Web Developer Monthly 💻🚀

34th issue! If you missed them, you can read the previous issues of our Web Developer Monthly newsletter here.

If it’s your first time here… (otherwise, skip this part)

Being a web developer is a fantastic career option. You have many job opportunities, you can work around the world, and you get to solve hard problems.

One hard thing, however, is staying up to date with the constantly evolving ecosystem. You want to be a top-performing web developer, coder, programmer, software developer, but you don’t have time to select from hundreds of articles, videos and podcasts each day.

This monthly newsletter is focused on keeping you up to date with the industry, keeping your skills sharp, without wasting your valuable time. I curate and share the most important articles, news, resources, podcasts and videos of the month.

Think Tim Ferriss and the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) meeting the Software Development world. What’s the 20% that will get you 80% of the results?

Let's dive in. Here's what you missed in April 2021 as a Web Developer…

Cryptojacking For Fun And Profit 😈

This is why you follow this newsletter (or I sure hope this the reason): Weird and random tidbits that make you a better developer. Well, this article is one of my favourites from the month. It's an interesting look at how cryptojacking works, how one person fought against it, and also how Content Security Policies work. Super interesting dive to see what you can do on the web.

Free Tools For Web Developers ✂️

Some tools and assets to help you build your next project since we are best friends by now (unless this is your first time reading my articles… in that case let’s take things slow):

1. REST API generator for when you haven't set up the backend/database yet
2. Free custom illustrations: Manufactory Generator
3. Frontend tools of your dreams
4. Beautiful, soft, and modern UI dashboard template for you
5. Freelance Rate Calculator
6. Completely unstyled, fully accessible UI components
7. More illustrations because you just can't get enough
8. Beautiful mockups

For those of you who don't know, the ZTM team and I list our all-time best free resources here for you. Or... you can go back and read all 33 of the previous issues (wow, we're almost at 3 years of WDM!) of Web Developer Monthly. That's a joke. Don't do that!

HTML Boilerplate 🎩

We often kick HTML to a curb once we learn the basics and we move onto more exciting things like CSS, JavaScript, and dare we say WebAssembly. However, there are some good foundations to keep in mind even if you "think" you know HTML. This was a great read and I learned a thing or two (and you will too).

UX/UI Challenges 👨‍🎤

Can't get enough of User Experience? Well this is probably one of the best resources I have seen for you to practice and learn some best practices: UX Challenges.

While we are at it, here are some User Interface inspirations for you.

React News 💎

Mostly everyone's favourite frontend library. What crazy things have they been up to?

• A fun React project for you to try and build and wrap in a docker container. You will learn how to containerize a React app along the way.

• A good argument for why you should use ContextAPI for dependency injection and not for state management. It was the initial point of ContextAPI after all.

• Do you dream React 24/7? You can't get enough of talking about the latest feature that was just dropped on the latest React github branch? Well, React core team is releasing React Labs to let you reach Nirvana. React Labs is a new video series by the core team, and it will include technical deep dives to share their ongoing latest research with the members of the React community.

• How to read React errors? This is a great look at some common patterns to notice.

• The definitive guide to profiling React applications

• How to build a table of contents in React

Interesting Question Of The Month 🕺

What would you get if you did this? parseInt(0.0000005). Surprised by the answer? Check out why this happens.

One more: What tech job would let you get away with the least real work possible? An interesting discussion following that question. The answer may surprise you. Click here for the clickbait suspenseful reveal.

Optimize CSS Performance 📟

Optimizing CSS seems like a problem that only 0.00001% of developers have, but it's still an interesting topic to better understand how CSS works underneath the hood. Enjoy this read.

Hermes Now on iOS 🧝

If you have been following our React Native ZTM course, you would know about the Javascript engine created by Facebook: Hermes. Hermes is meant to be a "faster" Javascript engine to include for React Native applications on Android. Well, now Hermes is available on iOS devices as well, and theoretically should make React Native faster on those devices. Here is the breakdown. If you're wondering why we are including mobile dev topics in a web developer monthly, it's because I'm unpredictable and I'm keeping you on your toes.

Minty Fresh Single Page App 🧤

Although I am not a fan of latching on to super new tools/libraries/frameworks, since every day there is something new, and most of these never catch on... I still enjoy reading WHY some of these tools are invented and what problems they fix. This is an informative read of how we can build better single page applications using Mint. You will learn a thing or two about the current pain points.

Code Injections 💉

Writing secure code in a way that prevents code injection might seem like an ordinary task, but there are many pitfalls along the way. For example, the fact that you (a developer) follow best security practices doesn’t mean that others are doing the same. You’re likely using open source packages in your application. How do you know if those were developed securely? Here is how to: 5 ways to prevent code injection in JavaScript and Node.js

P.s. we actually cover all the best security practices in our latest course Complete Node.js Developer: Zero to Mastery (just launched!)

Getting Hired Secret Trick 🪤

When it comes to landing a job or acing an interview, I always prefer this strategy: solve the problem that the interviewer has... or at least show them that you are the person that can solve their problems. That's why articles like this are important. If you read that article from the perspective of what the interviewer wants, then you can go into an interview mentioning the points made in the article and sound like you're the perfect fit 😉.

Weekend Project Ideas 🧰

This is an amazing project. As a matter of fact, it will probably be ZTM's May coding challenge:

Toggle Dark Light mode by clapping your hands

esbuild, Snowpack, Vite, wmr 🤹‍♀️

WTF do all of these mean? I thought Webpack is all we need?! If you have those questions (most everyone does), then this is a great breakdown of what these new shiny tools may offer that is new. These new tools aren’t designed to perform the exact same function, and each has different things they’re trying to achieve and features to get there. Despite their differences, these tools do share a common goal: improve the developer experience.

