13. AI Coding with Cursor, Create React App Sunset, All Things Pointing

It’s a hot summer day, and this episode brings the spice. This time, we ditch the virtual-DOM and dive into the merits of HTML template languages like Svelte. Plus, we explore our approach to CMS platforms, the evolving role of AI agents in browser interactions, and what it really means to operate in “Founder Mode.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit campfirecode.substack.com

Wow it's been awhile! Nolan and I are back recording in person, this time talking AI coding with Cursor, the sun-setting of Create React App, and the problems with pointing in product workflows. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit campfirecode.substack.com

Nolan and I are recording together in the same room for the first time, exciting stuff! In this episode we cover all of the recent happenings at React Conf 2024, including some exciting notes about the React Compiler, server-side React components, and the like. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit campfirecode.substack.com

Leading with a little chat about Doom Emacs and some gripes, we follow into a couple of long discussions about Tree Sitter and DORA. Tree Sitter is a fancy new way of providing syntax highlighting to your text editor, and boy-oh-boy is it cool. After that we cover a huge amount of content about software engineering in general, focusing on a few key performance indicators that Nolan uses to help manage development teams. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit campfirecode.substack.com

We may or may not have been derailed by some recent brewery news and turned the intro of this podcast into the beveragecast, but hey! There's no shortage of good topics here. Graham talks about his side project building his own static site generator, Nolan shares his experience with Doom Emacs, and the two wrap with a conversation around using Rust for web development. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit campfirecode.substack.com

After reminiscing about Bower, Graham talks about getting up to speed on an ergonomic keyboard and the challenges of laptop life. Nolan transitions the conversation to developer experience, talking about improving Ruby formatting with Solargraph. The two wrap up with an intro to using Rust in Ruby via native extensions. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit campfirecode.substack.com

We open with a chat about Deno, the JavaScript runtime that seems to just keep getting better. Then we dive into a few different developer surveys and take a broad survey of the developer ecosystem at large in 2023. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit campfirecode.substack.com

Nolan explains his "mad scientist idea" to improve the SEO of a content-driven website by jumping on the AI bandwagon, followed up by talking about the recent(-ish) CircleCI data breach and its implications across the industry. We wrap up with some esoteric coding explorations by Graham, exploring the PICO-8 virtual console and Common Lisp programming language. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit campfirecode.substack.com

Tired of slow Ruby formatters, the crew stumbles on rubyfmt and discusses some recent momentum that the project has gained. Graham talks about his experience using Vite in production, comparing it to an old Webpack config. Nolan walks us through the wonderful world of ACH. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit campfirecode.substack.com

Graham gets into C thanks to recent forays in Rust and his attempts to grok memory management, seguing into a discussion about the joys of simple tech. After learning about Tailwind CSS Nolan asks the age old question, "now that I've outgrown Create React App, do I eject?" This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit campfirecode.substack.com