One of my favorite movies, and one that has greatly influenced me, is Back to the Future. I still remember my first time watching it as a kid and being blown away by the fictional technology. What fascinated me the most was the idea of driving a machine that could accomplish time travel, a feat that many of us long to make a reality. Above all, I remember a little dialogue between Marty and Doc that still stands out to me years later:
“- But Doc, you built a time machine out of a Delorean?
- In my opinion, if you’re going to do something like this, do it in style.”
I often like to think that as software developers, we are builders of the future. Every line of code, every idea that pops into our minds brings what seems like science fiction closer to the everyday lives of millions of people and this is incredibly.
Creating the future is not an easy task. In order to reach this goal, we will inevitably face major challenges, and constant hard work is an absolute necessity. But instead of feeling daunted by these obstacles, we should remember what Doc said to Marty about “do it in style”.
For the sake of this journey, I’d like to share a series of resources that will help us achieve our ultimate goal.
1. 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know
There are several important things to remember as a programmer. These include clean code, testing, as well as our need to be continuously learning to keep improving our skills.
A vital concept for us programmers to keep in mind, as discussed below, is that improving upon pre-existing work benefits not just ourselves, but those who will work with it next:
“The Boy Scouts have a rule: ‘Always leave the campground cleaner than you found it.’ If you find a mess on the ground, you clean it up regardless of who might have made the mess. You intentionally improve the environment for the next group of campers. Actually, the original form of that rule, written by Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, the father of scouting, was ‘Try and leave this world a little better than you found it.’
What if we followed a similar rule in our code: ‘Always check a module in cleaner than when you checked it out.’ No matter who the original author was, what if we always made some effort, no matter how small, to improve the module? What would be the result?”
Link: https://github.com/97-things/97-things-every-programmer-should-know
2. How Web Works
I remember the first time I was asked this question:
“What happens behind the scenes when we type www.google.com in a browser?”
While it would be reasonable to assume that the answer is an easy one, the truth is that the full process is far more complex. To help you better understand the process, we’ve provided an excellent resource linked below. Please use it for a detailed guide on how this browser action works.
Link: https://github.com/vasanthk/how-web-works
3. Responsively
In this day and age, the web applications we create have to adapt easily to hundreds of different devices and resolutions. If you are a front-end developer, you know firsthand how chaotic it can be, trying to ensure that your application will run smoothly across screens of all sizes.
Fortunately, we have tools like Responsively to help us avoid any issues in this regard. On their website, Responsively says the following about themselves:
“A must-have DevTool for all Front-End developers that will make your job easier.”
Responsively allows us to test our application in different resolutions at the same time.
Its mirror mode is of great help as it allows us to recreate all interactions at the same time in all resolutions. This excellent tool saves us valuable time and prevents many, many development headaches as well.
Link: https://responsively.app/
4. Squoosh
At the end of your creative process, one of the most aggravating last-minute issues is realizing that the images you’ve used aren’t the proper size or in the right format. Thankfully, this is where Squoosh comes in to save the day.
Squoosh is a tool powered by Google Chrome’s own development team and that allows us to, as they say:
“Make images smaller using best-in-class codecs, right in the browser.”
Squoosh gives us a fast, reliable, and incredibly visual method of perfecting our images to ensure the best optimization for our projects.
Link: https://squoosh.app/
Repo: https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/squoosh
5. Toools.design
We could all use some help with the grand ideas we brainstorm but don’t know how to manifest. This is where Toools.design comes in to save the day. They have a wide plethora of resources to share, as they say on their website:
“A growing archive of 1000+ design resources, weekly updated for the community.”
Toools.design is an extensive library of resources, including icons, fonts, AI tools, and more. They have everything you need and more to kickstart your ideas.
Link: https://www.toools.design/
6. Phind
We developers now have our own search engine to help us with our day-to-day tasks. Phind is a developer-focused, AI-powered search engine that gives suggested solutions based on the queries it receives.
This is how Phind defines themselves:
“A search engine that simply tells users what the answers are. Optimized for developers and technical questions, Phind instantly answers questions with simple explanations and relevant code snippets from the web.”
Link: https://www.phind.com/
7. Coding Interview University
If you would like to learn more about various developer topics such as algorithms, data structures, and more, feel free to check out Coding Interview University. They offer numerous lessons to help you grow and strengthen your technical skills.
Link: https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university/
Conclusion
The world of software development is both exciting and challenging. While there will always be obstacles to overcome, we must not forget to, as Doc said, “do it in style”. I hope these resources help you further your developer goals.
If you have any suggestions or other resources you would like to share, don’t forget to leave them in the comments.
Together, we can continue to grow. Happy Coding!
