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Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

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Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#51

Post by StavrosK »

Swizec wrote: post #26
IsaacL wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, the way I see it is that both backend and frontend development have their bad parts: you either faff around with broken config files, or faff around with broken stylesheets. (Obviously both have their good sides too). It comes down to which you find easiest to tolerate. E.g., I don't enjoy fixing CSS quirks in IE6, but I find it a lot less painful than trying to figure out why my fastcgi daemon keeps crashing.

Which is why I personally let the designer(s) faff around with broken CSS and automated install scripts faff around with config files. Leaving me to fully enjoy my life of solving behaviour problems.

This is the solution. Having just automated our multi-server, multi-purpose configuration using Ansible, I can't tell you how many orders of magnitude better my life just became.

Manual server management: Not even once.

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#52

Post by jhh »

tracker1 wrote: post #40
collyw wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you are handling massive amounts of concurrent connections, are there not better choices than Node for the server side? Its still a fairly new technology.

Node does offer a lot of advantages beyond just many concurrent connections... A single language paradigm for client and server is big... the exact same language/structure/models for client and server communications and validation is pretty big. Many client-side tools utilize node.js these days as well. In general node.js combined with npm bring a lot less friction to development than other languages. Using node to c…

The way I imagine node development is pure hell.

You have this event loop where if you screw anything up your whole app immediately comes to a grinding halt.

You don't have any mature standard library. Instead you have 8 gazillion libraries in different versions...

Just overboarding complexety, unfindable bugs, dependency hell. And then you do all of it in JavaScript.

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#54

Post by babby »

babby wrote: post #37
skuunk1 wrote: post #20

One thing I have learned in my years of experience... Stay away from any job posting that asks for ninjas, rock stars or bad asses.

I dont understand those job ads. What kind of person honestly describes themselves as such? Maybe I am just too jaded, but god damn, note to self: kill myself if I ever use one of those titles.

quim05 you're hellbanned, bro. Apparently from your very first comment 2 days ago, that's somethin.

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#55

Post by MDCore »

alkonaut wrote: post #32
IsaacL wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, the way I see it is that both backend and frontend development have their bad parts: you either faff around with broken config files, or faff around with broken stylesheets. (Obviously both have their good sides too). It comes down to which you find easiest to tolerate. E.g., I don't enjoy fixing CSS quirks in IE6, but I find it a lot less painful than trying to figure out why my fastcgi daemon keeps crashing.

The common denominator of all that is wrong with development today is the internet. Work on a library, thick client, compiler, or anything like that and you are fine, but work too close to any of the tiers in some kind of internet/web based application and your day is filled with misery. Hopefully this internet thing will just fade away soon and we can all go back to real development.

Web development is a complex ecosystem. As a front-end dev I don't get to control much: many types of devices and software might run my code or display my HTML. Catering to that is the nature of the environment, and that heterogeneity (of devices and software) is what makes the Internet great.

I disagree that catering to that fills one's day with misery. In fact I think it's fun and I wouldn't enjoy working on a library, thick client or compiler quite as much. That's ok, development is big enough for us both to find something we like doing, without needing to denigrate what we don't like.

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#56

Post by sethkojo »

jhh wrote: post #52
tracker1 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Node does offer a lot of advantages beyond just many concurrent connections... A single language paradigm for client and server is big... the exact same language/structure/models for client and server communications and validation is pretty big. Many client-side tools utilize node.js these days as well. In general node.js combined with npm bring a lot less friction to development than other languages. Using node to c…

The way I imagine node development is pure hell. You have this event loop where if you screw anything up your whole app immediately comes to a grinding halt. You don't have any mature standard library. Instead you have 8 gazillion libraries in different versions... Just overboarding complexety, unfindable bugs, dependency hell. And then you do all of it in JavaScript.

Node's event loop is very easy to work with since all the standard tools are async from the start. It's not like eventmachine where standard Ruby calls are synchronous and they can throw a wrench in your logic.

There's no need for a mature standard library. Things move faster nowadays and you can't wait for things to get standardized. Node embraces the open-source spirit and trusts that the best libraries will rise to the top eventually.

And then you do all of it in JavaScript.

JavaScript is actually a top notch language. Cream of the crop. Lambdas, higher-order functions, apply/call, and OO. What more could you ask for from a dynamic language?

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#58

Post by odonnellryan »

Swizec wrote: post #28
davedx wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were a full stack JavaScript wizard AND you had solid design skills, you would be a unicorn with hooves made of diamond and a jet engine strapped on its ass.

Alas, my design skills stretch no further than the ability to vet designs created by others and giving decent suggestions. I think this makes me more of a pony with an ice cream cone duct taped to its forehead.

Good news is: almost anyone can be a designer.

Seriously. Design is easy: 1) Typesetting. Just put the text where it should go. 2) Colored backgrounds! Everyone likes color. 3) Responsive. Make it look good on mobile as well as many resolutions (max-width the main content area, use a framework).

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#60

Post by ialex »

The author is describing at least 3 positions on his post, it is insane to be responsible for the amount of work that it requires the proccess of building a web application.

It would be better to hire 3 different amazing people on their field (front-end dev, back-end dev and designer) and most of the times you will get a better result. two heads thinks better than one.

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