Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Web Development, Neat

Latest Episodes:

Robbie's Origin Story: Learning to Code, Learning to Hire, and Taking the Entrepreneurial Leap Dec 30, 2021

Show notes

If you’ve ever wondered where Ship Shape got its shape and how Robbie became Ember’s number one fan, this episode is for you.

Robbie and Chuck revisit the early chapters of Robbie’s career, including the gigs he loved and the corporate structures he hated. They talk about lessons learned, taking the entrepreneurial leap, and what’s on the horizon. While Robbie’s career has hardly been a linear path, the most exciting and fulfilling journeys rarely are.

Key Takeaways

[00:44] - Whiskey review and a brief overview of Pinhook.
[06:23] - Robbie’s introduction to the digital world.
[13:15] - College and his bridge to JavaScript.
[16:06] - The first startup Robbie worked at.
[18:30] - The start of Robbie’s post-grad gigs.
[21:20] - A proud whiteboard-ing moment.
[24:23] - What Robbie learned at Red Hat.
[30:28] - Where Robbie fell in love with Ember.
[34:56] - The next step in Robbie’s Ember career.
[36:55] - Where Robbie had the stereotypical startup experience.
[37:22] - Robbie’s return to Ember.
[45:25] - The start of Ship Shape and the value of networking.
[49:52] - Robbie’s thoughts on React.

Quotes

[23:39] - “I think all of computer science boils down to understanding the Big O notation of the thing you’re doing. That’s it. If you know what’s most efficient, you can look up how to do it.” ~ @RobbieTheWagner

[25:14] - “It comes back to my approach to hiring anyone. You hire good people who want to learn things and will do well, and they’ll do well at any technology.” ~ @RobbieTheWagner

[45:39] - “Honestly, there were a lot of times, and you’ve been around for some of them, where I’ve been like, ‘alright, let’s just stop and go back and get real jobs because we don’t have enough money and we’ll just stop doing this.’ But it always works out. And we continue to grow and you just have to trust that it’s going to work out.” ~ @RobbieTheWagner

Links

Pinhook Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
Pinhook Tiz Rye Time
MGP of Indiana
The Boss Hogg
Pinhook AR
Noli Novak
GDB
Adobe Photoshop
Myspace
Angular
Virginia Tech KnowledgeWorks
PHP
Prototype JavaScript
jQuery
Mail Pilot
Ember
Kickstarter
ListServe
Red Hat
Microsoft
Amazon
Lauren Tan
Create a repo on GitHub
Linux
Fedora
.Net
Geico
Virtana (formerly Metricly)
CoffeeScript
JIRA
Berico Technologies
Internet Explorer
Google Chrome
Firefox
Leaflet
Esri
Shepherd.js
HubSpot
Tether
Addepar
Chris Garrett
pzuraq
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Kamiki Whisky, Ember/Glimmer updates and whatnot w/ Chris Garrett (pzuraq)
Glimmer
Slack
Ember Shepherd
Diablo
Destiny
Jibe
RSA - Ember Group
Ember Learning Team
Chris Manson
Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Ember vs. React, Jamstack, and Holes in the Hiring Process with Chris Manson
Orbit.js
Expel
React
Next.js
Svelte
SvelteKit
RedwoodJS
Preact

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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.

The Beauty of Remix, Falling for Tailwind, and Why NFTs Are a Scam with Kent C. Dodds Dec 23, 2021

Show notes

Kent Dodds spends much of his professional life helping emerging developers learn. Earlier this year, as he began refreshing a stack of educational resources, Kent realized that simply switching to Remix eliminated most of the problems he was teaching his students to avoid or solve. Not long after he fell in love with the framework, Kent landed a job at Remix.

Now the Director of Developer Experience, Dodds educates and troubleshoots. From eliminating loading and error states, easy adoption, and the mutations API, Dodds' passion for Remix is abundantly obvious. He credits the success of Remix to its premium user experience and believes wholeheartedly that (almost) everything is simpler without JavaScript.

In this episode, Robbie, Chuck, and Kent discuss the standalone features of Remix, a new stack on the Remix block, avoiding JavaScript, and why Kent can't code without Tailwind.

Key Takeaways

[01:51] - An eggnog review.
[06:20] - Kent's journey to Remix.
[09:13] - What makes Remix unique.
[13:13] - Remix's true niche.
[16:51] - Remix vs. Astro vs. Qwik.
[21:21] - What you can't do with Remix.
[22:14] - Why working around JavaScript is the way to go.
[26:15] - More ways that Remix improves the user experience.
[27:44] - The beauty of Tailwind.
[36:56] - Remix's mutations API.
[41:51] - Kent and Tesla.
[50:25] - What Kent likes outside of coding and clean energy.
[53:51] - Why NFTs are a scam.

