Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Web Development, Neat

Latest Episodes:

Alternatives to Relay, the GraphQL Stack, and Adulthood with Charles Lowell and Taras Mankovski Mar 17, 2022

Show notes

Just because something is widely used doesn't always mean it's your best solution. Frontside Founder Charles Lowell and CEO Taras Mankovski, stumbled into an alt GraphQL stack simply because the nature of a product didn't mesh with Apollo. After happening upon two up-and-coming technologies, GraphQL modules and Envelope, a solution was born, as was a newfound flexibility with GraphQL stacks.

In this episode, Charles and Taras talk with Chuck and Robbie about their accidental developer discovery, the drawbacks of UI libraries, what a Relay alternative looks like, what in the world Pact is, and why adulthood is vastly overrated.

Key Takeaways

[00:48] - An introduction to the Frontside guys.
[02:29] - A whiskey review.
[08:46] - How Charles and Taras discovered a less-than-ordinary GraphQL stack.
[18:39] - Why JSON:API doesn't always make sense.
[23:11] - Taras' criteria for a valuable alternative to Relay.
[25:04] - What is Pact?
[28:30] - An NFT chat, and why adulthood is vastly overrated.
[41:45] - Charles' and Taras' hobbies outside of the web and the best way to bond with your baby.
[54:38] - A few last-minute mentions.

Quotes

[21:04] - "Relay is complex, it's difficult, and it's not as magical as other things that I've used. So I actually don't think that the primary benefit is to the clients that consume it, ironically. I think the benefit is to the developers that are trying to understand." ~ Charles Lowell [https://twitter.com/cowboyd]

[56:20] - "The combination of testing and simulation and the developer experience stuff, and the emergence of developer experience as an area of focus is exciting and interesting in the same way that web and Ember was when it started. Just that sense of, we're discovering something new and there are people who are actively trying to solve a problem." ~ Taras Mankovski [https://twitter.com/tarasm]

Links

Charles on Twitter [https://twitter.com/cowboyd]
Taras on Twitter [https://twitter.com/tarasm]
Frontside [http://frontside.io]
The Balvenie Doublewood 12 [https://www.thebalvenie.com/our-whisky-collection/cask-finishes/doublewood-12/]
The Singleton of Glendullan Liberty [https://whizzky.net/whisky.php?ref=3614-The-Singleton-of-Glendullan-Liberty]
GraphQL [https://graphql.org]
Apollo [http://apollo.io]
Discord [https://discord.com]
Envelope [https://www.workflowproducts.com/envelope.html]
JSON:API [https://jsonapi.org]
runspired [https://www.instagram.com/runspired/]
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Discovering Ember, Adopting Orbit, and Unlocking Optimization with Chris Thoburn (runspired) [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/discovering-ember-adopting-orbit-and-unlocking-optimization-with-chris-thoburn-runspired/]
Ember Data [https://guides.emberjs.com/release/models/]
Orbit [https://orbitjs.com]
Relay [https://relay.dev]
Pact [http://pact.io]
Swach [https://swach.io]
Blockchain [https://www.blockchain.com]
Web3 [https://web3js.readthedocs.io/en/v1.5.2/]
No JS [https://apps.apple.com/us/app/no-js/id1062685513]
Rails [https://rubyonrails.org]
The Guild [https://www.the-guild.dev]
Hive GraphQL [https://graphql-hive.com]
CodeGen [https://codegen.eu]
The Sandbox [https://sandboxgame.gitbook.io/the-sandbox/]

Machine Learning in JavaScript, Remix Plus Netlify, and Why DX Engineers Matter with Charlie Gerard Mar 10, 2022

Show notes

Charlie Gerard loves to experiment. Her love for experimentation and JS has propelled Charlie into the world of machine learning and in turn inspired her recent book, Practical Machine Learning in JavaScript.

Forever iterating on her projects and experimentations, Charlie extends that desire for growth into her professional life, even pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and dabbling as a Google Developer Expert outside of her Netlify 9-5.

