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When ever I hit doldrums, I'd pull out the laptop and work on the app to pass time. Luckily I had a good collection of gems locally that I used for reference.
Wasn't a web app, but I'm quite proud of it.
This specific case, and the norm of interviewing without access to references is not that interesting. But it is kinda like a specialized version of a fun party question, "With what you know now, if you were sent back in time, how far could you go and usefully employ your knowledge of the future?" (E.g. I know chemical fertilizer is a big deal, but I definitely do not know how to make it. I studied heat engines in a…
If we are talking about deploying something using framework which automatically generates CRUD boilerplate then perhaps yes.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's say Elon starts that colony on Mars and you think "Ima move there and write code for a living." You might have the internet, but its 15 minutes each direction. Nothing interactive works, and while they brought copies of Wikipedia, stack overflow didnt package so easily. Or more simply, can you write a web app without internet access?
> stack overflow didnt package so easily You just need some copy of something like: the way back machine, google cache or archive.is and then do asynchronous mirroring and you are not so far behind. Zoom meetings might be a problem though.
I'm personally a fan of fzf. ctrl-r has saved me many google searches. If you're just getting into software development it's a lifesaver.
I know without even thinking precisely how I would assemble a simple web app - I do not need help to understand what needs to be done in turns of building blocks. I.e. architecture, how it all hangs together, how data is stored and transmitted etc.
But do I need to search specific arguments for a library function call, some DSL syntax, or other reference material? You bet I do - time is too short to memorise that sort of thing, and totally not worth it IMO (especially since tech moves fast - what is relevant today, is obsolete and dead next year)
Can I knock up a site with some PHP/HTML/CSS without references - sure.
Can I knock up a standard server side app - sure, but I'm gonna want to look up certain functions and what arguments they take.
Can I put together an SPA without? Probably not. I know what I need to do, but I'm not going to remember which packages I need to install, or how they are configured, or if package x works with webpack4 or if I have to have Vue2 because a certain thing I want to use doesn't support 3 yet etc.
There are so many moving parts now for an 'app' that it is not feasible to keep it all in your head. Thats why there are so many starter-packages for things, because people forget what they did the first time around, so just create a new git repo with the skeleton to get going again ... only to be replaced in 6 months.
It was perl and flat file site counters when I started, and now I have to google how to make webpack work nicely :D
* Ask coworkers
* Look at documentation
* Try things out
Things don't seem way different today; we've just replaced the first two items with a search engine.
There is one difference I've noticed, though: an instant-access search engine makes it easier to 'fake' your way through something with less skill and knowledge. In the long run, this seems detrimental to professional growth and development.