 aims to accomplish: “I’m late to wait!” Solid idea, don’t you think? Blockchain tech excels at exposing the deception within any given market. And the mortgage industry, while certainly reluctant, is long overdue for a shakedown. Skittish Lenders The likes of Wells Fargo, HSBC, Chase and their ilk are becoming a little too afraid of taking risks. Even if you have ‘average’ credit, they tend to be unwilling to extend an offer. In their eyes, jumbo loans are better fitted for elite, power suit-wearing rich folk. Let the middle-class toil away in their shared-wall apartment buildings, they say. Let them struggle to find parking and walk blocks at a time with groceries in hand. Let them hear every word the neighbors say whether they want to or not. Let the downstairs tenants think a herd of elephants lives upstairs. Let them be subjected to the neighbor’s kid pressing his face on their screen door while loudly projecting his voice into their apartment. I think you get the idea… apartment living can be uncomfortable. Reserving home loans for high-credit lenders can weed out some of the fraud and deadbeats partially responsible for the ginormous financial mess of 2008. Problem is, many trustworthy borrowers are getting left behind. If you don’t overextend yourself with debt, have a “stable” job — although I’m not sure there’s a definition of that anymore — and have proven yourself capable of meeting payment deadlines, you should have the right to own a home. But you’d better be sure of it first… Reality Check Just a quick sidebar on the idea of owning a home. The notion can be downright romantic. You may not want a white picket fence but the promise of doing things your way is very enticing. It’s a lifelong dream for some people. But many prospective home buyers are never told the truth. Aside from the time spent doing everything yourself, hidden costs abound. In addition to your monthly mortgage payment, count on up to 50% more for insurance and maintenance. So, if your payment is $2,000/month, your actual costs may be closer to $3,000. And, things go wrong all the time. You can’t even buy insurance for fun stuff like the pipes under the house. All of those costs are on you if they bust. Make sure you can that mortgage before signing with emotion. Avoid FOMO. The French didn’t name the term “death gamble” for nothing. truly afford Underestimating the actual expense of homeownership is an easy way to get yourself rekt. No Vacancy There are lenders out there who are more willing than big banks to take chances on people. They know that higher risk equates to the potential for higher rewards. They also monitor needs on an individual basis rather than blindly discriminating based on income and a credit score. But these lenders are hard to locate. Which makes it tough for them to compete with big banks. And if creditworthy lenders can’t find them, all those interest payments will flow elsewhere. Which is sad because given the choice between a greedy bank and a private lender — assuming identical interest rates — I’ll go the private route every time. The Boondocks Geography plays a key role in determining the style of loan a borrower can acquire. If you’re in a developed country, so long as your credit is decent and you can put 10% down, you can probably find yourself a loan at a reasonable rate. But what if your country is under-developed or your credit’s on the lower side of average? Or maybe you don’t have the full 10% down payment? So sorry, your chances of securing a loan are minimal. Merely being born into a location’s economic scenario can make or break your chances of becoming a borrower. Even if you’re somewhat wealthy, your region’s lack of proper banking infrastructure can make loan procurement ultra difficult. Just ask the residents of India. As referenced in the , many who can truly afford a home never score themselves a new set of keys. project’s whitepaper Old Construction By definition, the fact that realtors prefer an in-person signature session is seriously old-school. Sure, I can understand the desire to provide a personal touch. But do these people not have access to the Internet? We spent enough time together when we were viewing properties, thanks. The next time you want to buy something on Amazon, will they make you go to their warehouse and manually enter your credit card information 37 times before checking out? No, they won’t. That’s not how it’s supposed to work. It’s time for the home-buying process to join us in the modern age… Blockchain Renovations Wow, 2018 Mortgage Boulevard is a dump. A fresh coat of paint isn’t going to cut it and we can’t do it all by ourselves. We’ll need a team of experts to rip-out and replace the entire foundation. Ready to get started? Let’s put on our work gloves and get to it then… Blockchain tech ignores geographical boundaries Knocking Down Walls By using the Block66 platform, borrowers don’t have to wish and hope neighboring lenders can help them out. Instead, they can go shopping for loans across the entire globe. Loans will be tokenized, which means they can be divided. A borrower doesn’t need to get a lump sum from one entity. There’ll be a crowdfunding aspect in that loans are divisible. If a borrower asks for $100K, the loan may very well get funded by a dozen different lenders. Can you smell the fresh aroma of decentralization in here? Nice, isn’t it? Rebuilding Pipelines The mortgage industry’s plumbing moves slow. It’s clogged with big fish and borrowers have little room to move around. By clearing the way and creating free-moving, blockchain-based connections, Block66 hopes to attract a wide range of lenders. The network will be available to banks, credit unions, high net-worth individuals, private lenders, and mortgage investment corporations. Building an expansive, diverse, global network of lenders will give borrowers a massive increase in choices compared to what’s available now. And that equates to a massive increase in the likelihood of getting home loans funded. Adding a Personal Touch The Block66 network’s algorithms will match a borrower with the top 3 choices that best fit their needs. But, taking it a step further than top-level rates and terms, borrowers will be told those specific lenders are the right choice for their individual circumstances. why Think of the UI as a smart search engine for loans. Plus, it’s as if you’ve already pre-clicked — those annoying ads that follow you all over the Internet are no longer ads, they’re baked right into the search results. Everyone’s Invited to the Housewarming Party Borrowers on the platform enjoy premium access to loan opportunities that can fulfill their dream of owning a home. But Block66 isn’t all about the borrowers. The space’s other players get to have fun, too. Mortgage brokers get an all-encompassing interface that matches them with lenders while providing access to credit scores and property appraisals. And lenders big and small can perform audits and secure mortgages within a growing pipeline of borrowers. Assuming the Block66 grows as expected, we should see an industry-wide shift to blockchain solutions. Who doesn’t like doing things cheaper and faster? Final thoughts… Buying a home, especially for first-timers, is a daunting experience. It’s long and exhausting and may make you want to halt your search and settle for the apartment life. You also need to strike a balance between credit and affordability. Blockchain or not, your worthiness — rightly so — will be thoroughly examined. That’s unavoidable but the blockchain can streamline that process, and more. Block66 aims to simplify operations across the entire mortgage industry. The team chose to focus on more than one segment of the market. Ambitiously, they chose to offer industry-wide upgrades for everyone involved. By bringing transparency to the global $33T mortgage space, Block66 is creating a win/win scenario. Borrowers, brokers, and lenders alike can realize more options leading to greater opportunity. The industry is certainly large enough and disheveled enough to support tokenization. And it won’t take much market share in order for B66 tokens to gain traction. The network’s MVP isn’t set to launch until Q1 of next year. So, for now, we’ll just have to wait and see if Block66 has the right blueprint for constructing a successful mortgage lending platform. Here are some resources for you in case you’d like to dig deeper into the project on your own: Block66 Website Block66 Whitepaper Get Social Facebook LinkedIn Medium Reddit Telegram Twitter YouTube By the way… If you like what you see here and need help getting your crypto message to the masses, I’d love to hear about your project. Feel free to reach out to me here: blockchainauthor at Gmail BountyOx username = blockchainauthor