In this episode, Charlie talks with Chuck and Robbie about her role at Netlify, why DX engineers matter, the real relationship between Remix and Netlify, Charlie's approach to machine learning, and her thoughts on why web3 can be used for good.

Key Takeaways

[00:30] - An introduction to Charlie.
[01:04] - A whiskey review.
[07:53] - Why Charlie wrote a book about JavaScript and machine learning.
[11:23] - How Charlie comes up with the projects she works on.
[18:24] - What Charlie does at Netlify and what it means to be a Google Developer Expert.
[22:43] - What Charlie knows about the relationship between Remix and Netlify.
[26:23] - Why DX engineering matters.
[31:33] - A deep dive on Charlie's Twitter and her hobbies outside of tech.
[41:40] - How Charlie thinks web3 can be used for good.

Quotes

[13:48] - "Every time I have an idea, I kind of tweak it to push it as far as I can or until I get bored and then I move onto another one. But it's never like I wake up and have a great idea. I wish it was like that. But most of the time it's more an evolution of ideas or inspiration that I find online, other people sharing their stuff, and it generates an idea in my head." ~ @devdevcharlie [https://twitter.com/devdevcharlie]

Links

Charlie on Twitter [https://twitter.com/devdevcharlie]
Netlify [https://www.netlify.com]
JavaScript [https://www.javascript.com]
Jamstack [https://jamstack.org]
The Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14 [https://us.thebalvenie.com/our-whisky-range/view/caribbean-cask-14/]
Practical Machine Learning in JavaScript [https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Machine-Learning-JavaScript-TensorFlow-js/dp/1484264177]
TensorFlow [https://www.tensorflow.org]
Python [https://www.python.org]
TensorFlow.js [https://www.tensorflow.org/js]
Vanilla JS [http://vanilla-js.com]
Create React App [https://create-react-app.dev]
Chrome Dino Game [https://chromedino.com]
Street Fighter [https://www.streetfighter.com/]
Amazon [http://amazon.com]
Amazon Web Services (AWS) [https://aws.amazon.com]
Google Developer Expert [https://developers.google.com/community/experts]
Google [http://google.com]
Android [http://android.com]
Angular [https://angular.io]
Remix [https://remix.run]
Vercel [https://vercel.com]
Next.js [https://nextjs.org]
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: The Beauty of Remix, Falling for Tailwind, and Why NFTs Are a Scam with Kent C. Dodds [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/the-beauty-of-remix-falling-for-tailwind-and-why-efts-are-a-scam-with-kent-c-dodds/]
Astro [https://astro.build]
RedwoodJS [https://redwoodjs.com]
Backstage [https://github.com/backstage/backstage]
Discord [https://discord.com]
YouTube [http://youtube.com]

Creating CodePen, Tackling Tailwind, and Keeping It Simple with Chris Coyier Mar 03, 2022

Show notes

Ten years after launching CodePen, Co-Founder Chris Coyier still thinks of his company as a scrappy startup. That's because CodePen, an app and social community for testing and creating web projects, still feels like a company striving to prove itself in a world of jaded developers. Nevertheless, CodePen has successfully reached developers as they're learning to code.

In this episode, Chris talks with Chuck and Robbie about his online opinions that align and differ from Robbie's, the evolution of CodePen, how they've managed to monetize, the advantages of sticking with CSS, why blogging is like grinding, and Chris' parenting advice for new dads.

Key Takeaways

[02:23] - A whiskey review.
[11:10] - The beauty of CodePen and a brief chat about Tampa.
[16:11] - The niche that sets CodePen apart.
[18:03] - Why going serverless is a wonderful thing.
[23:11] - How CodePen has evolved and how they have monetized.
[25:06] - How CodePen uses information for good.
[27:16] - How CSS-Tricks came to be and Chris' other digital passions.
[38:38] - What Chris thinks of Tailwind.
[44:59] - What new things are coming to CSS.
[49:42] - Chris' dad advice for Robbie.
[57:31] - A Rick Steves whatnot, complaints about Italian food, and why deadlines work.

