To Rewrite or Not to Rewrite?

To Rewrite Or Not To Rewrite

Kevin Roper Articles, Development Technologies & Tools, Opinion, Programming Leave a Comment

A recent project got me thinking about the old trope that, upon getting involved in an existing project, the first thing any developer wants to do is rewrite it.

Obviously, that’s not always true, and in fact, I’ve rarely been tempted. But the following situation made the thought cross my mind, and it also led me to realize the reasons I didn’t bite.

Let’s talk about it, but first, I’ll talk more generally about rewriting codes, the potential benefits, and the reasons it’s typically best not to.

Top React Frameworks for Enterprise App Dev

Top React Frameworks for Enterprise App Dev

Zach Gardner Articles, Consulting, Development Technologies & Tools, Opinion, React Leave a Comment

There is such a rich, user-driven ecosystem around React that it can be difficult to discern which frameworks, if any, should be used to develop enterprise-grade applications. This blog post dives into the most popular ones and analyzes which are most suitable for that specific use case.

Before diving in, please remember: the decision of which one is the right one for a given organization or application is very context-specific, so diligent consideration is required to ensure an optimal outcome.

Use best practices like SOLID principles when converting legacy code

Legacy Code: Use Best Practices Like SOLID When Converting

Geoffrey Blogref Articles, Modernization, Opinion, Programming Leave a Comment

This blog is about converting legacy code better—using architecture already in place, SOLID principles, and best practices.

Generally speaking, not having an architectural plan set up (or not using SOLID principles and best practices) can lead to passing the buck to the next generation of developers. We should all strive to push good code forward to get the latest and greatest out there. Starting with following the patterns in place at your job, or SOLID best practices, will make converting and upkeep way faster in the future.

This post contains a discussion of my experience in various software team environments. Throughout them all, we show that if SOLID patterns and best practices had been followed, then time spent converting code would have been less and code upkeep would have been easier down the line.

Developer Experience First in Code

Four Ways of Writing Thoughtful Code to Think Less

Ryan Brewer Articles, Opinion, Programming 3 Comments

Long before I was offloading brainpower to Stack Overflow, I sought to offload it for my future self (ahem, and teammates of course). I have a book to thank for this. Steve Krug’s “Don’t Make Me Think.”  It’s a critique of complex user interfaces.

Steve likes them simple and intuitive: the users’ goals are evident and easily accomplished.

Steve’s adage–“don’t make me think”–also plays a fair critique of the code we write. We can take that adage and apply it as a “DX First” approach to writing code. (An approach that admittedly should be sacrificed to UX or Performance Gods as needed.)

In this article I illustrate four high-level ways of elevating the developer experience to the forefront, helping us grok more while thinking less.

How and Why to Containerize Your Development

John Hoestje Articles, Development Technologies & Tools, Docker, Opinion, Python, Tutorial Leave a Comment

This is a tutorial for how to use the VS Code Remote-Containers extension to containerize your development environment. First, I will discuss my reasons for separating my programming environment and why virtual machines didn’t work. Then, I’ll show a simple example using a containerized Python development environment. Finally, I’ll give you my reasons why containerizing the development environment fits what I’m looking for in a solution.