Block66 ICO Review: Blockchaining Your Way to Homeownership

In a future driven by shared autonomous vehicles, transportation becomes a utility. The name of the game is efficiency — you pay for what you use, and how you use it. No car ownership, no car insurance, no maintenance, no gas, no driveways or garages… you pay for a ride from A to B, and when you get out, you’ve washed your hands of the investment. But all those things have a cost, so it must mean someone else is coughing up the dough, right? In the case of present-day rideshare services (known as Transportation Network Companies, or TNCs) like Uber and Lyft, the fixed costs of fuel and car maintenance and driver fees are baked into your fare without calling out the fees specifically. There are base fares, booking fees, per minute and per mile rates. , TNCs throttle their pricing models in a rather opaque manner. With the exception of Surge pricing It’s assumed you like it that way. Knowing what portion of your fare goes into the driver’s pocket or towards fuel expenses is unnecessary info, and part of the convenience with on-demand transportation is the fact that it’s some other schmuck’s job to figure all that out. Fair enough. But imagine an entire transit grid running through on-demand, shared resources. Then imagine that the entities managing it may include federal and local governments, car makers, telco and media conglomerates, Google, Amazon, etc. A mere tweak of your fare could be covering the tax for a new bridge, or rewarding you for buying a product during the trip, or . Such are ideas we usually draft up as legislature, enforce through police, or educate the public on; you’d want to have an idea of where your money goes in those instances, correct? contributing to donations for the ACLU Let’s find out. At any given moment, the future transportation grid will have dozens of opportunities to charge (or reward) your choices based on how they affect the efficiency of the grid and the pockets of the companies who manage it — the latter traditionally being disinterested in showing any transparency. Maybe the moving picture above is more than you care to swallow when thinking about your transportation costs, but . I believe you should have information, and more importantly, have the obligation to think critically about it. I’m a transparency kinda guy Ready to use your imagination? Base Rate Hey look, we’ve started with something that is actually happening today! . Why do you think they might do that? Massachusetts is considering a bill to charge driverless cars by the mile Are they equating autonomous cars with electric cars, since the latter obviously don’t contribute to the Gas Tax — a very appropriate tax to discuss in this article, since it was so poorly thought out that its funding is inversely proportional to driving more efficient cars? Autonomous cars will likely be powered by alternative fuels like electricity, but there’s no reason they can’t be gas-powered. So, that’s a strange bill to write. Perhaps they have another agenda behind the bill… one that grants them access to consumer data. Bill or no bill, the Base Rate has a lot of potential to influence how traffic moves. In all likelihood, some hybrid of per-mile and per-minute (as TNCs currently utilize) seems the best way to go, but consider that a per-mile only rate might dissuade stakeholders from urban development, while a rate tied to per-minute operation would dissuade the development of high-speed roads and urban sprawl. Empty Trip Since we’re talking about urban density and sprawl, we should definitely talk about Empty Trips. Known also as a Zero Occupant Trip, this is a major cost incurred by shared transit services like taxis and TNCs: you request a ride out to East Bumblefudge, where there isn’t going to be anyone waiting to hail that ride back to civilization. Effectively, you’re creating two trips, but only paying for one. That’s why taxi drivers often refuse to take you out to the boondocks. They’ll have a long, expensive trip back before they can find a new fare. Obviously, there are smarter ways to solve this problem than simply refusing to pick you up. But deciding who pays for the empty trip could be the most significant factor in urban development since… well, maybe ever. If the (that’s you) is on the hook for empty trips, making a home in the remote suburbs might be a tough go, with most of your rides looking like the graphic above, and costing an extra 50% or more to cover the inefficiency. Maybe that means more ride-sharing and mass transit for you. User On the other hand, perhaps the TNC covers your empty trips. The fight over which companies will own the grid (and consumer’s information, and their attention) is bound to yield “freebies” to users in the same way Gmail is a freebie: they’ll gladly cover the cost of your inefficiency as long as they get something in return — the authority to show you ads, or download your in-car conversations, or force you to use their messaging service while riding… who knows what those crazy kids in the Valley will think up. Companies could replace sports teams as the local religion, with all the residents of rural Detroit owing their low-cost transportation allegiance to Ford, while the outskirts of Austin are filled with Google loyalists. Or, it could be that your local government subsidizes empty trips as a means of combating high rent downtown, or enlarging the city’s footprint to attract real estate developers. Maybe the housing developers themselves would provide subsidies. In either case, the growth of suburbia would be heavily promoted… at least, until those parties change their minds. Lastly and perhaps most interestingly, you might find yourself in a situation where your empty trip fee is magically relieved by Walmart or a local pizza shop. Unbeknownst to you, there was an auction running on the empty trip, and every business operating a shipping service in the vicinity of your drop-off point had an automated bid posted to the auction in hopes of grabbing a low-cost delivery driver to take their package to its next destination. Pizza saves the day, yet again. Ride Share Ride sharing! I can already hear that collective sigh from everyone who doesn’t live in San Francisco. Like it or lump it, turning personal vehicles into mass transit tools is in transportation efficiency. And, if you do indeed “lump it”, then this article is for you. a huge part of the revolution Remember, what we’re talking about here is the efficiency of the grid’s operation — but that doesn’t have to mean everyone live as efficiently as possible. It just means inefficiency will cost you. Hate the idea of sharing your trip? Your user profile could demand that rideshares be disabled, which would in turn penalize you with a higher fare. Passengers more amenable to ridesharing could enable the option and save money with every mile, even if no one’s in the car. Take it further? Why not. If you’re willing to share a ride with a pet, or a bunch of packages, or a group of kids going to school, you save even more during your trip. The less privacy and space you need, the less you pay. It’s one of several examples where the meek shall inherit the wealth, while the status symbols of affluence become less aspirational and more despicable. Congestion Who causes traffic congestion? Grab a mirror and take the hint. Your very existence on the roadways, let alone your behavior, contributes to congestion… and congestion is the nemesis of efficiency. Like ride sharing, a congestion fee is a useful way to educate users on how their choices impact society at large. Many of the decisions drivers make today could be thrown into this bucket (hence the appearance of a multiplier in the graphic.) Should you want to ride in the fast lane, the grid could clear other cars out of the way and charge you per second for the inconvenience — and in turn, reward the other cars’ passengers for the inconvenience you caused them. Perhaps it’s even more costly for you to stop all vehicles at an intersection so that your car can make a split-second u-turn based on new directions you provided. It all depends on how much you’re willing to pay for your needs to be prioritized. Hell, in a future of autonomous transportation, we don’t need dedicated lanes on the road. You could select a route that takes you upstream against all other traffic, if it turns out that’s the fastest way for you to get to Point B. It’d be a crippling fee to do so, but you could do it. All this assumes that you’re the one paying congestion fees, but that’s only one side of the coin. Do you really want to be on the road at 6:12pm on a Tuesday? No, you do it because your job tells you to. And in a world where traffic costs can be attributed to quantifiable , it wouldn’t take much to have your government penalizing the company for requiring standard 9–6 hours. The possibility of having fees levied against businesses for causing congestion could make for very interesting decisions around remote work, parking, operating hours, and even hiring practices. microfee levels Multimode Incentive When autonomous vehicles hit their stride, the service operating on the grid will transcend the means. Cars, pods, shuttles, buses, trains, bikes, scooters, maybe even drones… they’re all components of the service model. The right tool for the job, if you will. So, it follows that getting people out of cars — and into mass transit or zero-emissions transit — would be a major priority. Present-day incentives to push people towards mixed mode transportation are pretty ham-handed, but that will change with the introduction of real-time pricing. Should you require a car from door-to-door, you’ll pay a full-fat fare — perhaps even see a penalty for straining the system. However, if you’re willing to bike to a rideshare point or train, the grid will know, and could reward such behavior with a lower rate once you do hop on the train. Being open to re-routes and delays for the sake of the greater good nets you even more savings. What makes this functionality so valuable is the ability to validate a market for alternative transit without having to front infrastructure investment. In America, that’s huge because, well… we really hate mass transit. Rather than on a transit project campaigning for funding, developing the infrastructure, and marketing it to viability, a multimode incentive could gauge public interest before the project even begins. Offer a fare discount to walk, bike, or share rides along the routes where your project is planned, and the turnout will tell the tale. Rinse and repeat. spend decades If you want to know whether a transit project in America is feasible, you don’t set up focus groups — you see what it takes to get people to actually step out of their cars. Route Management Great, so we’ve got a million ways to slice your transit costs based on efficiency. But who’s doing the slicing? Tech companies, corporations, governments, and investors all want a piece of this multi-trillion dollar market, and most for reasons more valuable than mere profit. Of course, there’s an inherent distrust in allowing one company to hold total control over the grid; on the other hand, information access suffers as the management splinters, which decreases the quantity and quality of insights. What we really need to see is something rarely witnessed in modern society: fully transparent, altruistic collaboration among stakeholders. This isn’t a battle — and if it is, it’s a battle we’re all fighting against inefficiency. Hold yourself and others accountable to choices that yield transparency, and the transportation revolution will thrive. Don’t settle for the status quo… it has no imagination.

