Faraday Academy Q&A 12/23

by Barbara Dias

Hi everyone! This is a space for questions and answers created specially for you guys. Feel free to look through these questions and hopefully find the answer you need!

This page will be regularly updated with new questions, so feel free to reach out to me on my social medias so your questions can be part of this page as well!

FRAMEWORKS

Q: When should a newbie move to a JS framework?

A: When they can comfortably write simple applications in JavaScript (e.g. a calculator, todo application, etc.). I would also add that they should know how to add libraries to vanilla JS code as well. If someone jumps into a framework too soon, then it will be difficult to understand what is really happening and they will have a hard time optimizing, debugging, and customizing the framework when they need to.

Q: What is the prerequisite to start learning Vue/React/Angular?

A: As I mentioned above, it is important to understand and be able to work with vanilla JavaScript first.

Q: Main differences between when using Vue.js vs React.js?

A: For a comprehensive comparison between the two frameworks, I recommend this part of the Vue documentation (it was written by the creator of Vue in collaboration with the React core team). If you want to know some of the reasons I prefer Vue:

  1. The Vue CLI is much better than the React CLI and there is no concept of ejecting; which is what you have to do if you want to customize your Webpack config at all when you use Create React App.
  2. There are a lot of standard libraries maintained by the core team that work out of the box with Vue, like Vuex and VueRouter. It is very nice to have these well documented options that always work with Vue and can be set up by the Vue CLI.
  3. Vue is very flexible to be used as almost a batteries included framework or as a library, similar to React. I always spend a lot more time setting up my React projects versus Vue, where I can have a project bootstrapped in minutes.

GENERAL

Q: Book recommendations for someone who wants to learn how to code.

A: Of course I recommend my book, Learn to Code. Get a Job. Some other books to look at are Python Crash Course and the Smarter Way to Learn book series for HTML, JavaScript, or Python. My book talks about how to navigate your way from starting to learn to getting your first job. The other books I recommend cover specific tech skills, like learning a language and building projects.

Q: What websites one needs to build to show off the skills to clients to get the projects?

A: Depends on what you are trying to sell to clients. If it is websites, then you need to have a few other live websites for other businesses. If you are trying to sell apps, then you need to have some fully functional CRUD applications. I recommend taking a look at this list by Florin Pop for some ideas. Clients almost always care more about the user interface than the code, so it is best to spend the most time polishing the front-end, even if it means some of the data is hard-coded and the back-end is not fully done.

Q: What's your favorite tech stack?

A: My favorite? That is a difficult question to answer :)

Right now, if I could pick any tech stack for a web or mobile project, I would pick a Vue.js front-end with a Golang and Gin API. But Python with Django is a close second for the back-end.

Q: What hardware do you use for videos?

A: I'm using a Macbook Pro but it is old and sometimes crashes while I am editing videos. I really need a new one!