Web Developer Monthly Newsletter 💻🚀

57th 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 web development newsletter is focused on keeping you up-to-date with the industry, without wasting your valuable time. I curate and share the most important articles, news, resources, podcasts and videos of the month.

Think 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 March 2023 as a Web Developer…

The ChatGPT Hype is Real 🤖

You can't go anywhere this month without hearing something new about ChatGPT.

If you scroll down to the Big Tech News section, you will see that it's all ChatGPT news... but for now, what are some of the interesting things you should check out?

Things are evolving very quickly so I've compiled a list to help you stay up-to-date:

1. Watch the ChatGPT 4 launch stream.
2. Learn how ChatGPT works.
3. Build your own ChatGPT with this or with this.
4. Watch this brand new ChatGPT/LLM ZTM course.
5. Play around: ChatGPT + Code Interpreter = Magic

React News 💎

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

1. React Is Holding Me Hostage. I have to say, all of the React changes lately makes me really want to use something else. Are we being fooled? Is this "elegance" they are always proposing as improvements just complexity underneath the hood?

2. React docs just got an upgrade. Now they are all in on building React with a framework. For whoever is too young to remember, back in the day React grew in popularity vs Angular exactly BECAUSE it wasn't a framework like Angular, and it was simply a view layer. Now we're going full circle.

3. Speaking of frameworks here is one opinion: why You Should Use a React Framework. My 2 cents: React core team now has a great excuse to divert all the complaints/issues that they get from the community to: "hey go ask your framework... not our problem". Here is a breakdown of how to start a React project in 2023.

4. Were React Hooks a mistake? - Kind of.

5. React Labs: What We've Been Working On – March 2023.

6. A deep dive into the evolution of React from client-side view library to application architecture. Enjoy.

The Ultimate Site Generator Review 👩‍💻

THE JAVASCRIPT SITE GENERATOR REVIEW, 2023.

• Astro 2.0.15
• Eleventy 2.0.0
• Enhance 1.4.6 (added 27 February 2023)
• Gatsby 5.7.0
• Next.js 13.2.1
• Nuxt 3.2.2
• Remix 1.13.0
• SvelteKit 1.8.3

Who wins? Make your bets.

P.S. Astro also came out with their own framework performance report... guess who wins in that one.

JavaScript Garbage 🥽

Memory leaks in web applications are widespread and notoriously difficult to debug. If we want to avoid them, it helps to understand how the garbage collector decides what objects can and cannot be collected.

In this article, you'll take a look at a few scenarios where its behavior might surprise you. Learn all about Garbage Collection in JS.

You Might Not Need A Build Step 🏗

As long as developers are not writing raw HTML, JS, and CSS, and need to optimize assets for the performance of the end user, there will inevitably be some sort of "build" step.

Whether that step is a separate step that takes minutes and happens in CI/CD or just-in-time when the request happens, depends on your framework or stack of choice.

But removing the build step means you can move faster and be more productive.

Read the argument here.

Also, how much do build tools like Webpack suck the soul right out of you?!

Want A Competitive Advantage? 🎯

Want an unfair advantage in your tech career?

Consume content meant for other roles. Learning about roles you work with can provide a meaningful competitive advantage in the modern tech world.

I agree with this article... it's what helped me accelerate my career/roles when I first got started in this industry.

If You Missed the Last 3 Years 🕰

This article goes through almost all of the changes of the last 3 years (and some from earlier) in JavaScript / ECMAScript and TypeScript.

If you slept through the last 3 years this should catch you up to speed.

Fun Project of the Week 🧰

Use this library to bring stable diffusion models to web browsers. Everything runs inside the browser with no server support. Show off to your friends and family.

How Quantum Computers Work 🤿

Watch the first 10 minutes of this video. If you want to get down to the nitty gritty, then watch the whole thing and try not to have your brain explode.

How Quantum Computers Break The Internet.

Some Deno News 🦕

If you've been following this newsletter for a while, you know how much I love Deno. As always, Deno is evolving and it got a new upgrade this month: Why We Added package.json Support to Deno.

Metaverse Was A Bad Idea 🎭

If you want some motivation today, spend 2 hours watching this.

This is why problem solving skills and common sense are all you need to succeed in the tech industry long term.

To be average is quite achievable and we tend to overestimate what the "average" knowledge is. To be average is to be mediocre... being in the top 10% isn't actually that hard (mileage may vary, strong opinion alert).

Enjoy the entertainment/motivation.

P.S. Meta Plans Thousands More Layoffs and Disney Eliminates Its Metaverse Division as Part of Company’s Layoffs Plan.

New Libraries and Tools 🗿

There are a ton of shiny new libraries and tools every month which is why I have this dedicated section for them...

• TypeScript 5.0 is here!

• Tailwind CSS v3.3: Extended color palette, ESM/TS support, logical properties, and more.

News Around the World 🗺

• In case anyone didn't know, NFTs didn't turn out the way people with monkey jpegs hoped.

• Was there a tech hiring bubble? Yes. It just means now you can't fake your way to a job. You'll actually need to have solid skills and knowledge to get hired (Surprised pickachu face).

• Docker is deleting Open Source organizations. Engineers lost their mind at this news, and now Docker is turning back and saying oopsie.

Big Tech News (AKA ChatGPT News) 🏢

The new hype train has entered the station. A lot of ChatGPT/AI/LLM news this past month:

• DALL-E was OpenAI’s image creator last year, which was interesting but far less impressive than Stable Diffusion or Midjourney. Following the OpenAI partnership, (Microsoft) Bing’s AI mode can now make images using DALL-E.

• Adobe announced a beta of Firefly, a generative ML tool for making images. Microsoft is getting in on the action with Microsoft Designer.

• Github (owned by Microsoft) has added GPT-4 to its existing Copilot code assistant. Meet Copilot X.

• Google announced the release of Bard, an early experiment that lets you collaborate with generative AI.

• ChatGPT also announced a ton of new things like Plugins.

Completely useless to your career but still great 🙃

• Can you land it safely? Too hard? Then use an autopilot.

• Scribble Diffusion - Turn your sketch into a refined image using AI.

Best Resource of the Month ✅

Will ChatGPT and AI take over your job?

Maybe hear it from someone that has been through a lot in the tech space.

However, you should take note that LLMs will fundamentally change software engineering forever.

Pay attention to this space.

P.S. Here at the ZTM Academy, we're going to be introducing a lot of ChatGPT / LLM / AI content over the next few months to help keep you on top of the industry and continue to have a competitive advantage over those that are just slacking.

You can start by understanding the fundamental technology underlying ChatGPT here.

We've also already updated our DevOps Linux course with a new ChatGPT section.

More coming soon :)

Trick of the Month 🌗

• Sandworm: statically & dynamically analyses over 2M JavaScript packages to offer zero day, real time protection against malicious scripts.

• SVG Backgrounds: Create stunning websites easily with fullscreen graphics under 5KB.

Thanks for reading!

Don't be shy now... Share this newsletter with your friends.

See you next month! ❤️

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.