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Buzzpy šŸ’”
Buzzpy šŸ’”

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Introducing Dev Encyclopedia: A "Wikipedia", but for developers

Hello fellow developers!

Have you ever been stuck with technical jargon, concepts, or tool names? Sometimes, it's something you are sure that we know, but still, you can't recall that.

In worse cases, you can be in a meeting with a bunch of other developers and they keep calling out some term or concept you have no idea about. It's like being in a different world for a moment.

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And that's where a certain tool might just save the day: A Dev Encyclopedia. Bad news? One didn't exist till today. Good news? I launched one.

Dev Encyclopedia; - An Encyclopedia for Developers | Product Hunt

It's live on devpedia.pages.dev Are you stuck on a tech term or concept? The Dev encyclopedia includes short explanations and samples to help you find everything you need.

favicon producthunt.com

What is Dev Encyclopedia?

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The Dev Encyclopedia is an open-source, easy-to-use online resource (i.e. a website) that helps make sense of complicated tech terms. Whether you're a developer trying to remember the difference between ā€œmulti-threadingā€ and ā€œparallel processing,ā€ or someone new to tech whoā€™s wondering what ā€œserverless architectureā€ even means, this encyclopedia is here to help.

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Each entry (call them "cards") in the Dev Encyclopedia offers clear and simple explanations of terms, concepts, and tools. The information is broken down into small, easy-to-understand pieces. Youā€™ll find straightforward definitions, helpful examples, and even some images to keep things simplified.

Anyhow, the main goal is to make tech language easy for everyone to understandā€”no matter how much or how little experience you have.

Important: This is just a Python backend developerā€™s mere attempt to create a website that can help everyone. While it might not be the fanciest site, itā€™s built with care šŸ¤ to be a useful tool for anyone who feels lost in the world of tech terms.

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But why use Dev Encyclopedia?

It's totally up to you. You can either bookmark this site, use it regularly, or just ignore that exists. It's ad-free, with no paid subscriptions , so I get basically nothing from "more users" (except for eternal happiness!).

FYI, The Dev Encyclopedia was created with one simple goal in mind: to provide clear, concise explanations for all those tricky tech terms that can leave you scratching your head. And that's exactly why you might need it.

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Contribute!

Help me to build the most comprehensive encyclopedia for developers.

Contributions are welcome to expand the Dev Encyclopedia by adding new terms, concepts, and jargon that arenā€™t covered yet.

How to Contribute:

  • Visit the GitHub repository.
  • Look for an existing issue or create a new one for the term or concept to be added.
  • Submit a pull request with the contribution.

Together, we can create the go-to resource for developers, making tech knowledge accessible and comprehensive for everyone. Every contribution counts!

FAQs

1. Techstack and tools?

I used the best in the world: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. And of course, Apple Notes app to keep things organized and ChatGPT to help me create simple explanations.

2. How long did it take?

A month. Exactly a month.

3. Did you build it alone?

Yup, that might be why it's so plain and simple.
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That's all in my mind right now. Any more questions? Please leave a comment, or shoot me an email at buzzpy123@gmail.com!

If you wouldn't mind, please upvote this project on Producthunt so the word will spread!

Dev Encyclopedia; - An Encyclopedia for Developers | Product Hunt

It's live on devpedia.pages.dev Are you stuck on a tech term or concept? The Dev encyclopedia includes short explanations and samples to help you find everything you need.

favicon producthunt.com

P.S. "Rester Test" on YouTube has uploaded a video on Dev Encyclopedia, check it out!

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Top comments (77)

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shanu001x profile image
Shanu ā€¢ ā€¢ Edited

I just came across the Dev Encyclopedia, and it looks like a fantastic addition to our developer toolkit! If youā€™ve ever struggled with understanding tech terms or concepts, this resource is a game-changer.

Whatā€™s Great About It:

  • Clear Definitions: Breaks down complex terms into simple explanations.
  • Practical Samples: Provides examples to help clarify concepts.
  • Open Source: Ad-free and created with the developer community in mind.

