DEV Community: Harsh Gaur

Jiu Jitsu and Software Engineering: A Surprising Comparison

Harsh Gaur — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 18:05:06 +0000

Jiu Jitsu and software engineering may seem like two completely unrelated fields, but surprisingly, they share a lot in common. Both require a strategic and analytical approach to problem-solving, and both involve continuous learning and improvement. In this article, we will explore the similarities between jiu-jitsu and software engineering and how you can apply these principles to boost your career.

Focus on fundamentals:

In jiu-jitsu, mastering the basics is crucial to success. Similarly, in software engineering, focusing on fundamental concepts such as algorithms and data structures can help you build a strong foundation. By mastering the basics, you can develop a better understanding of complex concepts and improve your problem-solving abilities.

Continuous learning and improvement:

Jiu-jitsu practitioners are always learning and refining their techniques. Similarly, software engineers must stay up to date with the latest technologies and best practices. By embracing continuous learning, you can improve your skills and stay relevant in an ever-changing industry.

Strategic thinking:

Jiu-jitsu requires strategic thinking and the ability to anticipate your opponent's moves. Software engineering also requires strategic thinking to solve complex problems and anticipate potential roadblocks. By developing strategic thinking skills, you can become a more effective problem-solver and improve your decision-making abilities.

Collaboration and communication:

In jiu-jitsu, you must collaborate with your training partners to improve your skills. In software engineering, collaboration, and communication are essential to working effectively in a team. By fostering collaboration and communication skills, you can improve your ability to work with others and achieve better results.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, jiu-jitsu and software engineering share several similarities that can benefit your career. By focusing on fundamentals, embracing continuous learning, developing strategic thinking, and fostering collaboration and communication skills, you can become a more effective problem-solver and improve your productivity. Whether you're a jiu-jitsu practitioner or a software engineer, these principles can help you achieve success in your career.

AI and the Future of Work: Why Machines Will Not Replace Human Employees Completely

Harsh Gaur — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 17:57:36 +0000

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are revolutionizing the way we work, and there is much speculation about what this means for human work. Although AI is expected to affect several industries, there is evidence that machines will not completely take over the jobs currently performed by humans.

AI's greatest impact is seen in repetitive and data-intensive tasks such as data entry, data analysis, and customer service. Automating such tasks can improve accuracy and consistency, allow businesses to save time, reduce costs, and allow employees to focus on more difficult tasks.

For example, Deloitte financial services research shows that AI can increase productivity by 22% and reduce costs by 14%. Similarly, the McKinsey Global Institute found that AI can reduce costs by 20-50% in supply chain management.

However, machines are not capable of creativity, sensitivity, and emotional intelligence that humans have. Some tasks, such as creating campaigns, providing emotional support and developing relationships with customers, are beyond the capabilities of machines.

Research supports this argument. For example, MIT Sloan's Management Review found that businesses that rely heavily on AI for customer service experience lower customer satisfaction. This means that machines can handle some aspects of customer service, but cannot replace human interaction.

According to a recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute, less than 5% of jobs can be automated using existing technology. However, up to 30% of jobs in all industries can be automated, which means some jobs could change significantly as automation increases.

While some jobs may be at risk of automation, new jobs will emerge in areas such as AI development, data analytics and cyber security. Therefore, employees must continue to improve their skills and be aware of the latest technological developments in their field.

Research supports this idea. The World Economic Forum found that the most in-demand skills in 2020 are complex problem solving, critical thinking and creativity, all of which are difficult for machines to improve.

Ultimately, research shows that while AI and machine learning will continue to influence the future of work, machines will never completely replace human employees. The future of work will involve collaboration between humans and machines, each contributing their strengths. This collaboration will increase efficiency, productivity and innovation, which will benefit businesses and individuals.

By keeping up with the latest trends and developments in AI, workers can be prepared for future changes and thrive in the new economy.

Node.js wrapper functions

Harsh Gaur — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 14:46:04 +0000

Suppose you are asked what would happen if you run a file which has only one line of code console.log(arguments) in the Node.js environment. What would be your first guess?

