Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Web Development, Neat

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Hot Takes, Remix, and Next.js with Chance Strickland Jun 29, 2023

Show notes

Chuck and Robbie catch up with Chance Strickland, Senior Software Engineer at Replo, at the RenderATL conference. Chance kicks off the conversation by sharing that he is now working at a small startup after leaving the Remix core team.

The trio discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using signals, a tool that helps manage asynchronous JavaScript. They explore how signals can enhance code readability and simplify complex workflows, but caution against potential performance issues and the learning curve involved. The conversation shifts to rebasing, with Chance providing insights into its usage and advantages. He explains how rebasing can help maintain a clean Git history and enable seamless collaboration in a team setting.

In this episode, Chance talks to Robbie and Chuck about his experiences with tools like Tailwind, rebasing in Git, and the pros and cons of using signals in web development.

Key Takeaways

[01:57] - Introduction to Chance Strickland.
[04:11] - A whiskey review: Chicken Cock Kentucky Straight Bourbon.
[12:25] - Tech hot takes.
[19:17] - Chance’s opinion on Tailwind CSS.
[37:07] - What Chance loves about Next.js.
[45:59] - Why Chance is skipping leg day.

Quotes

[18:55] - “You can’t just come in and swing a hammer at everything because you read someone somewhere said this. You have to think about all of that context and understand.” ~ Chance Strickland

[20:47] - “Tailwind really is just a tool built on a CSS Principle.” ~ Chance Strickland

[28:28] - “The thing that keeps me coming back is the very simple promise that React has always given, which is, your UI is a function of your state.” ~ Chance Strickland

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Top-Tier, Full-Stack Software Consultants

This show is brought to you by Ship Shape. Ship Shape’s software consultants solve complex software and app development problems with top-tier coding expertise, superior service, and speed. In a sea of choices, our senior-level development crew rises above the rest by delivering the best solutions for fintech, cybersecurity, and other fast-growing industries. Check us out at shipshape.io.

Web Browsers, Level Up Tutorials, and Sentry with Scott Tolinski Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

Chuck and Robbie are joined by Scott Tolinski, Executive Producer at Sentry, for a recorded chat from the RenderATL conference. The trio delves into lively discussions on various tech topics and shares their candid opinions on ongoing Twitter debates.

Scott opens up about his role at Sentry and how the acquisition has impacted his other venture, Level Up Tutorials. He sheds light on the new direction of Level Up Video and the exciting opportunities it brings for delivering free web development content. Scott also emphasizes the advantages of partnering with Sentry and the increased focus it allows for Syntax. He also provides insights on using a PostCSS plugin to deploy custom media queries and addresses the progress of Safari and its position compared to Internet Explorer (IE) as the browser with the poorest support for certain features.

In this episode, Scott talks to Chuck and Robbie about custom media queries, browser support for new CSS features, and the acquisition of Level Up Tutorials.

Key Takeaways

[01:15] - Introduction to Scott Tolinski.
[01:41] - A whiskey review: The Macallan Double Cask 12 Years Old.
[06:11] - Tech hot takes.
[14:22] - Scott talks about new features in CSS.
[16:29] - Features supported in the top web browsers.
[21:30] - How Scott's position at Sentry affects Level Up Tutorials.
[25:14] - Tools available that aren’t used frequently.
[30:33] - Tools in the works that excite Scott.
[32:36] - Scott talks about his time as an accountant and breakdancer.
[41:10] - The most uncool things Scott likes to do.

Quotes

[13:41] - “People just repeat what the library authors have said over and over again even if they don’t necessarily know what that means.” ~ Scott Tolinski

[16:44] - “Between Firefox and Safari, they’re really close into who has the worst support for things.” ~ Scott Tolinski

[26:33] - “People don’t realize that, to use the clipboard API, it’s a one-liner of JavaScript that is really easy to remember, but everybody reaches for a library.” ~ Scott Tolinski

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Next.js, Vercel, and Subscription Models Jun 15, 2023

Show notes

Chuck and Robbie dive into their recent experience of building a new podcast site and all the frameworks in their toolkit including Next.js, Vercel, and surprisingly, React.

