DEV Community: Vidya

Git Stash : Save Your Work Without the Panic

Vidya — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 07:45:27 +0000

Ever switched branches in Git and suddenly realized your changes were gone?
Yeah… we’ve all been there 😅

That’s exactly where git stash quietly saves the day.

Most developers know of git stash, but very few use it to its full potential. It’s more than just a temporary shelf for your changes — it’s a powerful workflow tool when used right.

In this video, I break down git stash from first principles to practical, real-world usage:

What git stash actually does under the hood
How to stash specific files only (not everything)
The difference between apply and pop (and when to use which)
How to name and manage multiple stashes cleanly
Recovering changes you thought were lost forever

If Git sometimes feels like magic… or chaos… this will help things click.

I’ve found that mastering git stash saves hours of context switching and keeps my working tree clean — especially when juggling multiple tasks or hotfixes.

📣 Push Notifications Done Right: How OneSignal Helps Apps Retain Users

Vidya — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 10:40:24 +0000

A lot of apps don’t lose users because of missing features — they lose them because they don’t communicate at the right time.

Engagement isn’t just about what you build, but when and how you reach users. That’s where OneSignal helps.

What I liked:

Targeted messaging with audience segmentation
Automated journeys based on user behavior
Clear delivery and performance insights
Tag-based personalization

I recently integrated OneSignal into a React Native app, and the setup was surprisingly smooth — segments, journeys, and full integration went without much hassle.

Big takeaway: push notifications work best when they’re relevant and timely, not spammy.

Curious — how are you handling user engagement in your apps? Any good OneSignal alternatives you’d recommend?

Building an OCR-Powered Mobile App with Google Gemini + Lovable AI

Vidya — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 11:09:19 +0000

In this tutorial, I walked through how to build a mobile app (React Native) that uses OCR (optical character recognition) powered by Google Gemini and Lovable AI — a great real-world demo of AI + UI/UX + product thinking.

🎯 Why This Matters

Users often need to extract text from images (screenshots, receipts, photos, scanned docs, etc.).
Instead of manually copying or retyping, OCR-powered apps automate that — improving user experience, reducing errors, and saving time.
Combining OCR + AI with a good UI makes this usable and accessible on mobile.
This tutorial gave a clear roadmap; here’s how I internalized it — and how you could adapt it to your own tools or projects.

🧰 What We Build — High Level

Capture or select an image (via camera or gallery)
Use AI to scan and detect text (OCR) from image
Process / clean / parse the extracted text (optional formatting, handling font issues, etc.)
Present the text in a clean UI — editable, readable, copyable
(Optional) Add extra features: save text, share/export, search within extracted text, or even convert to structured data.

💡 What I Learned & Why I Love This Approach

AI + UI/UX + product thinking = real value. It’s not just a toy project.
Rapid prototyping (thanks to AI) makes building minimum-viable solutions super-fast.
Users don’t care about how smart the AI is — they care if it solves their pain cleanly and reliably.
Building with empathy (ease-of-use, error handling, feedback) matters more than “features.”

My Journey From No-Code to Real Product Design

Vidya — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 12:20:20 +0000

My Journey From No-Code to Real Product Design

When I first started building things, I wasn’t writing code.
No JavaScript. No React. No Tailwind. Nothing.

I began with no-code tools — simple drag-and-drop platforms that helped me bring ideas to life without touching a text editor. And looking back, that phase was more important than I realized.

This is the story of how no-code gave me the confidence to create, and how that journey slowly pushed me toward UI design, and eventually into real development.

The No-Code Curiosity

At the beginning, all I wanted was to build something that worked.

Webflow, Bubble, Glide, Notion databases — these tools felt magical.

I could build:

Landing pages
Simple dashboards
Forms
Mini web apps
Automations …all without typing a single line of code.

And here’s the truth: no-code didn’t limit me — it unlocked me.
No-code helped me understand the structure of products:

How pages connect
How components repeat
How data flows
What makes a UI feel “clean” vs “cluttered”
How users navigate

Before writing code, I learned how to design with intention.
What I Learned From This Journey

Here are the biggest takeaways:

1️⃣ No-code is not “lesser” — it’s training wheels for product thinking
It teaches flow, layouts, UX, and data structures faster than any course.

2️⃣ Design becomes easier when you’ve built things yourself
You begin to understand constraints, patterns, and what users expect.

3️⃣ Moving to code becomes natural once you know why you’re building
Coding isn't scary when the UI and logic already exist in your head.

4️⃣ Your first goal shouldn’t be to become a “developer”
It should be: solve a problem beautifully.