4 ms·

Because every few months, something takes over web developement.

by hyperpallium 9y ago

pmarreck 9y ago
See: why I went to the backend. Things are more static, and more easily automated-testable.
- onion2k 9y ago
  One of the big advantages of React is that it's straightforward to unit test your components. Plus there's Jest, which makes a lot of the hard bits of testing much easier. (I say this as a developer who mostly uses Angular and Vue rather than React. I wish I had the React toolchain in other frameworks.)
  - pmarreck 9y ago
    How would I run a React unit test from the command line? Or would I have to run it in-browser? Any pointers would be welcome
    - onion2k 9y ago
      Jest uses jsdom. You just need to add it to a project ("npm install --save-dev jest"), write a spec, and then run npm test (maybe update package.json to have 'jest' as the test command). It's really, really easy. There's even a repl so you can try it in a browser first - https://facebook.github.io/jest/#use https://facebook.github.io/jest/#use
- spmurrayzzz 9y ago
  I too spend 90% of my time on the backend (Node.js mostly). But when I do work on the front-end, I feel that I can get the same relative static comfort by using the most hardened API available to me: the DOM. I get that its pretty verbose and historically has been far from perfect, particularly in the early-to-mid 2000s, but I really have trouble understanding this allergy new devs have to the native web platform. Its not that hard to be productive and you can do so without having a nightmarish preprocessing toolchain. And by bootstrapping yourself to these framework/library ecosystems, you usually don't get a sense of the problems they venture to solve. Everything becomes a magic black box. As an aside: libraries have never seemed like the true pain point for new FE devs. My anecdotal observation is that the wheels fall of the wagon when it comes to application/API design. The obvious corollary here of course is that you can easily build a very poorly designed React/Redux app. We're just trading one problem space for another, in my view.
- cholantesh 9y ago
  I prefer backend, too, but I found that I had to develop my frontend skills to remain employable. Definitely prefer working on the server side, though.

Because every few months, something takes over web developement.

pmarreck 9y ago

See: why I went to the backend. Things are more static, and more easily automated-testable.

onion2k 9y ago
One of the big advantages of React is that it's straightforward to unit test your components. Plus there's Jest, which makes a lot of the hard bits of testing much easier. (I say this as a developer who mostly uses Angular and Vue rather than React. I wish I had the React toolchain in other frameworks.)
- pmarreck 9y ago
  How would I run a React unit test from the command line? Or would I have to run it in-browser? Any pointers would be welcome
  - onion2k 9y ago
    Jest uses jsdom. You just need to add it to a project ("npm install --save-dev jest"), write a spec, and then run npm test (maybe update package.json to have 'jest' as the test command). It's really, really easy. There's even a repl so you can try it in a browser first - https://facebook.github.io/jest/#use https://facebook.github.io/jest/#use
spmurrayzzz 9y ago
I too spend 90% of my time on the backend (Node.js mostly). But when I do work on the front-end, I feel that I can get the same relative static comfort by using the most hardened API available to me: the DOM. I get that its pretty verbose and historically has been far from perfect, particularly in the early-to-mid 2000s, but I really have trouble understanding this allergy new devs have to the native web platform. Its not that hard to be productive and you can do so without having a nightmarish preprocessing toolchain. And by bootstrapping yourself to these framework/library ecosystems, you usually don't get a sense of the problems they venture to solve. Everything becomes a magic black box. As an aside: libraries have never seemed like the true pain point for new FE devs. My anecdotal observation is that the wheels fall of the wagon when it comes to application/API design. The obvious corollary here of course is that you can easily build a very poorly designed React/Redux app. We're just trading one problem space for another, in my view.
cholantesh 9y ago
I prefer backend, too, but I found that I had to develop my frontend skills to remain employable. Definitely prefer working on the server side, though.