Jerod & Feross learn all about htmx (a pragmatic approach to web frontends) and _hyperscript (an experimental scripting language inspired by HyperTalk) with special guest Carson from Big Sky Software. Thanks to Rajasegar Chandran for requesting this episode!
We did a somewhat deep exploration of Vite on JS Party #168. During that time I shared some tips & tricks for quickly coming up to speed on an open source project. Some of it is JavaScript/Vite-specific, but there are general principles laced in there as well. Maybe it’ll help you read other people’s code more effectively.
You may have heard my little rant about WET form validation logic on the latest episode of The Changelog. Well maybe you didn’t, but Evyatar did. It prompted him to reach out and let me know about Vest, his declarative validation framework:
The idea behind Vest is that your validations can be described as a ‘spec’ or a contract that reflects your form or feature structure. Your validations run in production, and they are framework agnostic - meaning Vest works well with React, Angular, Vue, or even without a framework at all.
I dig the syntax! Here’s a taste:
import vest, { test } from 'vest';
export default vest.create('user_form', (data = {}, currentField) => {
vest.only(currentField);
test('username', 'Username is required', () => {
enforce(data.username).isNotEmpty();
});
test('username', 'Username is too short', () => {
enforce(data.username).longerThanOrEquals(3);
});
});
Now all we need is a tool that will inspect our server-side logic and generate the equivalent Vest code. 😉
Jerod and Nick discuss the big Deno news, play a ridiculous new game in honor of April Fool’s Day, then give shout outs to some awesome software projects we love.
This week we’re joined by long-time web developer Matt Patterson. Earlier this year Matt wrote an evocative article for A List Apart called The Future of Web Software Is HTML-over-WebSockets. In this episode Matt sits down with Jerod to discuss, in-detail, why he believes the future of the web is server-rendered (again) and how Ruby on Rails is well positioned to bring that future to us today.
KBall, Amal, and Nick dive into key dimensions of what makes a developer work environment good – or bad. They discuss systemic factors, individual factors, what you can do about it, and a proposed scoring system for good work environments.
The JavaScript ternary operator is more than just a ‘clever’ hack used by people who prefer brevity to clarity.
This is one of the least ranty “I’ve switched from X to Y” posts I’ve read and it’s filled with knowledge regarding the importance of data structures:
If you have solid foundation, the house will come with little effort. If the foundation is mud and sticks on top of a trash heap, your life as a builder is going to be complicated.
This principle applies to tools in a broader sense. You want to do the least work possible when swinging a sledgehammer, so you design it such that the hammer is a much heavier material than the handle. This gives you leverage. If you designed your sledgehammer in the inverse, you’d have to swing it harder every time you used it.
Jack Franklin rebuilt his (p)React-based pomodoro app in Svelte and wrote up a nice comparison of his experiences with both:
This is not a post declaring Svelte to be better than React, or vice-versa. This is a post where I’ll tell you about my preferences, and what I find easier or harder with either framework. I’m not here to pick a fight!
Spotify’s Tryggvi Gylfason joins Emma & Nick to discuss common accessibility mistakes and tips for avoiding them!
Marco Otte-Witte on why simplabs loves Ember and thinks it’s a great choice, even in 2021:
Ember allows teams to excel at executing their product vision and focus on shipping instead of getting lost in low-level rabbit holes where little business value can be found.
In my professional work, a few years ago, I worked on a project where the objective was to make reviews of films and trailers, working through APIs that brought everything together.
The problem is that the subtitles were not always synchronized with the audio and it was very difficult (if not impossible) to find a player that could adjust in real time (at least without wierd plugins and hacks).
A few days ago I started working on a project called “moovie.js”, which is basically a standard HTML5 video, that allows you to adjust the offset manually in real time and has full support for .vtt and .srt caption files.
Aladino is a tiny (around ~5kb gzipped) and dependency-free javascript library that allows to enhance your site using “shader effects”. The library is using WebGL1 and has progressive enhancement and accessibility in mind.
Still in beta, but used on a couple production sites already. Lots of examples here.
The wonderful folks behind CSS-Tricks (maybe you’ve heard of it?) face off in our much beloved don’t-call-it-jeopardy game show. Can you out smart our intrepid contestants?
Play along while you listen (or watch). It’s JS Danger time, y’all!
Zach Leatherman wanted the effect of live coding for his tech talks, but none of the unbridled anxiety (his words). Sooo he did what any self-respecting software developer does: he built a thing.
You can use this for presentations (like me). You could use this for screencasts or recording video training materials. Hell, you could even use it for job interviews (probably don’t do this). But it wouldn’t hurt to have a
fizzbuzzgist in your back pocket just in case 😅
See Queue Code in action in this tweet of Zach’s daughter “doing some HTML programming” then try it for yourself right here.
The week we talk about the new Open Web Docs initiative and the future of MDN.
Go Time’s Mat Ryer joins Jerod, KBall, and Nick to play Story of the Week, Today I Learned, Unpopular Opinions, and Shout Outs!
Mike Bostock celebrates D3’s 10th by reflecting on what he’s learned over the years. There’s a lot to glean from Mike’s reflections. I really enjoyed this sentiment under the “Don’t go it alone” section:
To avoid entrusting your emotional wellbeing to internet randos (see #8), you must develop relationships with a small, stable group of people that you respect. In other words, find a team (or community) that can provide validation, feedback, support, and mentorship. Maybe this is obvious to everyone but me — yes, Mike, friends are good — but I feel like it’s worth repeating today when so much human interaction happens at a distance.
Browser extensions are cool until you need to set up one.
extension-createhelps you develop cross-browser extensions with built-in support for module imports/exports, auto-reload, and more.
Cezar describes it as create-react-app, but for browser extensions.
With Jam you can create audio rooms that can be used for panel discussions, jam sessions, free flowing conversations, debates, theatre plays, musicals and more. The only limit is your imagination.
The README has an excellent feature comparison to help you decide if Jam is right for you. They also have a PRIVACY file, which is nice to see.
Eric Normand (long-time FP advocate and author of Grokking Simplicity) joins Jerod and KBall for a deep conversation about Functional Programming in JavaScript. Eric teaches us what FP is all about, details the functional side of JS, and reviews the good/bad/ugly of React.
Oh, and join us in the #jsparty channel of our community slack where we’re giving away three FREE e-book copies of Eric’s new book! 🎁
UsTaxes is an open source tax filing application that can be used to file the Federal 1040 form. It is different from paid tax preparation software in that it protects user privacy and is provided for free. It is available in both web and desktop formats.
The coolest thing about this (in addition to it being free-as-in-beer) is that it stores all data in the browser only, so your personal info never leaves your computer.
WIP Alert: You shouldn’t use it file your taxes for the 2020 / 2021 tax season, but it’s a great time to get involved and help this software become production-ready for the next go-around.
Connor Ward:
Before React, there was Angular and before that, there was jQuery – all frameworks that have fallen by the wayside. It’s just a matter of time before something comes along and takes the mantle as the new hotness. Or so they say.
I’m not so sure. In fact, I think React will be with us for many years to come.
He sites React Native’s success as one reason React will remain relevant, amongst others. I’m not so sure.
I believe React The Idea (uni-directional data flow through declarative component trees) is here to stay, but I’m not so convinced that React The Software won’t be soon replaced like its predecessors were.
