Every Monday we round up some of the last week's top posts, comments, and tweets. If you have any feedback, please leave a comment. â¤ï¸
A Loquacious Language
Dan Lebrero, one of dev.to's top writers, spoke briefly about Java's verbosity (see what we did there?) and compared writing basic programs in the language to writing them in Clojure:
His claim that lines of code are a "bogus metric," didn't quite win over every reader:
LOC is not a bogus metric, it just depends on what one is measuring. If you're trying to measure code review and maintenance cost then LOC is definitely a valid metric. More lines equals more effort.
Keeping in Shape
Dev.to is committed not only to helping you program, but helping you as a programmer. Which is why Ben wrote up some tips for getting out of your chair and keeping in shape, even during busy periods:
Readers piled on with some of the own mental strategies they use to keep exercise prioritized:
Good tips. Another mental game I play is convincing myself that if I go to train early in the morning, before work. I've already conquered the toughest metal challenge of the day. So I can tackle my dev problems with a clear mind.
An Imposter!
Feeling like you've somehow fooled your peers and aren't as skilled as they think -- known as Imposter Syndrome -- is not uncommon in the world of software engineering. Kathryn Grayson Nanz, who's prepping a talk on the subject, asked our users to share their personal stories:
Take a moment to read some of the comments, which are a bit too long for this weekly wrap-up. You may realize that if we all feel like imposters, then none of us really are...
Killer Kotlin Features
It seems like every week one of our most popular articles is about Kotlin. Last week was no different, as Subbu Lakshmanan walked through some of his favorite features in the language:
Command Across Platforms
Taron Foxworth, whose self-professed dream is to "translate technology for people to learn, love, and be inspired," does just that in an article about using Node.js to create a cross-platform command line tool:
Astronomic Improvements
Sometimes the most satisfying experiences for a programmer occur not when learning a new language but when discovering a new, more ergonomic environment to code in. Jupyter Notebooks, favored by data scientists across the globe, are a great way to execute Python cell-by-cell, as Ryan Palo explains:
As one reader pointed out, Jupyter notebooks are for more than just Python:
My favourite feature right now are "cell magics" - great for dropping in a bit of #bash or R in an otherwise Python'esque notebook or spinning up a Graphviz dot diagram. Oh, and ipywidgets for a bit of interactivity.
Efficiency in Electron
"Have you ever wanted to develop desktop apps while being a true web developer without even caring about the native architecture or the language most of the applications build for different platforms likes of Windows, macOS or Linux?" asks Amit Merchant. He walks us through achieving that goal using Electron by Github:
That's it for our weekly wrapup! Keep an eye on Dev.to this week for daily content and discussions...and if you miss anything, we'll be sure to recap it next Monday!
Top comments (2)
Ah! Not necessarily always true.
Code is written for other people to read, so it needs to be expressive, which may mean more lines sometimes.
Woot! It was a great week.