You might think that it would return a reference error saying arguments is not defined. But that is not the reality. If you actually try to run it, it would give you some output that would look like the one shown in the image below

In Node.js every file has a wraps every file it executes with a function and thus console.log(arguments) prints the 5 arguments that node passes to that wrapping function.

To understand it better here is a commented code which tells how it happens.

Here, as we see the wrapper function has 5 arguments namely,

export
module
require
__filename
__dirname

Interestingly, you might have used some of these here and there but, like me, you have just now figured out why it happens.

module and export can be used to change current module itself. Module has an object called exports which has a default value of {}
require is used to import other modules into your file/app
__filename and __dirname are the path of the current file and the current working directory

Here are some of the articles that I found quite helpful to understand and play along with the wrapper functions.

Everything you should know about module and exports

Changing the default Node.js wrapper

Learning how to learn new things 🤔

Harsh Gaur — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 15:30:51 +0000

Often we start learning new technology and find ourself in a place where we think we are not moving ahead. This is a short and simple guide to how I learned things quickly and effectively.

Now before saying anything else, I would like to put forward that this is just my point of view on the learning methodology and this is what I do. For you these techniques may or may not work but I am sure they would surely bring some difference in the way you learn.

Getting all that aside, let me tell you what principles I follow to learn new things. Now, I don't have a fancy name or abbreviation for the technique but here are the steps I follow:

Start with the history

Often we forget why did we start learning a thing and why do we need to learn a particular technology. For some it might be professional requirements and for others it can be just for fun. In any case I would suggest you to define your motive and go a little bit on the history of the technology to understand why it came into existence.

Dive into the basics

Once you know what to do and why to do it, you can dive into the technology itself. Learn the basics through the official documentation of the technology and try to understand how stuff works. You can always go for the video tutorials but I feel for the basics, the youtube videos are a waste of time.

Do a small hands on

Code out whatever you have learn and try to imitate whatever you have learned though the documentation or the tutorials.

Do a verbal or written knowledge test

Now once you are done with the basics, try to test out yourselves by creating a short trivia for yourself. You can always try building any short application out of the language or the tech you have learned. Don't go for a big application right now, rather make small modular applications.

Fix the issues

Try to understand your language gaps and then work on them.

Build something

It's now time to bring an application that required solid understanding of the technology. Suppose you are learning React, then after all the above mentioned steps, just try to build an application such as E-commerce website.

Ask someone to review or do knowledge transfer

It is very important to ask from someone to review your project and give you suggestions or hints on how you could improve. You can also demonstrate your projects on linkedIn and ask people to use your app and critique it.

Now, you must repeat step 5-7 as much as you can and this is how you can learn a new tech effectively. Let me know if you liked my method and share it with more people so that they could also have a look at it.

Happy coding!!!

Tech Blogs You Should Definitely Read !!!

Harsh Gaur — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 17:55:17 +0000

Here are some of the popular tech blogs from some famous brands that you must definitely read.

Indian Edition:

International Edition

Here is a link for the GitHub repo of all the popular tech companies and their tech blogs

I TRIED CLONING THE GOOGLE STOPWATCH/TIMER 👨‍💻

Harsh Gaur — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 05:21:29 +0000

I have been learning React for about a week now. Recently I came across the google stopwatch and timer and thought of cloning it. You can try it yourself here GOOGLE STOPWATCH/TIMER.

THIS IS HOW THE CODE WORKS:

How I made a cure.fit website clone in just 3 days? 🏋️‍♂️💻

Harsh Gaur — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 11:00:27 +0000

Hi reader, I hope you have landed here while searching for web development project ideas or maybe you got this blog recommended by your friend, or you have randomly searched for web development or maybe www.cure.fit. Well, as you are here, I would like to tell you a bit about me first. I am Harsh Gaur and I have been learning web development at www.masaischool.com for over 2 months now. In this blog, I would like to share with you a little project that I and two of my fellow colleagues have made.

What is cure.fit and what did we actually achieve?🤔

If you have never visited www.cure.fit, it is a health and fitness company that provides services across fitness, nutrition, and mental well being. In our clone, we have tried to make all the sections and pages that one could find over there. We used a technology stack containing HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and also CSS preprocessors like SASS and LESS to add more flavor to the website.

