March 2019 - Project Immerse

March 26, 2019June 17, 2020

Git using GitFlow

I was recently introduced to a Git methodology called Git Flow. Git Flow itself is more of a guideline that they are rules. Vincent Driessen coined the term, however much like myself, developers were probably already implementing this approach long before it gained popularity, or some variant of it. I do remember working on a small team in a past life, long ago when I was a young and chipper programmer. I do remember collaborating with my dev team and using a flavor of GitFlow. Looking back, I now see it’s power in both and even really large development teams. I must admit though, s’been a long time since I’ve worked on a team, so this will be an interesting run for me. Continue reading “Git using GitFlow”

March 11, 2019June 17, 2020

Object.create vs the new operator in Javascript

One of the more advanced topics in Javascript is the distinction between the Object.create() and the new operator when constructing new objects. More than that, Javascript being a client side language – is unlike other server side languages, compiled or interpreted.

As a result Javascript has some weird parts to it putting off some developers to some other more less dynamics languages but drawing in more curious developers to Javascript land. These weird parts shouldn’t be seen as a disadvantage though if you thoroughly spend quality time getting to know Javascript – you can use these new patterns, concepts to your advantage.
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March 6, 2019June 17, 2020

Leverage Browser Caching with .htaccess

If you’re an SEO marketeer or a developer – you will see this a lot.

From Google Page Insights, Pingdom, SEM Rush, GTMetrix and other page speed tools – “Leverage Browser Caching” is bound to come up. If you’re ignoring this, then you’re business, your client, or site is at a major loss. Page speed is a huge variable when a customer first engages with your site – chances are high rate of drop offs will occur if you don’t leverage browser caching.
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March 5, 2019June 17, 2020

An intro to GZIP and compression

GZIP is one of those big words used in programming to generally describe compression. Then again, you end up asking what “compression” is in the context of programming and computers. These two terms can be a little intimidating to the noob and not until you’ve really implemented it, or experienced it first hand you won’t really know it’s true nature and the fundamental idea behind it. So let’s do that.

We often see these two terms come up frequently during page speed optimizations. Software tools like GTMetrix and Page Speed Insights. If you’re running into page speed issues or a really slow loading page, these tools will recommend compressing your files. Alright so what does that mean?

Alright, a lot actually. But in simple terms:

Compression is the process of encoding information using fewer bits. — Ilya Grigorik, Google

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March 3, 2019June 17, 2020

Javascript – Functional Programming Part 1

I haven’t covered any advanced topics until now – functional programming in Javascript is an advanced topic in my book. Not only is functional programming an advanced topic, it’s quite special and specific to the Javascript language. Even a well seasoned developer could get a little frazzled by the concept of functional programming – especially those who code in more statically typed languages – like C or Java.

I, myself have mulled over this a long time – especially because I haven’t built any applications using much of functional programming. Frameworks and libraries – yes, but I’m talking about writing my own proprietary code. Programmers unknowingly utilize functional programming all the time – with this, comes closures, prototypical inheritance – other advanced patterns found in our javascript libraries today.
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