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Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

Potluck - Subscriptions × ES Modules in Node × Chicken Thigh × Being a Good Dad × Refactoring × More!

Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

Wes Bos

Tech News, Technology, News

4.91.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2020

⏱️ 63 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s another potluck! In this episode, Scott and Wes answer your questions about React subscriptions, ES Modules in Node, how to cook a chicken thigh, being a good dad and more! Sentry - Sponsor If you want to know what’s happening with your errors, track them with Sentry. Sentry is open-source error tracking that helps developers monitor and fix crashes in real time. Cut your time on error resolution from five hours to five minutes. It works with any language and integrates with dozens of other services. Syntax listeners can get two months for free by visiting Sentry.io and using the coupon code “tastytreat”. Stackbit - Sponsor Stackbit offers developers tools that enable things like inline content editing, live previewing of content changes, and collaboration features on your Jamstack site, without code changes. That’s why Stackbit is the best way to Jamstack. stackbit.com. Show Notes 02:11 - What are “subscriptions” in React, or in programming in general? The React docs mention that setting up a subscription is an example of a side effect, but what exactly is a subscription, and how do you set one up? 05:43 - Using the latest node esm imports, is it possible to use aliases? Using the old require() syntax I used the npm package module-alias (https://www.npmjs.com/package/module-alias), but I cannot seem to find a solution for node v14 imports. In a deeply nested file, I find the import ‘…/…/…/some/folder’ syntax to be awful compared to require(’@/some/folder’). 09:20 - I’ve been a full-time developer for over 10 years and my company has a fairly flat hierarchy. I want to take on more responsibility (and salary) but my company doesn’t have anything like a “lead developer” position. Any ideas for how to move up without switching companies? I know my boss would be receptive if I came to him with a pitch, but we work full stack so it feels like I’m already doing it all. 12:59 - In Wes’ website episode, he mentioned using Gatsby Parallels for images. Why not git LFS? 17:25 - For Wes: Any Big Green Egg tips for beginners? I just ordered a kamado style grill and I’d appreciate any tasty tips you’ve got. 22:45 - Inline code is considered harmful because of potential XSS attacks. Lighthouse recommends inlining critical CSS to improve page speed. What do you think about this tradeoff? 26:30 - What advice would both of you have for being a first-time father, and how can I best prepare? My wife is pregnant, and we are both very excited! I want to do the best I can at being a good father. Our baby is due in January. As both of you are fathers (multiple times), I would love to hear your thoughts. 32:58 - Are present web developers merely crud bastards for corporate culture? If not, What entrepreneurial opportunities are open with Javascript and hooking up React with backend Node/Laravel and reading the Google Map docs? Of course the list isn’t exhaustive but you get my point right? Note: I’m not interested in selling courses and creating frameworks. 37:08 - Do you have any use for ES6 Generators and yield? It seems that they are a mechanism for async-await “under the hood,” so using ‘async-await’ is probably sufficient. 39:10 - With a legacy project that has old build dependencies how do you decide when to retool and fix all the npm audit issues? 46:10 - In what instances do you prefer to use rem vs em vs pixels for font size? I usually think about it like so: if I’m okay with an element’s font size being sized based on the parent, then I’ll use em. If not, then I’ll use rem. I almost never use pixels anymore except sometimes on the html element. But even then, I usually use a percentage. In practice, I’ve found it a bit hard to gauge what to expect with ems because of nesting issues. So, I’ve mostly been leaning towards rem. Though I also understand that using rems can be less modular. How do you guys make the decision? 52:49 - Hello chaps. Thank you so much for the show, I’ve learned an awful lot through listening. I’ve been dabbling in development for some time now and have taken on a project for an Express site which aside from a few static pages will include a shop with a small number of items (

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to Syntax, the podcast with the tastiest web development treats out there.

0:06.0

Strap yourself in and get ready. Here is Scott Telinsky and West Boss.

0:10.4

Welcome to Syntax, this is a podcast with the tastiest web development treats out there today.

0:15.8

We've got a potluck for you.

0:17.8

Some really good questions, some stuff that I'm really excited about in node modules, custom loaders in yes modules in node which is going to be really cool.

0:28.2

I'm talking about salaries, get LFS, a bunch really neat stuff, so stay tuned for some tasty treats. Today we are sponsored by two

0:37.0

awesome companies. First one is Century that does all of your error and exception tracking and the second one is Stack Bit which is the best way to

0:48.0

jam Stack. We'll talk about both of them part way through the episode.

0:51.8

How you doing today's Scott? They do good. Well, I mean, you know, doing as good as I could be doing.

0:58.9

Just just get grinding out, working on my stuff as always, yeah I don't know doing all right I guess

1:05.4

the scatterbrained nonetheless yeah yeah getting a little sick of the lockdown

1:11.4

little just yeah it's difficult to make it all work.

1:15.0

I know, you know, we both have those experiences, but man, I've been doing a lot of work to refine sort of how I think about being productive and what, you know, what needs to fall into place, the systems I have in place for making myself productive and yeah oh man really like having a an off day in those regards it really hurts a lot more

1:41.0

It hurts a lot more now. Yeah, you only have so much time and you have a bad day. Like the other day I had like

1:48.0

something went wrong and my whole plans for the day went out the window and I had to spend time fixing something and it's just a bummer to waste that time.

1:56.0

Especially just like I mean right now there's just there's just so many things to do 24-7 you know so yeah when you when you have one off one or a couple off ones it really

2:05.3

really hurts so yeah ready to ready to get into this hot luck.

2:10.9

First question we got here is from Mark Haslem.

2:15.2

What are subscriptions in react or programming in general?

2:18.6

The react docs mentioned that setting up a subscription in an example is a side effect but what exactly is a subscription and when do you set one up?

2:27.2

So this idea here is not a react specific thing and it's it's more of just a programming thing. So in

2:34.5

react we know that sometimes we have to go off and listen for events or get some

...

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