February 2024 – Kev's Development Toolbox

In a previous post I used jq to parse the responses from the aws cli for Lambdas to search for or parse the results for specific property values. Querying Lambda properties can also be done via the aws cli itself without using jq (although using jq is significantly more powerful).

If you’ve received an email from AWS about runtimes that are reaching End of Life, the emails usually contain an example use of the cli showing how to query for specific runtimes, for example:

aws lambda list-functions --function-version ALL --region us-west-1 --output text --query "Functions[?Runtime=='nodejs14.x'].FunctionArn"

The long term solution for upgrading a runtime should be to redeploy and test with the latest runtime and then redeploy your production value after testing. It is possible for a quick fix to update the runtime of a deployed Lambda directly via the aws cli. Once you’ve identified which Lambdas need to update, use this command to update:

aws lambda update-function-configuration --function NAME --runtime RUNTIMENAME

The benefits of religiously following a strict Test Driven Development (TDD) approach (always write tests first before code) is a hotly debated topic. No experienced developer would ignore the fact that testing is essential, but there are debatable pros and cons for whether writing unit tests before, during or after has the most benefit.

If your team has a commitment to unit testing there is valuable side benefit to your code quality that can arise by itself but is usually encouraged by more experienced development teams. Overly complex code that doesn’t have a clear or single responsibility, is tightly coupled with other code and/of is excessively long, is hard to test. Complex code is hard to understand and maintain, it’s usually also the source for more defects compared with simpler and easier to understand code. Effective teams always look for areas where they can become more efficient and make their lives easier, and aiming to develop simpler code to make it easier to test brings these additional benefits with it.

By adopting a mindset that code should be developed and structured in a simpler way so that it is easier to test, you instantly gain from the benefits of simpler code that’s easier to maintain. Win-win all round.

Month: February 2024

A commitment to unit testing results in easier to maintain code in the long term