Davy Engone

Are you looking for a React Developer? Here are a few tips to consider when either talking to candidates or writing your job descriptions.

React and the bed frame at IKEA

Picture a complete bed. Beds may have a headboard for resting against and may have side rails and footboards. Headboard-only beds may incorporate a "dust ruffle", "bed skirt", or "valance sheet" to hide the bed frame. To support the head, a pillow made of soft, padded material is usually placed on the top of the mattress. Some form of covering blanket is often used to insulate the sleeper, often bed sheets, a quilt, or a duvet, collectively referred to as bedding.

In that picture, React could be assimilated to the bed frame only.

React is a library and not a framework

React by itself isn't a complete tool. You need to add some other technologies such as React Navigation and GraphQL/Fetch to build any serious application with React. That's why React does not qualify as a Framework but as a library.

React (The Library) VS Angular (The Framework)

A library is a dedicated piece of software that does one thing. In the case of React, It is used to build One Thing: User Interface. I didn't say web or mobile UIs but any User Interfaces you can think of.

Angular, in that picture is the bed. It provides everything to build any application in one toolbox. Although some people like to add extra tools, the framework is complete.

The comparison between the 2 technologies is often misleading. React vs Angular often means do you like to assemble your own stack around React or do you prefer to use the set of tools assembled for you under Angular, the framework.

Takeaways

At the end of the day, React vs Angular, It's a matter of preferences. Do you prefer buying the bed frame and then purchasing each other piece apart before assembling them together? Or you prefer buying a bed with all the necessary tools at once. That's the choice developers are faced with.

Opportunity

When talking to React developers, ask them which stack they like to assemble around React and why.

For Angular developers, the question could be whether or not they like to use the framework as-is or they like to replace part of the framework with other technologies. You'll learn a lot about the way they think.

This was React is only the bed frame!

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I got recruiters reaching out to me about AngularJS role while they mean Angular. They look the same but they are not the same.

A short story about AngularJS (Angular 1.x)

AngularJS is a web framework created by Google in 2009 when web applications were becoming the norm. The JS in AngularJS stands for JavaScript. JavaScript was the language used to create that framework. AngularJS was a game-changer in the way of building apps.

AngularJS is also known as Angular 1.X

A short story about Angular (Angular 2+)

In late 2015, TypeScript was taking the market by storm. Companies wanted to use a more safe version of JavaScript in order to build the next version of apps. The team at Google decided to rewrite AngularJS from SCRATCH. They chose TypeScript instead of JavaScript among the new set of tools they incorporated in Angular.

This was so controversial because they had announced the new version wouldn't be backward compatible.

Imagine using some technology for years. And the creators decide to start over without insuring backwards compatibilities with the version you are using. I guess you'd be mad at them. So was everyone! Google became the enemy for a while.

It was just a matter of time before people realise the power of this new version of Angular. The team at Google was quite confident they were building some amazing. A Framework that would change the way we think about front-end development.

They were spot on. At the time of writing this essay, there were more than 2 million people using It on their project!

From Angular 2 to Angular 13

With the previous version (AngularjS) migrating from one version to the other was not a smooth process. It took time to go from 1 version to the other. With the new version, they basically release a new version every 6 months-ish. They also make sure the migration process is not that painful.

That said, a developer with experience with Angular 2 only might have issues working with Angular 13. I can safely say that an Angular developer with experience with version 8 can work with version 13 easily.

Takeaways

They're both technologies by Google. Angular is the evolution of AngularJS. Yes, their names are confusing for a neophyte but be cautious not to offer an AngularJS role to an Angular developer. You won't be making friends that way.

Opportunity

AngularJS is not supported by Google anymore therefore, you can look for clients still using AngularJS today and suggest helping them switch to Angular. Then ahead out there find experts to help them migrate.

This was Angular is NOT AngularJS!

If you found this useful, please share it in your community and share your feedback with me in the comments section.

Don't forget to take the weekly test to see how you stack up with your peers on the tech jargon.

Until next time, take care!

In this series of essays, I'll be covering a set of tools developers cannot and should not live without.

Software development is an art that requires discipline, deep focus and a lot of trials and errors. Actually, the latter is probably the most important of all because developers run a lot of experiments before settling for a solution. To support a great number of experiments, developers need some special tools. The first one we will cover in this series is an IDE.

IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment.

An IDE in the real world

We all know Microsoft Word or Google Document; These two technologies represent IDEs in the real world. When writing a letter, using one of these tools will drastically accelerate the way you deliver your piece. They will help you with spellcheckers, words suggestions, the semantic meaning of the sentence, the formatting and much more.

Imagine writing a letter nowadays without these tools. You'll be much slower and not efficient at all.

Therefore, the choice of tools is critical. You cannot afford not to have the best one the market can offer.

An IDE in the tech world

In programming, when people write code with Java, JavaScript, C#, PHP or any programming language and framework, they use an IDE. The IDE helps with the following:

• Code Suggestion and Code completion

• Errors checker and code execution

• Debugging errors faster

• Code Testing

This list is not exhaustive. The number of features is 100 fold the one listed above.