Quotes

[23:59] - "Not a day has gone by, pretty much in the 10 years we've been running this, where there isn't some kind of jaw-dropping, interesting creation on CodePen." ~ @chriscoyier [https://twitter.com/chriscoyier]

[45:25] - "If you just let CSS be, just use the language, you get all this stuff. But if you have to wait for an abstraction to come later, maybe it never does arrive or maybe it comes in a way that's too abstracted that's not all that useful. There's an advantage to just sticking to the core language." ~ @chriscoyier [https://twitter.com/chriscoyier]

[49:28] - "The rule is, just leave it alone. Do not open up somebody else's thing and reorder their inputs and commit that. Because that is just noise, and it doesn't matter." ~ @chriscoyier [https://twitter.com/chriscoyier]

Links

Chris on Twitter [https://twitter.com/chriscoyier]
Discord [https://discord.com]
New Riff Single Barrel Bourbon [https://www.newriffdistilling.com/spirits/single-barrel-bourbon-whiskey/]
Sagamore Spirit [https://sagamorespirit.com]
Jack Daniel's [https://www.jackdaniels.com]
Jim Beam [https://www.jimbeam.com/]
CodePen [https://codepen.io]
Sass [https://sass-lang.com]
Next.js [https://nextjs.org]
JavaScript [https://www.javascript.com]
Dart [https://dart.dev]
Bitcoin [https://bitcoin.org]
Eyeframe [https://eyeframeconverter.wordpress.com]
Rust [https://www.rust-lang.org]
Go [https://go.dev]
Acquia [https://www.acquia.com]
Ruby [https://rubyonrails.org]
VS Code [https://code.visualstudio.com]
CodePen PRO Plans [https://codepen.io/accounts/signup]
The CodePen Spark (CodePen newsletter) [https://blog.codepen.io/2016/12/08/the-codepen-spark/]
CSS-Tricks [https://css-tricks.com]
WordPress [http://wordpress.com]
How to Fetch and Parse RSS Feeds in JavaScript [https://css-tricks.com/how-to-fetch-and-parse-rss-feeds-in-javascript/]

Runspired vs. Chris Manson on Solving the Number One Open Source Maintainer Dilemma Feb 24, 2022

Show notes

As Chris Thoburn (otherwise known as runspired) began prepping for his own Whiskey Web and Whatnot, he found himself driving along to Chris Manson's episode from a few weeks prior. Nodding along as Chris explained his point of view on all things Ember, runspired suddenly slammed on the brakes after hearing one pivotal sentence.

At the center of his break slam and today's fierce disagreement? The value of TypeScript and its place in the Ember community. Fortunately, Chris and Chris have the same end goal: to encourage more developers to use Ember and contribute to Ember projects. But how do we keep Ember contributor-friendly while keeping contributions careful? One of them yearns for a happy medium and the other feels that balance is forever impossible.

In this episode, runspired and Chris Manson battle it out, discussing TypeScript's place in the Ember community and balancing the volume of Ember contributors with the accuracy of developer edits.

Key Takeaways

[02:49] - A whiskey review.
[09:55] - What whiskey and NFTs have in common.
[11:37] - Runspired explains the source of his smackdown with Chris Manson.
[15:38] - Where Chris Manson and runspired stand on TypeScript.
[19:29] - Chris Manson's side of the story.
[20:02] - How runspired and Chris Manson think we'll get more developers contributing to Ember.
[29:09] - Where runspired and Chris Manson actually agree.
[37:18] - Where Chris Manson stands on TypeScript.
[40:56] - How to balance contributor-friendly with contributor careful.
[44:58] - The problem with Ember sponsorships and Ember advocates.
[01:02:53] - Some closing thoughts on today's smackdown, Peaky Blinders, and an NFT-themed whatnot.

