Seven ways to be a happier JavaScript developer - NDC Oslo
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The document outlines seven ways to be a happier JavaScript developer, emphasizing the importance of understanding the versatile nature of JavaScript, focusing on current tasks, and utilizing effective development tools. It encourages developers to limit their environment, adopt stricter coding practices, engage with the community, and filter out unnecessary noise in the industry. The overall message promotes a positive mindset and community-oriented approach to growth as a developer.
Seven ways to be a happier JavaScript developer - NDC Oslo
- 3. Seven ways to be a happier JavaScript developer Chris Heilmann (@codepo8) April 2018
- 4. ways to be a happier JavaScript developer ▪ Understanding that JavaScript is not a language ▪ Concentrating on the now ▪ Limiting our development environment ▪ Making it harder to write bad code ▪ Getting to know our tooling ▪ Giving back to others ▪ Muffling the noise
- 5. Understanding that JavaScript is not a language…
- 6. JavaScript is a lot of things… ▪ Far from perfect ▪ Everywhere ▪ Free to use ▪ Environment independent ▪ Freely documented ▪ Instantly gratifying
- 7. JavaScript’s versatility means diverse needs. ▪ Web scripts ▪ WebView based solutions (Electron) ▪ Browser extensions ▪ Web based apps (PWA) ▪ Server-side solutions (Node) ▪ Convertible to binary formats (WebAssembly) ▪ Powering Robots (Nodebots) ▪ Packages (NPM)
- 8. JavaScript is much more now than we ever expected… ▪ A standardised language (TC39) ▪ An ecosystem ▪ A community ▪ An opportunity to do a lot with one language ▪ A chance to cause damage (performance, security)
- 9. Relax - in a world of options nobody can be an expert in all of them.
- 11. Worries of the past shouldn’t prevent us from creating…
- 12. Focusing exclusively on the next cool thing is as stifling and depressing
- 14. caniuse.com
- 16. The web development trinity BrowserTerminalEditor ▪ Where we code ▪ Where we tweak themes ▪ Where we mix spaces and tabs – like animals ▪ Where we do version control ▪ Where we run build tasks ▪ Where we deploy ▪ Where we tweak themes ▪ Where we assume everyone runs OSX ▪ Where we debug ▪ Where we check and tweak visual output ▪ Where we audit ▪ Where we annoy the end user with odd log messages.
- 17. That is a lot of duplication and multiplication with choice
- 18. Tooling is starting to overtake that historically grown trinity.
- 19. Good editors consolidate features to avoid context switching.
- 20. VS Code (@code) code.visualstudio.com ▪ Open Source, Cross-platform ▪ Hundreds of extensions ▪ Highly theme-able ▪ Built-in source control support ▪ Built-in terminal ▪ Integrates into build processes ▪ Written and extensible in TypeScript ▪ Straightens and lightens teeth with repeat use ▪ Possibly is good against hair loss ▪ Gluten free, macrobiotic
- 21. VS Code (@code) code.visualstudio.com ▪ Open Source, Cross-platform ▪ Hundreds of extensions ▪ Highly theme-able ▪ Built-in source control support ▪ Built-in terminal ▪ Integrates into build processes ▪ Written and extensible in TypeScript ▪ Straightens and lightens teeth with repeat use ▪ Possibly is good against hair loss ▪ Gluten free, macrobiotic twitter.com/crandycodes/status/983488436756627456
- 24. Instead of using your own machine, why not try online before? glitch.com jsbin.com codepen.io
- 25. Making it harder to write bad code.
- 27. Linting > Debugging code.visualstudio.com ▪ Find mistakes while you make them ▪ Based on the experience and consensus of many others ▪ Learn from explanations of linting results ▪ Install and configure, or use in-built linting.
- 28. Moving from knowing .* to learning by making mistakes
- 29. Auditing ▪ Audit your work before you go live ▪ Learn from explanations of why these are mistakes ▪ Keep iterating until it becomes second nature.
- 30. Linting and validation tools can be part of your release process. sonarwhal.com
- 31. Getting to know our tooling
- 32. It is true that our tools have become much more complex.
- 33. Knowing them gives you superpowers and insights how to build great solutions
- 34. Step one is to stop using console.log() and use breakpoints instead. code.visualstudio.com/Docs/editor/debugging smashingmagazine.com/2018/02/javascript-firefox-debugger/
- 36. Take part in the JavaScript community... ▪ Help document ▪ Help clean up and send pull requests ▪ Publish your own work as open source ▪ Enjoy meetups and events ▪ Help by example, not by telling people what they should do
- 38. Not everybody cares about the nuts and bolts and has endless time to invest… twitter.com/headjs_ru/status/955333399564161024
- 39. It is easy to get tempted to sell people your experience as “best practice”
- 40. Find the largest item in the array…
- 43. Using native methods instead of “if”…
- 46. Which one is the best?
- 47. It depends™ ▪ Who is writing the code? ▪ Where does it run? ▪ How clean is the data we deal with? ▪ What horrible old environment needs support? ▪ Who will maintain it? ▪ How likely is it ever to change? ▪ How will it be used?
- 48. Validate and triage ▪ Let’s not feel bad if not everything in the JS world excites us ▪ Not everything hot and cool is ready to replace what we are comfortable with. ▪ If it doesn’t make our lives easier, it is OK to not use it – hype moves fast and forgets fast. ▪ Let’s be excited, but also ready to give it a “meh”
- 49. Projection isn’t good… ▪ What makes us effective can be very subjective ▪ It makes sense to talk about our success. ▪ It makes less sense trying to force others to do the same ▪ New approaches lead to new happy paths, let’s not discourage people from finding theirs.
- 50. Let’s not kid ourselves about the bleeding edge… ▪ The amazing new idea of today very often becomes the problem of tomorrow ▪ Production code moves less fast than we think ▪ Our end users aren’t guinea pigs or canaries ▪ It is the bleeding edge, make sure you have enough blood to give
- 51. Let’s make this a great community… ▪ Let’s be the people we’d like to have met when we started ▪ Let’s be kind ▪ Let’s be supportive ▪ Let’s allow people to learn by making mistakes and letting off steam ▪ Let’s not get lost in pointless drama
- 52. Thanks! Chris Heilmann @codepo8 Terminal photo by Terminal 5 Insider Editor photo by John Oxley Library Browser photo by Joseph Brent