List of (famous) IDEs

• IntelliJ is the most popular IDEs in the Java world. You've probably heard of Eclipse.

• Microsoft Visual Studio is the flagship IDE within the .NET environment

• Visual Studio Code or VSCode in short is one of the most used IDEs for JavaScript-based projects. However, It is used with dozen other technologies. The only thing needed is a plugin

• WebStorm is also quite popular in the web world

• PHPStorm, just like the name mentioned, is for PHP-based projects.

• XCode is the IDE to build apps in the Apple world (Swift or Objective-C)

• Android Studio is for Android apps

This list is much longer than listed above.

Takeaways

A developer without an IDE is like a writer writing on a paper. IDEs are so obvious that they are often not mentioned in job descriptions or resumes. They're just part of the ecosystem.

A piece of advice I give to developers is to master their IDE! They only need to master one. That will save them hours per month.

This was Developers' inseparable toolkit: Part 1, IDE

If you found this useful, please share it in your community and share your feedback with me in the comments section.

Don't forget to take the weekly test to see how you stack up with your peers on the tech jargon.

Until next time, take care!

Although the Corona described in this essay has nothing to do with the virus, they share the ability to cross any border with the same characteristic.

Did you know you can build for multiple platforms with the same technology? This seems like an impossible task but the CoronaLabs team claimed with their technology, you can build apps and games for platforms such as Apple iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets, Amazon Fire, Mac Desktop, Windows Desktop, and even connected TVs such as Apple TV, Fire TV, and Android TV.

Cross-platform defined in the real world

The keyword is 'Platform'. In the real world, this could be two or more countries that don't exchange with each other. In Belgium for example, there are 3 spoken languages in 3 different regions of the country. When a law is being voted to work in the whole country, you can think of It as a Cross-(Region) law, meaning it works seamlessly in all regions.

Cross-platform defined in the tech world

In the tech world, we have some classics:

• Android, iOS and the Web platform: React Native is a mobile framework that allows developers to build cross-platform applications for iOS, Android and the Web. Flutter and Xamarin are also cross-platform mobile frameworks.

• macOS, Windows and Linux: Visual Studio Code is a cross-platform IDE that allows developers to write code from any Operating System: This was not possible for quite some time. It changed Microsoft and Its ecosystem for the better.

• Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Edge: JavaScript is a programming language that works on all these platforms natively. Moreover, JavaScript could be used in the backend with NodeJS. One could say JavaScript is a Cross-Platform technology.

Some companies don't like this cross-platform approach in software development: They rather have one technology per platform. For example, in the mobile development world, big companies often have a dedicated team for iOS and another one for Android. They wouldn't use technologies such as React Native or Flutter.

Takeaways

Cross-platform can mean many things depending on who you talk to. Mobile developers will refer to the different Operating Systems while web developers will focus on the different browsers.

Tips #1: When you find the word cross-platform on a resume, pause and try to understand the context. Often the set of technologies they use gives it away.

Tips #2: Working and maintaining cross-platform technologies is often a pain for any company. Try to understand what are those challenges and offer them solutions to solve them. For example, a company that uses dedicated teams for iOS and Android might face the issue of having to build the same apps twice. Vice-versa, they might be dealing with platform-specific issues that are difficult to tackle with React Native or Flutter. Just listen and see where is the pain.

This was Corona is a Cross-Platform technology. What are the limits?

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Until next time, take care!

We're looking for an API developer with a good understanding of the HTTP protocol and the JSON format.

Have you seen such a request on a job description or on a resume?

JSON and HTTP in the real world

A few days ago, I had to send a webcam to a colleague of mine who lives in another country. I arrived at the post-office and they told me to choose a box (JSON) where the webcam would be transported. I had the choice between 4 different sizes of boxes. Once a day, a truck goes to the post-office comes, collects, and dispatch these boxes to their destination using different transportations (HTTP for example): Airplane, Truck, Train and ecetera.

The above story describes HTTP and JSON. When you try to connect 2 systems, for example backend and frontend, you need a way to take data from one system to the other. HTTP takes care of that. The data has to be put in a "box". JSON is that box. It is just a format.

There are other formats such as XML. Moreover, there are other transportation protocols such as TCP.

JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. It is a data format. It allows different systems to send information between each other without speaking the same language.

HTTP stands for HyperText Transport Protocol. It is a transportation protocol.

JSON and HTTP in the tech world

iOS and Android communicate via JSON

Imagine having a smartwatch made by Apple and an Android phone. These are 2 different ecosystems. The languages spoken within these 2 systems are different: Swift for Apple and Java or Kotlin for Android.

When you try to connect your phone and your watch, they need to exchange some data between them. In the simplest form, your watch will send information using the JSON format. Your phone will read the data via a JSON format reader and use it to display information on the screen.

Depending on the scenario, HTTP or Bluetooth could be the transporatation protocol.

Frontend and backend technologies communicate via JSON

To cross the frontier between frontend and backend, there's no other choice than to send information via HTTP(s). HTTP allows the data to be transported under the JSON format. If the backend is written in Java, the developer has to prepare the information using the JSON format, send it via HTTP so that the frontend (JavaScript) can read the data and display it.