Autonomous Car Pricing Will Turn Your Town Into A Science Experiment

The Easy Button

সহজ বোতাম

Der Easy-Button

El botón fácil

Le bouton facile

आसान बटन

簡単ボタン

쉬운 버튼

O botão fácil

Простая кнопка

Kolay Düğme

Nút dễ dàng

简易按钮

In previous articles, I explained how we could . But we started this exploration into MongoDB, covering a lot of the basics, and I wanted to start looking into more interesting aspects of how we use these things together. As I was putting video content together about all of these topics, one thing that caught my attention was the generic methods vs. methods that operated on BsonDocument, and I was curious if the performance was any different. So, to start, I figured we’d look at C# MongoDB insert benchmarks and see if any interesting patterns stand out. use C# and MongoDB to get records inserted Considerations For These C# MongoDB Benchmarks I was chatting with on Twitter the other day about benchmarks that he often posts on social media. It turns out there was another discussion floating around the Twitter-verse, where sync vs. async calls to databases were being debated. The proposal was that for very fast DB queries, the async variations are indeed slower. David Callan Of course, this got the gears turning. I have been writing about and creating videos for MongoDB in C# all week and hinting at performance benchmarks coming. This coupled with my conversation with Dave AND the conversation I saw on Twitter made me think that I had to give this more attention. I speculated it might have something to do with Task vs ValueTask, but I didn’t have a lot of grounds for that. However, I originally wanted to look into these benchmarks because I was curious if using BsonDocument compared to a dedicated DTO (whether it was a struct, class, or record variation) would have different performance characteristics. That meant that I would want to ensure I covered a matrix across: Synchronous Asynchronous Asynchronous with ValueTask Struct Class Record Struct Record Class BsonDocument And with that, I set off to go write some super simple benchmarks! Let’s check them out. The C# MongoDB Insert Benchmarking Code As with all benchmarking we do in C#, is our go-to tool! Make sure you start by installing the BenchmarkDotNet NuGet package. We’ll use this to ensure consistent setup, warmup, runs, and reporting for our MongoDB benchmarks. BenchmarkDotNet Since we’re trying to reduce as many possible external factors as we can for these benchmarks, we’re going to use Testcontainers to run an instance of MongoDB in a Docker container. Of course, interacting with anything outside of our code directly can lead to inconsistencies and more room for error to show up in our results. However, this should help minimize things. You’ll want to get the Testcontainers.MongoDB NuGet package for this as well. You can , but we’ll start with what our entry point looks like: find all the relevant code on GitHub using BenchmarkDotNet.Running;

using System.Reflection;

