Month: November 2016

The eli4d Gazette – Issue 019


Issue 019: 2016-11-23

Media Pick

This comes by way of Studio Neat’s newsletter. It’s a video that explores the amazing acting ability of Anthony Hopkins through a dissection of a scene in HBO’s Westworld. You can find this video here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=4kSGkGKwp9U

Tech Pick

I’ve been noticing many ReactJS articles come across my various readings. While I have not had the opportunity to explore React (yet) I find React and these React-related articles quite interesting:

  • Dave Ceddia’s How To Learn React (and what to build along the way) and Your Timeline for Learning React articles are quite good in that:
    • The emphasis is on starting from fundamentals (i.e. JavaScript is step 0) and then focusing on getting going on React without the confusing overhead of associated technologies (i.e. Redux, Webpack, etc…).
    • The focus is on building small blocks that teach you about React.
    • Note: Dave is selling a book that covers React in the above ways. It’s on my list of things to buy/learn, so I will review it after I do that. The long and short of all of this is that his approach (as described by his articles) is a solid one for beginners, so my hope is that his book is solid in the same way.
  • A Study Plan to Cure JavaScript Fatigue: This article was created by the same developer that created the JavaScript survey (which I mentioned in issue 018). It is a good article to see where you can go with React, rather than an actual plan fo study React. In fact, the title itself states this because it’s a response to a JavaScript fatigue article. From a React learning point of view:
    • He has great images that show the evolution of JavaScript Apps (and web applications in general). I think that this is the great value of this article.

    • He glosses a bit about learning JavaScript indicating that you should only “know basic JavaScript syntax.” I disagree with this notion because JavaScript’s design is quite different from typical OO based languages (i.e. the functional aspects like functions being first class values, etc…). So sure – you should know syntax, but you also need to know how JavaScript ‘thinks’ due to its design. (Disclaimer: I do teach a JavaScript based beginner programming course but I would still state this even if I didn’t teach such a course)

    • “Bonus Week 5” jumps to GraphQL and bypasses REST altogether. GraphQL is still early days for most projects and for better or worse REST is a current standard. I would add a “Bonus Week 4.5” where you learn REST before worrying about GraphQL.

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