Quotes

[26:19] - "The more that we've adopted TypeScript, the more I've seen people capable of making a contribution without my assistance that had the right fix." ~ runspired [https://www.instagram.com/runspired/]

[43:20] - "I see Ember Learn, the org, and all of the things that we maintain, as kind of a gateway drug to becoming an Ember CLI contributor, a framework contributor, an Ember Data contributor. It's like a training ground." ~ Chris Manson [https://twitter.com/real_ate]

[44:58] - "What we really need is a developer advocate for Ember. We need, as a community, to find some pool of funding, to hire somebody, to be 100% focusing on that pipeline that I'm talking about: getting people in at the bottom, finding ways for them to get from the bottom to the middle grounds, identifying the projects, project managing people up that scale, and getting them to (runspired's) door when they are ready." ~ Chris Manson [https://twitter.com/real_ate]

Links

Chris Manson [https://twitter.com/real_ate]
runspired [https://www.instagram.com/runspired/]
Chuck on Twitter [https://twitter.com/CharlesWthe3rd]
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Ember vs. React, Jamstack, and Holes in the Hiring Process with Chris Manson [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/ember-vs-react-jamstack-and-holes-in-the-hiring-process-with-chris-manson/]
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Discovering Ember, Adopting Orbit, and Unlocking Optimization with Chris Thoburn (runspired) [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/discovering-ember-adopting-orbit-and-unlocking-optimization-with-chris-thoburn-runspired/]
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Work-Life Balance, React, and Why Accessibility is Everything with Melanie Sumner [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/work-life-balance-react-and-why-accessibility-is-everything-with-melanie-sumner/]
Jos. A. Magnus & Co. [https://josephmagnus.com/spirits/murray-hill-club/]

Work-Life Balance, React, and Why Accessibility Is Everything with Melanie Sumner Feb 17, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Robbie and Chuck talk with Melanie Sumner, web developer and member of the Ember Core Team.

As a graduation gift from her Uncle, Melanie was handed a computer and told, "learn to write code," because the future is tech. So that's what she did. With a love of language and puzzles, writing code became her thrill and, after years in the Navy, her profession. Today, Melanie is active in the Ember community, serving on the Ember Core Team and advocating for veterans entering web development.

Melanie talks with Robbie and Chuck about the value of empty days, intentional productivity, Ember's evolution, React, and tips for making websites accessible.

Key Takeaways

[00:27] - A quick introduction to Melanie and her role in the Ember community.
[01:38] - A whiskey review.
[08:13] - Web dev "would you rather".
[12:36] - Why Melanie started learning to write code and her thoughts on work-life balance.
[20:02] - The philosophy Melanie lives by and why she tracks the domains she buys.
[24:25] - Robbie's tipping point with Ember and some shiny new toys.
[29:05] - Why Ember shouldn't try to be React and the importance of accessibility.
[32:29] - How to make a website more accessible.
[35:54] - Today's gaming-themed whatnot.
[43:07] - How Melanie survived the pandemic and news on the next EmberConf.
[48:10] - What Melanie cares about outside of web development.

Quotes

[01:06] - "It's my philosophy to at least Buy A Coffee for people who work on open source projects that I use. I think if we all did that, the world would be a better place." ~ @melaniersumner [https://twitter.com/melaniersumner]

[14:13] - "I don't know why my brain has made this connection, but it has. I'm good at learning foreign languages and that kind of translated into me believing I was good at writing code and learning new code languages. Because it's all about learning what are you trying to say and how you want to say it." ~ @melaniersumner [https://twitter.com/melaniersumner]

[17:11] - "We develop this very unhealthy culture in web, in tech where it's like, 'oh I have to be rockstar ninja core person who can do all the commits on all the days.' And it's like no, show me your empty days actually. I want to see where you took time off." ~ @melaniersumner [https://twitter.com/melaniersumner]

