The crippling problem of side projects, improving Tailwind, and more
Andrew's newsletter #28: Here's a few interesting things from the last couple weeks you might like.
The crippling problem of being able to build whatever you want
This week I published [an article] that I’ve been wanting to write for a couple of years, and finally got around to actually getting the words out. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, here’s a summary.
As developers, once you get to a certain point in your knowledge, you possess all of the tools to bring your ideas to life. The only exception to that, is time. As someone who loves building, I can only dedicate so many hours of the day to my side projects. So, how can I make sure that my ideas get finished?
Organize your ideas
Don’t spread yourself too thin
Release fast and get feedback
Iterate and set expectations
These are the core concepts that I’ve started using for my own side projects, whether they’re open source libraries, SaaS apps, or anything else.
Three ways to improve your Tailwind CSS experience
Tailwind has had some pretty extreme opinions since it was initially released over 5 years ago.
In [this video], I give a basic overview of what Tailwind CSS is and how it can improve your productivity as a developer. You’ll also hear me talk about pitfalls commonly mentioned during Tailwind discussions, and how you can prevent those in your own applications.
Check out the full 15 minute video above!
A slick new static site generator
Tony from DevDojo released a new static site generator called, well, [Static]. It’s powered by JavaScript, entirely open source, and available on GitHub.
Along with some handy commands to get a local dev server up and running, it comes pre-installed with Tailwind, esbuild, layouts, page-based routing, and even GitHub actions to make deployment a breeze!
The layout system is pretty interesting, and the first I’ve seen like it. Instead of using something like Blade or EJS, it uses (what I assume is) a proprietary templating engine. You build templates in plain .html files and then extend them into others using `<layout>` and `<include>` elements.
Check it out for more info!
Docker in 60 seconds
I’ve had a lot of people ask me, “What is Docker? Why should I care about it?”, so I figured I’d try to [answer those questions] as fast as possible in just under a minute.
If this made you more interested in learning about Docker or how you can use it to develop or deploy your applications, I have a few other videos on my YouTube channel that might help you out!
Docker is one of my favorite technologies, and it’s helped me avoid a ton of problems that usually happen with running software like PHP or MySQL on my local machine.
Today I learned
This issue’s TIL I found while browsing [an article] from 2018 about weird operators in PHP. The article is mostly satire, but the code that it contains does actually run.
Which can lead to weird syntax fun like the below:
Honestly, this example is pretty straightforward, “while i is going from 10 to zero”, thanks to some syntax silliness in the form of a long arrow.
What’s actually happening here is because of the way PHP ignores whitespaces in code. The same thing above could be written:
while ($i-- > 0) {} That’s it for now! If you want to submit any news, articles, packages, or tutorials, send me an [email] or message on [Twitter].