TLDR WEB DEV 2024-01-08

2023 JAVASCRIPT RISING STARS

The JavaScript Rising Stars is an annual report that highlights popular projects and trends in the JavaScript ecosystem. In 2023, projects like shadcn/ui, Bun, Excalidraw, and Next.js were very prominent. React continues to be the most-used front-end framework, while HTMX and Svelte are growing as popular alternatives. The report also covers developments in build tools, mobile development, styling/CSS in JS, testing, desktop applications, static sites, state management, and GraphQL.

NEXT.JS 14 INTERCEPTING ROUTES

Next.js 14’s App Router introduced intercepting routes, which allows users to intercept or stop the default routing behavior and present an alternate view or component when navigating through the UI while still preserving the intended route for scenarios like page reloads. This can be useful if you want to show a route while keeping the context of the current page. This post provides practical examples of when intercepting routes can be used to improve your website’s UX.

MAKING SENSE OF “SENSELESS” JAVASCRIPT FEATURES

This article discusses "senseless" JavaScript features, such as the floating-point format and why 0.1 + 0.2 doesn't equal 0.3, type coercion and why using === is preferred over ==, automatic semicolon insertion and its limitations, the presence of two bottom values (null and undefined), and the use of increment (++) and decrement (--) operators. These quirks are important to understand as they can lead to hard-to-debug issues. By avoiding certain constructs as shown by examples in the article, developers can make their code more readable.

9 YEARS OF APPLE TEXT EDITOR SOLO DEV

This solo developer has been working on a text editor for nine years, building the application using AppKit and Objective-C. In this post, they describe various implementation details and challenges experienced while developing the application, such as the application’s architecture, the decision to avoid third-party dependencies, and how storyboards were used to create a well-structured codebase. They also show how they read framework code and analyze stack traces to understand how Apple frameworks work.

WEIRD THINGS ENGINEERS BELIEVE ABOUT WEB DEVELOPMENT

The web development community has common assumptions that are not always true. For example, the engineers that create web browsers do not necessarily know how to develop web applications well. Another common belief is that all sites should work without JavaScript. While this is an admirable goal, some sites should actually use more JavaScript. Generally, using JavaScript well leads to better user experiences on the web.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF REFACTORING

It’s helpful to have a comprehensive suite of tests to make refactoring easier. Take small steps when making changes, run tests frequently, adopt continuous integration, refrain from adding extra functionality during refactoring, and make refactoring an integral part of the development process. Automate refactoring when possible and avoid excessively long functions or classes.

QUICK-LINT-JS

Quick-lint-js finds bugs in JavaScript programs, such as syntax errors, using await in a non-async function, and assigning to a const variable.

BETTER COMMITS

Better Commits is a CLI tool that lets developers generate conventional commits through a series of prompts. This allows for better commit messages while inferring ticket and commit type from the branch for consistency.

ANGULAR DEVELOPER SURVEY 2023

The Angular developer survey for 2023 found that 96% of developers use the latest standalone APIs, with 26% already using Signals. Developers appreciate Angular for its integration between core modules, runtime performance, and dependency injection, but identified areas for improvement in its documentation, component authoring format, and initial load performance. The roadmap for 2024 includes continued work on documentation, improving initial load times, and enhancing the component authoring experience.

ESCAPING THE COST/VISIBILITY TRADEOFF IN OBSERVABILITY PLATFORMS

It’s difficult to keep costs low as system complexity grows in traditional Application Performance Monitoring systems. This leads to a cost/visibility tradeoff, where to cut costs, teams have to cut down on visibility into their application’s performance. There are several options to address this, such as focusing on efficient event handling, embedding custom attribute tracking in code, and using open-source observability tools.

REACT NATIVE'S 2023 HIGHLIGHTS AND 2024 OUTLOOK INTRO

React Native saw significant improvements in 2023, including first-class TypeScript support, better styling and layout using Flexbox, and new features like Bridgeless mode. React Native receives updates often, has active community support, and has a growing presence in the top 100 apps on mobile app stores.

HTMX PLAYGROUND

A simple in-browser code sandbox for experimenting with HTMX.

THE ENGINEERING MINDSET

Developing a better engineering mindset involves writing often, fostering productive relationships with product managers, and developing proper company values.

HOW TO WRITE

Writing as a software engineer is important as it allows you to leverage yourself to make a greater impact.

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