Links

Melanie Sumner [https://twitter.com/melaniersumner]
Ember [https://emberjs.com]
Ember Core Team [https://emberjs.com/teams/]
GitHub [https://github.com]
Buy Me a Coffee [https://www.buymeacoffee.com]
faker.js [https://fakerjs.dev]
Microsoft [http://microsoft.com]
Jos. A. Magnus & Co. Murray Hill Club [https://josephmagnus.com/spirits/murray-hill-club/]
Binny's Beverage Depot [https://www.binnys.com]
Buffalo Trace Distillery [https://www.buffalotracedistillery.com]
Sagamore Spirit [https://sagamorespirit.com]
Chris Manson [https://twitter.com/real_ate]
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Ember vs. React, Jamstack, and Holes in the Hiring Process with Chris Manson [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/ember-vs-react-jamstack-and-holes-in-the-hiring-process-with-chris-manson/]
Raspberry Pi Touch Screen [https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-touch-display/]
YAML [https://yaml.org]
Nokia [https://www.nokia.com]
AngularJS [https://angularjs.org]

Astro, Dashboards, NFT Memberships, and a TV Roundup Feb 10, 2022

Show notes

From Astro, Vite, and Snowpack, to VR, and some favorite TV shows, today's episode is the perfect opportunity to catch up on technical whatnots and a few exciting life updates from Chuck and Robbie. Plus, if you've ever wondered what NFTs, co-working spaces, and whiskey all have in common, today's episode is for you.

In this episode, Robbie and Chuck dive into the frameworks they're using, the dashboards they're analyzing, what's new in the gaming universe, and the co-working space to check out if you happen to live near Middleburg, VA. And if you don't, here's how a virtual space can come to you.

Key Takeaways

[00:09] - A non-traditional introduction.
[01:35] - A whiskey review.
[09:00] - What Robbie's working on.
[14:41] - What it's like working in Astro.
[18:56] - What Chuck's working on.
[24:36] - Why Chuck is taking a break from VR.
[36:00] - What's new in games and TV.
[47:40] - When Robbie's getting a Tesla.
[49:53] - An update on Robbie's co-working space.

Quotes

[16:26] - "[Astro] is probably not quite as fast as if you'd literally gone through and written everything in Vanilla HTML and CSS. But it's pretty dang close with conveniences." ~ @rwwagner90 [https://mobile.twitter.com/rwwagner90]

[19:50] - "Apollo Studio gives you some excellent metrics and traces into what's going on and where things are slow and even down to the resolvers for each individual key, things like that, and some interesting cache stuff. But, at the end of the day, you've really bought into their way and their ecosystem." ~ Chuck Carpenter [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckcarpenter/]

Links

Blue Run Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey Holiday Batch [https://www.delmesaliquor.com/products/blue-run-holiday-rye-cask-strength-rye-whiskey]
Heaven Hill Distillery [https://heavenhilldistillery.com]
Willett Distillery [https://www.kentuckybourbonwhiskey.com]
Seelbach's [https://seelbachs.com]
Brach's candy [https://www.brachs.com]
Ember [https://emberjs.com]
JavaScript [https://www.javascript.com]
Edward Faulkner [https://twitter.com/eaf4]
Cardstack [https://cardstack.com]
Blockchain [https://www.blockchain.com]
Web3 [https://web3js.readthedocs.io/en/v1.5.2/]
Astro [https://astro.build]
Snowpack [https://www.snowpack.dev]
Vite [https://vitejs.dev]
SWC [https://swc.rs]
React [https://reactjs.org]
web.dev [https://web.dev]
Lighthouse [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lighthouse/blipmdconlkpinefehnmjammfjpmpbjk]
Google Fonts [https://fonts.google.com]
Next.js [http://next.js]
next/image [https://nextjs.org/docs/api-reference/next/image]
nuxt-img [https://image.nuxtjs.org/components/nuxt-img/]
Remix [https://www.remix.com]
RedwoodJS [https://redwoodjs.com]
GraphQL [https://graphql.org]
Apollo [https://www.apollographql.com]
Apollo Studio [https://www.apollographql.com/docs/studio/]
Helios [https://github.com/spotify/helios]
The Guild [https://www.the-guild.dev]
Hive GraphQL [https://graphql-hive.com]
runspired [https://www.instagram.com/runspired]

The Right Way to NFT, Blockchain, and Making Your Mark in the Digital Marketplace with Juan Palomino Feb 03, 2022

Show notes

In a world of invaluable yet intangible artwork and every developer fighting for a space on the blockchain, it's hard to sort out what's adding value to our brave new world and what's taking up space. Juan Palomino, founder of Full Speed Media [https://fullspeedav.com], has spent the last year knee-deep in his own NFT experiment. Along the way, he's learned what to embrace and what to forget when it comes to making his mark in the digital economy.

