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Front-End Developer Handbook

frontendmasters.com

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Re: Front-End Developer Handbook

#31

Post by nxc18 »

poof131 wrote: post #7

"A whole lot of developers adopt static type checking for mostly subjective reasons or band wagon emotions. Some sell out completely to Typescript and the Microsoft way of doing things while others take on a slower approach with Flow. One thing is for sure, most developers don't need types, they are simply complicating already complex problems and solutions. Like most things, most of this trend is subjective dogma no…

There were so many overtly biased and misleading statements in just the first page that the whole work lost credibility.

Re: Front-End Developer Handbook

#32

Post by xhrpost »

Do other devs tend to agree with the idea of full stack being a myth? "A developer who can code the front-end, back-end, API, and database isn't as absurd as it once was (excluding visual design, interaction design, and CSS). Still mythical in my opinion, but not as uncommon as it once was."

I've been FS for most of my career, mostly the result of working in smaller dev teams where you had to own product from top to bottom. I'm willing to admit not being an expert in all the areas and perhaps that's the catch. I also have to disagree with the timing idea, if anything, I feel I was more an expert in the past (despite JS being my top skill) before the exponential increase in JS tooling and framework complexity hit the scene. So, 10+ years ago, I was writing FS application. VBS on the back-end in ASP classic, build out the schema in T-SQL(Sybase), build out our own psuedo-mvc in VBS to server JSON for XHR requests from the client that we then wrote with the help of PrototypeJS. I knew ES3 like the back of my hand and often had to contribute to SQL queries a couple hundred lines long. VBS wasn't that hard (just annoying) and ASP classic pretty straight forward. Now even though JS is everywhere, things are much more config and library dependent and the shift has been a challenge for me.

Re: Front-End Developer Handbook

#33

Post by swirepe »

baron816 wrote: post #25
poof131 wrote: post #7

"A whole lot of developers adopt static type checking for mostly subjective reasons or band wagon emotions. Some sell out completely to Typescript and the Microsoft way of doing things while others take on a slower approach with Flow. One thing is for sure, most developers don't need types, they are simply complicating already complex problems and solutions. Like most things, most of this trend is subjective dogma no…

> Making a large refactor without types is the wild west. Types help provide structure/understanding about the data flowing through your system. If you’re working on a large, unstructured project that you’re trying to refactor, you’re problem probably isn’t with the types. It’s that the people working on it used types as a crutch so that they thought it was okay to write classes that were thousands of lines long with…

I don't know why you're conflating using a type system with writing large classes.

Re: Front-End Developer Handbook

#35

Post by MrL567 »

anon1094 wrote: post #6
pjmlp wrote: post #2

The title should be Web Front-End Developer Handbook. Native desktop, mobile, TV and infotainment systems are also front-end.

I don't understand why you're getting down voted, but this is absolutely correct and more specification is needed when it comes to "front-end". I come from a traditional front-end background (for web) and I send many front-end jobs for my company RemoteLeads as well. Front-end is the most fragmented programming job category and I'm sure it's the one that gets the most applicants. Companies will say they're looking fo…

I appreciate the fact that Jerry Low's article is not quite as vicious as the title makes it out to be. A bit clickbaity the title, but the actual article makes a good point to separate the design portions of front-end dev from the wiring up the servers and databases portions of it.

Re: Front-End Developer Handbook

#36

Post by swebs »

Blackstone4 wrote: post #11
poof131 wrote: post #7

"A whole lot of developers adopt static type checking for mostly subjective reasons or band wagon emotions. Some sell out completely to Typescript and the Microsoft way of doing things while others take on a slower approach with Flow. One thing is for sure, most developers don't need types, they are simply complicating already complex problems and solutions. Like most things, most of this trend is subjective dogma no…

> "Some sell out completely to Typescript and the Microsoft way of doing things" > "this trend is subjective dogma not objective value" Ironically, the author own phrasing is not objective and somewhat hypocritical. S/He described the use of Typescript as "selling out and the Microsoft way of doing things". S/He's trying to leverage anti-Microsoft sentiment to boost her/his argument. Feels more like a smear campaign…

To be fair, the anti-Microsoft sentiment didn't just pop up out of nowhere. I've been burned by Microsoft's bullshit so many times that I will go out of my way to deny them any semblance of power, lest they try to leverage it for some new anti-consumer vendor lock-in scheme.

How's that old saying go? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 47 times, shame on me.

Re: Front-End Developer Handbook

#37

Post by calibas »

jpd- wrote: post #18

"A developer who can code the front-end, back-end, API, and database isn't as absurd as it once was (excluding visual design, interaction design, and CSS). Still mythical in my opinion, but not as uncommon as it once was." I see this attitude expressed a lot among people who identify as "front end" developers and it seems like psychological projection to me. I would count myself and a number of close friends and asso…

I think part of the attitude is that there's a lot of very cheap and inexperienced front-end devs who claim to be full stack to impress potential clients. Many freelancer directories are full of these people, and clients often end up paying more in the long run when they have to hire someone else to fix all the problems that start popping up.

Re: Front-End Developer Handbook

#38

Post by JamesBarney »

Blackstone4 wrote: post #28
jpd- wrote: post #18

"A developer who can code the front-end, back-end, API, and database isn't as absurd as it once was (excluding visual design, interaction design, and CSS). Still mythical in my opinion, but not as uncommon as it once was." I see this attitude expressed a lot among people who identify as "front end" developers and it seems like psychological projection to me. I would count myself and a number of close friends and asso…

Agreed. Just look at this article: The Death of Front-end Developers ( https://medium.com/@jerrylowm/the-death-of-front-end-develop... ) The author states: "Even without the divide on the front-end I still hear lots of people claiming they’re full stack developers — I guarantee they’re not." I don't understand his perspective here. If you work on the front and backend then you are a full-stack developer. If on the ot…

Yeah I hate the we're going to redefine full stack developer to mean world renown expert on front end and back end. And then say there are no full stack developers.

When there are plenty of products that get shipped everyday by "full stack developers". Who don't necessarily identity as exclusively a front end or back end dev.

Re: Front-End Developer Handbook

#39

Post by always_good »

pjmlp wrote: post #24
NullPrefix wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically you're correct, but... web browser is the default front end. Technically command line programs are also front end.

It is surely not the default frontend on many business that still rely on native apps, on mobile devices, device displays, air gaped networks, factory automation and robot control systems, ....

Yes, but the web browser is ubiquitous so it's naturally going to sponge up defaults.

If someone's mad that people don't auto-assume they design robot neural interfaces when they call their self a front-end designer, then they're just fighting their own ego.

Re: Front-End Developer Handbook

#40

Post by JamesBarney »

xhrpost wrote: post #32

Do other devs tend to agree with the idea of full stack being a myth? "A developer who can code the front-end, back-end, API, and database isn't as absurd as it once was (excluding visual design, interaction design, and CSS). Still mythical in my opinion, but not as uncommon as it once was." I've been FS for most of my career, mostly the result of working in smaller dev teams where you had to own product from top to…

I'm with you, what do you call someone who can build and ship the back and front end of a working application, if not a full stack developer?

Because its pretty obvious a bunch of these people exist,

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