PinnedMember-onlyThe Many Flavors of JavaScriptThe popularity of JavaScript has risen sharply since 2000, transforming developer culture and creating opportunities to use the language in ways the world has never seen before. Unfortunately, the rapid rise in JavaScript’s popularity has also created a number of knowledge gaps. Some of the most significant gaps are the…Java Script10 min readJava Script10 min read
PinnedMember-onlyThe Tech Talent Landscape of Austin, TX (2021 Update)Originally written in 2017, Updated for 2021. Austin continues to land in the “Best Of” news for continued growth. The population growth rate still stands at roughly 120 people per day (157 gross, ~35 people leave each day too). …Technology8 min readTechnology8 min read
Published in JavaScript in Plain English·Jul 24Bun: A Hot TakeAs predicted last year, a trend is emerging around the creation of custom JavaScript runtimes. At first, it was just browsers. Then there was Narwahl. Then there was Node.js and lesser known runtimes like Vert.x. Today, the world has Cloudflare Workers, Deno, and now Bun.sh. Bun is a new JavaScript…Java Script6 min readJava Script6 min read
Feb 6Member-onlyWill AI Replace Developers?A.I.-driven development is starting to emerge with tools like GitHub’s Copilot and Google’s DeepMind AlphaCode. These tools produce functioning programming code, causing many developers to question whether their jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence. Will developers be replaced by artificial intelligence? No. A.I. …Development5 min readDevelopment5 min read
Dec 15, 2021Member-onlyThe Sustainability of Open SourceOpen Source software plays a critical role in organizations of all sizes. When open source fails, the natural response is to question why the failure occurred and how to prevent the problem from happening again. Increasingly, failures stem from lack of support and/or misalignment of interests. Unfortunately, this is a…Open Source12 min readOpen Source12 min read
Sep 30, 2021The Slippery Slope of Dev DemandsBig tech is listening to developer noise in their quest to be best. Unfortunately, this is starting to deteriorate the integrity of some programming languages. To better understand this, consider the recent Chrome release, with a small but important change in their DevTools. Developers can redeclare a JavaScript const variable…Java Script4 min readJava Script4 min read
Published in JavaScript in Plain English·Jul 22, 2021Member-onlyIs “Don’t Pollute the Global Namespace” Still Good Advice in JavaScript?If you’re a JavaScript developer, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “Don’t pollute the global namespace.” This rule of thumb has saved developers many hours, and still has some merit. However, advancements in JavaScript have given way to new opportunities for using the “global” space in a safer manner. Original Thinking JavaScript developers…Java Script10 min readJava Script10 min read
Published in Better Programming·Mar 3, 2021Member-only3 Ways To Combine JavaScript ObjectsUsing the assign method, loops, and the spread operator — Objects are a powerful part of JavaScript. They are the inspiration for JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). As a fundamental component of application development, there are many ways to work with them. This short guide offers insights into JavaScript objects and how to combine them using plain JavaScript. None of the…Programming6 min readProgramming6 min read
Feb 18, 2021Member-onlyIs Interest in JavaScript Declining?This question was originally asked on Quora. The original response was sent to over two million Quora users. This article expands upon the answer. Google trends suggests “javascript” interest is in decline. One glimpse at a downward trending chart from the world’s most popular search engine could easily make one…Java Script6 min readJava Script6 min read
Published in Metadoc·Jan 26, 2021Member-onlyDocumentation as a Data SourceSoftware is a living ecosystem. It’s composed of code libraries, logic, data streams, and other detailed components that work together. Documentation is supposed to be a “guide” for navigating this technical ecosystem. However; truly useful documentation is still difficult to produce and consume. Documentation’s intrinsic value is dependent on the…Documentation6 min readDocumentation6 min read
