Ezedin Fedlu (Dark horse)

Why do so many developers think the future of web development is WebAssembly?

Let’s be blunt here, the browser programming model has stagnated for far too long. JavaScript has it’s pros and it also has it’s cons (Lot’s of cons), we’ve programmed interactivity into our HTML based apps the same way since the early 1990’s, that’s OVER 20 years!

Now lets look at NON BROWSER programming.

In the last 20 years we’ve gone from terminal screens to rich graphical user interfaces, we’ve had a plethora of different languages, and the avalanche of different programming models and syntactical ways of describing our intentions in that time has been monumental.

Put simply, we’ve made massive leaps and bounds in everything to do with software development, except for how we program the browser.

The one thing that is now front and center in our technological lives, the one thing that is the worlds canvas and user interface, and we don’t even put a fraction of the resources into improving it, that we do elsewhere in computing.

And no, before I get the Angular/Vue/React/Aurelia/fartframework what ever fanboys jumping on me, they ALL STILL REQUIRE JAVASCRIPT.

Even abstracted layers like Typescript and Coffeescript still produce and require JavaScript to run, because at the end of the day that is all the browser understands.

Webassembly is going to change that.

Whether it changes it for the better, or for the worse, we won’t know, at least not for a while, and there will be plenty of scope for folks to abuse it just as they have abused JavaScript.

There will always be bad actors and good actors in any technology domain, and for sure your going to get the marketing folks using it to try and get their pound of flesh out of it too.

However, change we must.

The API’s built into browsers now are making it more and more difficult for plain old JavaScript to keep up, they require an ability for us to be explicitly specific about what we want to do and how, and for that we need choice, we need choice and freedom in which language we want to use, and what approach we want to take.

There will be some trade-offs, there always is, it doesn’t matter what the technology is, in the case of WASM, I’ve found that loading times can be much longer due to large binary downloads.

The fact of the matter is this though, we are now beginning to see multiple languages, new tooling and way more innovative ways of constructing the solutions we need to construct, we are also seeing code that executes at an almost native speed on the device in question, AND… this is the big one, there’s none of this different ways of expressing the same thing in different browsers. WASM is WASM… period, what runs on one will run on all, the ONLY thing you now have to worry about is API support, and even that is now becoming a very level playing field.

Will JavaScript vanish overnight?

Hell no, there’s far too much been invested in it for that to happen, and you can still use JavaScript with WASM, it’s not all or nothing. Blazor which is Microsoft’s new experimental C# version of WASM has plenty of scopes for me to re-use existing JS sources and libraries, allowing me to add a C# interface to them, so they can be reused as modular components.

GoLang, Rust, Objective-C ALL have WASM compilers now and can use JavaScript libraries to extend their capabilities.

Since WASM is also compiled to byte code, a lot of commercial entities are very happy to adopt it, because it takes away the fear of competitors looking at their code simply by downloading a script and un-obfuscating it.

It’s time we started to innovate the browser and start pushing it to be the world-class universal platform we need it to be, and Web Assembly is just the first step on the ladder to making that happen.

If you want a really, really in-depth technical look at web assembly and its story, then the Mozilla hacks article on its journey is very well worth reading

Should you buy a MacBook Pro or a Windows laptop?

I am going to answer this question and please don't forget to subscribe to my channel @blackHorseCoder

First of It depends on your purpose and Budget so I'll explain the cases where buying a MacBook would be best and the case where a windows laptop would be the best.

So let's begin without wasting much time...

Cases where you should prefer a Windows Laptop

👉 Heavy Gaming - Generally MacBook doesn't have a dedicated GPU so it is worth buying a Windows laptop if you wanna do heavy gaming.

👉 Storage- If you wanna store large files on your system then I prefer you should buy a windows laptop because MacBook generally has less SSD Space like 256 GB or 512 GB and also the 1TB SSD variant of MacBook is way more expensive. But if you are comfortable in buying a 1 TB SSD variant of MacBook then you should most likely buy a MacBook rather than a Windows laptop.

👉 Third-Party Applications - It is the most important stuff in windows, in windows, there are as such no restrictions in using third-party applications from all over the internet. So if you know you will need to download some third-party applications then you should use Windows.
Support- See it’s my own opinion, so I might be wrong so do forgive me. In my opinion, Windows Systems generally have a large support community than the MacBook because the number of people who use windows is much much higher than MacBook. So it will be easier for you to fix problems with your windows system.

