Explore By Series

ESP32 - Smart Garage Door

Build your own HomeKit-enabled smart garage door — step by step!

In this four-part TekCasts series, we take a deep dive into building a fully functional Smart Garage Door using an ESP32 microcontroller and Apple HomeKit integration via HomeSpan. Whether you’re a maker, developer, or smart home enthusiast, this project walks you through the entire process — from idea 💡 to installation 🔧 to iPhone control 📲.

🔹 Episode 1: What is a Smart Garage Door?
See the final product in action and learn how we combine door position sensing, remote control, and Apple Home integration to solve a real-world problem.

🔹 Episode 2: Hardware & Schematics
Explore how the ESP32 connects to four custom sub-circuits with detailed schematics, and see the actual build with real hardware photos and video.

🔹 Episode 3: Software
Walk through the object-oriented codebase powering the smart garage door. Learn how each feature is encapsulated into classes and integrated with Apple’s HomeKit ecosystem using HomeSpan.

🔹 Episode 4: WiFi Configuration & Pairing
Securely configure WiFi credentials without touching the code, then pair your device with Apple Home for full remote control and notifications.

🔗 Resources included:
• GitHub Project Repo: https://github.com/rcravens/esp32_smart_garage_door
• HomeSpan Library (HomeKit Integration): https://github.com/HomeSpan/HomeSpan

By the end of this series, you’ll have a powerful, secure, and polished smart garage door system — and the skills to extend it even further. Let’s build something smart together! 🛠️🚀

JavaScript for Beginners

Ready to unlock the power of the web? Whether you’re dreaming of building websites, launching interactive apps, or diving into a dev career, JavaScript is your gateway—and this course is your launchpad. 🧑‍💻💥

In “JavaScript for Beginners”, you’ll go from zero to confident coder with a hands-on, modern approach to the world’s most popular programming language. Step-by-step, we’ll guide you through the fundamentals, demystify the syntax, and get you writing real code fast. 💻✨

💡 What you’ll learn:
• 🧠 Core Language Fundamentals: Understand variables, data types, operators, and control flow—build the logic behind the magic.
• 🔁 Loops & Functions: Write clean, reusable code with powerful function patterns.
• 📦 Collections: Master arrays and objects—tools you’ll use everywhere in JavaScript.
• 💥 Intermediate Power-Ups: Destructuring, error handling, template literals, and more to level up your scripts.
• 🌀 Function Wizardry: Closures, higher-order functions, and even recursion? Yes, you can.
• 🏗 Object-Oriented JavaScript: From prototypes to modern ES6 classes and inheritance.
• 🔗 Modules & What’s Next: A sneak peek into modular code and your next steps in the JavaScript journey.

🛠️ You’ll also:
• Set up a coding environment
• Use browser dev tools like a champ
• Build a solid foundation for DOM scripting and frameworks like React

⸻

Whether you’re brand new to coding or switching gears into web development, this course will leave you energized and equipped. By the end, you won’t just know JavaScript—you’ll be using it like a pro. ⚔️🔥

Let’s code something awesome. Your journey starts here! 🌟

Linux Crash Course

Get up to speed with Linux quickly in this hands-on crash course designed for beginners and aspiring system administrators. Learn essential skills like navigating the file system, creating and managing files, understanding permissions, searching for files efficiently, and leveraging powerful tools like redirection and pipes. We’ll also dive into text editors, user management, ACLs, and process control—giving you the practical knowledge needed to confidently work in a Linux environment. Whether you’re new to Linux or need a refresher, this series will help you build a solid foundation fast.

PHP for Beginners

Welcome to PHP for Beginners, a complete step-by-step guide to learning PHP from the ground up! Whether you’re a total beginner or looking to refine your backend development skills, this series covers everything you need to know to start building dynamic, data-driven websites with PHP.