Robbie shares the motivation behind building a new podcast site, with the duo wanting more control over analytics, customization, and the overall look and feel, rather than relying on podcast platforms. Robbie used a Tailwind template in Next.js due to its modern features and the ease of leveraging Next.js' capabilities. But the frameworks in Chuck and Robbie’s toolkit are not without flaws. They discuss Vercel's payment model and pricing plans, including a request for a la carte payment options to escape multiple subscriptions.

In this episode, Robbie and Chuck talk about their experience using Next.js and Vercel for their podcast website, the potential for optimizing React usage in static sites, and the costly subscription model.

Key Takeaways

[02:30] - A whiskey review - Ancient Age Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.
[10:17] - Chuck and Robbie praise Next.js and Vercel.
[37:07] - The problem with the subscription model.
[45:02] - Robbie finally moves.
[51:39] - Chuck and Robbie’s summer plans and gaming.

Quotes

[10:36] - ”Next.js, a good meta-framework that makes even React tolerable for Robbie.” ~ Chuck Carpenter

[26:34] - “IT organizations can be very strict about how many additional places you’re able to put code.” ~ Chuck Carpenter

[28:52] - “Anything that’s built to make money, is going to be optimized for the people making the money.” ~ Robbie Wagner

Links

Riverside
Zencastr
Ancient Age: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Buffalo Trace
RC Cola
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey
Rittenhouse Rye
Guillermo Rauch
Next.js
React
Tailwind CSS
Slack
Vercel
Amazon Web Services
Netlify
Astro
OpenNext
Seed.run
Fly.io
iPhone
PlanetScale
Heroku
PostgreSQL
Supabase
Cloudflare
ClickUp
Disney
Hulu
Fox
Comcast
HBO
Netflix
Verizon
Cox
Century Link
PODS
Federal Reserve
Target
Render ATL
EmberConf 2023
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Super Mario Odyssey
Diablo 4
Nintendo
HP Elitebook
FIFA 2023
Stadia
Steam
AMD
iMac

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CodePen, Web Animation, and the Future of AR/VR with Stephen Shaw Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

Stephen Shaw is a Front End Developer at CodePen. But his journey into the world of web development traces back to his earliest memory, captured in a nostalgic photo from 1987 of him sitting on his dad's lap gazing at a computer tower.

Today Stephen contributes to building one of the most widely used code editors for the web. CodePen, as Stephen reveals, is a dynamic social network where people share code samples and demos among a vibrant community. Stephen reminisces about his involvement in working on Ken Wheeler's cash and using classic web animation tools like GSAP (GreenSock Animation Platform). He's also keen on exploring what lies ahead. Stephen predicts that Apple's rumored headset device will harness the power of AR/VR, pushing developers to adapt to the technology.

In this episode, Stephen talks to Robbie and Chuck about his challenges using typescript at CodePen, the evolution of web animation tools, and the future of VR and AR on the web.

Key Takeaways

[00:35] - An Introduction to Stephen Shaw.
[01:53] - A whiskey review: Angels Envy Straight Bourbon Whiskey.
[07:00] - Tech hot takes.
[09:58] - Why Stephen’s team is converting projects to typescript.
[18:21] - Stephen talks about his time maintaining cash.
[21:11] - How to design web animations.
[24:44] - Stephen discusses the future of VR and AR on the web.
[35:07] - Stephen’s career journey.
[42:45] - Chuck, Robbie, and Stephen explore gaming.
[47:48] - Stephen's other hobbies.

Quotes

[07:32] - “If you have an existing code that works, don’t add typescript. That's not going to make your life any easier.” ~ Stephen Shaw

[25:00] - “I think that we’re very close to a crossroads. Similar to back in 2007 when the iPhone was introduced and suddenly everyone was scrambling to have a mobile website.” ~ Stephen Shaw

[39:57] - “That’s my idea of a web developer. I want to make information accessible. I want to figure out who the audience is and make them connect with what they need.” ~ Stephen Shaw

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Building Zed: A Code Editor for Performance and Collaboration with Nathan Sobo Jun 01, 2023

