#javascript
Every note tagged #javascript, newest first — or browse the full archive.
A spreadsheet that runs payroll: a pipeline in Google Apps Script
Every two weeks I used to open a time-clock export and copy each employee's shifts, by hand, into a payroll workbook — an afternoon of careful, error-prone transcription. Now it's a one-minute import from a menu inside the spreadsheet itself. This post is the big-picture tour of how that works: what Google Apps Script is, bound versus standalone projects, converting an uploaded .xlsx on the fly, writing live formulas so a hand edit still cascades, and getting the code out of the browser and into local files and git with clasp.
What are cloud functions? A practical tour with real code
A from-scratch explanation of what cloud functions actually are, the problem they solve, and three real-world examples — an image-resize trigger, a scheduled report, and a webhook handler — written in JavaScript, Python, and Go with line-by-line explanations of what each function does.
The Met API has no random button
A year ago I shipped a one-button "random artwork" toy on top of the Met Museum API. It has since grown into a four-screen app — and the interesting part is what you do when the API you're randomizing over has no way to hand you something random. Manufacture it. And once you can manufacture randomness, a deterministic "artwork of the day" falls out for free.
Hardening the open CORS proxy — allowlists, SSRF guards, and the bypass I almost left behind
A year after building an open serverless CORS proxy, I closed the open-relay hole it had become — target and origin allowlists, SSRF guards, a resilience layer — and learned a sharp lesson about a forgotten debug endpoint that Vercel was still routing.
Building a Random Art Generator with the Met Museum API and a Serverless CORS Proxy
Taking a break from science to explore art and technology with a web application that makes the Metropolitan Museum's collection accessible through a custom-built CORS proxy solution.
Building a Serverless CORS Proxy with Vercel - Simplifying Cross-Origin Requests
A practical exploration of building a serverless CORS proxy using Vercel's serverless functions, offering an elegant solution to the common cross-origin resource sharing challenges faced by frontend developers.