https://pasindukavinda.me/ Articles by Pasindu Kavinda on software engineering, web and mobile development, testing, and DevOps. en https://pasindukavinda.me/post/end-to-end-testing-flutter-bloc-apps-with-patrol/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/end-to-end-testing-flutter-bloc-apps-with-patrol/ Notes from testing a real BLoC-based Flutter app end to end with Patrol - driving the UI, dealing with native permission dialogs, and deciding when to fake the state. Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://pasindukavinda.me/post/building-neural-networks-with-pytorch/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/building-neural-networks-with-pytorch/ A beginner-friendly walkthrough of building a neural network in PyTorch - using a feedforward architecture to create a simple chatbot. Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://pasindukavinda.me/post/why-tanstack-query-is-a-game-changer/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/why-tanstack-query-is-a-game-changer/ How TanStack Query simplifies server-state management in frontend apps - data fetching, caching, and synchronization done right. Wed, 16 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://pasindukavinda.me/post/from-20-testers-to-play-store-in-14-days/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/from-20-testers-to-play-store-in-14-days/ My experience meeting Google Play's new closed-testing requirement - assembling 20 testers in time to publish an Android app. Thu, 09 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://pasindukavinda.me/post/contribute-to-open-source-in-7-steps/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/contribute-to-open-source-in-7-steps/ A beginner's 7-step workflow for making your first open-source contribution on GitHub - from choosing a project to opening a pull request. Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://pasindukavinda.me/post/agile-scrum-in-practice/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/agile-scrum-in-practice/ I've sat through the 45-minute story point arguments so you don't have to. Here's what Scrum actually looks like from the engineer's seat, ritual stripped out. Tue, 15 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://pasindukavinda.me/post/building-desktop-apps-with-electron/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/building-desktop-apps-with-electron/ I shipped an Electron notes app and learned the hard way that the code is easy - it's packaging, signing, and IPC security that bite. Here's what saved me. Tue, 27 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://pasindukavinda.me/post/the-api-gateway-pattern-in-microservices/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/the-api-gateway-pattern-in-microservices/ I chased a timeout bug to a stale API gateway config, and it changed how I think about gateways. Here's what they buy you in microservices, and where they bite. Fri, 19 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://pasindukavinda.me/post/graphql-apis-what-i-wish-id-known/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/graphql-apis-what-i-wish-id-known/ I shipped a GraphQL API that fired 41 queries for one page load. Here's the N+1 pain, schema regrets, and error-handling gotchas I wish I'd known first. Thu, 08 Feb 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://pasindukavinda.me/post/iac-101-a-quick-dive-into-infrastructure-as-code/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/iac-101-a-quick-dive-into-infrastructure-as-code/ An introduction to Infrastructure as Code - what it is, why it beats manual provisioning, and how tools like Terraform automate your cloud setup. Sat, 09 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://pasindukavinda.me/post/postman-101-past-the-send-button/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/postman-101-past-the-send-button/ I wasted an afternoon on a token I'd pasted wrong, so here's how I actually use Postman - environments, auto-saving tokens, chaining requests, and real tests. Mon, 22 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://pasindukavinda.me/post/building-restful-apis-that-dont-fight-you/ https://pasindukavinda.me/post/building-restful-apis-that-dont-fight-you/ The API decisions I actually care about after building a pile of them: nouns not verbs, honest status codes, one error shape, and idempotency that stops double-charges. Tue, 14 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT