JavaScript And The Web
Currying In JS | 2ality - A nice round up of the different approaches for using currying (a functional programming concept) in JavaScript. My favorite line: “One of JavaScript’s best traits is how many different styles of programming it can accommodate." This is one of my favorite things about the language as well.
Thoughts on Redux and its similarities with OOP | Dhruv Rajvanshi - I always find it useful to understand when core concepts are shared across very different looking tools and paradigms
Programming Tools and Practices
Entering the Quantum Era—How Firefox got fast again and where it’s going to get faster | Lin Clark - I’ve been using Firefox 57 as my primary browser this week and so far it is very very nice. Other than a single Chrome-specific extension that I’m missing, and a few minor devtool annoyances, everything has worked great. And it is blazing fast.
Introducing Visual Studio Live Share | Microsoft and Code together in real time with Teletype for Atom | Github - In what appears to be a crazy coincidence, both Atom and Visual Studio/Visual Studio Code announced new tools for collaborating with other developers on code, using a google docs-like experience. Atom’s solution is available in beta today, and is a free WebRTC based peer-to-peer solution for editing code together, with the primary user sharing their active tab with anybody who has the uniqueID for your session. It also includes open-sourcing a library that would let other editors implement its document protocol. Microsoft’s solution is more ambitious, supporting both Visual Studio and Visual Studio code, and allowing users access to a whole shared workspace. It is just an announcement for now though, and it’s not clear if it is a peer to peer or centralized solution, nor whether it will have a cost associated with it. Regardless, both solutions look amazingly cool.
As one of the three engineers that built Teletype, I share your curiosity! 🙈
— Jason Rudolph (@jasonrudolph) November 15, 2017
Managing Humans | Michael Lopp (AKA Rands) - This book was a great roundup of some of the best writings from one of my favorite blogs Rands in Repose. Michael Lopp has been a manager and executive at Netscape, Apple, Palantir, Pinterest and now Slack. He’s seen a lot. While the book is aimed first at managers, it’s helpful for anyone who is interested in understanding how engineering teams work, and how to lead or work in one better.
Non-Tech
On the Table, the Brain Appeared Normal | The New York Times - Powerful reading about the dangers of football, a sport that I still love watching. More context here if you’re confused after reading the NYT story.
Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A. to Its Core | The New York Times - Interesting to see such mainstream questioning of the NSA’s habit of hording zero-day exploits. Don’t read this one if you want to maintain any naive good feelings about US cybersecurity.