Quotes

[09:57] - "Right now [Remix] is all server-rendered. And we do that because we feel like that provides the best user experience. It objectively provides the best user experience. It's way better to just see your stuff than to see spinners while you're waiting for your stuff. So if you can just make it so fast that you don't need spinners, then that's a better user experience." ~ @kentcdodds [https://twitter.com/kentcdodds]

[15:40] - "I haven't yet found a use-case for building on the web that Remix isn't really well-suited for. It doesn't have a bunch of abstractions useful for someone who's going to build a game, but neither does any other framework like Remix. It sure has a lot of useful things for you if you want to build an excellent user experience on the web." ~ @kentcdodds [https://twitter.com/kentcdodds]

[22:30] - "I feel like with Remix, we've found another way to make things faster without having to make all these trade-offs on different architectures with having to completely change the framework that you're using." ~ @kentcdodds [https://twitter.com/kentcdodds]

Links

Kent C. Dodds [https://twitter.com/kentcdodds]
Kent's website [https://kentcdodds.com]
Kent's 'Transparency' page [https://kentcdodds.com/transparency]
Ryan Florence [https://ryanflorence.com]
Remix [https://remix.run]
Next.js [https://nextjs.org]
Redwood JS [https://redwoodjs.com]
Gatsby [https://www.gatsbyjs.com]
Jamstack [https://jamstack.org]
Netlify [https://www.netlify.com]
JavaScript [https://www.javascript.com]
React [https://reactjs.org]
Damien Hirst [https://www.damienhirst.com]
Blockchain [https://www.blockchain.com]
Cloudflare Workers [https://workers.cloudflare.com]
Amazon Web Services (AWS) [https://aws.amazon.com]
Fly.io [https://fly.io]
esbuild [https://esbuild.github.io]

Next.js 12, React vs. Svelte, and the Future of Frameworks with Wes Bos Dec 16, 2021

Show notes

Between constantly changing frameworks, updates, and languages, web dev life is anything but stagnant. Shiny object syndrome is a real thing, and it's easy to feel like there's too much to keep up with.

Wes Bos has his own point of view on the shifting landscape. Wes has spent years as a developer and has created a catalog of courses to help other developers improve their skills. Despite having his favorites, Wes argues there's a place for everything in the melting pot that is modern web development.

In this episode, Robbie, Chuck, and Wes discuss the rise of specialized frameworks, the future of frameworks like TypeScript, and Wes' views on technology outside the workplace.

Key Takeaways

[00:27] – Who is Wes Bos?
[01:40] – Wes or Robbie or Both?
[05:42] – Whiskey review
[18:46] – The benefits of Next.js 12
[21:03] – React vs. Svelte
[26:20] – Wes' thoughts on TypeScript
[30:26] – Commiserating over IE 11
[33:52] – What Wes does in his free time
[39:16] – Wes' vintage road bikes
[40:54] - Wes' tech-free BBQ saga
[50:59] - Wes' thoughts on tech podcasts

Quotes

[19:08] - "I don't think that Next.js is the SDK of the web. The whole point of the web is that it's open and it's just the standard language that you can build whatever you want on top of it. But that said, I'm probably the biggest Next.js fanboy out there." ~ @wesbos [https://twitter.com/wesbos]

[19:24] - "Next.js is making things really really simple for us. They're sort of taking a lot of the hard parts of React and doing away with them and making this really nice framework for building websites." ~ @wesbos [https://twitter.com/wesbos]

[20:19] - "That's really important with these tools that it does the code splitting and all the performance stuff for you. Because the average web developer is not gonna spend any time trying to implement these things themselves. They don't have enough time, they've got deadlines to hit, or they just don't know how. So the tools doing it for you really is the way forward." ~ @wesbos [https://twitter.com/wesbos]