Takeaways

As a recruiter or a business developer, JSON should then be that difficult to grasp. Developers deal with it on daily basis. It is an assumed knowledge when building applications nowadays.

A simple question you can as to candidates is: What is the difference between HTTP and JSON?

This was "JSON" Bourne, which data do you carry?

The goal of this essay was to make it easy for you to understand them at a basic level. I hope you got something out it. If so, please, take this test in order to evaluate your progress.

Till next time, take care.

JavaScript is not reliable. TypeScript fixes it!

This is somehow controversial in the tech world. The so-called JavaScript experts will tell you they don't need TypeScript. Once they've tried It, they come full circle and adopt It.

JavaScript and TypeScript are 2 programming languages. TypeScript makes writing code safe.

The story for non-technical people

Imagine going to a bakery to buy some bread 🥖🥖🥖. They cost 5€. You take out of your pocket 5€ in paper money and hand it over to the merchant. They put it in their cashier and move on to the next customer.

Later that day, the merchant heads to the bank to deposit 💵 their money and your 5€ paper money is being rejected by the bank. They say It's a fake 5€. It looks like one but It's not one.

The bank suggests to the merchant to adopt a money checker in order to avoid these issues in the future.

Enters the money checker (TypeScript)

You've probably all seen a money checker. It's a machine that comes in different shapes and forms. It uses violet lasers to check the paper money.

The advantages of using a money checker are obvious at this stage:

• no more scams

• no fake money in your cashier

• no money rejected at the bank

If you understand this concept then you understand what is TypeScript and why JavaScript developers should be using this instead.

Takeaways

The reality is some developers are religiously attached to JavaScript. They see TypeScript as an overhead on top of their JavaScript applications. This is obviously a misunderstanding of the benefits of such technology.

TypeScript is the money checker. All JavaScript developers should be using TypeScript instead.

Advice for tech recruiters and business developers

When you see job requests for JavaScript developers, you can challenge the hiring manager about the choice of the language. I guarantee It will make you look good. Moreover, It will allow you to create value in ways you can't imagine. Just think of you telling the baker about the money checker. They might not see the need right now but you can show them with a minimal example how this will improve their shop.

When talking to a candidate that has TypeScript on their resume, you can ask for the moment they made the switch. What was the trigger for them? You'll learn a lot about their way of thinking about code.

That was Don't hire JavaScript developers but TypeScript.

Hopefully, you've learned something from this essay. Fee free to take the test to measure your progress.

Until next time, take care!

SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, T-SQL and PL-SQL have something in common!

I can hear you saying "SQL". And you'll be completely right. However, the story doesn't end there.

SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It's a language used to communicate with Database.

A quick introduction to Databases

One of the main common denominators between these technologies is Database. They are all related to how developers manipulate data in any kind of application.

Wait, there is more. You can split them into 2 groups:

• the (programming) languages

• the (database) engines

Before getting too technical, let me give you an idea of how you can frame this in your head:

• Programming languages allow humans interactions with computers.

• A database is a place (an engine) where humans store information in the digital world.

• To access the stored information, a programming language is often needed.

  The programming languages

  In the list of technologies mentioned above, SQL, PL-SQL and T-SQL are SQL-based languages.

  SQL is the main standard for these types of databases. Think of It as Latin being a standard for languages and French or Spanish being some flavour of Latin.

  PL-SQL stands for Procedural Language SQL and was created by Oracle to extend the possibilities of SQL.

  T-SQL stands for Transactional SQL and was created by Microsoft to extend the possibilities of SQL as well.

  PL/SQL cannot be used within the Microsoft world and vice-versa. They made it only available within their world.

  The database engines

  SQL Server, MySQL and PostgreSQL are database engines. You can CRUD data from these databases. You're going to need one of the programming languages mentioned above to accomplish this.

  CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update and Delete data from a database

SQL Server was created by Microsoft and the language used to CRUD data is T-SQL. This technology is closed-sourced. I'll cover this topic in another essay.

MySQL is an open-sourced technology created back in 1995 and the language used to CRUD data is SQL.

How do you recognise a database?

As we've seen so far, database engines have "SQL" as part of their name. However, this rule doesn't apply to all databases engines. For example, OracleDB, MongoDB and DB2 are also very popular databases engines and they don't have "SQL" in their names.

DB at the end of these names stands for DataBase. Therefore, there's always a hint in the name: SQL or DB.

Takeaways

Databases (engines) are a critical part of any products developers build. It is part of the stack used by any application. Data need to be stored somewhere in a safe manner. It's a multi-trillion market. Big and small corporations are fighting to get the attention of developers with their database engines. To access data, languages such as SQL, T/SQL or PL/SQL are required.

Advice for Tech recruiters and Business devs

As a technical recruiter, you should look for queues such as SQL or DB in order to spot databases used by your clients or candidates.

Moreover, developers don't usually interact with databases directly. DBA or Database administrators do. Developers often use an abstraction (a translator) on top of databases called ORM. I'll cover ORMs in another essay.

This was We are from the same family but we have different strengths.

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