Your Privacy

This site uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience and deliver personalized content. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies.
COOKIE POLICY

Keeping Up with the JavaScript

Keeping Up with the JavaScript
Back to insights

It’s important to keep up to date in the JavaScript world, but it’s necessary to know where you stand. When do we stop searching for the latest and greatest, and settle for what works, what is maintainable?

The world of JavaScript is a complex place. With new frameworks and breaking updates releasing on what seems like a weekly basis, how can a developer keep up? When they do keep up, how do they choose the right framework for their project? Despite JavaScript’s fast pace and seemingly endless whirlwind of “latest and greatest”, equipped with the right tools and mindset a JS dev can cut through the mire and see the other side.

The first thing any JavaScript dev knows is that keeping up with the latest frameworks is hard.  With constant updates, changes and new shiny libraries, there are often more questions than answers. JS development requires a look at the big picture. It’s helpful to consider what you’ve been working on in the last year: what frameworks did you use, which updates did you make to existing code? Having a good look at what has worked in the past is invaluable to determining where to go in the future. Armed with what has worked in the past, you can begin to filter out the noise. Worked on a React project last year? Follow React’s release schedule and keep up to date with the docs. Comfortable in an Angular project? Read up on AngularCLI and the latest Flux implementations with NGRX. By narrowing the scope of updates and changes, you can focus on what matters to your work.

While filtering JavaScript updates is a useful tactic, looking at the big picture remains imperative. Much like building a wall and only focusing on single bricks, only paying attention to the frameworks you use can cause projects to lean out of plumb. So, keep an eye on the JS ecosystem as a whole: were there recent updates to ES6? Did Microsoft push a new TypeScript version? What do I need to do to keep Babel up to date? Keeping up to date with overall JavaScript changes helps keep your app maintainable and scalable for the future.

Look at the big picture, but sweat the small stuff. It’s contradictory, sure, but the point is not to be embroiled in pedantry, but to filter out noise while keeping an eye on greater trends. Keeping up to date with JavaScript requires work, but it’s easy once you filter out the noise.

Digging In

  • Digital Products

    Unlocking Business Potential: The Power of Custom Application Development

    Like any savvy business leader, you’re likely always on the lookout for tools to give your company a competitive edge. And in doing so, you’ve undoubtedly considered investing in custom application development. But the question is, how do you ensure that such a major investment in a custom web application development provides a strong return on […]

  • Digital Products

    Mastering Legacy Application Modernization: Strategies for Success

    The ironic truth of the business world is that change is the only constant. But this means that failing to keep pace with the competition and its technologies will only end with you falling behind. That’s where legacy application modernization enters the fold. When you modernize legacy applications, your team gains access to new features […]

  • Digital Products

    CTO Confessions Podcast

    In this episode of CTO Confessions, Rob Phillips, the Vice President of Software Engineering at UDig, digs into his journey from a passionate technologist in his youth to a seasoned leader in the tech industry. He shares valuable lessons on transitioning to senior leadership, the importance of understanding and articulating company problems, and the art of empowering teams for high performance.

  • Digital Products

    Navigating the Challenges of On Premise to Cloud Migration

    In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the shift from on premise solutions to cloud-based infrastructure has become a pivotal transformation for organizations seeking to modernize their IT operations. This transition holds the promise of increased agility, cost savings, and enhanced scalability. However, it is not without its set of formidable challenges that organizations must navigate. […]

  • Digital Products

    The Power of Transferrable Skills in Tech Projects

    Every project has its own unique elements that require flexibility to be effective and achieve success. This often requires picking up new pieces of a tech stack, learning a new programming language, or a new project methodology. Fortunately, there are also many transferrable skills that carry over from one project to the next. In my […]

  • Digital Products

    The Four Pillars of Effective Digital Product Development

    In 2020 alone, approximately two billion consumers purchased at least one digital product. From software licenses to mobile apps and tech tools, consumers are becoming increasingly active in the digital product market, a trend that has naturally spurred brands across a wide range of industries to reevaluate their digital product design and development process workflows. […]