Articles, tutorials, and updates about developer tools and productivity.
How JavaScript formatters work: Prettier vs js-beautify philosophies, why opinionated formatting ends style debates, automatic semicolon insertion pitfalls, quote and semicolon normalization, and minify vs beautify round-tripping.
How CSS formatters work: declaration ordering strategies, shorthand expansion, native CSS nesting vs SCSS nesting, minification for production, and the formatter-vs-linter division of labor with Prettier and stylelint.
How HTML formatters work: significant vs insignificant whitespace, preserving pre and script contents, void and self-closing elements, attribute wrapping, boolean attributes, minification gains and risks, and why formatted HTML produces cleaner diffs.
Master the three core percentage problems: X% of Y, X is what % of Y, and percent change from A to B. Covers percentage points vs percent, floating-point rounding, increase-then-decrease asymmetry, and developer use cases.
How unit converters work: base-unit normalization to avoid floating-point error in chained conversions, why temperature needs affine formulas not just scale factors, binary vs decimal data sizes, and developer use cases for config thresholds and API limits.
How image cropping works: crop vs resize vs scale, aspect-ratio locking math, client-side Canvas cropping for privacy, social media sizes, lossless PNG vs JPEG re-compression quality loss, and the EXIF orientation gotcha.
How TLS/SSL checking works: TLS 1.2 vs 1.3 handshake differences, reading a certificate chain, checking expiry and SANs, understanding cipher suite strings, and common misconfigurations like expired intermediates and weak ciphers.
How SVGO optimizes SVG files: what metadata it removes, which plugins are safe vs risky, path precision tradeoffs, accessibility rules, inline SVG vs img tag differences, and integrating SVGO in your build pipeline.
Why text diff of JSON is misleading and how structural diff compares parsed values instead. Covers added, removed, and modified keys, array diffing strategies, normalization, and real use cases like API regression testing and config drift detection.
Why using JavaScript eval or new Function to evaluate math expressions is dangerous, how a real expression parser works (tokenize, parse to AST, evaluate), operator precedence, floating-point limits, and safe alternatives like mathjs.
Learn how diff tools work: Myers algorithm, unified vs side-by-side output, line vs word vs character diff, YAML comparison, and practical use cases for config auditing, PR review, and debugging.
Learn how to resize images correctly: pixels vs percentage, aspect ratio locking, DPI vs PPI for print and screen, why upscaling degrades quality, and practical tips for web developers.
Learn how QR codes work: data types they encode, error correction levels (L/M/Q/H), size and format tradeoffs, and practical use cases — URLs, vCards, WiFi credentials, and 2FA setup.
The 20 git recipes that solve 95% of real problems. Reset vs revert, merge vs rebase, reflog recovery, safe force-push, bisect, interactive rebase, plus aliases worth setting.
Learn what makes a password strong: entropy math, NIST 2024 guidelines, passphrases vs random strings, CSPRNG code for Node/Python/browser, and why Math.random fails for passwords.
Choose the right image format: PNG vs JPEG vs WebP vs AVIF tradeoffs, lossy vs lossless, transparency, browser compatibility matrix, and conversion workflows with sharp and squoosh.
Master image compression: lossy vs lossless mechanics, JPEG/PNG/WebP/AVIF internals, quality thresholds, file size targets per use case, and LCP impact for web performance.
Pick the right color model: RGB and hex, HSL, HSV vs HSL, OKLCH for perceptually uniform design, sRGB vs P3 gamuts, CSS custom properties, and design token workflows.
UUID versions compared: why v7 beats v4 for database indexes, ULID comparison, collision probability math, RFC 9562 changes, and code for Node/Python/Postgres/Rust.
Format SQL consistently: keyword casing, CTE layout, JOIN formatting, MySQL vs PostgreSQL vs SQLite dialect notes, sqlfluff in CI, and pre-commit hooks.
