Recently I was asked to implement a new feature for a service. Basically, a simple Circuit Breaker pattern to throttle users in case of abuse. The request was worded like this:

I was working on a deadline – trying to move quickly and get it done. I needed to write a class to continue my work, but once I had finished, I couldn’t help but notice that I had violated the Single Responsibility Rule.

Recently I’ve come to a realization: I use Single() and SingleOrDefault() frequently even though many developers avoid it entirely – instead always opting to use First() or FirstOrDefault(). I wanted to explain why I explicitly choose Single over First in certain situations. Under most circumstances, Single() provides a better a means of validating the intent of your LINQ, therefore helping to validate your program as a whole. 

Managing a project’s stability during development and release cycles is a problem that every software shop must face. There are many approaches to tackling this problem, and today I’m going to talk about GitFlow.