What You’ll Learn:

✅ The fundamentals of PHP and how it powers the web
✅ Setting up your development environment (XAMPP, MAMP, Docker, and more)
✅ Writing your first PHP script and understanding PHP syntax
✅ Working with variables, data types, arrays, and strings
✅ Controlling program flow with conditionals and loops
✅ Creating and using functions efficiently
✅ Handling user input, forms, and validation for secure web applications
✅ Embedding PHP in HTML and structuring reusable code
✅ Debugging, error handling, and best practices
✅ A hands-on final project to put your PHP skills to the test!

By the end of this series, you’ll have a strong foundation in PHP development, enabling you to create dynamic websites, process user input, and build real-world applications. Get ready to code and bring your web development ideas to life! 💻🔥

PHP Object Oriented Programming

This action-packed video series takes you on a journey from the fundamentals of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) in PHP to advanced techniques, helping you write cleaner, more maintainable, and scalable code.

We kick things off by exploring why OOP matters and how it solves common issues like messy, hard-to-maintain code. You’ll learn how to create classes and objects, define properties and methods, and harness encapsulation 🔒 to control data access. As we progress, we’ll dive into constructors, destructors, namespaces, and autoloading 📦, making your code more efficient and modular.

From there, we explore inheritance & polymorphism 🎭, showing you how to extend classes and implement interfaces for flexible, reusable designs. You’ll master traits, static methods, and the final & parent keywords to control class behavior. Then, we tackle exception handling ⚠️, teaching you how to manage errors like a pro with custom exceptions.

In the final stretch, we bring everything together with real-world patterns, including the Singleton pattern (logger class) 🔁 and Dependency Injection 💡 for writing decoupled, testable code. To top it off, we’ll refactor a calculator app from scratch 🛠️, applying OOP best practices to build a fully optimized application.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to level up your PHP skills, this series will equip you with everything you need to master OOP and write better PHP code! 🚀🔥

PHP Package Development

Want to create your own PHP package and share it with the world? In this series, we’ll walk through the entire process of building, testing, publishing, and automating a PHP package using Composer, Packagist, and GitHub Actions.

📌 What you’ll learn in this series:
✅ Understanding Composer & Packagist
✅ Structuring your PHP package
✅ Writing tests with PEST
✅ Publishing your package on Packagist
✅ Automating builds with GitHub Actions

By the end of this series, you’ll have a fully functional, test-driven PHP package that others can install and use with Composer. Whether you’re building an open-source library or a private package for your team, this guide will help you do it the right way.

🔔 Subscribe and follow along to become a PHP package pro!

🔗 Resources:
• Composer
• Packagist
• PEST Testing Framework
• GitHub Actions

Let’s build something awesome! 💡🔥

Pragmatic PHP

🚀 Introducing “PHP: The Pragmatic Way” – Your Guide to Building Real-World PHP Applications!

If you’re ready to take your PHP skills to the next level, this video series is designed to help you do just that! Starting from a static HTML page, we’ll guide you through the process of converting it into a dynamic, maintainable PHP application using best practices.

🔧 What You’ll Learn:
• How to build a custom PHP mini-framework from scratch (no frameworks, just pure PHP!)
• Core concepts like MVC architecture, routing, sessions, and database management
• Practical coding techniques for clean, secure, and maintainable PHP code
• Step-by-step guidance on refactoring your project as it grows, from simple static pages to a full-fledged application

⚙️ Key Features:
• Hands-on approach with real-world examples
• A focus on practical, easy-to-follow solutions
• Emphasis on clean, reusable code that follows industry best practices
• Building your own PHP framework and database handling code along the way

By the end of this series, you’ll have built a fully functional photo review application – and gained the skills to develop your own PHP projects with confidence.

Ideal for: Intermediate PHP developers looking to deepen their understanding and elevate their coding practices.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of PHP and OOP principles.

Ready to take your PHP skills to the next level? Join me in this practical, hands-on series! 👨‍💻👩‍💻