Initially, we tried building the website using REACT but reaching halfway we realized that we need to learn a few more concepts before making such a big project and we would not be able to complete the project before the deadline therefore we did it using the tech stack mentioned above.

There was just one major challenge that we faced while developing this project. As we were building it during the last few days of 2020, the website had many offers for customers and thus it was very dynamic in that duration, and sometimes it happened that once we had developed a section, the next day it was gone. Keeping the challenges aside we enjoyed getting our hands dirty and working on applying the things we have learned so far, such as managing user data using LocalStorage (something which the original website does too) and making the cloned project pixel perfect.

A little about the teammates and their contributions. 😇

I can't thank Pushpal Chakrabarty and ANKUR PANDEY enough, who worked hard for this project to become what it is today. I think the best way to thank them would be to mention their contribution and let their work speak for them.

Pushpal Chakrabarty was responsible for designing the landing page and all the features you'll find on that page. He took care of all the little, but important, things such as making the design of tickets which simply take the user experience to the next level. He also worked hard on the navbar to improve the design and make it look good at almost any screen resolution.

ANKUR PANDEY was responsible for designing the onlinePT page. He was the one who coined the idea of applying icon images on the title bar of each and every page. Though it was not a necessary thing, it was super important because it helped us achieved uniqueness as no one else had done that, and also it made the website look similar to the original one.

I on the other hand handled the cult store page, the product information page, the login and signup page, and the cart page. Out of all the pages I just mentioned, I also worked on adding a feature that puts a cute little icon over the cart whenever you add something to it. That icon shows you the number of items in the cart. I also worked with both of them to work on the pages you'll see in the profile section.

Though this project was not a piece of cake and neither our 3 days journey was all rainbows, I would say that managing these guys was fun. I used to merge all our codes at night and was tracking the progress of all of us. I found very few merge conflicts during merging, which is a good thing because it shows how flawlessly we worked.

Ending notes 🤸‍♂️

In our humble attempt to clone the www.cure.fit website we tried our best to achieve the preciseness with whatever limited knowledge we possess. Though this project was our attempt to work on the front side of things, we would surely be working on the backend in the future in order to make it perfect from the backend perspective too. I hope you liked our efforts.

If you want to check out the repository and try it yourself, please go to https://github.com/iharshgaur/Chlorine-1 and fork the repository.

Check out this medium article too:

How I made a cure.fit website clone in just 3 days? | by Harsh Gaur | Medium

Harsh Gaur ・ Jan 3, 2021 ・
harshgaur997.Medium

In the end, I would like to thank you for sticking around to the end. Please like, share, and comment your suggestions down below.

How can playing chess ♞ evolve your coding skills? 💥🐱‍💻

Harsh Gaur — Fri, 25 Dec 2020 17:00:59 +0000

I have always been a big fan of chess. Since I was 10, I am enjoying playing it more than anything else. Well, I am not a great player (not even close, lol) but I enjoy the way that the game of chess helps me build mind maps and reasoning skills. Recently, I have been playing it a lot and I have realized that it has the capability to improve one's problem-solving skills.

Here are the five changes that I have developed in me because of chess.

Attention to details! 👀

Chess is all about attention. How attentive you are will impact the result of the game. As a coder, I have always faced problems in finding bugs or even logical errors in a code but recently I have found that due to chess, my attention span on things has improved drastically. I now scan things rather than just skimming through them which has proven to be a really good skill for me.

Approaching the problem in an optimized way 🚴‍♂️

Earlier, I had a careless attitude towards the problems that I was supposed to solve in my coding assignments. I used to just solve a problem somehow and never bat an eye about finding other/optimal ways of solving it, but now I really dig deep into them and try my best to find the optimized answer.

Innovative and spontaneous thinking 🤔

I know whatever I am saying till now might come up as bragging to some people ( lol, I am just sharing my thoughts) but my main motive is to tell everyone how chess can improve you. Adding more colors to that, chess can really help you in becoming an innovative and spontaneous thinker. Once you’ll get into the game you would have to find innovative techniques (called traps in chess) and then later on as the time decreases you would have to be spontaneous and confidant with your moves. These crucial skills can also be applied to real-world problems.

