May 2025 🌳
Dotfiles, new JavaScript APIs, Generators
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I recently set up a new computer and was reminded how great dotfiles are. Feel free to share yours 😊 One thing I already learned from @Christian is that you can configure many macOS settings from the terminal!
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Shellcheck is a linter for shell scripts that helps you write more robust scripts and avoid common mistakes.
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New JavaScript APIs that might make your life easier:
RegExp.escape
: escapes potential regex syntax characters in a stringError.isError
: checks if something is an error without weird edge casesArray.with
: copies an array and replaces an item at an index in one go (handy for immutable state updates)Promise.withResolvers
: more convenient and modern syntax for creating promises
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Do we still need CSS pre- and post-processors? I don’t think so. I would go as far as saying that I would at least consider not using Tailwind either when starting a new project. Plain CSS, light component-level encapsulation (like Vue’s scoping), and some conventions like CUBE seems more appealing to me than dependencies and breaking changes at this point.
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React Server Confusion formulates some fair criticism of React server components. Fun fact: the first and only time I touched them was my coding assignment for DS. But from my limited experience, this rings true: “The issue is the tradeoffs involved in making it work. It leaks into, or even demands control over layers that are previously not in scope for client-side frameworks. This creates heavy complexity […] React team made a bet that they can work with Next team to polish the DX to the extent that the benefit would essentially be free […]. IMO, that bet has failed.”
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“I think the ergonomics of generators is growing on me”—same here, though I rarely use them. This is a good read if you’re curious about iterators and generators.
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After @Dennis recommendation last month, I’ve started using Zed and enjoy it! It’s fast, looks great, and easy to get used to when coming from VS Code. It finds a good balance between supporting AI features but not shoving them in your face. I particularly like the Vim mode, which has many Vim features but aligns better with my expectations for a modern text editor.
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Some people are saying Deno is in decline. Deno, naturally, disagrees. The discussion around it is instructive, because it highlights Deno’s capabilities and community expectations vs. the company’s goals. Personally, I’ve switched back to Node.js + NPM, which have improved a lot thanks to competition from other runtimes.