Trending Posts

Trending

Personal Optimization

Software Developers: Don’t Do it Later. Do it Now-ish.

Procrastinating: we all do it. Sometimes things come up that we don’t feel like dealing with in the moment, so we say we’ll do it later.

Jacob Williams Software Developer | Basketball Philosopher | Sneakerhead

Categories

Most Recent View more recent posts →

Atomic Thinking • Mar 13

Are There Opportunities to Use OODA Loops in Your Software Project?

The concept of OODA loops is a simple model of gathering information and making decisions, but it has some sophisticated implications.

Development Practices • Mar 12

Date Off By One – MUI, NextJS, and Date-fns.

I'm working on a project built with NextJS, and a problem every software developer has to solve is showing up for me: date off by one.

Artificial Intelligence • Mar 11

A Practical Guide to Running Local LLMs

With a temporary instance of a model and a bit of setup, running a local LLM can be an incredibly useful tool.

View more recent posts

Developer Tools View more Developer Tools posts →

Use VSCode Snippets in React/Typescript – 3 Examples

Developer Tools

Use VSCode Snippets in React/Typescript – 3 Examples

read post

A Guide to Browser DevTools - The Inspector

Developer Tools

A Guide to Browser DevTools – The Inspector

read post

Scrutiny Docker Image on TrueNAS Scale

Developer Tools

How to Run the Scrutiny Docker Image on TrueNAS Scale

read post

Master JSON Processing with jq

Developer Tools

Master JSON Processing with jq

read post

View more Developer Tools posts

UX/Design Tools View more UX/Design Tools posts →

View more UX/Design Tools posts

React / Redux View more React / Redux posts →

Improve Asynchronous State UX in React with useOptimistic

React / Redux

Improve Asynchronous State UX in React with useOptimistic

React 19’s useOptimistic hook helps reduces annoyances by providing a built-in hook for Optimistic Updates.

Decide Between Server and Client Components

React / Redux

The Only Question to Ask Yourself to Decide Between Server and Client Components

Can't decide between server components and client components in React? Here's one question to ask yourself to pick correctly.

Manage Side Effects with an Elm-inspired Redux Middleware

React / Redux

Manage Side Effects with an Elm-inspired Redux Middleware

Managing side effects in Redux applications is sometimes complex. I'll introduce a lightweight middleware solution.

View more React / Redux posts

Web Apps View more Web Apps posts →

How to Build and Publish Browser Extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari

Web Apps

How to Build and Publish Browser Extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari

read post

Embedding Payload CMS 3.0 Admin UI in Your Next.js App

Web Apps

Embed Payload CMS 3.0 Admin UI in Your Next.js App

read post

About a year ago, I used Remix on a short prototype app to that displayed a series of reports and I loved it. For those who don’t know. Remix is a framework for building websites. It uses React JS as a base and adds some specialized compiling. The app was a great use case for Remix for a few reasons. First, the pre-built stacks got the app deployed quickly. The main parts of Remix that shined were its prefetching, directory-based routing, and its loader functions. The prefetching helped the reports load faster because some data would be retrieved before the user navigated. The directory-based routing made it easy to setup the structure of the app. Last, Remix’s loader functions were able to retrieve small amounts of data each as it was needed. I am now using Remix on a second website that has a different structure than the prototype and we aren’t able to use the same features to the same degree. This time around, I am finding myself using fewer of the features mentioned previously. We aren’t using perfecting because we have a single page with a lot of complexity. We have fewer loader functions retrieving lots of information at once which makes them perform worse. The main difference that I found between the two projects is that the prototype was a multipage app and the second has been turning into a single page app (SPA). Based on Remix's documentation and my experience the best use cases for Remix are ones that can be modeled as multiple pages. Challenges for single page apps For this post, when I refer to a single page app I am referring to an app that tries to pack a variety of behaviors onto a single route. An example would be Google Calendar. Pictured below: In order to render this page, we need to load a few different things. We need to load all the events for this month, all the calendars for the user, and the details for the apps along the lefthand side. Then to use the app, we need to track which event is selected. When the user drags an event, we need to keep track of the calendar it is on. Then when it is placed, an alert is displayed if there are any conflicts. This state and behavior may need to be done in one component, which means one loader function. We may also want to perform component tests which are only partially supported in Remix, based on this git conversation. Make it optimal Instead, let’s talk about structuring an app to leverage Remix’s strengths. I am assuming we want to make use of Remix’s speedy loading while getting around some of its component testing limitations.The files that are used for routing should each be responsible for retrieving, displaying and mutating a limited set of information. As an example of a UI structure that could work well in Remix let’s look at Slack. Slack's UI can be visually broken down into three sections. The workspaces are on the far left. Then the channels within the selected workspace are listed, and lastly, we have the current chat for the selected workspace. A Remix app with this UI could have a URL like: slack/workspace2/proj-new-website. The root of the app would get the list of all workspaces, then /workspace2 would load the details for the selected workspace. Lastly, the chat window for /proj-new-website would load the chats and display them. This app can be modeled as a multipage app because the responsibilities are spread at different levels of the page instead of being concentrated in one component, like with the Google Calendar example. This would be a Slack-like app, and a better use case for Remix than a calendar app. Use the right tool for the job Remix is a powerful tool for web development. It can produce polished prototypes quickly and can build performant production apps. However, an app in Remix needs to keep Remix's design principles in mind. This means splitting the app's pages into pieces that can be loaded and rendered separately and keeping components as simple as possible in order to limit component testing on the frontend. Designing an app this way will enable the app to leverage the performance benefits promised by Remix.

Web Apps

Remix is Incredible — If It Fits Your Use Case

read post

Vercel: A Valuable Debugging Tool

Web Apps

Vercel: A Valuable Debugging Tool

read post

View more Web Apps posts

Development Practices View more Development Practices posts →

View more Development Practices posts

DevOps & System Admin View more DevOps & System Admin posts →

Hot Reloading Kubernetes with Skaffold

DevOps & System Admin.

How to Hot Reload Kubernetes with Skaffold

read post

Docker Compose Dependency Management Isn't a Silver Bullet

DevOps & System Admin.

Docker Compose Dependency Management Isn’t a Silver Bullet

read post

Working with Docker Containers Made Easy with the dexec Bash Script

DevOps & System Admin.

Working with Docker Containers Made Easy with the dexec Bash Script

read post

How and Why You Should Add Color to Your Scripts

DevOps & System Admin.

How and Why You Should Add Color to Your Scripts

read post

View more DevOps & System Admin posts

Extracurricular Activities View more Extracurricular Activities posts →

A photo of multiple stacked networking switches with many blue ethernet cables coming out of them

Extracurricular Activities

How to Run the Pterodactyl Game Panel Behind Tailscale

By setting up your Pterodactyl panel behind Tailscale, you can ditch risky open ports and secure your server with a simple, private mesh VPN.

Building a Game with AI: A 30-Minute Experiment

Extracurricular Activities

Building a Game with AI: A 30-Minute Experiment

I wanted to see how far I could get programming a game with an AI chatbot, while only using two keyboard shortcuts—copy and paste.

Transform Technical Reading into Podcasts with NotebookLM

Extracurricular Activities

Transform Technical Reading into Podcasts with NotebookLM

Learn how I created AI-generated podcasts based on technical sources with NotebookLM, a free, experimental project.

View more Extracurricular Activities posts

.NET / WPF View more .NET / WPF posts →

View more .NET / WPF posts

Personal Optimization View more Personal Optimization posts →

Software Developers: Don't Do it Later. Do it Now-ish.

Personal Optimization

Software Developers: Don’t Do it Later. Do it Now-ish.

read post

Why Slack Sucks. And this is how to cope. Pictured: a sign saying "Lost" pointing one way and "very lost" the other way.

Personal Optimization

Sometimes, Slack Sucks. This is How to Cope.

read post

Crucial Conversations: The Right Way to Prep for Tough Talks at Work and in Life

Personal Optimization

Crucial Conversations: The Right Way to Prep for Tough Talks at Work and in Life

read post

View more Personal Optimization posts

TypeScript View More TypeScript posts →

View More TypeScript posts

React Native View more React Native posts →

Don't Reinvent the Wheel or the Modal. Use React Native Reusables Instead.

React Native

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel or the Modal. Use React Native Reusables Instead.

React Native Reusables is a toolkit that lets you instantly add pre-built, customizable, and time-tested components to your React Native app.

How to Style MUI Line Chart Components

React Native

How to Style MUI Line Chart Components

Styling an MUI component can be challenging. This guide shows ways to customize the LineChart component to achieve your desired look.

Embrace App Monitors: A Solution for State Changes in React Native

React Native

Embrace App Monitors: A Solution for State Changes in React Native

Let's look at why relying solely on useEffect might make your code a bit of a puzzle and how App Monitors can alleviate this issue.

View more React Native posts

Growing as Makers View more Growing as Makers posts →

Giving Back Through FIRST Robotics: A Rewarding Experience for Tech Professionals

Growing as Makers

Giving Back Through FIRST Robotics: A Rewarding Experience for Tech Professionals

read post

From Overwhelmed to Organized: A Step-by-Step Guide to Crushing Your Learning Goals

Growing as Makers

From Overwhelmed to Organized: A Step-by-Step Guide to Crushing Your Learning Goals

read post

Consultants: Here's How You Optimize for Client Value

Growing as Makers

Consultants: Here’s How You Optimize for Client Value

read post

From Beginner to Contributor: Habits for Long-Term Growth as a Programmer

Growing as Makers

From Beginner to Contributor: Habits for Long-Term Growth as a Programmer

read post

View more Growing as Makers posts

Atomic Thinking View more Atomic Thinking posts →

Example of an OODA loop

Atomic Thinking

Are There Opportunities to Use OODA Loops in Your Software Project?

The concept of OODA loops is a simple model of gathering information and making decisions, but it has some sophisticated implications.

Helping Startups: The Big, the Small, and the Medium

Culture

How We Help Startups: The Big, the Small, and the Medium

I've consulted with startups for the past several years, and opportunities shift significantly based on the size and maturity of the company.

Why One-Click Job Applications Are Bad for Job Seekers

Business Practices

Why One-Click Job Applications Are Bad for Job Seekers

Despite my best attempts to avoid the platform, I was recently sucked into LinkedIn and came across a post about one-click applications.

View more Atomic Thinking posts