Whether youā€™re a beginner or a seasoned pro, this tool is invaluable for demystifying tech jargon. Dive in and explore it here: Dev Encyclopedia on Product Hunt.

Want to Contribute? Check out their GitHub repository to add new terms or help improve the content.

Letā€™s support this project and make tech knowledge accessible to everyone. Upvote and share if you find it useful!

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buzzpy profile image
Buzzpy šŸ’” ā€¢

Thanks a lot for the feedback @shanu001x !

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jishnu2k02 profile image
Jishnu Krishnan ā€¢

I had gone through the website, It was highly appreciated work bro. I did visited the github too. It would have been much more simpler if the data is stored in a database with a backend. Currently each values are hardcoded right. But I must appreciate you for doing this much of work to make our developing journey smootheršŸ‘

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buzzpy profile image
Buzzpy šŸ’” ā€¢ ā€¢ Edited

That's right @jishnu2k02 , but however, integrating databases and the backend to this website might increase loading times, right? Also, this website is currently working offline (when loaded once and except for the image and article links) so I think integrating databases might affect this feature.

Please tell me if I'm wrong, as mentioned earlier, I know nothing much about web development. Thanks!

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jishnu2k02 profile image
Jishnu Krishnan ā€¢

Instead of frequently changing values in code, it is recommended to keep the data in database. Anyhow it will work only with internet, but still developers will mostly or always connected to internet so that wouldn't be an issue.

I would suggest to create a form where anyone can add new words and meaning. You could make a database key like isListed to false when user submit the form and when the admin check the legitimacy of the word or meaning, then approve it and change the status to true.

This will encourage users to contribute as it will be easier than editing the code and sending pull request.

This is my opinion and if it's wrong please excuse me and ignore this ideašŸ™‚

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skyjur profile image
Ski ā€¢ ā€¢ Edited

Storing it in database would mean a need to build a wiki-like contirbution platform. Storing it in github comes with benefit that it already is a platform enabling contirbution.

My take would be that it could be greatly improved if each topic was stored in separate markdown file, example content/code-smell/index.md. Then build script could index all markdown files and produce html output. This would enable easy and convenient contribution over the content levering git.

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shamxeed profile image
Musa Danjuma ā€¢

But still integrating might be more likely to be good idea than none. Because it will give other developers a chance to add more resources with the approval of admins.

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violentanirudh profile image
violentanirudh ā€¢

Hi. I read the conversation. What if we store the data in a JSON file and then render it? You won't make unnecessary calls and using Fetch API you can read the JSON file, adding data will be easier too in JSON

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buzzpy profile image
Buzzpy šŸ’” ā€¢

That'd be awesome! Someone suggested that on an issue too: github.com/Buzzpy/Dev-Encyclopedia...

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violentanirudh profile image
violentanirudh ā€¢

Do you mind if I refactor your UI?

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violentanirudh profile image
violentanirudh ā€¢

Well. I checked that one but it was server side, I built one which is client side, data will be added manually but it's formatted nicely and can be cached in the user's localStorage. Also check my Pull Request (violentanirudh). I added made some changes are "explain more" is removed, clicking on card will open the definition.
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Pressing '/' which focus on searchbar make it easy to search different terms.

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larastewart_engdev profile image
Lara Stewart - DevOps Cloud Engineer ā€¢

The loading times should not really matter if you enable infinite scroll of some sort.****

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larastewart_engdev profile image
Lara Stewart - DevOps Cloud Engineer ā€¢

Yeah, I do feel that currently the values are hardcoded

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yakupcemilk profile image
Yakup Cemil KAYABAŞ ā€¢

It will be great but there is needed a lot of effort to make like Wikipedia. I can write articles with resources, I have a huge archive. I have around 200+ books for computer science. But there is need for markdown support. Every article needs a template like in Wikipedia. I love the project, I hope we can make it.

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kc900201 profile image
KC ā€¢

Wow @yakupcemilk that's a huge archive! Would appreciate if you can share some resources

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yakupcemilk profile image
Yakup Cemil KAYABAŞ ā€¢

What resources do you want exactly? I can share some without didn't finish other projects. I have machine code books to higher level language books and other books about concepts and theories.