Juan started Full Speed Media as a way to provide live streaming services throughout the pandemic. While it began as a way to simply satisfy a growing demand, through his business, Juan began developing relationships with local organizations in Phoenix and realized the need for other web-based projects geared toward fundraising.

A true lover of building cool stuff and experimenting with the latest tech trends, Juan eventually developed an NFT drop in partnership with a local artist. Since launch day, his community has minted almost 100 tokens and raised just under $10,000 for the Valleywise Health Foundation [https://valleywisehealthfoundation.org], the largest provider of mental health services in Arizona.

In this episode, Robbie, Chuck, and Juan discuss the technicalities of building an NFT, where most developers miss the mark in blockchain, and the real beauty of a growing minted marketplace.

Key Takeaways

[01:13] - A quick introduction to Juan.
[02:37] - Two truths and a lie.
[06:25] - A whiskey review.
[14:19] - Chuck's two truths and a brief history of Philadelphia.
[17:54] - Juan's groundbreaking NFT fundraising project.
[23:17] - How tech trends like NFTs and smart contracts actually work.
[27:11] - How Juan algorithmically generates NFT images.
[31:20] - The right way to approach NFTs and why fees.wtf missed the mark.
[45:40] - What's the deal with DAOs?
[46:50] - Where the blockchain truly belongs.
[49:06] - Why Chuck is back on Twitter.
[52:13] - The beauty of the NFT space.

Quotes

[41:31] - "Blockchain in itself is not this secret ingredient that now makes everything better. It has become this buzzword that people want to do a land grab for but realistically, this is just the building blocks of how we're going to build bigger, better, more decentralized, more trustless applications and systems." ~ @JuanForTheMoney [https://twitter.com/juanforthemoney]

[52:47] - "The NFT space, for all its quirks and mishappenings and lost gas fees, has really turned me onto the art world and has exposed me to a whole different way of creating stuff and connected me with a lot of people I might not have been connected with otherwise. If nothing else, it has been a really great experiment." ~ @JuanForTheMoney [https://twitter.com/juanforthemoney]

Links

Juan on Twitter [https://twitter.com/juanforthemoney]
Full Speed Media [https://fullspeedav.com]
Si Se Puede Foundation [https://www.sisepuedefoundation.org]
Smooth Ambler [https://smoothambler.com]
Lost Lantern Smooth Ambler West Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey [https://seelbachs.com/products/lost-lantern-2021-single-cask-7-smooth-ambler-west-virginia-straight-bourbon-whiskey]
Seelbach's [https://seelbachs.com]
Coffee Zona [https://coffee-zona.business.site]
Geno's Steaks [https://www.instagram.com/genossteaks]
Lin Manuel Miranda [https://www.linmanuel.com]
Encanto [https://movies.disney.com/encanto]
Viva Muertos! [https://www.vivamuertos.com]

Discovering Ember, Adopting Orbit, and Unlocking Optimization with Chris Thoburn (runspired) Jan 27, 2022

Show notes

Runspired's journey with Ember began just like Chuck's, Robbie's, and many who've come before them — with confusion, hesitancy, and gradual infatuation.

The year was 2008 and runspired was launching an app. Somewhere along the way, he realized that if he wanted to build the collaborative web-first application he envisioned, he needed to build in JavaScript.

Sifting through Angular and React, nothing stuck. When he finally stumbled upon Ember, the pitfalls and confusion were obvious and almost immediately he abandoned the framework. But runspired soon realized that features within Ember matched the ideas he began developing in his own framework years prior. Suddenly, everything clicked and today runspired is an Ember aficionado with big ideas on the future of framework and the secrets to cutting edge optimization.

