TLDR WEB DEV 2025-03-06

{TRANSITIONS} = F(STATE)

React components can be viewed as defining a state machine, where the UI and valid state transitions are functions of the current state ({transitions} = f(state)). Asynchronous and concurrent updates in React can create situations where users can trigger invalid updates because the UI doesn't immediately reflect the new state. To prevent this, devs should use optimistic or pending updates that flush synchronously to the DOM, making sure that the UI accurately reflects the valid transitions.

WEB SCRAPING WITH PLAYWRIGHT

Playwright is a tool often used for end-to-end testing, but can be used for web scraping dynamic websites. Unlike other libraries, Playwright opens websites in a real browser, allowing it to scrape content rendered by JavaScript. This article walks through an example of scraping YouTube for video titles, URLs, and the number of likes, while also navigating through multiple pages at a time.

BUILDING APIS WITH NEXT.JS

This post goes over how to set up a Next.js project with an example route, explains how to use Route Handlers for different HTTP methods, and explores working with Web APIs, dynamic routing, and reusable middleware. It also discusses deployments for both standard Node.js environments and static SPA exports.

50 THINGS WE'VE LEARNED ABOUT BUILDING SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTS

Building successful products at PostHog came from having small, autonomous teams empowered to make decisions based on user feedback and metrics. Trust, transparency, and a focus on shipping fast are necessary, with product engineers playing an important role in understanding user needs and iterating quickly.

TAILSCALE IS PRETTY USEFUL

Tailscale is a service that creates a virtual private network for easy device access. This developer found that Tailscale's free tier was really generous for their use cases, which needed simple remote connections, file sharing, and exit node functionality.

THE ART OF TECH INTERVIEWING

Exceptional candidates think aloud, use uncertainty to demonstrate clarity, and prioritize problem-solving over immediate perfection. They also showcase their authenticity, reframe failures as learning opportunities, and practice structured adaptability to handle unpredictable challenges.

Read more on the Elastic Search Labs blog

LYNX

Lynx is a new cross-platform technology from TikTok that allows devs to create native UIs for mobile and web from a single codebase. It is currently used in various TikTok apps, from lightweight panels to complex e-commerce storefronts, and is now being open-sourced.

ANNOUNCING TANSTACK FORM V1

TanStack Form v1 is a stable, production-ready form library with support for React, Vue, Angular, Solid, and Lit. It has extreme type safety, schema validation (Zod, Valibot, ArkType), and asynchronous validation with built-in debouncing.

MALIBU

Malibu is a native ESM middleware for Node.js that helps protect web apps from CSRF attacks. It's designed to work with frameworks like Express, Tinyhttp, and Polka, and it depends on either Cookie Parser or Session middleware. The middleware allows devs to acquire CSRF tokens and provides options for configuration, including middleware type, cookie settings, and token location.

TRIMODAL NATURE OF TECH COMPENSATION IN THE US, UK, AND INDIA

The US is unique in having a tier above Big Tech. Across the UK, India, and the Netherlands, the highest compensation is Big Tech, but in the US, hedge funds, quant firms, and top scaleups can pay more. However, these positions are usually reserved for workers already in Big Tech, and switching can be difficult. It's a lot harder now to get into top-tier companies in today's tough job market.

APPLE REVEALS M3 ULTRA, TAKING APPLE SILICON TO A NEW EXTREME

Apple has announced the M3 Ultra chip, its highest-performing chip ever. Designed for heavily threaded and bandwidth-intensive applications, the M3 Ultra has a 32-core CPU, an 80-core GPU, a doubled Neural Engine, and support for up to 512GB of unified memory. It also incorporates Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, with more than double the bandwidth per port for faster data transfer.

SIGNALS IN REACT? NOT A GOOD IDEA

While Signals in React offer efficiency and direct UI updates, React's component-based, coarse-grained reactivity model makes it difficult to implement them effectively. There are practical problems like handling data rawness, conditionals, and loops, as well as conceptual issues with React's fundamental re-rendering approach.

EXPO'S AI STRATEGY

Expo is positioning itself as a foundational framework and infrastructure provider for an ecosystem of companies developing AI-assisted app creation tools.

MACBOOK AIR M4

The new MacBook Air, available in 13-inch and 15-inch models, is powered by the M4 chip with Apple Intelligence, has a lightweight design, a Liquid Retina display, up to 18 hours of battery life, and comes in new colors like Sky Blue.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER JOB POSTINGS ON INDEED ARE NOW LOWER THAN THE WORST DAYS OF COVID (REDDIT THREAD)

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, there are about 2% fewer software developer job postings compared to the worst days of COVID in May 2020.

CLI CHATBOT WITH LANGCHAIN AND OPENAI IN NODE.JS