For me personally, I feel like we are going back to this talk we had in 2018.

Cloudflare Pages 📡

Cloudflare Pages is out! It is a JAMstack platform for frontend developers to collaborate and deploy websites. Think of it as another competitor to Netlify and Github Pages. They have a free tier!

CORS Everywhere 🧯

Everything you ever wanted to know about that pesky little CORS issue you keep encountering when using APIs. Learn why they happen, how you can prevent them, and why they are useful here.

15 DevTool Secrets 🔮

Web developers spend considerable time using browser DevTools but it’s easy to miss useful tools and techniques when dozens of updates are added every year. The following features are primarily for JavaScript coders using Chrome-based browsers but all developers will discover something useful.

Timestamp It ⏱

I really like this idea. Instead of using booleans, why not just use timestamps? Here is why.

How Git Branching Works 🪴

Git Branches provide developers with separate workspaces for their code. But they don't just copy files. For example, they don’t waste disk space (which a simple file system copy would do) and they are much more capable when it comes to collaborating with other developers in the same project. A deep dive into Git Branching.

When WebAssembly Sucks 🏎

Add WebAssembly, get performance. Is that how it really works? The incredibly unsatisfying answer is: It depends. Read why here. If you have been reading this newsletter for a while, this should be no surprise to you that the senior developer's favourite phrase when asked about comparing two options is: "it depends".

Supabase UI 🦙

You may have heard of Supabase as the free and open source alternative to Firebase. Well, now they have a new product in Supabase UI: a high-level UI component library with a focus on creating beautiful apps quickly and efficiently. Supabase UI is designed to be used with Tailwind CSS utility classes. They provide full components (like Auth widgets), which you can simply drop into your website. Kind of cool. Keep an eye out on them.

Embrace The Grind 🏋️‍♂️

"Sometimes, programming feels like magic: you chant some arcane incantation and a fleet of robots do your bidding. But sometimes, magic is mundane. If you’re willing to embrace the grind, you can pull off the impossible." Have a read here for a nice reminder.

Deno 1.9 🦕

Deno is aging well like a fine bottle of wine. 1.9 is out! The big feature this time around being a native HTTP/2 web server: a fast, correct, fully featured HTTP server in Deno. Check it out here. Ready to jump on the Deno train? Learn deno with us here.

New Libraries and Tools 🗿

Just because we had a ton of these this month, I've added them into this section. Check out these shiny new/interesting things:

• React Hook Form v7 is out and about.
• Prisma is officially ready for production: The Complete ORM for Node.js & TypeScript
• Node v16 is out! Speaking of Node, we just launched what we think is the best, most comprehensive course out there on Node.js. Check it out you silly goose🦆.

News Around the World 🗺

• There seems to be a security breach every day now. Always a good idea to use https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to check if your data is safe and sound

• Brave browser is removing FLoC capabilities from their browsers for security reasons. If you don't know what FLoC is, we have talked about it in the last 2 issues in this newsletter. You can use this Chrome plugin to block FLoC. If you keep going down the rabbit hole, then you will end up here like I did

• A very interesting and entertaining read of what exactly happened with the SolarWinds. A 'Worst Nightmare' Cyberattack: The Untold Story Of The SolarWinds Hack

• Signal's CEO Just Hacked the Cops' Favorite Phone Cracking Tool and Became a Legend

Big Tech News 🏢

• The big news of the month was the resolution in courts between Oracle and Google. It has been a battle, years in the works, with important consequences for the ruling. For now most people think the "right" company won. Google copying [11,000 lines of Java code for Android is fair use]. Read the full details here. API reimplementation is fair use as a matter of law, meaning that the decision applies to all APIs we have

• Facebook founder cares about privacy

• Amazon is building its own chips! Watch out Intel, AMD, Apple and Google. They also just forked their own version of ElasticSearch + Kibana and called it OpenSearch

• Neuralink is doing weird Neuralink things with monkeys

• Alibaba is having a tough 2021 with all the problems they are encountering with government regulations. Alibaba hit with $2.8 billion fine in China antitrust case

• Microsoft is spending lots of money lately. Although their deal to purchase Discord fell through, they still spent $16 billion buying this company. They also released some new surface laptops

• Apple had their big conference where they released a bunch of new products including the new AirTag

Completely useless to your career but still great 🙃

• Did you know that Microsoft coffee was an actual thing?

• Probably the best website ever. Can you create something like this?

• Biggest Google Earth update in years: Travel through time.

Best Resource of the Month ✅

This is just mind blowing. You may not need to read the entire in-depth article, but the fact that people can solve problems like these blows my mind (and humbles us). Give this a brief read. Once you understand what it does, then go on over here and try the tool yourself. I bet you can create some great weekend projects with this one.

Appreciate the work that was put into the above project. However, also remember that you are not behind.

Trick of the Month 🌗

• Test your APIs inside of VS Code (no more postman/insomnia)!

• Build JavaScript games with Kaboooooooooom.js (may have added too many o's).

• Dark mode in 5 minutes

• There is a new browser in town: Mighty which makes chrome 10x faster

• Become a more productive developer.

See you next month everyone!

By the way, I teach people how to code and get hired in the most efficient way possible as the Lead Instructor of Zero To Mastery Academy. You can see a few of my courses below or see all ZTM courses here.