👉 Budget- Last but not least “your budget”- windows laptops are way cheaper than the MacBook out in the market, so if your budget is quite low then you should check out the windows laptops.

Cases where you should prefer a MacBook

Now comes my favorite part of the answer. So if you are not primarily focused on the above use cases. You should surely go for a MacBook.

Some of the cases where the MacBook is much more useful than windows are mentioned below.

👉 Performance - The best thing about MacBook is its peak-level performance. Trust me you will be much much happier in terms of performance if you buy a MacBook. The process, ram, CPU utilization, and everything are perfectly managed in MacBook.

👉 Editing - What I have seen so far in the MacBook is that the rendering of videos and also video editing is much much faster in MacBook than in windows. So if you gonna edit higher quality videos then do go for MacBook.

👉 Privacy & Security - Everyone knows Mac OS outperforms windows in terms of privacy and security. One of the main reasons is that Apple doesn't allow third-party applications to be installed on your system. So this minimizes the risk of getting a virus or being hacked. Still, nothing is robust Mac OS also has some security loopholes but yes they are very rare. So you would surely be safe while using a MacBook.

👉 Durability - A MacBook will be by your side at least for 3-4 years if you use it nicely. MacBook is much much more durable than the windows laptop available in the market which generally has hard plastic used. Unlike Windows, MacBook is made up of aluminum and is very light and durable.

👉 Bugs - The best thing about MacBooks is that they are very very stable, unlike windows which encounter bugs with every new update. The Mac OS is highly stable. So you should use a MacBook for stability.

I hope you got the help by reading my answer, if you liked it then share my answer with others, and don't forget to subscribe to the channel for more such content.
@blackHorseCoder

Best reads for entrepreneurs. These books will help you build your startup and inspire you to create something unique. Enjoy! 💛


📕The Art of the Start — Guy Kawasaki

The author is a co-founder of Apple, responsible for the marketing department. Kawasaki is a knowledgeable specialist in terms of branding and audience loyalty.

In his work Guy reviews the key aspects of business and management, from positioning to scaling. Though the book is centered around IT startups, the knowledge it gives is applicable in any niche. "The Art of the Start" is direct guidance on entrepreneurship with facts and cases from Guy’s personal experience.

📒The Startup Owner’s Manual — The Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company — Steve Blank and Bob Dorf

The book contains a set of practical recommendations on creating a profitable business model which will help the startup stay afloat. Each chapter is based on professionals’ experience. The work’s framework is the methodology of customer development proposed by Steve Blank.

He asserts that an entrepreneur needs to think out of the box and start testing the product on real customers refining the original version. The method of constant improvements allows creating not an illusion of customer focus but a truly sought-after product.

📗The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The Tell-it-like-it-is Guide to Cleaning Up in Business, Even If You are at the End of Your Roll — Mike Michalowicz

The book helps to upgrade startups. The author is sure that flexible and resourceful entrepreneurs — a new generation of leaders who are bound to reach success and run worldwide corporations. However, Mike doesn’t hesitate to speak frankly and even rudely about slackers.

The author aims to kick novice entrepreneurs up by demonstrating that a business can be started under any circumstances and with any budget. Mike tells us that anyone can come a long way and succeed in the end. The logic is simple — if you want to be on a roll, keep faith and be ready to put much effort.

📘The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience — Carmine Gallo

Whatever Steve Jobs presented, he always electrified audiences with his incomparable style and showmanship. This is a crucial skill when it comes to entrepreneurship.

The book provides you with basics of the effective presentation. There is a number of proven techniques applied by Steve Jobs. As soon as you master your presentation skills, you will boost your chances to make people believe and invest in your product.

Which book have you read or would like to? Comment below 👇

Confused about NFTs? Here is what you need to know

To define NFT, I had to do a lot of research to make it intelligible. And it is challenging with all the different logics like cryptocurrency, blockchain, Ethereum, and so on, which are significant topics on their own. But give me a chance. NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. The next thing that comes to mind is the meaning of the word fungible. And let's simply define it as replaceable, which leads us to Non-Replaceable Token. Now, what does the token stand for? To explain that I have to touch on different topics so bear with me.