Links

Wes's Website [http://wesbos.com]
Syntax Podcast [https://syntax.fm]
JavaScript [https://www.javascript.com]
John Deere [https://www.deere.com/en/index.html]
LCBO [https://www.lcbo.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/lcbo]
1792 Small Batch Bourbon [https://1792bourbon.com/our-bourbon]
Glencairn Whiskey Glass [https://www.totalwine.com/accessories-more/accessories/glassware/spirits-glasses/glencairn-whisky-glasses-4pk/p/111127920?glia=true&s=1106&&pid=cpc:Core+Catalog+-+Shopping%2BUS%2BCALI%2BENG%2BSPART::google::&gclid=Cj0KCQiAnaeNBhCUARIsABEee8UJejxE6NcLgMFoYR0O21iYJLJr4tqk08DRJIL7QUV0vWLxmiVGTnkaAtNcEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds]
Property Brothers [https://www.hgtv.com/shows/property-brothers]
Income Property [https://www.hgtv.com/shows/income-property]
Island of Bryan [https://www.hgtv.ca/shows/island-of-bryan/]
Starlink [https://www.starlink.com]
Spectrum [https://www.spectrum.net]
Acquia [https://www.acquia.com]
Next.js [https://nextjs.org]
Syntax 405: Hasty Treat - Next.js 12 [https://syntax.fm/show/405/hasty-treat-next-js-12]
React [https://reactjs.org]
Rich Harris [https://twitter.com/Rich_Harris]
Vercel [https://vercel.com]
Svelte [https://svelte.dev]
SvelteKit [https://kit.svelte.dev]

Ember vs. React, Jamstack, and Holes in the Hiring Process with Chris Manson Dec 09, 2021

Show notes

They say if it's not broken, don't fix it. But if it is broken...keep iterating? While not everyone may agree on how to solve the technical headaches that come with one language or another, developer and Empress Creator Chris Manson has a few ideas.

As more apps emerge, more problems inevitably appear. Chris has several non-negotiable best practices for keeping it simple and helping the developers who follow in his digital footsteps.

Also a member of Ember's core team, Chris has been working with the framework since December of 2011. After beginning his startup with Angular, Chris threw in the towel and pivoted to its simpler and more intuitive counterpart. Nevertheless, Ember is far from flawless and, as with most things, could always improve for the users who need it most.

In this episode, Robbie, Chuck, and Chris discuss the fatal flaws of several old and emerging frameworks, the breakthrough shifts in the Ember community, why comparing Ember to React isn't always a fair match-up, and holes in the developer hiring process.

Key Takeaways

[00:32] - Whiskey review and a history of Glendalough.
[14:14] - How Chris was introduced to Ember.
[25:10] - Chris's thoughts on Husky.
[29:41] - What Chris is working on now.
[32:55] - Why Chris has a vendetta against ember-cli-addon-docs.
[37:34] - What's changing in the Ember community.
[54:28] - The complexities of hiring developers.
[64:50] - The future of frameworks.
[73:04] - Chris's problem with TypeScript.
[77:18] - Chris's hobbies outside of developing.

Quotes

[26:42] - "This is one of the things that I don't like about repos or projects where you get to make 1,000 decisions because new people who don't know the decisions you've made, don't know the structure of your app, don't know your repo, go into your repo and go, 'this is too complicated', bounce, and don't contribute, and that's not ok for me." ~ Chris Manson [https://twitter.com/real_ate]

[28:49] - "The amount of times that we get people who are actual juniors bouncing against something that you've built and then you realize, 'oh actually, I did build that in a kind of complex way, I shouldn't have,' and then you internalize that, and then the next time it comes across you go, 'I could do this fancy and save 10 lines of code, or I can be verbose and simple.' Always pick verbose and simple." ~ Chris Manson [https://twitter.com/real_ate]

Links

Glendalough Whiskey [https://us.glendaloughdistillery.com]
Jamstack [https://jamstack.org]
The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Becoming a Whiskey Know-It-All: Know Your Booze Before You Choose [https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Scratch-Sniff-Becoming-Whiskey/dp/0544520602]
Angular [https://angular.io]
Ember.js [https://emberjs.com]
Some Deprecations seem to side-step the deprecation workflow [https://github.com/emberjs/ember.js/issues/19753]
Alex Matchneer [https://twitter.com/amatchneer]
Ember Conf [https://emberconf.com]
Husky [https://www.npmjs.com/package/husky]
Ember Learning Core Team [https://emberjs.com/teams/]
ember-cli-addon-docs [https://github.com/ember-learn/ember-cli-addon-docs]
simplabs [https://simplabs.com]
Jen Weber [https://twitter.com/jwwweber]
Melanie Sumner [https://github.com/MelSumner]
Empress [https://www.npmjs.com/package/empress]
Embroider [https://github.com/embroider-build/embroider]

RedwoodJS, Developer Experience, and Developing for Scale with Tom Preston-Werner Dec 02, 2021

Show notes

Every developer straddles the fine line between creating a unique space and reinventing the wheel. Tom Preston-Werner has lived between those two lines for much of his career, most recently while developing an app framework for startups, RedwoodJS.