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kc900201 profile image
KC ā€¢

Do u have resources for full stack development, and MERN stack? Would appreciate as well if you have web ml

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yakupcemilk profile image
Yakup Cemil KAYABAŞ ā€¢

There are Packt Publishing's books about MERN and personal notes. I have around 7 resources right now. I can only share personal notes because of policies. How can I share these resources with you? Sorry for so late response, I was so busy. So sorry.

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kc900201 profile image
KC ā€¢

@yakupcemilk would you mind we talk about this in private chat?

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yakupcemilk profile image
Yakup Cemil KAYABAŞ ā€¢

Of course! When the other projects are done that I'm helping, I would love to help!

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skyjur profile image
Ski ā€¢ ā€¢ Edited

Hi! I would suggest to store each topic in a separate markdown file. And then have a build script that iterates over all markdown files and converts it into html.

For example content/code-smell/code-smell.md, content/code-smell/code-smell-illustration-1.png

---
title: "Code smell"
---

content goes here

...

![](code-smell-illustration-1.png)

Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

This way it will be easy to contribute to separate content without conflicts and easy to iterate html design without having to modify the content.

If you unsure how to do it but like the idea let me know, I could create a pr.

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nascif profile image
Nascif A Abousalh Neto ā€¢

That, plus use a static site generator that already supports modern wiki-like features, like trackbacks and a graph view. This way a reader can learn not only about specific topics but also the relationship between them.
Iā€™d suggest you take a look at Quartz. It works really well as a way to publish personal ā€œsecond brainsā€ (in particular for people using Obsidian). By by storing the content as markdown in GitHub, we could have a Community second brain for dev topics.

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j9t profile image
Jens Oliver Meiert ā€¢

@buzzpy, when (exact date) did you launch this? Happy to feature the project on @frontenddogma (that is, on frontenddogma.com).

On another note, under the Frontend Dogma umbrella I also run WebGlossary.info. The project is growing steadily, and I think the glossary will hit 4,000 web dev terms by next year.

Mentioning not to sway the work on this (overlap ā‰  identity), but in case that could be of interest also for other developers here, who look for reference sites.

Good luck and much success with the encyclopedia!

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buzzpy profile image
Buzzpy šŸ’” ā€¢

Hello! I launched it on 13th August (at about 12.10 am).
And thanks for mentioning WebGlossary project! I'll check it out too. Good luck to you too!

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prakirth profile image
Prakirth Govardhanam ā€¢ ā€¢ Edited

Thanks for thinking about the little guys around! I am one of those. Happily learning MERN stack yet flummoxed by the jargon some experienced folk use on the DEV platform šŸ˜…

Your altruistic purpose to build the app is even more impressive! Following you and this project right now! Thanks for making learning even more enjoyable! šŸ˜„

Just a thought - Would it be possible to make this a PWA ?

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barsie profile image
Sirineo Barila ā€¢

You never know how useful is something till you test it out. This looks like a magic resource. I think this will be the first open source project in which I will contribute. šŸ‘
@buzzpy Thanks a lot for your efforts.

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buzzpy profile image
Buzzpy šŸ’” ā€¢

Can't wait to see your contributions!

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mightycoderx profile image
MightyCoderX ā€¢

Is there a particular reason for putting everything in the index.html file?

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buzzpy profile image
Buzzpy šŸ’” ā€¢

Oh, that's my fault.
I tried connecting to external scripts once but for some reason it got messed up once deployed using Cloudflare. I forgot about trying again later, I will definitely look into that now.

Thanks a bunch! šŸ¤

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buzzpy profile image
Buzzpy šŸ’” ā€¢

Update: This issue was fixed thanks to the contributors!

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hariprasath profile image
HARIPRASATH ā€¢ ā€¢ Edited

I totally love it I hope Developer Wikipedia to grow more in coming days the project initiated really appreciative I wish every domain expertise related to Computer Science contribute to this project and make it treasure for every developer

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perisicnikola37 profile image
Nikola PeriÅ”ić ā€¢

This is awesome.

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