In this episode, Robbie, Chuck, and runspired discuss flaws in the developer community, why Orbit is useful, shifting the approach to API frameworks, and why JSON:API and GraphQL are a match made in developer heaven.

Key Takeaways

[01:37] - A whiskey review.
[11:26] - How runspired's journey in the Ember community evolved.
[20:22] - What runspired thinks about RedwoodJS and API frameworks.
[24:03] - Why Orbit is flawed but incredibly useful.
[29:45] - What's missing from the developer community.
[36:01] - Why JSON:API and GraphQL are a perfect marriage.
[41:59] - What Ember Data cares about.
[48:01] - A conversation about whatnot including Chris' dive into professional running.
[55:55] - A cause runspired cares about in the Ember community.

Quotes

[18:30] - "I've never found a reason to want to re-evaluate Ember as my main framework. Every time I've had a complaint, it's evolved to satisfy that complaint with time." ~ runspired [https://www.instagram.com/runspired/]

[23:00] - "So many of the problems that I see applications encounter late in their life cycles are problems where the API framework just wasn't set up well in the first place. And if they had had a better framework for building APIs and understanding how applications are maybe going to mature, and how that API is going to need to evolve as the application matures, they probably would have been set up for better success." ~ runspired [https://www.instagram.com/runspired/]

[24:42] - "Orbit, in my opinion, is the gold standard of data libraries for the front-end right now. Because it solves every problem that you don't know you have yet. But that's also its big flaw because it has found the end architecture that you've got to evolve to if you end up with those problems." ~ runspired [https://www.instagram.com/runspired/]

Links

EmberFest [https://emberfest.eu]
Balcones Whiskey [https://balconesdistilling.com]
Ember [https://emberjs.com]
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Chuck's Origin Story: Career Pivots and Learning to Love Ember [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/chucks-origin-story-career-pivots-and-learning-to-love-ember/]
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Robbie's Origin Story: Learning to Code, Learning to Hire, and Taking the Entrepreneurial Leap [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/robbies-origin-story-learning-to-code-learning-to-hire-and-taking-the-entrepreneurial-leap/]
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Ember vs. React, Jamstack, and Holes in the Hiring Process with Chris Manson [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/ember-vs-react-jamstack-and-holes-in-the-hiring-process-with-chris-manson/]
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: RedwoodJS, Develo [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/redwoodjs-developer-experience-and-developing-for-scale-with-tom-preston-werner/]

Decentralized Gaming, IntelliJ, Twitch, and the Shortcomings of Modern VR with Rob Cary Jan 13, 2022

Show notes

What do web development, Twitch, VR, and blockchain all have in common? More than you might think. After years as a game developer, Ship Shape's longest-tenured employee Rob Cary was bound to put those unlikely virtual dots together and today he's here to share a few original insights.

After meeting Robbie Wagner in an elementary school play as a couple of accountants, their lives continued to overlap. From a choice in college to a knack for web development, making sweet beats, and ultimately, their careers, an intro to Rob may sound identical to an intro to Robbie. But unlike Robbie Wagner, Rob Cary has years of VR experience under his belt. Not to mention, some interesting ideas about the future of our virtual metaverse.

In this episode, Robbie, Chuck, and Rob discuss the wonders of WebStorm and IntelliJ, what on earth decentralized gaming is, how VR has transformed the gaming world, and the mostly unknown link between Twitch and web development.

Key Takeaways

[00:28] - Introduction to Rob.
[01:27] - A whiskey review.
[06:57] - Rob, Robbie, or both?
[13:05] - Rob's technical background and the state of decentralized gaming.
[16:12] - A game of Stumped.
[24:50] - What Rob likes about WebStorm and IntelliJ.
[30:16] - A conversation about the VR universe, how it's transformed, and where we're headed.
[39:10] - Why NFTs are everywhere.
[43:20] - Rob's hobbies outside of gaming and websites.

