HTML All The Things - Web Development, AI, and Developer Careers

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are foundational web development technologies that Matt and Mike recommend web developers learn before trying out a framework (ie React, Svelte). Out of these three pillars, JavaScript is the most difficult to learn, especially for people that have never been exposed to programming before. Learning how to think and solve problems like a computer (programmatic logic) coupled with writing and understanding a brand-new syntax is no easy feat. These difficulties have sparked several guides, courses, and bootcamps all aimed at teaching people JavaScript and other web technologies using unique combinations of theory and project-based learning. Some people, however, will skip taking in any theory at all and go straight for project-based learning, referring to documentation and other written material only when they're really stuck. With such a difficult learning curve for junior developers, can they learn JavaScript through only project-based learning?

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/can-you-learn-javascript-through-only-project-based-learning

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Full-stack development is one of the most difficult web development positions as it covers both the frontend and backend of a website. The frontend is responsible for the user interface, including any logic that powers that interface (ie animations, show/hide elements). The backend is responsible for features working from a server, typically handling security-heavy functions (ie credit card usage), and data manipulation (ie saving your profile changes). Luckily the combination of Svelte on the frontend and SvelteKit on the backend can make full-stack development easier than you might think with a fast development server, easy-to-follow file structure, and syntax that is easily picked up if you're coming from another JavaScript framework. This week Matt and Mike discussed how Svelte and SvelteKit can help you develop full-stack websites and apps faster than some of the other tools out there.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/how-sveltekit-makes-full-stack-easy

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The tech world moves quickly, and web development is no exception...except that it seems like web development keeps re-inventing the wheel. Us web developers can make a blog in WordPress, Svelte + SvelteKit, React, Webflow, and many more. It seems like we spend most of our time arguing and creating new tools to develop the exact same end products, when we could be innovating and creating the next best thing. For our non-techie customers, they see no difference and form no opinion on whether their blog should be created using Svelte or React - yet we waste tons of hours learning different technologies that can pump out the same projects, with little difference. While the rest of the tech world looks to Apple for what they're calling "spatial computing" with the Vision Pro, and Meta for their affordable AR/VR experiences...websites remain large the same as they were a number of years ago. Does this mean that websites are being left behind, are they old news? 

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/are-websites-old-news-are-they-going-the-way-of-the-newspaper

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Learning JavaScript from scratch can be a real challenge, but once you're through it, your newfound programming knowledge will pay dividends for years into your career. JavaScript is one of the foundational technologies on which the web is built, alongside HTML and CSS. Knowing it gives you insight into how to "think like a computer" and offers a running start when you're ready to learn a JavaScript framework like React, Vue, or Svelte. This week, Matt and Mike discussed how to get started learning JavaScript as an absolute beginner looking to work their way through junior developer and beyond.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/learning-javascript-from-scratch

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Coming back to a web development project after a long hiatus is difficult enough for a senior developer, let alone a junior developer. As a newbie when it comes to Svelte and SvelteKit, Matt tried to return to his passive income app weeks after his last visit, only to find himself stumped on what to work on next, and how everything he already had worked. This led him to question whether he should be restarting from scratch, re-engineering everything with the knowledge he remembered up to that point, or to start up a Udemy course to get situated with Svelte and SvelteKit again. In this episode, Matt and Mike discussed the course of action that Matt took to get himself unstuck on his coding problem so he could continue programming and learning Svelte and SvelteKit.

Show Notes: www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/full-stack-struggles-2-i-was-at-the-gates-of-tutorial-hell

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On top of the growing collection of "must-know" tools in a web developer's arsenal is the famous (or maybe infamous?) TypeScript - a high-level programming language that adds static typing with optional type annotations to JavaScript. Developed by Microsoft, TypeScript can improve the developer experience by allowing the data that is passed around the code to be typed to something specific (ie Boolean), with TypeScript ready to throw an error if the types don't match appropriately through the program. In this episode, Matt and Mike discuss TypeScript at length discussing whether you need to learn TypeScript and how to learn it whether you're a beginner, or veteran coder.

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Show Notes: www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/do-you-need-to-learn-typescript-in-2023

Practice makes perfect, so it makes sense when senior developers tell aspiring juniors to "just code" and it will all work out. The problem with "just code" is that a complete beginner will have no idea where to start, or what to code up. Should they use HTML, React, or PHP? What type of project should they code up? In this episode, Matt and Mike hope to lay out a clear pathway on where to start learning web development for absolute beginners. We hope that the discussion will also help those that are acting as mentors for soon-to-be junior web developers. 

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The web development community has a collection of hot takes that seem to continuously come up time and time again in social media discussions and podcast debates. Hot takes like the debate of whether or not HTML is a programming language, or if React is good. These, among several other hot takes, are typically rooted in divide among the community as friction points about what tools to use and how to use them spark fierce debate among those that work closely with them. In this week's episode, Matt and Mike discussed and debated a collection of these hot takes, offering their opinions on each one.

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Show Notes: www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/web-development-hot-takes-is-html-a-programming-language-does-react-suck

No-code platforms are useful tools for those that don't have the expertise to code up a web app, website, or mobile app themselves, but what if we told you that they can be useful for programmers too? No-code tools can save web developers time by offering a quick and easy creation platform that can typically be expanded upon with code (usually JavaScript). This week Matt and Mike discussed the importance of no-code being used alongside code to help teach new developers and assist veteran programmers with their tight deadlines.

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Show Notes: www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/coding-for-no-coders-javascript-editing

Squashing bugs in your code can be as easy as finding a missing semicolon, but sometimes it can be a grueling process filled with torn out hair and console logs. In this episode, Matt and Mike discuss the various ways that you can debug your code using methods that span HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. For HTML, the DOM inspector, markup validation, and accessibility checkers can ensure you have a clean structure for the rest of your code to work from. Then in the layout department, CSS debugging methods can include things like using the Computed tab in your dev tools, obvious visual markers (ie red borders on targeted elements), and various Chrome extensions. And finally, JavaScript - the part of your website that is most likely already acquainted with debugging includes methods like using alerts, breakpoints, asking AI to correct errors, and much more.

Show Notes: www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/debugging-html-css-and-javascript