What is the quickest and easiest way to learn React JS? The key is to learn the web fundamentals.
Full transparency here, we’re going to be talking ourselves up a bit and shamelessly plugging our courses, because we got a question that directly references them. Our questioner (questionee?) was wondering if it was easy to jump into React after taking our WebDev (web development) course?
Quick (but not necessarily deep) jump into React:React (also known as React. js or ReactJS) is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It is maintained by Facebook and a community of individual developers and companies. React can be used as a base in the development of single-page or mobile applications.
And as for how easy or how much of a ‘shift’ it would be to jump into React after learning with our web development course? “[My WebDev course] …is designed to give deep knowledge that you can use to pivot into many directions. React, of course, is a natural progression because you need to know JS (JavaScript), HTML, CSS, and the web in general: I teach all this and much more”.
This also speaks to something that’s been mentioned a lot on these VLOGS and articles, so much so, that’s it should be considered one of our mantras here: “the key to becoming a great developer quickly is to master the fundamentals. I teach the fundamentals. Painstakingly put in a lot of effort to make my fundamentals courses very, very thorough; you’re going to see that they cover so much more than any tutorial out there could possibly cover, and that’s because of the nature of the courses.” That includes HTML5, CSS3 and of course, JavaScript and once you have those basics down, learning React JS will be easy.
So yeah, we’re blowing our own horn a little, but hey, we put in the work and it’s nice to reap the rewards. The reward being in this case, knowing that this person is going to have an easier time learning something they really want to learn (possibly getting a better job), and that our course(s) helped them!
Check out the VLOG for some more insight and check out our links down below to the courses offered. We want them to work for you so we took the time to do it right. Believe us, we gain nothing as a business if you learn nothing, it’s worth a look! -Enjoy!
How will a web developers job change over the next five years?
First off, If you’re a dev, a programmer, employed or freelance, or someone who generally doesn’t get to see the ‘light of day’ (or is a shut-in), you’re welcome… We are out and about today!! Also, if you were in the mood for Dim Sum and talked yourself out of it…sorry.
Today we’re contemplating how the web-stack will change over the next 5 years. What devs and programmers should expect in terms of changes to their jobs, and delicious Dim Sum…sorry, I’m really hungry now…
In General: “The languages that we see now are pretty much baked into the cake. I don’t see any new languages replacing any of the leaders now (PHP, JavaScript, Python, etc.), the reason is… simply because they’re very good, they’re all very productive, and with computers getting faster and faster, I don’t see where we would need more efficient languages or faster languages.”
Web Frameworks: Re: front-end frameworks, “…that’s more difficult to predict because web frameworks are more volatile. …My best guess -barring any new framework coming into the game/ some new disruptive technology- …I think you’re going to see React and Vue are going to be the dominant players, followed by Angular (but you can’t lose with any of them). This is a prime exmaple of why I always tell people to learn your fundamentals: frameworks change, libraries change, but the fundamentals don’t change.”
Complexities of Web Development: “Another thing you’re going to see …is the move more and more to the server. You’re seeing more and more sophisticated server tools that are pretty mind-blowing (from an old nerd’s prospective), [for example] virtualized database management: …instead of having to worry about charting your database and database optimizations, the advanced hosting companies -they provide that for you. They take care of that; scaling, auto-backups, all this kind of stuff that normally you would have to do yourself -you’d have to work it into the development cycle- not anymore! And you’re going to see more and more of this offloading of complexity in terms of application design and architecture…onto sophisticated hosting solutions. …So that’s another you’re going to see, that obfuscation of the complexity -and that’s a good thing.”
Closing Thoughts: “I think it’s going to shift from day to day ‘nuts and bolts’ type of coding, and going to go more towards architectural. Now what people use is a content management system; the most popular being WordPress. Which has given rise to the ‘WordPress Professional’, …[they] know how to install, configure WordPress, know the environment -the ecosystem around WordPress: know what the good themes are, the bad themes, the good plugins, the bad plugins, how to install and debug, how to lockdown and secure WordPress -there’s a whole skill set. Now you don’t necessarily need to be a coder, but having coding skills does help…and you can’t discount these type of skills… It’s very little about code but you gotta really know your stuff. …And this is a trend that been going on for awhile; this move away from nuts and bolts’ coding, to being someone who leverages different libraries and frameworks and understands how to use them/when to use them, and what circumstances to use them.”
So there you have it. The VLOG really goes into a much deeper and detailed dive, you should check it out. Also, speaking of fundamentals -SHAMELESSS PROMO- check out our links (below) to various courses we offer, particularly web development. It’s super effective. As for your job; it doesn’t mean coding is going to go away, just that there will be a shift. Again, know your fundamentals and you can’t go wrong. “A little less code, a little more architecture…and Dim Sum…always leave room for Dim Sum…so hungry!!! -Enjoy!
