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Programming Tips & Tricks

by Caitlin Gross

February 4, 2025

Must-have Quality of Life Tools (Windows Users) Twinkle Tray: Easily manage the brightness levels of multiple monitors. Files: A re-imagined take on the filesystem. PowerToys: A collection of utilities to accomplish common tasks. Run and ColorPicker are favorites!
Twinkle Tray
Files
PowerToys
Run
ColorPicker

January 28, 2025

Must-have Quality of Life Tools (Mac Users): Homebrew: A package manager for Mac to install these awesome apps through the CL. Hidden bar tab: Minimize clutter in the Mac status bar by hiding app icons. HandMirror: A macOS app that lives in your menu bar. When you click on it, you get a view from your camera.
Homebrew
Hidden Bar Tab
HandMirror

January 14, 2025

Tech Interview Handbook: A comprehensive, go-to resource for software development technical and behavioral interview preparation. The Tech Interview Handbook covers the essentials from coding questions to system design and behavioral interview strategies.
View the tool here

January 7, 2025

Here’s why linters are awesome: Catch Errors Early: Linters are like the grammar police for code. They spot the sneaky typos and syntax slip-ups before you even run your code, saving you a mountain of debugging time. Improve Code Quality: They’re the rule enforcers, making sure your code follows the best practices. It's like having a personal trainer for your code, keeping it fit and professional. Automate Code Reviews: Linters handle the boring part of code reviews by checking standards automatically.

December 17, 2024

Best Practices for Building Accessible React Apps: Web accessibility can sometimes be an afterthought when learning web development, but it shouldn't be. Here's a blog post about how to approach it in React.js.
Read the article here

December 10, 2024

How to Evaluate LLM Applications: The Complete Guide The world of AI & LLM is exciting, but once you've built your chatbot, how do you know if it's any good? This article is a great guide for evaluating your tool.
Read the article here

December 3, 2024

MI Mac Developer Setup: "Setting up your brand new computer can be stressful. However, it should be an easy, fun, and light task for developers to get you ready for development."
Read the article here

November 26, 2024

Unused Imports: If you're using VS Code and want to quickly clear all the unused imports from a file, you can use the following shortcuts. Shift + Option + O for Mac or Alt + Option + O for PC.

November 19, 2024

React vs Next.js: “The JavaScript landscape for web development is constantly evolving, and two frameworks, React and Next.js, have emerged as dominant players. But for software engineers facing a project decision, the question arises: which one is better?”
Read the article here

November 12, 2024

Trending Color Palettes: If you're putting together a new app/website and you're stuck on what colors to use, try: https://coolors.co/palettes/trending Note: Make sure you consider accessibility by choosing palettes with more contrasting colors! There is a contrast checker on the website.
View the tool here

November 5, 2024

The ||= Operator: Ruby's ||= is a great shortcut for assigning default values. It assigns a value to a variable only if that variable is nil or false. Instead of: "if @user.nil? @user = User.new end" try "@user ||= User.new" Tip: Be cautious when false is a valid value, though! If false is a valid and meaningful value it can result in the variable being incorrectly reassigned, leading to potential errors.

October 29, 2024

Advice for Junior Developers: “Over the 15+ years of my development career, I have learned several things that significantly increase my effectiveness. In this post, I share those learnings with you.”
Read the article here

October 22, 2024

hue-rotate() function, explained: The hue-rotate() function applies a color rotation to the elements on which it is applied. The <angle> CSS data type represents an angle value expressed in degrees, gradians, radians, or turns. Example: tiny.cc/hue-rotate

October 15, 2024

⌘ + K: Terminal Clear Command Cmd+K (Ctrl+K on Windows/Linux): Instantly clear your integrated terminal. Time-saver: Keep your terminal tidy without interrupting workflow. Perfect for: After long command outputs or between test runs.

October 8, 2024

Quicktype, explained: A tool that automatically converts JSON data from APIs or other sources into strongly-typed Typescript interfaces and types. Useful as a starting point for coding projects.
View the tool here

October 1, 2024

September 24, 2024

Quick File Navigation Cmd+P: Instantly open any file in your project Type part of the filename to filter results. Zen Mode for Distraction-Free Coding Cmd+K Z: Toggle Zen mode Removes all UI elements except the editor for maximum focus.

September 6, 2024

Command + D selects all common terms in your code editor, one at a time. Super useful when you need to replace several repeated words. Command + Shift + L selects all common terms in your code editor - all at once.

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