Syntax &#8211; Tasty Web Development Treats

898: Every Developer Needs a 3D Printer Apr 30, 2025

Show notes

Wes and Scott talk all things 3D printing—from fixing every day items to organizing tools, printing gadgets, and even teaching their kids entrepreneurship.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
03:34 Brought to you by Sentry.io
05:03 Practical uses of 3D printing
07:34 Creating tools for organization
- Gridfinity
10:33 Improving and adapting everyday items
- Underware
14:34 The benefits of printing something vs buying it
15:32 Choosing the right 3D printer
- Bamboo Lab
- Elegoo
- Prusa
- Flashorge
25:26 Projects and ideas
- Multiboard
31:33 Filament types and their uses
40:05 Finding affordable filament
- Deal Forager
46:07 Where to find 3D models
- Maker World
- yeggi
- Printables
- Thangs
- Thingverse
48:08 Creating your own 3D models
- Fusion
- Shapr3D
- Onshape
53:00 Modifying existing 3D models
54:30 Coding in 3D printing
01:01:25 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

Sick Picks

Scott: Alaska Bear Organic Silk Sleep Mask
Wes: BLV - AMS Riser

Shameless Plugs

Syntax YouTube Channel

Hit us up on Socials!

897: Making Your App Feel Faster Than It Really Is Apr 28, 2025

Show notes

Scott and Wes break down the tricks and techniques for making your app feel blazing fast—even when it’s not. From optimistic UI to preload-on-hover, it’s all about perception, not just performance.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
01:12 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
02:34 Mousedown or pointerdown events.
06:00 UI animations should be fast.
08:00 Animations should not block interaction.
08:20 Animations should be cancellable / reversible.
10:50 Optimistic UI.
12:37 Local Data.
13:36 Delay loading indicators.
14:40 Page loading indicators.
15:47 Preload on hover.
17:13 Calculate mouse trajectory.
18:51 Full page spinner on every change.
20:04 Pixelated spinners.
20:23 Skeleton loaders.
23:43 Photo frames.
25:52 Search on input instead of search on click.
26:46 Progress loaders than move in between steps.
27:31 Community submissions.

Hit us up on Socials!

896: Do I Still Need To Know JS/CSS/HTML with AI? × How To Sell An App × Is React Context Bad? × More Apr 23, 2025

Show notes

895: React Server Components: Where are we at? Apr 21, 2025

Show notes

Scott and Wes break down the current state of React Server Components — what they are, how they work, and why they’re so controversial. From framework support to bundling complexity, it’s everything you need to know about RSC in 2025.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
01:01 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
01:55 What exactly are React Server Components?
- 02:18 Server components rendering.
- 03:17 Server components are async.
- 03:45 Server components can be suspended.
- 05:05 Server components send RSC payloads to the browser.
  - 06:08 This feels like HTMX?
- 06:54 Client components are still server rendered.
- 07:58 Server Functions.
- 08:52 useActionState.
09:12 Frameworks and React Platforms.
- 09:16 NextJS.
- 09:42 Waku.
  - 12:26 candycode.com
  - Daishi Kato
- 14:23 React Router.
  - Michael Jackson Tweet.
- 19:29 Vite.
  - vite-plugin-react-server
- 20:54 Tanstack.
  - Syntax Ep 833.
- 22:39 Bun.
- 23:01 DIY.
23:39 Why so much hate?
25:28 I want it my way.
27:46 React Server Components lock-in.

Hit us up on Socials!

894: Open Source Matters w/ Chad Whitacre Apr 16, 2025

Show notes

Wes and Scott talk with Chad Whitacre, the newest member of the Syntax team, about all things open source—licenses, controversies, economics, and ethics. Chad breaks down what most people misunderstand, and how companies can support sustainable software development the right way.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
00:39 Meet Chad Whitacre
03:39 Chad’s retro headphones
- Retrospekt
05:00 Chad’s role at Syntax
- https://syntax.fm/oss
- Open Path
09:41 What do people get wrong about open source?
11:11 Why is open source so divisive?
13:01 The evolution of open source and free software
17:55 Single vendor vs. community open source
20:22 How do people build businesses off of a GPL license?
24:40 What’s the most pure version of open source?
26:55 Fair source licensing explained
30:30 Brought to you by Sentry.io
33:09 Should you be concerned about dependencies in your app in relation to licensing?
- Fair Source
35:16 What’s the most interesting/unusual open source license?
- Beerware License
40:00 What is Open Source Pledge?
- Open Source Pledge
45:41 Choosing the right open source license
48:31 Wes’ most popular open source project
- wait
49:39 Interesting open source projects
- Mercedes-Benz embraces Open Source
- Porsche Open Source Platform
51:33 Licensing for educational content
53:46 The beauty of open source
- Plausible
56:12 Scott’s various open source projects
56:44 The importance of contributing to open source projects
59:16 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

Sick Picks

Chad: Save The Cat!