Never underestimate others 🤼

Whenever you meet an opponent, never ever judge him/her/them. Underestimating someone not only losses your focus but also kills the hunger inside you to win. Learning from everyone however could help you a lot. To sum it up, sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.

It is not the end until it is the end 💪

I have also learned that one should never give up, be it in life, a game, or anything else. It is very important to fight till the end. You have to give your 100% till the last millisecond. There were instances where I played higher-rated players than me and won. Initially, you will fail, you will lose but soon the things will change. Even a chess grandmaster can blunder once in a blue moon. You just have to wait for your turn and give your best until the game lasts. The same thing goes for life and almost anything else.

I hope you liked reading my thoughts and I wish to hear out your suggestions.

Customize your VSCode for Web Development

Harsh Gaur — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 15:40:46 +0000

Hi there, if my guess is right, you would have just started your journey in web development. If I am correct, welcome to the world of web development. Now, you might have landed here because you were looking all over the place for the “Best Customizations” or “ Must have extensions” for VSCode (which I guess you are using right now) editor. So here are the basic customizations and extensions that I am sure 95% of the developers would use.
Now, these are some settings and extensions that I use :

Autosave

Autosave is a very important option to be selected. Not only in web development, but it could also help you while any sort of development. Autosave, as the name suggests, saves the document automatically whenever it is being edited. It removes the need for using Ctrl + S whenever you make a new edit.
To activate the autosave, you can simply click the file option and then select the Autosave from the drop-down menu.

Emmets

Emmets work similarly to the autocomplete feature in our mobile keypads. They can sense what you are trying to type and can give you suggestions in the form of templates. They come in very handy when you have to create elements inside HTML documents. To activate emmets, you can open the settings of your VSCode by “ Ctrl” + “,” and then search for Emmets in the search bar. Then you can set the value of “Emmet Show Expanded Abbreviation. You could simply make the settings similar to what is shown in the picture below.

So suppose you have to create tag, you could simply start by writing “html ” (without quotes), and then you’ll see a drop-down appears on the side from where you can select the emmet abbreviation for html.

Select the first emmet abbreviation to create the tag

*Pro-tip: If you type “!” (without quotes) in a newly created blank html file, emmet will show a suggestion. Select the first option by hitting enter and then it’ll create a default html template for you

Live Server

Live server extension helps you to view the changes you make in your html document live. It opens the document in the web browser and makes the changes in realtime so that you don't always have to refresh the page. To install the Live Server extension, just go to the extension logo on the left panel of your editor and then search for Live Server and install the first extension as shown below.

I have already installed the extension so it shows installed for me, for you it’ll give the option to install.
Once the installation is done, make sure that the extension is enabled. Now open the html file that you have made and right-click anywhere on the document, look at the bottom of the drop-down, you’ll find “Open with Live Server”. Click it to see the magic happen.

Git Extension

Once you are developing a large scale product it becomes necessary to use git. Git extension provides you the built-in feature of committing to your repository without the help of external terminals. It is was a must-have extension for web developers and maybe that’s it now comes pre-installed with VSCode so you just need to set it up.

You can enter your commit message in the indicated area.

Prettier

Have you faced challenges in aligning your code and making it prettier by using the right amount of tabs and spaces? Prettier helps you to edit a file and makes the necessary alignments for you automatically on the go.

You just have to go to the extensions and type “prettier”. Install the first option and you are good to go. From next time the moment you save a file it will be automatically aligned to the globally accepted standards.

Material Icon theme

At times it becomes necessary to just know what time of the file it is by just looking at it. One way is to just see the extension or the file content and try to find out what type it is. Another and easier way is by identifying them by the icons. Material UI is an extension which applies icons to similar kind of files so that you could just look at the icons and know what type of file it is.

Like you install other extensions, the Material Icom theme can be installed in a similar way. Goto extensions and search for the name and then set it up as your default Icon theme.