The Library & Raw Notes
Not blog posts. Just the bullet points I write down while reading books that make me rethink something. No intro, no conclusion, just the stuff I underlined.
- DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) is misapplied all the time in frontend. It's about duplicating knowledge, not code. Sometimes copy pasting a component is better than building a 50 prop monster. This one made me look back at three projects with regret.
- Crash early. A dead program does less damage than a broken one still running. Applies directly to state management in Vue/Nuxt.
- Estimate before you write anything. If the number feels uncomfortable, that's the point.
Design
Patterns (Gang of Four)
Read in 2025
- Most frontend devs use patterns without knowing their names. Recognizing them is useful not for sounding smart in meetings, but for knowing when you're about to reinvent one badly.
- The Observer pattern is half of Vue's reactivity system. Once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it.
- Don't force a pattern just because it sounds architectural. Use it when the problem fits.
Rework
(Jason Fried & David Heinemeier
Hansson)
Read in 2024
- Meetings are toxic. They break the workday into small, unusable pieces. Protect uninterrupted time to write code. A two-hour block is worth more than four thirty-minute gaps.
- Good enough is fine. Ship it and improve it. Don't wait for perfect.
- Build less than your competition, not more. Focus beats features. This applies to components too.
You Don't
Know JS (Kyle Simpson)
Read in 2024
- Most JS developers, even senior ones, have wrong mental models of how the language works. This book is uncomfortable to read. That's the point.
Clean Code
(Robert C. Martin)
Read in 2023
- Functions should do one thing. Not "one feature" or "one screen". One thing. If you need the word "and" to describe what a function does, it does two things.
- Comments are usually a sign that the code isn't clear enough. Rewrite the code, not the comment.