Show notes

Nathan Sobo, Founder of Zed Industries, is a founding member of the team that built Atom at GitHub. With nine years of experience under his belt, Nathan made the bold decision to leave GitHub and start a new venture: building Zed, a code editor that captures his vast knowledge and ambitious goals.
Nathan opens up about the frustrations he faced with web technology, specifically Electron, which was initially developed to construct Atom but ended up being a resource-hungry burden. Zed, on the other hand, aims to be a more streamlined and efficient code editor by harnessing the power of Rust. Of course, this path was not without its challenges, as Nathan candidly shares the steep learning curve and unique ownership model that came with using Rust. But with determination and a deep understanding of Rust's capabilities, Nathan and his team created an editor with enough promise to secure funding in just two weeks.

In this episode, Nathan talks to Robbie and Chuck about his experience working with Atom, his motivation for building Zed, and the challenges of analyzing community feedback.

Key Takeaways

[00:31] - Introduction to Nathan Sobo.
[02:51] - A whiskey review: Redbreast Kentucky Oak Edition.
[14:12] - Why Nathan created Zed.
[27:55] - Future plans for Zed.
[43:01] - Where the name Zed comes from.
[48:08] - Nathan’s views on crypto.
[53:39] - Nathan's time in Italy.

Quotes

[17:52] - “The learning curve for Rust was, I describe it as a vertical cliff with snakes nesting in the rocks biting me as I ascended it.” ~ Nathan Sobo

[39:11] - “If I look for 20 miles in any direction, I see shit that would be a really good idea to add to Zed.” ~ Nathan Sobo

[42:31] - “I didn’t lick my finger and figure out which way the wind was blowing to start working on Zed. I did it because I wanted to do it, and I didn’t even know why I wanted to do it.” ~ Nahan Sobo

Links

Nathan Sobo Twitter
Nathan Sobo LinkedIn
Zed Industries
GitHub
Rust
Redbreast Kentucky Oak Edition
Kentucky Owl
Nike
Whiskey Advocate’s Top 2 Whiskeys of 2022
Four Roses Bourbon
Teeling Whiskey
Emacs
Chromium
Chrome DevTools
Visual Studio Code
Chrome
Tuple
Pop
Slack
Warp
Electron JS
Twitter
Flutter
JSON
React
Web Assembly
Tree-sitter
Hacker News
Costco
Kirkland
Facebook
Vue
Pulp Fiction
Svelte
PHP
Ember
GPT-4
RenderATL 2023
Hot Ones
Airbnb
Duolingo
Campari
Amaro Nonino
Fernet-Branca
Aperol
Bud Light
Avignonesi

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Hot Takes, Bun, and Zig with Jarred Sumner May 25, 2023

Show notes

Jarred Sumner, Founder and CEO of Oven, is bringing speed to the world of Javascript with his project, Bun. Bun is a next-generation Javascript runtime bundler, transpiler, and NPM package manager that promises lightning-fast speeds. It's already making waves in the industry. The company secured seven million dollars in funding to build hosting for Bun in August 2022.

One of the secrets to Bun's success is its use of the underrated programming language Zig. Jarred explains that Zig allowed him to be incredibly productive and save time with its memory allocator. Another essential feature of Bun is its pre-allocation of almost everything, avoiding the need for dynamically pushing arrays, which can significantly slow down the process. The new version of Bun also has a different runtime than other frameworks like Node and Deno, making it even faster.

In this episode, Jarred talks to Robbie and Chuck about his views on trending Twitter topics, how his company uses benchmarks to optimize Bun's performance, and what he believes has happened to the creativity of the web.

Key Takeaways

[00:30] - Introduction to Jarred Sumner.
[01:17] - A whiskey review: Peerless Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon
[04:42] - Tech hot takes.
[11:15] - Jarred’s new bundler.
[15:36] - Jarred’s reason for using Zig.
[18:52] - Upcoming hosting product Jarred’s team is working on.
[23:09] - What happened to the creativity of the web?
[27:58] - Jarred’s draft tweets.
[30:12] - Jarred’s hobbies besides coding.
[38:51] - Other developers and projects Jarred finds interesting.