BenchmarkRunner.Run(
    Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly(),
    args: args); Nice and simple just to kick off the benchmarks. And the benchmarks are the most important part here: using BenchmarkDotNet.Attributes;

using MongoDB.Bson;
using MongoDB.Driver;

using Testcontainers.MongoDb;

[MemoryDiagnoser]
//[ShortRunJob]
[MediumRunJob]
public class InsertBenchmarks
{
    private MongoDbContainer? _container;
    private MongoClient? _mongoClient;
    private IMongoCollection<BsonDocument>? _collection;
    private IMongoCollection<RecordStructDto>? _collectionRecordStruct;
    private IMongoCollection<RecordClassDto>? _collectionRecordClass;
    private IMongoCollection<StructDto>? _collectionStruct;
    private IMongoCollection<ClassDto>? _collectionClass;

    [GlobalSetup]
    public async Task SetupAsync()
    {
        _container = new MongoDbBuilder()
            .WithImage("mongo:latest")
            .Build();
        await _container.StartAsync();
        
        _mongoClient = new MongoClient(_container.GetConnectionString());
        var database = _mongoClient.GetDatabase("test");
        _collection = database.GetCollection<BsonDocument>("test");
        _collectionRecordStruct = database.GetCollection<RecordStructDto>("test");
        _collectionRecordClass = database.GetCollection<RecordClassDto>("test");
        _collectionStruct = database.GetCollection<StructDto>("test");
        _collectionClass = database.GetCollection<ClassDto>("test");
    }

    [GlobalCleanup]
    public async Task CleanupAsync()
    {
        await _container!.StopAsync();
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public async Task InsertOneAsync_BsonDocument()
    {
        await _collection!.InsertOneAsync(new BsonDocument()
        {
            ["Name"] = "Nick Cosentino",
        });
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public async ValueTask InsertOneAsyncValueTask_BsonDocument()
    {
        await _collection!.InsertOneAsync(new BsonDocument()
        {
            ["Name"] = "Nick Cosentino",
        });
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public void InsertOne_BsonDocument()
    {
        _collection!.InsertOne(new BsonDocument()
        {
            ["Name"] = "Nick Cosentino",
        });
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public async Task InsertOneAsync_RecordStruct()
    {
        await _collectionRecordStruct!.InsertOneAsync(new RecordStructDto("Nick Cosentino"));
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public async ValueTask InsertOneAsyncValueTask_RecordStruct()
    {
        await _collectionRecordStruct!.InsertOneAsync(new RecordStructDto("Nick Cosentino"));
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public void InsertOne_RecordStruct()
    {
        _collectionRecordStruct!.InsertOne(new RecordStructDto("Nick Cosentino"));
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public async Task InsertOneAsync_RecordClass()
    {
        await _collectionRecordClass!.InsertOneAsync(new RecordClassDto("Nick Cosentino"));
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public async ValueTask InsertOneAsyncValueTask_RecordClass()
    {
        await _collectionRecordClass!.InsertOneAsync(new RecordClassDto("Nick Cosentino"));
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public void InsertOne_RecordClass()
    {
        _collectionRecordClass!.InsertOne(new RecordClassDto("Nick Cosentino"));
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public async Task InsertOneAsync_Struct()
    {
        await _collectionStruct!.InsertOneAsync(new StructDto() { Name = "Nick Cosentino" });
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public async ValueTask InsertOneAsyncValueTask_Struct()
    {
        await _collectionStruct!.InsertOneAsync(new StructDto() { Name = "Nick Cosentino" });
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public void InsertOne_Struct()
    {
        _collectionStruct!.InsertOne(new StructDto() { Name = "Nick Cosentino" });
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public async Task InsertOneAsync_Class()
    {
        await _collectionClass!.InsertOneAsync(new ClassDto() { Name = "Nick Cosentino" });
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public async ValueTask InsertOneAsyncValueTask_Class()
    {
        await _collectionClass!.InsertOneAsync(new ClassDto() { Name = "Nick Cosentino" });
    }

    [Benchmark]
    public void InsertOne_Class()
    {
        _collectionClass!.InsertOne(new ClassDto() { Name = "Nick Cosentino" });
    }

    private record struct RecordStructDto(string Name);

    private record class RecordClassDto(string Name);

    private struct StructDto
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
    }

    private class ClassDto
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
    }
} The benchmark code has as much as possible that we’re not interested in exercising pulled out into the GlobalSetup and GlobalCleanup marked methods. Results For C# MongoDB Insert Benchmarks Cue the drumroll! It’s time to look at our MongoDB benchmark results and do a little bit of an analysis: Here are my takeaways from the benchmark data above: All async variations used ~5KB more than the normal versions of the methods that we had to use. There didn’t seem to be any difference in allocated memory for async vs async value task BUT Gen0 and Gen1 didn’t have any value for *some* of the ValueTask benchmarks — However, not for all of them. It almost looks like ValueTask combined with a struct data type for the insert results in Gen0 and Gen1 with no value, but plain old BsonDocument is an exception to this. The fastest and lowest memory footprint seems to be InsertOne_RecordClass, although the InsertOne_BsonDocument is only a few microseconds off from this. Async versions of the benchmarks seem slower than their normal versions across the board, as well. This seems to be very much aligned with some of Twitter's opening thoughts on Async operations! So, some hypotheses proved/disproved: Async *is* overall worse for very fast DB operations ValueTask doesn’t stand out as a consistent performance optimization in these situations For single items, there’s no big difference in the memory footprint we’re seeing between any of these variations of the data types It’ll be a good exercise to follow up with benchmarking, inserting many items into MongoDB from C#. I think we may start to see some of these variations stand out in different ways once we’re working with collections of items — But this is still a hypothesis that needs to be proven! Wrapping Up C# MongoDB Insert Benchmarks This was a simple investigation of insert benchmarks for MongoDB using C#. Overall, there were some surprises for me, but I still think there’s more investigation to be done when we’re working with multiple records at a time. I truly was a little bit surprised to see async be worse across the board since I figured that perhaps any type of IO would mask the performance impact of async overhead. But this was a fun experiment to try out, and there is more to come! If you found this useful and you’re looking for more learning opportunities, consider and check out my ! subscribing to my free weekly software engineering newsletter free videos on YouTube Also published . here

