Hello and welcome back to another fun roundup of new trends and technologies in the world of frontend development!
In this fast-paced field things are always in motion. I’m here to help you stay on top of what’s new and what you need to know.
To start things off let’s jump into a nice article that explores the what are the top languages used on GitHub in 2013 (so far). Compiled using Google BigQuery the results are in line with what you would expect of GitHub developers: JavaScript and Ruby take the top spots (first and second respective). What does surprise me is that Java is way up on the list at number 3. I suppose that should be expected given Android is built in Java.
Taking a detour into more tech-heavy articles, I came across this article which shared a tip on how to ignore library code while debugging in Chrome. Why is this cool? Well if you’ve ever been neck-deep in a call-stack trying to figure out a bug’s origin you can sometimes get lost in the libraries you’re using on the page (e.g. jQuery, Backbone, Angular). What this trick allows you to do is have these libraries excluded when debugging, allowing you to focus only on your code! Pretty handy!
Another handy trick is this break-on-access repository on GitHub. If you want to spy on when a property of an object is accessed or modified this library will allow you to enter the debugger at that point. Very handy for situations where you may not know when an object is being modified, but you know that it is being modified.
A fun Tumblr blog popped up over the past week, highlighting what applications could look like if they were designed for iOS 7. With iOS 7 released on September 18th you can bet you’ll see its design ethos echoed across the internet. This is a nice way to prepare yourself.
Along with finding inspiration for how to design for iOS 7, take a look at this very comprehensive post about how to create a web app that looks like an iOS 7 native app. Especially useful if you’re looking to create a Phonegap hybrid application. There are many tips, tricks, and nuanced details in this blog post that will prepare you for developing iOS 7-like web apps.
And there you have it! This week’s roundup of what’s new and what’s being talked about on the world wide web. As you can tell, Apple still has quite the influence – punditry aside. The release of iOS 7 is only the start of ripples that will grow.
As always, keep learning and looking for what’s new. I’ll be here doing the same.
Harry also maintains a personal blog at harrywolff.com.