Shameless Plugs

Chad: Coming soon

Hit us up on Socials!

893: Everyone Is Talking About MCP Apr 14, 2025

Show notes

Scott and Wes break down the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a new open standard that gives AI agents secure, tool-like access to your dev environment. They cover how it works, why it’s a big deal for AI coding workflows, and real-world use cases like GitHub, Sentry, and YouTube.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
00:49 The lore of ICP.
- Wes MCP Shirt.
03:09 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
03:33 What is MCP?
05:06 The steps of AI coding.
- 07:11 MCP hosts.
- 07:28 MCP clients.
- 07:35 MCP servers.
08:24 Why you might want to do this.
- 10:39 How this works in VS Code.
- 14:10 Wes built an MCP server.
  - SVGL.
- 14:57 Playwright.
- 17:24 Sentry’s implementation.
  - Building Sentry’s MCP with David Cramer.
- 18:54 YouTube implementation.
- 21:19 DaVinci Resolve implementation.
  - Smithery.
23:02 Postgres.
24:40 Transport protocols.
24:49 STDIO.
25:19 SSE.
25:32 Streaming.
26:24 Writing you own MCP server.
26:28 FastMCP.
27:00 Cloudflare.
28:01 Data validation.
28:47 Standard schema.
- Episode 873.
29:27 Other parts of MCP.
- 29:35 MCP resources.
- 30:37 MCP prompts.
- 30:48 MCP roots.

Hit us up on Socials!

892: The History of Syntax Apr 09, 2025

Show notes

Wes and Scott talk about the origins of Syntax, sharing how a friendly course name conflict led to a mastermind group, then a podcast, and eventually a full-blown media brand. They also reflect on key milestones, from early episodes and sponsorships to joining Sentry, expanding the team, and what’s next.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
00:51 How Wes and Scott met
09:31 How Syntax got its name
- Episode 001: React Tools
15:30 Getting sponsors
- Delicious Brains
- FreshBooks
18:53 Hasty Treats and expanding the show
22:36 Adding interviews to Syntax
- SVGs with Sara Soueidan
23:38 Syntax’s first live show
- Live at JAMstack_conf
27:58 Brought to you by Sentry.io
28:34 Acquisition by Sentry
- 600th Episode! Major Announcement and Swag Giveaway!
33:56 Hiring a producer
- Randy Rektor
36:39 Transitioning to video and growing the team
41:47 Launching the merch store
- Sentry.shop
46:01 The future of Syntax
47:23 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs

Sick Picks

Scott: Crucial X10 Pro 4TB Portable SSD
Wes: MONVICT Cordless Glue Gun

Shameless Plugs

Syntax YouTube Channel

Hit us up on Socials!

891: Light and Dark Mode Apr 07, 2025

Show notes

Light mode? Dark mode? Scott and Wes break down the best ways to implement theme switching in CSS, from prefers-color-scheme to manual overrides. Plus, tips on handling shadows, icons, and the dreaded flash of dark mode!

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
01:05 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
02:06 Light and dark mode, things to consider.
02:31 Light and dark mode from scratch.
- drop-in.css.
- 04:41 Calculations vs assigned color.
- 05:32 color-mix and relative color.
- 08:15 Foreground and background variables.
  - –tint-or-shade: color-mix(in oklab, var(–fg), transparent 95%);
  - –tint-or-shade-harder: color-mix(in oklab, var(–fg), transparent 90%);
- 09:13 Setting color scheme.
- 12:38 light-dark function in CSS.
15:48 Manually setting dark mode.
- 18:43 The challenges with shared caching.
- 19:33 Tailwind CSS implementation.
  - Tailwind dark-mode.
19:52 Shoehorning in dark mode.
22:25 Other things to consider.
- 22:28 Color contrast.
  - Lea Verou contrast-color.
- 24:39 Logos.
- 25:22 Icons and images.
- 26:20 Accessibility.
  - Polypane.

Hit us up on Socials!