Quotes

[16:06] - “Zig is really productive. I tried to use Rust, and I just had a lot of trouble being productive.” ~ Jarred Sumner

[17:55] - “For CPUs, the thing that’s slow usually is not actually the processing, it’s memory.” ~ Jarred Sumner

[22:52] - “I think that we can make the internet and Javascript applications faster, and we can make it easier to deploy, and we can make it better. It going to be a lot of work, but it's going to be really fun.” ~ Jarred Sumner

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Native Inputs, Blockchain, and Bluesky May 18, 2023

Show notes

What happened to the blockchain? A few years ago, it seemed like the whole world had high hopes for the technology. Today, Chuck and Robbie wonder if it will ever make a comeback.
In addition to following up on last week’s episode about input types, Chuck and Robbie remember the days when software piracy was rampant and how it affected the industry. This leads to a discussion about the blockchain and how everyone seemed to jump on the bandwagon a few years ago. But now, the technology seems to have faded into the background. However, Chuck and Robbie point out that the blockchain still has practical use cases, especially for things that require trust and immutability like government documents or a history of maintenance on a property.
In this episode, Chuck and Robbie talk about the use of native inputs and how they can save time and effort, what happened to the blockchain and whether it will make a comeback, and the ebbs and flows of social media apps.

Key Takeaways

[02:21] - A whiskey review: Buffalo Trace 90 Proof.
[09:50] - Chuck and Robbie discuss native inputs that they know.
[17:52] - New features launched in Supabase.
[20:36] - Subscription models.
[23:33] - What happened to the blockchain?
[27:42] - Bluesky invites on Twitter and the current state of social media.
[40:03] - Chuck and Robbie talk about gaming.
[48:01] - The crazy offer Robbie got for his house.
[50:13] - What Chuck and Robbie have been watching.

Quotes

[09:26] - “Buffalo Trace, really good, readily available, inexpensive that is a top choice.” ~ Chuck Carpenter

[12:26] - “Oftentimes, they ask what makes a senior engineer, and I think the joy in deleting code is one of them.” ~ Chuck Carpenter

[30:21] - “When TikTok came out, I was like TikTok is dumb. No one is ever going to use this. It’s just for little kids to post dance videos and do stupid things, and now it's the biggest thing ever.” ~ Robbie Wagner

Links

Buffalo Trace 90 Proof
Sazerac Rye
Todd Snyder
Uniqlo
Coca Cola
RC Cola
PepsiRC Cola
Maker’s Mark
Babel
M&M’s
jQuery
Bootstrap
Big O Tires
Supabase
Firebase
Google
Nicki Minaj
Netlify
Vercel
Adobe Photoshop
Rust
ChatGPT
Blockchain
Twitter
Bluesky
Mastodon
TikTok
YouTube
Wes Bos
Vine
Facebook
Craigslist
Poshmark
Apple
Venmo
PayPal
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Super Mario Odyssey
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Hogwarts Legacy
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2
Xbox
Nintendo Switch
8BitDo
EA
Star Wars Eclipse
Lego
Starlink
Titans
Mandalorian
Peloton
Succession
The Witcher
The Jonas Brothers

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HTML, Shadowbanning, and Open Source Buyouts May 11, 2023

Show notes

Engineers often have the urge to create something bigger and better than what already exists, driven by their competitive nature. But this desire for innovation can sometimes lead to overengineering, resulting in a loss of valuable time and resources.

Robbie shares his recent frustrating experience with the custom date and time pickers in an app that left him feeling flustered and confused. Chuck believes that a developer got carried away with trying to conquer a personal challenge or solve a unique user requirement, which is a common mistake. The truth is, there's no shame in using the existing vanilla libraries that are battle-tested. Chuck and Robbie recommend starting with the base functionality provided by the browser and progressively enhancing it, rather than building entirely custom components from scratch.
In this episode, Robbie and Chuck talk about the benefits and drawbacks of building custom web components versus using native browser functionalities, the complexities of the Twitter algorithm, and open-source projects that are backed by corporate funders.

Key Takeaways

[00:33] - A whiskey review: Sazerac Rye.
[06:34] - Building custom vs. browser native HTML.
[34:01] - Chuck and Robbie’s challenges with Twitter.
[37:15] - What's wrong with cryptocurrency?
[44:36] - Chuck sold his Rivian while Robbie’s house is still on the market.
[52:48] - Syntax Podcast partners with Sentry.

