One of the things software developers think about a lot is how to DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) up their code. The reason for this is relatively simple. The more you can reuse your code, the easier your codebase is to maintain. If you have two objects that share behavior, why define that behavior in two places? And if you do, what happens if you need to change something later?

• javascript
• programming

One of the most common tasks for a developer is iteration. Sometimes the purpose is to carry out a particular operation with each value in a data structure. Other times the goal is to transform the data structure itself. Still other times the intent is to operate on the data structure as a whole, such as in the summing of a list of values.

• javascript
• programming

A common misconception about coders is that their job is to write code. OK, maybe that’s not totally wrong, but it fails to capture the essence of what a coder does, which is solve problems. Every day coders are confronted by myriad problems that need to be solved, whether it is sorting a set of data, transforming messy input into something organized, or figuring out when and how to return some value to a user. We spend all day solving problems, which is why problem solving is a skill worth practicing.

• learning
• programming

JavaScript, for all of its power and expressiveness, is a language that refuses categorization. Some prefer to use it in the object-oriented style and others in the functional style. And the mere fact that it can be used in either tells us something about JavaScript’s dynamism. JavaScript is a flexible language that provides a wealth of features that, if well understood, can be leveraged in powerful ways.

• javascript
• programming

As a JavaScript developer, much of the code you will be writing will deal with objects. We create objects to help organize code, reduce redundancy, and reason about problems using object-oriented techniques. The benefits of object-oriented design are readily apparent, but recognizing the usefulness of objects is just the first step. Once you have decided to use an object-oriented structure in your code, the next step is to decide *how* to do it.

• design
• javascript
• patterns
• programming

If you’re like me, then one of your first thoughts when you started reading JavaScript code was “why in the world is 'this' written all over the place?!” It is a strange syntax indeed, and confusing to read about because “this” is one of the most common words in the English language! Rest assured though, with a little practice you’ll master the necessary mental gymnastics to understand 'this'.

• javascript
• programming

Scope got you down? No problem! This article is all about scope--one of the most fundamental parts of the JavaScript we know and love. Scope defines what is visible to whom, and where--with the what being some variable, the where being some point of execution in your program, and the whom being your friendly neighborhood functions.

• javascript
• programming

The Internet has democratized learning in a way that is unprecedented in human history. Never before have so many people had such easy access to such vast quantities of information. In the learning space, the Internet is second only to the printing press in its importance. This is a common perspective one hears about the revolutionary impact the Internet has had on learning. But what if there is more at play here?

• learning
• life

My journey in life is a good deal longer than my journey in code, and yet, I feel at times that my understanding of the latter exceeds my understanding of the former. Life and code are not the same thing--but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn something about the one from the other."

• learning
• life
• programming

Apologies to Def Leppard for, shall we say, “borrowing”, the name of one of their greatest hits to introduce this article. However, if any programming language has had a lot of sugar poured into it, surely it’s Ruby!

• programming
• ruby