When you buy anything and pay with a credit card, what is happening is that the purchaser and the seller's bank are exchanging money after ensuring that the purchaser has enough money for the products purchased. Therefore, the banks are the intermediary that knows every detail about the transactions. However, the 2008 financial crisis in the United States gave birth to a logic known as Blockchain, the engine or system on which all cryptocurrencies (don't mumble, just take it as digital currencies) and NFT's are created. Blockchain records all transactions in a way that makes changing, hacking, or cheating the system difficult (if not impossible). It is also decentralized, which means that power and decision-making shift from a centralized entity like banks to a dispersed network (group of people). This new technology requires openness and responsibility, and it empowers its users. The purpose of this technology is to create a new monetary system that was not in the hands of a few who made choices behind closed doors, but rather a system that operated as a whole for everyone who invested and could be clearly monitored.

Returning to the previous scenario of the bank, but this time utilizing cryptocurrency, the same thing occurs, but differently. The difference is that there is no middleman; instead, transactions are tracked and approved by groups of publicly available computers. You're probably wondering why I'm bringing this up, and it is because the key is right here. In the case of Jack Dorsey, one day, an anonymous Malaysian offered him 2.9 million dollars in cryptocurrencies in exchange for a token or digital certificate stating that the anonymous Malaysian owns the tweet. Once the computers verify that the anonymous Malaysian has the coins, they approve the transaction. So, the Malaysian is now the owner of the tweet, which is written on an unalterable public record.

Now that I've said all of that, let me offer you the definition I received from Wikipedia to summarize it for you:
“A non-fungible token is a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a digital ledger. NFTs can be associated with easily-reproducible items such as photos, videos, audio, and other types of digital files as unique items. NFTs use blockchain technology to provide public proof of ownership.”

NFT gained popularity after selling "Everydays: The First 5000 Days," a collage of 5000 digital images made by Winkelmann (aka Beeple, an American digital artist) for his Everydays series for 69.3 Million USD in 2021.

And recently, a man proposed to his wife using NFT instead of a ring, spending over 500,000 USD of their life savings, and did not receive the response he expected since she was so angry with him for wasting so much money. Several youngsters had collected fortunes thanks to NFT.

A friend asked me if I think NFT is the next big thing for our country. That was a difficult question for me to answer. I've seen certain digital artists in the NFT sector, such as Fanuel, Biniam, and Harereta, who I feel are benefiting from it. However, I think it will take time. I mean, how many people are aware of the entire logic of blockchain, cryptocurrency, and so on. Even though we have a long way to go, I believe we will get there eventually. Please share your thoughts with us, and tell us about other NFT artists you know. Until then, ቻው::

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@blackHorseCoder

What things can say a lot about a software engineer/ programmer's quality?

1️⃣ The number of possible paths through the code (branch points) is minimized. Top quality code tends to be much more straight line than poor code. As a result, the author can design, code and test very quickly and is often looked at as a programming guru. In addition this code is far more resilient in Production

2️⃣The code clearly matches the underlying business requirements and can therefore be understood very quickly by new resources. As a result there is much less tendency for a maintenance programmer to break the basic design as opposed to spaghetti code where small changes can have catastrophic effects.

3️⃣There is an overall sense of pride in the source code itself. If the enterprise has clear written standards, these are followed to the letter. If not, the code is internally consistent in terms of procedure/object, function/method or variable/attribute naming. Also indentation and continuations are universally consistent throughout. Last but not least, the majority of code blocks are self-evident to the requirements and where not the case, adequate purpose focused documentation is provided.

In general, I have seen two types of programs provided for initial Production deployment. One looks like it was just written moments ago and the other looks like it has had 20 years of maintenance performed on it. Unfortunately, the authors of the second type cannot generally see the difference so it is a lost cause and we just have to continue to deal with the problems.Unfortunately, the authors of the second type cannot generally see the difference so it is a lost cause and we just have to continue to deal with the problems.

4️⃣ In today’s programming environment, a project may span many platforms, languages etc. A simple web page may invoke an API which in turn accesses a database. For this example lets say JavaScript - Rest API - C# - SQL - RDBMS. The programmer can basically embed logic anywhere in this chain, but needs to be aware of reuse, performance and maintenance issues. For instance, if a part of the process requires access to three database tables, it is both faster and clearer to allow the DBMS engine return a single query than compare the tables in the API code. Similarly every business rule coded in the client side reduces reusability potential.

Top quality developers understand these issues and can optimize their designs to take advantages of the strengths of the component technologies.