A while ago, I set out to build my first Chrome extension. Having recently gotten into the world of web development and getting my hands dirty by building a React project, I felt I had the tools necessary to take on this new challenge.

While I wasn’t completely wrong to think this, it wouldn’t be the whole truth to say I didn’t have to rethink the way I approached designing my project.

I realized this pretty early on into development. You see, when developing any sort of app, as our projects get bigger, we’ll tend to inevitably break it up…

For some time now, I’ve taken it upon myself to write down every Git command I’ve had to look up while working from the command line. Whenever I did so, I’d note the proper syntax, most common options, and where I got the information from. Over time, and as my list grew, I came to rely less on Google and more on my list for quick reference.

Typical use cases (think vanilla git add or git commit) won’t feature here but rather a selection of less recurring yet nevertheless essential ones.

Note: The linked resources will often mention slightly different…

While working on a Google Chrome extension, I found myself in need of a toggle switch. These are the little guys you’ll most commonly see on your phone or tablet to enable/disable things.

Finding the Right Switch

So I quickly set out in search of one that I could easily integrate into what I was building. One of the first places I looked at was Google’s Material Design, where sure enough, they had a switch component that I could install and use with just a few lines of code.

Once I got to playing around with it, however, I soon realized that I wasn’t…

There is perhaps some wisdom in the saying “Don’t sh** where you eat.” Fortunately, no one ever said, “Don’t Git where you code” — and a good thing too. Since its launch in 2015, Visual Studio Code has taken the world by storm (no, not you WebStorm). Of its ever-growing repertoire of extensions and features, its integrated source control management — Git in particular — has to be one of the most useful.

And although I mainly rely on the command line when using Git, I’ve come to use more and more of VS Code’s Git features. There are many…

Alice and Bob are each planning their beach holidays. This year, they’ve both taken it upon themselves to be in the best possible shape they can. Thinking ahead, Alice started hitting the gym and got her diet in check months in advance. Bob, on the other hand, only recalled his resolution while shopping for swim shorts a few weeks before his planned flight.

Write a function that determines who’s posing for pictures beachside this year.

The answer is no one — since we’re all in lockdown, but the moral of the story is that it’s easier to stay in shape…

A while back, I took part in Itch.io’s Game Off 2020, an annual game jam where participants spend the month of November building a game based on a certain theme. This year’s theme, Moonshot, led to the creation of over 500 ambitious, largely space-themed games, which you can check out here.

Upon hearing about the event in October, I told my brother and sister-in-law about it and we decided to join as a team. We are by no means game developers, but our individual skill sets complimented each other well. My sister-in-law, an artist, would focus on creating the assets…

It’s easy for us to dismiss both candidates as equally inadequate. To downplay the power our voices hold to enact real change. Or believe that the outcome will have no real consequences either way.

But to those who stand to lose the most, the consequences are very real. Issues such as health care, immigration, crisis management, environmental protection, gun violence, inequality, and hate are without question affected by policy.

And policy is put in place by the very people we deem ineffectual. Once we accept that this is what’s at stake, there is no longer room for political nihilism.

Perhaps…

Watching California governor Gavin Newsom address reporters in light of the wildfires wreaking havoc across the Western United States, I couldn’t help but think how poor his choice of words was.

The debate is over around climate change

Those last two words may have been enough to make anyone watching forget about the thick, hazy air and the charred remains of trees that surrounded all those present. They were more than likely enough to make some viewers see red — and not because of the raging flames appearing on their screens or the hue that their skies had taken on.

…