Benchmarks for Inserting Documents Using C# for MongoDB

In this article, I’ll guide you through C# Testcontainers for MongoDB! I love using Testcontainers for local database work when I don’t want to think about managing the overhead of spinning up and tearing down a database, or managing something in the cloud. MongoDB is no exception here as the C# Testcontainers NuGet package that we have for MongoDB is a dream to work with. In this article, I’ll introduce you to the basics of Testcontainers. From there, I’ll demonstrate how simple it is to interact with your newly created database via the C# MongoDB.Driver NuGet package — almost like you wouldn’t even know there was a container spun up! Let’s dive into it. Overview of C# Testcontainers Testcontainers is an awesome NuGet package that can greatly enhance your testing and local development workflow when building .NET applications. It provides a simple and effective way to manage Docker containers, allowing you to spin up lightweight and isolated instances and have them tear down like nothing ever happened! That means with Testcontainers, you no longer have to worry about setting up and tearing down test databases or dealing with complex configuration files. It handles all the details of container management, making this process feel trivial — I sure wouldn’t want to handle this manually. Some of the key benefits of Testcontainers include: Its ability to provide a consistent and reproducible test environment. You can define the exact service version and configuration that you require, ensuring that your test results are reliable and consistent across different environments. The speed and flexibility it brings to your testing and development workflow. By using lightweight Docker containers, you can quickly spin up and tear down test environments on demand. No configuring cloud or shared resources ahead of time… Just on-the-fly awesomeness. Seamless integration with existing testing frameworks and tools in the DotNet ecosystem, such as Xunit, NUnit, and BenchmarkDotNet. This allows you to easily incorporate containerized service instances into your existing test suites without any major modifications. For this article, we’ll be focusing on how we can use C# Testcontainers for MongoDB in particular. Much of the advice covered here will be applicable to other services, especially databases, but we’ll keep our sights set on MongoDB. Setting Up Testcontainers in C# To get started with Testcontainers in C#, you’ll need to install and configure the necessary dependencies in your project. Follow the steps below to set up Testcontainers for MongoDB in C#. 1. Installing Testcontainers Generally, the first step would be to install the Testcontainers NuGet package in your C# project. You would open the NuGet Package Manager Console, and run the following command: Install-Package Testcontainers However, we need the MongoDB flavor of this package (I am using version 3.8.0 at the time of writing) which includes the base Testcontainers package. You can install it via the package manager user interface or with this command: Install-Package Testcontainers.MonogoDB 2. Configuring Testcontainers for MongoDB Once you have installed Testcontainers, you need to configure it for MongoDB. This involves setting up a MongoDB container with the required settings. Here is an example of how you can configure Testcontainers for MongoDB in C#: using Testcontainers.MongoDb;

MongoDbContainer container = new MongoDbBuilder()
    .WithImage("mongo:latest")
    .Build(); In the above example, we create a new instance of the , and specify the MongoDB image and port binding. The method sets the image for the MongoDB container, so using “mongo:latest” will always pull the latest image. MongoDbBuilder WithImage Optionally, we could use port binding to configure which ports we want to be using explicitly: using Testcontainers.MongoDb;

MongoDbContainer container = new MongoDbBuilder()
    .WithImage("mongo:latest")
    .WithPortBinding(1337, 27017)
    .Build(); The code above uses method binds the container’s port 27017 to the host machine’s port 1337. We’ll see in the upcoming sections that unless you have a specific need to bind ports, you can potentially just leave this be. We can get a dynamic connection string, which is very convenient! WithPortBinding 3. Starting and Stopping the MongoDB Container After configuring Testcontainers for MongoDB, you can start and stop the container as needed. Here are code examples for starting and stopping the container: To start the MongoDB container: await container.StartAsync(); To stop the MongoDB container: await _container.StopAsync(); Remember the MongoDbContainer type can be disposed of, so call to clean up when you’re ready. DisposeAsync Using C# Testcontainers for MongoDB in Practice Now that we’ve seen how to spin up and tear down containers, what are we supposed to do with them? We have plenty of options, and truly, the limit is your own imagination (and time, money, and other resources…)! Most people leverage C# Testcontainers for writing integration or . You can match up Testcontainers with xUnit or NUnit, for example, and write tests that interact with a real database. functional tests For me, I needed to go wire C# Testcontainers for MongoDB up to BenchmarkDotNet so I could ! A similar use case where I needed transient local databases, but not necessarily for a test framework. benchmark inserting records into MongoDB Regardless, we need to be able to connect to these MongoDB database containers from C#, and these next subsections will cover that. Connecting to C# Testcontainers for MongoDB with MongoDB.Driver Let’s assume you read the earlier sections and you have the correct MongoDB package installed for Testcontainers. If you skimmed ahead to this section, go back, read it, and get the right package. Otherwise, you’ll be scratching your head about why you can’t find the right dependencies! You’ll also need to get the MongoDB.Driver NuGet package installed. This is what we’re going to be using to establish a connection to the database container that we spun up. I have other articles you can read if you want more explanation on how MongoDB.Driver works in general: MongoDB in C#: Simplified Guide For Inserting Data MongoDB Filtering in C# – Beginner’s Guide For Easy Filters How To Delete Documents From MongoDB In C# – What You Need To Know How To Update MongoDB Documents in C# – What You Need To Know With the right packages ready to go, we can combine the code we saw earlier with some MongoDB driver code to get things glued together: using MongoDB.Bson;
using MongoDB.Driver;

using Testcontainers.MongoDb;

MongoDbContainer container = new MongoDbBuilder()
    .WithImage("mongo:latest")
    .Build();
await container.StartAsync();
string connectionString = container.GetConnectionString();

MongoClient mongoClient = new MongoClient(connectionString);
IMongoDatabase database = mongoClient.GetDatabase("test");
IMongoCollection<BsonDocument> collection = database.GetCollection<BsonDocument>("test"); In the example above, we can call on the newly spun-up MongoDB container from Testcontainers. The awesome part about this is that no matter how you configure your Testcontainer for MongoDB using the builder pattern we see in this code and earlier in the article, will get you what you need to connect. GetConnectionString() GetConnectionString() Because takes in a connection string as a single argument, it’s trivial to get access to the MongoDB database to start working with it right away! MongoClient Performing CRUD Operations on the MongoDB Testcontainer Now that we have our MongoDB Testcontainer set up and we have a connected to it, we can start performing CRUD operations on it. The connection details provided by the container instance made it a breeze to combine these two things, and truly, we can focus on just the MongoDB.Driver method calls for CRUD. MongoClient Here’s an example of performing a simple CRUD operation: // using code from earlier examples...