Vue.js, React and Angular are the big three JavaScript frameworks. But which one is the best in 2019?
There are many JavaScript frameworks out there but Vue.js, React, and Angular are easily (though, I guess also arguably) the top three. All three have their strengths and uses, but if you want to find the best one for your needs, let’s look at a brief overview (more details in this VLOG and way more in the article).
Before we get started, this is the article we are …framing?… our references around, and full transparency: we use Vue.js (henceforth called ‘Vue’) for our needs with StudioWeb. Here we go:
Angular: Developed by Google in 2010 (making it easily the most mature), this behemoth (500kb) is more in the realm of big projects with ‘advanced developers’. “Angular is basically positioned for larger projects. There’s a much steeper learning curve with Angular, …it’s a very powerful framework.” Another feature of Angular is that, “it separates out the logic from the application/the behavior of an element and the element itself is separate.” So while you would be gaining flexibility with Angular, you might be sacrificing a certain amount of simplicity that you would get with the other frameworks..
React: Developed by Facebook in 2013 this slimmer framework (100kb), offer way more simplicity than Angular (at the cost of some flexibility) and has an equal market share with Angular. This Framework tends to be adopted by more flexible small-medium sized companies.
Vue: Open source-developed, holding approximately 20% of the market share (and growing), weighing in at about 80kb (soaking wet), we have the staple of most start-up/small businesses: Vue. Boasting an easy, practically non-existent learning curve, Vue is the compromise between flexibility and simplicity.
So what’s the best option for you? Well, all these frameworks have their strengths and weaknesses, and they’re all used by many companies, businesses, and corporations, so they’re not going to vanish anytime soon… I guess it all comes down to what you want to do… Want to work for a big corporation? Angular. Spunky start-up with a can do attitude? Probably Vue. We really want to stress that one framework is not better than the other, they just offer different options, benefits, and drawbacks.
Check out the VLOG for a deeper dive into the pros/cons and features of all three frameworks, and remember, “…your choice of framework -of any technology- largely depends on the type of work you wanna do, the job market, a personal choice… there’s no language that is ultimately best, …no framework that is ultimately worse; it really depends on what you want to do.” -Enjoy!
The state of the ‘developer ecosystem’ in 2019 by software development company of note: JetBrains.
In the beginning of 2019, JetBrains -a software company whose tools are geared towards software developers and project managers- polled almost 7,000 developers to identify the State of the ‘developer ecosystem’. The resulting article can be found here, in all its glory, but we thought we’d break it down for ya and give you some of our thoughts…
-Java is the most popular language. “Most developers will use multiple languages, so …it’s kinda silly to get caught up in what’s the most [popular].
-JavaScript is the most used overall language. “That makes sense because JavaScript’s in the web browser, if you’re doing React, Angular, if you’re doing a basic website, you’re going to be using JavaScript.”
-‘Go’ is the most promising programming language. “I would put ‘Go’ on a ‘perhaps to learn’ list. …The top languages to learn are HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python…”.
-TL;DR.“One thing that you see across all the surveys, that JavaScript, Java, Python, HTML, CSS … SQL, these are all coding languages and in some cases programming languages that are always at the top or near the top of the stack. And another takeaway that were on all the surveys is that the web stack is still by far dominant.”
The VLOG goes into more detail, with more educated extrapolations and a sweet scenic boat or canoe ride. -Enjoy!
The face of native mobile development is changing indeed … and fast!
Okay, so a couple of months ago we talked about SWIFT and how we felt it was going to “lose market share” because frameworks like FLUTTER, React, etc. were going to put more pressure on native development (like SWIFT) with their sheer versatility… it did not go over well with the SWIFT OG’s… but if we could just have a moment of your time, I’m sure we can make things worse… 🙂
“Flutter allows you to write cross-platform mobile applications (iOS & Android) using one language: DART, one framework: FLUTTER framework, and it’s created by google; and what interesting about FLUTTER -it compiles down to native so you don’t have a ‘performance hit'”.
Now, traditionally when you use frameworks, you don’t have access to certain things that you would with native but the major concern when creating FLUTTER was to give developers the ability to customize and have access to everything…in other words: flexibility. Writing and maintaining one code base which is responsive, compiles down to native is gives you a lot of control over UX and UI is pretty attractive and while no framework is perfect, it’s pretty close…
In the video we go into more detail and hit on a few interesting points. Check it out, it’s worth a look. Enjoy!