Tom has always pushed himself to think outside the box rather than follow competitors. This aversion to groupthink kickstarted the creation of Redwood. It also helped Tom with the second-hardest part of app development: choosing a name. Tired of the physics names flooding the React world, Tom turned to nature for his framework. Not just a staple of the Bay Area, Redwoods start as tiny acorns and grow into enormous trees – a fitting analogy for an app designed to grow alongside expanding ventures.

In this episode, Robbie, Chuck, and Tom discuss the other ways Tom's outsider thought-process contributes to his creativity, the importance of helping users through the upgrade process, and his tried and true philosophy as a software developer.

Key Takeaways

[16:46] - The origins of RedwoodJS.
[22:02] - Tom's approach to the upgrade process.
[24:26] - The dangers of reinventing the wheel.
[29:25] - What developers should stop focusing on.
[30:55] - The relationship between apps and scale.
[36:14] - Tom's philosophy as a developer.
[41:18] - How RedwoodJS got its name.
[51:35] - Tom's creative outlet outside of software development.

Quotes

[19:24] - "Stay a bit naive of how everyone else does it just so that your solutions really are as novel as they can be. I think the risk of being boring and repetitive is way higher if you're spending a lot of time with the competitive things." ~ Tom Preston-Werner [https://twitter.com/mojombo]

[22:01] - "That's one thing that we're not gonna do. We're not gonna stop innovating, we're not gonna stop trying new things, bringing in better things that we've found. We can't. We may as well give up now if that's the case." ~ Tom Preston-Werner [https://twitter.com/mojombo]

[38:10] - "Most people who are building stuff, their primary concern is not eeking every last ounce of render speed out of their app, it's getting something built quickly that the users are going to take advantage of. And so that's been the bulk of our focus so far. That's really where the bar is." ~ Tom Preston-Werner [https://twitter.com/mojombo]

Links

Tom Preston-Werner [https://twitter.com/mojombo]
Redwood JS [https://redwoodjs.com]
Lagavulin Scotch 8 [https://www.malts.com/en-us/products/single-malt-whisky/lagavulin-8-year-old-single-malt-scotch-whisky-750ml/]
Nelson's Green Brier Distillery [https://greenbrierdistillery.com]
Penn & Teller: Bullshit! [https://www.sho.com/penn-and-teller-bullshit]
Mythbusters [https://go.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/]
Laphroaig Scotch [https://www.laphroaig.com/en/]
Octomore Whisky [https://www.bruichladdich.com/octomore-super-heavily-peated-whisky-range/]
Next.js [https://nextjs.org]
React Podcast Episode 117: Tom Preston-Werner on RedwoodJS [https://spec.fm/podcasts/reactpodcast/6_mirYS8]
Meteor [https://www.meteor.com]
Ruby on Rails [https://rubyonrails.org]
Ember.js [https://emberjs.com]
Svelte [https://svelte.dev]
React [https://reactjs.org]
Prisma [https://www.prisma.io]
Jest [https://jestjs.io]
Storybook [https://storybook.js.org]

Boss Hog: Magellan's Atlantic, Recaptcha, GraphQL, NFTs, Crypto Oct 14, 2021

Show notes

Chuck is in Middleburg, in person, for this episode, where we celebrate his Ship Shape anniversary with the WhistlePig Boss Hog: Magellan's Atlantic. We discuss preventing bots from submitting forms with recaptcha, caching with GraphQL and Redis, NFTs, crypto, and various whatnot.

Four Roses, Elixir, Flutter, and Whatnot w/ Sundi Myint Sep 09, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, we try some Four Roses, and chat with Sundi about Elixir, Flutter, cooking and various whatnot.

Hughes Belle of Bedford, Ember and Whatnot w/ Robert Jackson (rwjblue) May 26, 2021

Show notes

In this episode of our Whiskey Web and Whatnot podcast, we are joined by our special guest, Robert Jackson, from the Ember Core Team. We sampled the Hughes Belle of Bedford Rye whiskey, discussed how Robert got into Ember, the pros and cons of Ember vs other frameworks, and various whatnot.

Uncle Nearest 1856, JSON:API vs GraphQL, Traveling, Mexico, and Middleburg May 20, 2021

Show notes

In this episode we try the Uncle Nearest 1856 100 proof premium whiskey, discuss the pros and cons of JSON:API vs GraphQL, and give updates on our lives post-vaccination, the new office space in Middleburg, and the latest news in the Ship Shape world.

Old Elk, NFTs, Crypto, Tech Tangents Apr 18, 2021

Show notes

This time we accidentally try two different Old Elk whiskeys, talk about NFTs, crypto, and go on various tech tangents.

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