// Create
await collection.InsertOneAsync(new BsonDocument()
{
    ["Name"] = "Nick Cosentino",
});

// Read
var filterBuilder = Builders<BsonDocument>.Filter;
var filter = filterBuilder.Eq("Name", "Nick Cosentino");
var results = collection.Find(filter);

// Update
var updateBuilder = Builders<BsonDocument>.Update;
var update = updateBuilder.Set("Name", "Dev Leader");
collection.UpdateOne(filter, update);

// Delete
filter = filterBuilder.Eq("Name", "Dev Leader");
collection.DeleteOne(filter); Using the previous code snippets, we were already up and running with our MongoDB container instance and a . As a result, you can see in the code snippet above that we can directly work with our that we obtained from the prior setup. MongoClient IMongoCollection<BsonDocument> This helps illustrate that once you have the MongoDB docker container up and running via Testcontainers, you don’t have to treat things any special way once you connect to it! Wrapping Up C# Testcontainers for MongoDB To conclude, C# Testcontainers for MongoDB is an incredibly simple way to get a transient MongoDB data store up and running for your testing and development. While this article didn’t focus on specific use cases, hopefully, you have a better understanding of how transparent it feels to layer a MongoDB driver on top of Testcontainers to interact with MongoDB. Given that C# Testcontainers takes the headache out of the setup, teardown, and even connection string management, it’s an easy recommendation from me if you want to get up and running with MongoDB for local usage. If you found this useful and you’re looking for more learning opportunities, consider , and check out my ! subscribing to my free weekly software engineering newsletter free videos on YouTube Also published here

Easily Run Local Databases Using C# Testcontainers for MongoDB

MongoDB-এর জন্য C# টেস্ট কনটেইনার ব্যবহার করে সহজেই স্থানীয় ডেটাবেস চালান

Führen Sie ganz einfach lokale Datenbanken mit C#-Testcontainern für MongoDB aus

Ejecute fácilmente bases de datos locales utilizando C# Testcontainers para MongoDB

Exécutez facilement des bases de données locales à l'aide de C# Testcontainers pour MongoDB

MongoDB के लिए C# टेस्टकंटेनर का उपयोग करके आसानी से स्थानीय डेटाबेस चलाएँ

MongoDB 用の C# Testcontainers を使用してローカル データベースを簡単に実行する

MongoDB용 C# 테스트 컨테이너를 사용하여 로컬 데이터베이스를 쉽게 실행

Execute facilmente bancos de dados locais usando C# Testcontainers para MongoDB

Легко запускайте локальные базы данных с помощью тестовых контейнеров C# для MongoDB

MongoDB için C# Testcontainer'larını Kullanarak Yerel Veritabanlarını Kolayca Çalıştırın

Dễ dàng chạy cơ sở dữ liệu cục bộ bằng C# Testcontainer cho MongoDB

使用 MongoDB 的 C# 测试容器轻松运行本地数据库

I am making more of an effort to familiarize myself with document databases in my side projects, and MongoDB is currently my go-to. In fact, I recently and wanted to follow up with this article’s topic: MongoDB filtering in C#. Filtering is important when it comes to MongoDB, not only to be able to query for records… but also because when you want to run a delete or an update, you also need to filter properly! wrote about inserting data to MongoDB in C# This article focuses on when it comes to working with MongoDB filters. You’ll see simplified code examples demonstrating how to construct filters so when it’s time to query, delete, or update, you’ll be all set. beginner concepts MongoDB Filtering in C# Using FilterDefinitionBuilders When working with MongoDB in C#, one powerful tool for filtering documents is the MongoDB . The allow us to construct filter expressions easily and efficiently, making the process of querying MongoDB much simpler. FilterDefinitionBuilder FilterDefinitionBuilder I personally like to start off by getting an instance of the FilterDefinitionBuilder and then creating the directly from that. However, if I plan on building more complex rules out for filtering, I’ll generally start with the FilterDefinitionBuilder instance and an instance of an empty . FilterDefinition FilterDefinition Here’s an example of how to use the MongoDB to filter documents in MongoDB using C#: FilterDefinitionBuilder var filterBuilder = Builders<BsonDocument>.Filter;
var filter = filterBuilder.Eq("field", "value");
var results = collection.Find(filter).ToList(); In the code above, we get the instance assigned to a variable for use. This assignment is technically unnecessary, but I find it helps clean code up if I need to ask for the instance multiple times. From there, we’re using an “eq” filter for an equality filter on a field called “field” and a string value of “value.” Not very creative, but it gets the job done! FilterDefinitionBuilder FilterDefinitionBuilder If you want to follow along with the content in this article, you can : check out this video on filtering data in MongoDB using C# MongoDB’s Comparison Operators In order to get up to speed with filtering in MongoDB, we need to understand the comparison operators. These operators allow you to compare specific field values with other values or expressions. Some commonly used comparison operators include: $eq: Matches values that are equal to a specified value. $ne: Matches values that are not equal to a specified value. $gt: Matches values that are greater than a specified value. $lt: Matches values that are less than a specified value. The has access to methods that map to these operators. Consider the following example where we want to retrieve all documents from a MongoDB collection where the age is greater than or equal to 18: FilterDefinitionBuilder var ageFilter = Builders<Person>.Filter.Gte(x => x.Age, 18);
var filteredDocuments = collection.Find(ageFilter).ToList(); In this example, we use the comparison operator (which stands for “greater than or equal to”) to filter documents where the age field is greater than or equal to 18. We use the static class, with a type parameter for the type of our entity, so that we can see the properties when we build the filter expression. If we use as the type, we need to provide the property name in a string: $gte Builders<Person> BsonDocument var ageFilter = Builders<BsonDocument>.Filter.Gte("Age", 18);
var filteredDocuments = collection.Find(ageFilter).ToList(); Range Queries and Pattern Matching in MongoDB MongoDB also provides operators that enable you to perform range queries and pattern matching. Two commonly used operators for these purposes are: $in: Matches any of the specified values in an array. $regex: Matches documents based on a specified pattern using regular expressions. These operators are particularly useful when you want to filter documents based on a range of values or apply pattern-based filters. Now, let’s check out an example that demonstrates how to perform a range query using the operator: $in var rangeFilter = Builders<Person>.Filter.In(x => x.Age, new[] { 18, 19, 20 });
var filteredDocuments = collection.Find(rangeFilter).ToList(); Like before, we use the static class. Here, we utilize the operator to filter documents where the age field matches any of the specified values in the given array. Builders<Person> $in Combining Filters for MongoDB in C# Now that we’ve seen how to create some basic MongoDB filters in C#, which are based on the comparison operators we have from MongoDB, it’s time to think about crafting more advanced filters. To do so, we can use AND and OR operators… but we have a couple of different flavors: var filterBuilder = Builders<BsonDocument>.Filter;
var filter = filterBuilder.Empty;