Quotes

[09:41] - “Ultimately, you’re always looking at what a browser provides for free and why that isn’t good enough.” ~ Chuck Carpenter

[13:08] - “Safari is the new Internet Explorer.” ~ Chuck Carpenter

[41:21] - “The nice thing with Ethereum is it is really backing most coins because people just build on top of Ethereum.” ~ Robbie Wagner

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Hot Takes, TanStack, and Open Source with Tanner Linsley May 04, 2023

Show notes

Tanner Linsley, Co-Founder and VP of UI/UX at Nozzle is known for creating some of the most popular open-source libraries in the tech space. These libraries keep the wheels turning by making things easier for him and many other developers in their day-to-day jobs.
Tanner has built libraries, such as React Query and React Table, that are now part of TanStack, his branded collection of tools. TanStack's other products include a router currently in beta, TanStack Query Table, TanStack Virtual, and TanStack Ranger. Tanner explains that he started building these tools while working on his SEO analytical platform, Nozzle, where they were created to solve the challenges he faced while developing the platform. It hasn’t been easy managing the expectations of users and maintaining open-source projects without major funding, but Tanner has made an impact in the community nonetheless.

In this episode, Tanner talks to Robbie and Chuck about his take on trending tech topics, his popular open-source libraries in TanStack, and his future framework plans.

Key Takeaways

[00:24] - Introduction to Tanner Linsley.
[01:33] - A whiskey review: MONDAY Zero Alcohol Whiskey.
[11:55] - Tech hot takes.
[29:14] - What is TanStack?
[35:17] - What is a framework?
[45:08] - Tanner’s non-tech hobbies.

Quotes

[19:47] - “The ultimate UI that existed before so many other UI’s is Excel.” ~ Tanner Linsley

[24:22] - “Anytime you do anything outside of React, with state management, it’s all going to come back to use-sync-external-store.” ~ Tanner Linsley

[34:55] - “I have really big eyes for Solid right now. Even though almost everything I do is still in React. I stare at the greener grass every day, every day, for Solid.” ~ Tanner Linsley

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Confluent, Kafka, and Developer Advocacy with Lucia Cerchie Apr 20, 2023

Show notes

When you think about the career journey of a software developer, teaching elementary school is not typically the first thing that comes to mind. But for Lucia Cerchie, Developer Advocate at Confluent, her elementary school teaching experience gave her a huge advantage in her work.

In this episode, Lucia discusses her work with Kafka, a distributed event streaming platform, and how she creates content to introduce developers to Kafka more easily, especially for beginners. She explains Kafka’s scalability and how it can handle large amounts of data in real-time, making it a great choice for processing high volumes of data. But Kafka isn’t the answer for everyone. Lucia emphasizes the importance of understanding the "why" behind using it and knowing when to leverage it based on the problem at hand.

Lucia talks to Robbie and Chuck about her journey from being an elementary school teacher to her career in developer advocacy, her work at Confluent with Kafka, and how she creates content to make complex technologies more accessible.

Key Takeaways

[00:27] - Introduction to Lucia Cerchie.
[01:46] - A whiskey review: Barrel Bourbon Batch 032.
[06:45] - Hot takes from Twitter.
[14:21] - Lucia’s path to becoming a developer advocate.
[19:58] - Lucia explains Kafka.
[26:35] - Lucia explains Confluent and its business model.
[39:15] - Programming languages Lucia has used in her tutorials.
[44:17] - Chuck, Robbie, and Lucia talk about exercise.
[47:45] - Lucia talks about her hobbies.

Quotes

[16:01] - “The motivation actually comes from back when I was teaching. Which is, I want to help other people learn and make teaching accessible.” ~ Lucia Cerchie

[25:03] - “Kafka's use cases are not just event-driven web apps. It’s things like main frame conversions, data pipelines.” ~ Lucia Cerchie

[40:08] - “I think I would recommend Python to absolute beginners to coding just because of the human readability of the language.” ~ Lucia Cerchie

Links