Quotes

[26:35] - "VS Code is one of the few examples I've seen of an IDE that's really universally been adopted really quickly." ~ @r0bc4ry [https://twitter.com/r0bc4ry]

[34:50] - "Some of the things you can do on VR, you could just never do in a traditional game. The technology has a ton of promise, there are just fundamental issues that still are being worked on that I think need to be fixed." ~ @r0bc4ry [https://twitter.com/r0bc4ry]

Links

Rob Cary [https://twitter.com/r0bc4ry]
React [https://reactjs.org]
Ember [https://emberjs.com]
Dojo [https://dojotoolkit.org]
Vuori [https://vuoriclothing.com]
Lululemon [https://shop.lululemon.com]
Widow Jane Rye Mash, Oak & Applewood-Aged Whiskey [https://widowjane.com/whiskey/oak-and-apple-wood]
Twitter [http://twitter.com]
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Next.js 12, React vs. Svelte, and the Future of Frameworks with Wes Bos [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/nextjs-12-react-vs-svelte-and-the-future-of-frameworks-with-wes-bos/]
Virginia Tech [https://vt.edu]
StarCraft [https://starcraft.com/en-us/]
Zoom [http://zoom.com]
Unity [https://unity.com]
Blockchain [https://www.blockchain.com]
Halo [https://www.halowaypoint.com]
Syntax [https://www.syntax.fm]
Web3 [https://web3js.readthedocs.io/en/v1.5.2/]
DoorDash [https://www.doordash.com]
Uber Eats [https://www.ubereats.com]
Async/await [https://javascript.info/async-await]
NativeScript [https://nativescript.org]
BlueJ [https://www.bluej.org]
JSON [https://www.json.org/json-en.html]
IntelliJ IDEA [https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/]
WebStorm [https://www.jetbrains.com/webstorm/]
Visual Studio Code [https://code.visualstudio.com]
Atom [https://atom.io]
yarn install [https://classic.yarnpkg.com/en/docs/cli/install/]

Chuck's Origin Story: Career Pivots, and Learning to Love Ember Jan 06, 2022

Show notes

After diving into Robbie’s backstory in episode 017, today we’re panning the camera to Chuck. If you’ve ever wondered how he ended up at Ship Shape and where Chuck first discovered the world of the web, today’s episode explores his digital origin story.

Like Robbie, Chuck’s foray into software development began in Photoshop. In fact, for a period after graduating college, Chuck considered going to photography school. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you ask Robbie), shelling out cash for grad school seemed daunting and impractical. So he stumbled into a startup instead.

After gigs at multiple startups, MLMs, a national network, and a non-profit abroad, a new baby sent Chuck searching for something with fewer hours and more flexibility. Spoiler alert: he ended up at Ship Shape.

In this episode, Robbie and Chuck discuss Chuck’s gradual love for Ember, the frameworks that shaped his career, the developers who impressed him, and Chuck’s ideas on the future of the web.

Key Takeaways

[00:27] - A whiskey review.
[08:41] - Where it all began for Chuck.
[11:48] - Chuck’s foray into the digital space.
[15:19] - Where Chuck went post-grad.
[19:08] - A turning point in Chuck’s career.
[21:27] - Why Chuck headed to Europe.
[23:14] - Chuck’s career with National Geographic and the software that shaped him.
[29:33] - When Chuck met Ember.
[33:30] - Why Chuck left the startup world.
[37:56] - How Chuck found Ship Shape.
[46:22] - Where Chuck’s headed next.
[48:30] - How to send suggestions our way and a brief chat on NFTs.

Quotes

[20:25] - “For me, and I think for a lot of people, jQuery was kind of the entryway into JavaScript programming.” ~ Chuck Carpenter

[39:01] - “What was the next rung on the career ladder? I decided that instead of more middle management, getting my hands dirty and building a business sounded pretty great, or at least worth a try. I needed to check that box off.” ~ Chuck Carpenter

[41:55] - “It feels like things are going in a direction, even if it’s not Next, where there’s more opinionation.” ~ Chuck Carpenter

Links

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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.

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