filter = filterBuilder.And(
    filter, 
    filterBuilder.Eq("Name", "Nick Cosentino"));
filter = filterBuilder.And(
    filter, 
    filterBuilder.Gte("Age", 30)); In the code example above, we start with an empty filter and assign it to a filter variable. From there, we use the method on the to combine in an filter followed by a filter. Keep in mind, this example shows combining filters via AND, but we can also OR the filters together. And() FilterDefinitionBuilder Eq() Gte() Another example does away with the method calls and uses &= and |= for AND and OR, respectively. In my opinion, this is a much more legible way to write filters: var filterBuilder = Builders<BsonDocument>.Filter;
var filter = filterBuilder.Empty;
filter &= filterBuilder.Eq("Name", "Nick Cosentino");
filter &= filterBuilder.Gte("Age", 30); Do keep in mind that once you start incorporating OR operators for your filters, you will want to consider the order of operations! Wrapping Up MongoDB Filtering in C# In this article, we got to look at a handful of different comparison operators available for MongoDB filtering in C#. We also got to see how we can combine such filters with two different approaches: Method calls for And() and Or() on the FilterDefinitionBuilder &= and |= on the filters themselves In upcoming articles, we’ll see more about how to leverage the filters for querying, updating, and ! If you found this useful and you’re looking for more learning opportunities, consider and check out my ! Meet other like-minded software engineers and ! deleting MongoDB documents subscribing to my free weekly software engineering newsletter free videos on YouTube join my Discord community Also published . here

Beginner’s Guide For Easy MongoDB Filters in C#

Most of the time when I’m developing applications, I default to using some form of SQL. Whether it’s a simple application using SQlite or something a bit more robust that I plan to scale out with MySQL, it’s inevitably some flavor of SQL. However, when starting new projects over the past few years I’ve been trying to make sure I have experience with document databases and have spent more time using in C#. MongoDB In this article, I’ll guide you through some basics for being able to insert data using MongoDB in C#. We’ll keep it light and to the point, so let’s dive into a brief overview of MongoDB in C# followed by some code examples in C#! Overview of MongoDB in C# MongoDB is a widely used NoSQL database that provides a flexible and scalable solution for data storage. One of the key benefits of MongoDB is its document-oriented nature so instead of using tables with fixed schemas like in traditional relational databases, MongoDB stores data in collections of JSON-like documents. This can allow for a more flexible and dynamic data model, especially in scenarios where data structures can vary. In C#, you can seamlessly integrate MongoDB into your applications because MongoDB provides a native driver for C#. This simplifies the process of interacting with the database and provides a comfortable development experience for C# developers. Well, mostly. If you’re used to using SQL connections, SQL command objects, and classes to access your data, it’s a little bit more cumbersome. But this is coming from the perspective of someone who prefers to write raw SQL queries in their data access layer. I suspect if you didn’t have this bias then working with their API, especially for filtering, would feel pretty intuitive. DataReader One big thing you’ll want to keep in mind if you’re coming from a relational database background is understanding the primary differences between relational and document databases. In the former, we generally denormalize data across tables and, in the latter, we write the data as a document that we’d like to read back without having to join. These types of databases aren’t designed to join data like we do with relational databases, so it’s something to be aware of! Follow Along with MongoDB in C# Content I always try to make sure I provide multiple modes of content when I’m able to. Below, you’ll find a YouTube video walking through examples of MongoDB in C# for inserting records: https://youtu.be/0fB9qg-oR04?embedable=true Of course, if you’d rather play around with some working code (aside from ensuring you have your own database), you can find the example code on my . You should be able to clone it, set up your connection string properly, change your database and collection names as needed, and then rock and roll! Dev Leader GitHub repository here Inserting Documents into MongoDB in C# In this section, I’ll explain how to insert documents into MongoDB using C#. We’ll look at code examples using the and methods. We’ll see these methods in their synchronous and asynchronous forms! Remember, you will need to ensure you have the “MongoDB.Driver” NuGet package installed in your project for the following code examples to work. InsertOne InsertMany Using the InsertOne and InsertOneAsync Methods To insert a single document into a MongoDB collection synchronously, use the method. This method is straightforward and is executed immediately, blocking the current thread until the operation completes. Here’s a basic example: InsertOne using MongoDB.Bson;
using MongoDB.Driver;

// Connect to MongoDB instance
var client = new MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017");

// Select database
var database = client.GetDatabase("testDatabase");

// Select collection (sort of like a SQL "table")
var collection = database.GetCollection<BsonDocument>("myCollection");

var document = new BsonDocument
{
    { "name", "John" },
    { "age", 30 }
};

// Insert document into collection
collection.InsertOne(document); In this example: We first establish a connection to the MongoDB instance and select our database and collection. Then, we create a object, which represents the document we want to insert. BsonDocument Finally, we call on our collection object, passing in the document. This inserts the document into the specified collection. InsertOne For asynchronous operations, you can use . This method is especially useful in applications that require non-blocking operations, such as web applications or services, to maintain responsiveness. Here’s how to use it: InsertOneAsync using MongoDB.Bson;
using MongoDB.Driver;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

// just like the former example
var client = new MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017");
var database = client.GetDatabase("testDatabase");
var collection = database.GetCollection<BsonDocument>("myCollection");

var document = new BsonDocument
{
    { "name", "Jane" },
    { "age", 28 }
};

