Tools I Use
Understanding the technology behind great websites
React
Facebook created React in 2011 to solve a problem: their website had become so interactive and complex that the code managing all the updates was a tangled mess.
React made it much simpler by letting developers describe what the page should look like, and React automatically handles updating the right parts when data changes.
Next.js
Next.js is basically a set of tools built to add features to react. Like any revolutionary product React was released without a lot of additional features because it was just trying to do one thing well.
If react were a 1920s ford model T car then next would be the set of tools that provides all the modern features people expect from a vehicle.
TypeScript
Typescript is basically just a more organized way of writing javascript. It clearly labels objects so they are easy to understand. Imagine an Amazon warehouse full of stuff that needs to be delivered to people.
If none of the items are labeled then it would take forever to sort them. It takes extra time to clearly label items but if you do that then it make the entire warehouse work much better.
Tailwind CSS
With traditional CSS there are basically infinity styling options. Tailwind CSS simplified this by creating a series of pre-defined styling elements that cover 99% of the needs of website developers.
You then call on those pre-defined elements as needed throughout your site.
Node.js
Node.js is a way to run JavaScript outside of web browsers. Before Node.js, developers had to use one language for websites (JavaScript) and a different language for the backend servers (like Python or Java), which was inefficient.
Node.js lets developers use JavaScript for everything, and it's particularly good at handling thousands of people using a website at the same time.
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL is an open source database that has all the features modern web applications need.
For modern web development, it's become the go-to choice for developers who need a solid, trustworthy database that can grow with their application.
