Daniel D'Agostino

Programming. Writing. Gaming.

Who Am I?

• Software Engineer with 16 years of experience
  • Mainly experienced with C#/.NET
  • Currently using Go (aka GoLang)
• Retro gaming enthusiast
• Maintainer of several websites and tech blogs including:
  • Gigi Labs (2014): latest tech blog, portfolio
  • Programmer's Ranch (2013): earlier tech blog
  • Swords and Software (2006): tech & gaming (non-Ultima) website
  • Dino's Ultima Page (2002): info website dedicated to the Ultima series
• Learning to play music
• Originally from Malta (EU)

Contact

• Email: see my email address
• Not quite active on social media any more

Articles (Selection)

I've written well over 400 articles at Gigi Labs, Programmer's Ranch, and other places. Below is a selection of some of the most interesting and detailed ones.

• Technical
  • Working with Maps in Go (21st January 2024)
  • Running Puppeteer under Docker (3rd April 2023)
  • Project Management is a Graph Problem (8th January 2023)
  • From .NET to GoLang: Here We Go Again (16th November 2022)
  • Filebeat, Elasticsearch and Kibana with Docker Compose (26th August 2022)
  • From .NET to GoLang: Where Did Everything Go? (1st August 2022)
  • Pitfalls of AutoMapper (18th April 2021)
  • Managing ASP .NET Core Settings in Multiple Environments (9th February 2020)
  • Family Tree with RedisGraph (17th November 2019)
  • Using Time-Based One-Time Passwords for Two-Factor Authentication (19th October 2019)
  • Log Shipping with Filebeat and Elasticsearch (19th March 2018)
  • Indexing and Searching Geopolygons using ElasticSearch (27th January 2018)
• Non-Technical
  • Hiring Software Engineers: From Dev to Interviewer (4th December 2022)
  • Surviving in Canton Zurich (30th October 2022)

Public Tech Talks

See the Public Talks page at Gigi Labs for more details.

• Building Flexible APIs with OData (2020) at Virtual APIDays Helsinki 2020 (virtual) organised by Osaango
• A Practical Introduction to RedisGraph (2020) at RedisConf 2020 (virtual) organised by Redis Labs
• Virtual Actors with Microsoft Orleans (2017) at session organised by Ignite MT
• What's New in C# 6.0 (2015) at session organised by Tech Spark
• Visual Studio 2010: What's in it for Coders (2010) at Microsoft DevDays 2010, organised by Tech Spark and Microsoft Malta
• DirectX: A Brief Overview (2010): winner of the Tech Spark Speaker Idol Competition

Tech Projects (Selection)

• Minesweeper 5 (2021), a Minesweeper clone built with React
• Picaxo 2 (2016), an image viewer written in C++ using SDL2
• Lilly Notes (2014), a sticky notes application written in C# using WPF
• ImapTalk (2012-2015), a diagnostic tool facilitating interaction with line-based internet protocols, written in C# using WPF

See more at the Projects and Gaming pages at Gigi Labs.

Gaming

See the Gaming page at Gigi Labs for more details.

• Several walkthroughs and detailed game guides:
  • Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession walkthrough (2024)
  • Menzoberranzan walkthrough (2023)
  • Day of the Tentacle walkthrough (2023)
  • Ultima 1 Guide and walkthrough (2014)
  • Eye of the Beholder 2 walkthrough (2011) and info
  • Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne Bonus (Orc) Campaign walkthrough (2011)
  • The Savage Empire Guide and walkthrough (2006)
  • Ultima: Escape from Mount Drash Guide (2003)
  • Ultima 8 Guide and incomplete walkthrough (2003)
• Speedruns:
  • Fastest Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession speedrun in 1:12:37 (2024)
  • Fastest Menzoberranzan speedrun in 51:47 (2023)
  • Savage Empire speedrun in 15:27 (2021; held the world record between 2020-2025)
• Published reviews:
  • Day of the Tentacle 30th anniversary review published in The Times of Malta (2023)
  • Ravenloft: Stone Prophet review published in The CRPG Book (2018)
• Ultima bugs discovered and investigated (2022):
  • The Savage Empire Portraits Bug: info, repro video
  • The Savage Empire Gold Falls Bug: investigation, repro video
  • Ultima 6 Moon Phase Bug: info, repro video
  • Ultima 6 Zeta Bug: info, repro video
• Websites
  • Swords and Software (2006): tech & gaming (non-Ultima) website
  • Dino's Ultima Page (2002): info website dedicated to the Ultima series

Music

Music has been growing for a while into one of my main hobbies. I'm not quite a musician, but:

• I've been learning to play several string instruments on and off since December 2012
• I've been attending Ukulele Tuesday on and off since September 2018
• I've been teaching ukulele casually since March 2025
• I performed "House of the Rising Sun" (singing and ukulele) at the open mic event of the Ukulele Hooley 2025 festival