// Asynchronously insert document
await collection.InsertOneAsync(document, cancellationToken: CancellationToken.None); In this asynchronous example: The setup is similar to the synchronous version, but we use with . This tells the program to continue with other work that doesn’t depend on the completion of the insert operation. await InsertOneAsync Take note that you can pass in a cancellation token here which is a best practice for async code Note that both and methods throw exceptions if the insert operation fails, so you should use try-catch blocks to handle potential errors gracefully. InsertOne InsertOneAsync Using the InsertMany and InsertManyAsync Methods The method synchronously inserts a list of document objects into the specified collection. This is useful when you have multiple documents ready to be stored and want to execute the operation in a single call. Here’s an example: InsertMany using MongoDB.Bson;
using MongoDB.Driver;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

// just like the former example
var client = new MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017");
var database = client.GetDatabase("testDatabase");
var collection = database.GetCollection<BsonDocument>("myCollection");

var documents = new List<BsonDocument>
{
    new BsonDocument("name", "John").Add("age", 30),
    new BsonDocument("name", "Jane").Add("age", 25),
    new BsonDocument("name", "Doe").Add("age", 28)
};

collection.InsertMany(documents); In this example, we first get a reference to our collection. Then, we of objects, each representing a document to insert. Finally, we call with our list of documents. This method will insert all documents in the list into the MongoDB collection in one operation. create a list BsonDocument InsertMany For asynchronous operations, particularly useful in applications where responsiveness is crucial or when dealing with I/O-bound tasks, you can use the method. This method works similarly to , but it performs the operation asynchronously. Here’s an example: InsertManyAsync InsertMany using MongoDB.Bson;
using MongoDB.Driver;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

// just like the former example
var client = new MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017");
var database = client.GetDatabase("testDatabase");
var collection = database.GetCollection<BsonDocument>("myCollection");

var documents = new List<BsonDocument>
{
    new BsonDocument("name", "John").Add("age", 30),
    new BsonDocument("name", "Jane").Add("age", 25),
    new BsonDocument("name", "Doe").Add("age", 28)
};

await collection.InsertManyAsync(documents); In this asynchronous version, we use before calling , ensuring that the operation completes before moving on to the next line of code. This is especially important in web applications or services where blocking the main thread could lead to poor performance or user experience. await InsertManyAsync Best Practices for Efficiently Inserting Data This article is focused on the API usage of inserting data into MongoDB using C#, but I wanted to touch on a few other points. To improve the efficiency of data insertion in MongoDB, you can consider the following best practices: Batch Inserts: Instead of inserting one document at a time, you can batch multiple documents together and insert them in a single operation using InsertMany. This reduces the overhead of multiple round-trips to the database. Use Indexes: Indexes can significantly improve the insert performance by speeding up the search for the correct position to insert the new document. Ensure that you have appropriate indexes defined on the fields commonly used for insertion. Consider Sharding: If you have a large amount of data to insert, sharding can distribute the data across multiple servers, improving insertion performance. Write Concern: The default write concern in MongoDB is Acknowledged, which waits for an acknowledgment from the server. If you are performing bulk insertions and do not require immediate acknowledgment, you can set a lower write concern to improve performance. Consider Asynchronous Operations: Asynchronous operations can improve the responsiveness of your application by allowing multiple insert operations to be executed concurrently. Aside from asynchronous versions of these APIs which were mentioned earlier, I won’t be covering these other topics in more detail in this article. Stay tuned for upcoming articles where I cover these topics along with other functionality, such as updating documents in MongoDB and deleting records! Wrapping Up MongoDB in C# To recap, in this article, we explored the topic of writing data to MongoDB in C# using InsertOne and InsertMany APIs. We saw both the synchronous and asynchronous versions of these APIs in functional code examples. Some of the key takeaways: Understanding relational database vs document database characteristics Best practice considerations for performance Synchronous vs asynchronous APIs for inserting data to MongoDB in C# You should continuously improve your skills and stay updated with the latest technologies! If you found this useful and you’re looking for more learning opportunities, consider and check out my ! subscribing to my free weekly software engineering newsletter free videos on YouTube

Simplified Guide For Inserting Data Into MongoDB Using C#

End Ethanol Subsidies Now!

This is by (source: ). Wilkinson is the co-founder of Tiny. Twitter thread Andrew Wilkinson @awilkinson 05-25-2023 Here's a big list of things that don't seem to work, based on the last 20 years of running Tiny: • Giving an advisor or advisory board free equity to advise a CEO without putting any real skin in the game and investing their own money (they usually go "thanks for the free equity" and occasionally respond to emails) • Variable price/cost plus contracts (going over budget = vendor makes more money - natural incentive to go over budget) • Synergy between two entities, unless they are almost 100% identical and it happens naturally between the two management teams with a clear profit incentive (even then, rarely works) • Hiring people with traditional finance backgrounds—especially big corporate accounting—as opco CFOs (I see this a ton - first time entrepreneurs in small businesses hire a bean counter when they need somebody who is willing to roll up their sleeves and operate the business alongside them with a financial lens) • Hiring outside management/compensation/etc consultants (they have no alignment and get paid regardless of the outcome / often incentivized to tell you to change everything so they sound smart / they can't deliver hard news to management because they serve them / "consulting is the art of picking your pocket watch to tell you the time") • Fractional CFO/finance people vs. in-house finance (you'd almost always pay the same amount just in-housing, except you get 1/20th of their time and attention and they aren't aligned with you) • Hiring a big company person to run a small or medium company (no scrappiness, used to a big cushy org full of support - usually don't know how to hire, how to do HR, how to incentivize, how to run an actual org, think TOO big) • Hiring a CEO from a business with X business model (for example, ads) and expecting them to execute Y business model (for example, recurring membership revenue) in your business (people typically keep executing the strategy they know and love/are comfortable with - “to a person with hammer, everything looks like a nail”) • Expecting a business to disrupt itself or incubate its own “labs” projects (these are usually expensive boondoggles and the innovator’s dilemma typically kicks in “never expect someone to understand something that their paycheck depends on them not understanding”) • Expecting a CEO to issue dividends vs. horde cash when their incentives don’t align with dividend receiving shareholders (CEOs will often  press to keep as much cash on the balance sheet as possible, unless dividends benefit them as well - you essentially incentivize them to create silly R&D projects or at least project the need for massive cash investment) There's so many more. Will share as I think of them :-) The lead image for this article was generated by HackerNoon's via the prompt "Businessman.” AI Image Generator

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