920: How to Build MCP Servers

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about tips and tricks for using Gatsby in your projects LogRocket - Sponsor LogRocket lets you replay what users do on your site, helping you reproduce bugs and fix issues faster. It’s an exception tracker, a session re-player and a performance monitor. Get 14 days free at logrocket.com/syntax. Show Notes 02:02 - React Helmet Make a re-usable SEO component that sets defaults. Spread children to override. 04:27 - When in doubt, stop the build and restart Gatsby clean Nuke node_modules + package-lock 05:34 - Use ESM to use ES Modules everywhere - share functions between gatsby-node and gatsby-browser 06:44 - Run the build command locally to troubleshoot prod Dev mode isn’t SSG’d - people overlook this 08:06 - Wrap your layout automatically in gatsby-ssr and gatbsy-browser wrapPageElement and wrapRootElement 09:50 - Consider just adding the layout component manually to each page This will allow you to skip the layout if you need to have a page that isn’t typical 11:21 - Layout is not suitable for unmount animations Orchestrating individual component animations in Gatsby isn’t easy, use wrapPageElement to write your animations or delays for internally unmounted components. 12:59 - use onCreatePage to pass context to the layout exports.onCreatePage = ({ page, actions }) => { const { createPage } = actions; if (page.path.match(/thumbnail/)) { page.context.layout = 'thumbnail'; createPage(page); } }; 14:03 - You don’t have to query for everything Hard-coding data in html/jsx is super valid 15:32 - Gatsby Parallel Runner For lots of images Links Gridsom Google Cloud Cloudinary Sanity Image Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets

17 Elo 202017min

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk with Adam Argyle about how stuff gets added to CSS. LogRocket - Sponsor LogRocket lets you replay what users do on your site, helping you reproduce bugs and fix issues faster. It’s an exception tracker, a session re-player and a performance monitor. Get 14 days free at logrocket.com/syntax. Freshbooks - Sponsor Get a 30 day free trial of Freshbooks at freshbooks.com/syntax and put SYNTAX in the “How did you hear about us?” section. Guests Adam Argyle Show Notes 01:48 - Who are you and what do you do? 04:13 - How does stuff get added to CSS? 06:44 - Github issue proposal or public document Shares use case Problem made succinct StrawMan solution JS demo 10:12 - Time Multiple proposals Comments Back and forth Bikeshedding 20:00 - Editor’s draft spec (Stage 1) CSS typed Examples Provided code logic Implementor interest Can go stale Explainer Implementor Prototype behind flags in browser Intent to Prototype (I2P) 24:42 - Working Draft (Stage 2) WPTs Prototype behind flags in browser Needs two or more to graduate Intent to Ship (I2S) 24:54 - Conference Calls Around 10 items to discuss Issues or proposals Flexible list Things can be injected as emergency Things can get punted to the next call 25:26 - Face 2 Face (F2F) Four times a year Presentations Breakout sessions Houdini focus groups, etc Try to resolve as many Github issues as possible 27:34 - Candidate Recommendation (Stage 3) Could still be behind a flag Edge cases are being worked through WPTs and standards are being nudged into a final state 44:20 - Roles Spec author Community Member Print Color Internationalization Box Model AOM JS APIs Renderers etc Implementor It’s like pub/sub, where spec authors pub and implementors sub, and the community tries to help shape the message that’s published while supporting the subscribers who need to implement and make it real 46:32 - Questions What language is CSS written in? What's the deal with Houdini? Links https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts @rachelandrew @hj_chen Incomplete List of Mistakes in the Design of CSS 10 Things I Regret About Node https://ishoudinireadyyet.com/ ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Adam Wok Scott: Balance Pad Wes: Security Bit Set Shameless Plugs Adam: The CSS Podcast Scott: CSS Design Systems - Sign up for the year and save 25%! Wes: All Courses - Use the coupon code ‘Syntax’ for $10 off! Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets

12 Elo 20201h 3min

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about refining your processes, how to evaluate them, make them better, and more! Sentry - Sponsor If you want to know what’s happening with your errors, track them with Sentry. Sentry is open-source error tracking that helps developers monitor and fix crashes in real time. Cut your time on error resolution from five hours to five minutes. It works with any language and integrates with dozens of other services. Syntax listeners can get two months for free by visiting Sentry.io and using the coupon code “tastytreat”. Show Notes 04:18 - Find slow process Getting through email Cleaning my desk 06:29 - Set clear goals (smart goals) Is my inbox less crazy? Don’t spend too much time Do a 30-day challenge 09:46 - Ask around What are people you know using and why Time-blocking Batching Eat that frog Links Streaks Matt Cutts — Try something new for 30 days 1Writer Notable Dropbox Notion Obsidian Todoist Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets

10 Elo 202018min

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk about React State libraries, should you use them, pros, cons, and more! Sanity - Sponsor Sanity.io is a real-time headless CMS with a fully customizable Content Studio built in React. Get a Sanity powered site up and running in minutes at sanity.io/create. Get an awesome supercharged free developer plan on sanity.io/syntax. Sentry - Sponsor If you want to know what’s happening with your errors, track them with Sentry. Sentry is open-source error tracking that helps developers monitor and fix crashes in real time. Cut your time on error resolution from five hours to five minutes. It works with any language and integrates with dozens of other services. Syntax listeners can get two months for free by visiting Sentry.io and using the coupon code “tastytreat”. Show Notes 01:24 - Context Have we used? Scott: Yes Wes: Yes Pros Built into React As simple or complex as you want Cons Takes effort to optimize Takes effort to plan and organize aka can get out of hand quickly 08:49 - Redux Have we used? Scott: Yes Wes: Yes Pros Huge user base Legacy of growth and improvements Modern API Even though it’s hard to learn, it has a clear “how to build with it” path Dev tools Cons Complex Thing that calls a thing that calls a thing that calls a thing Confusion around what additional packages are needed, e.g. ducks, saga, whatever 17:08 - XState Have we used? Scott: Yes Wes: No Pros Enforces solid design patterns Very safe Awesome tooling like UI to see state machines https://xstate.js.org/viz/ Cons Knowledge overhead - having to understand state machines Complex syntax 23:26 - Zustand Have we used? Scott: Yes Wes: No Pros Fast, scalable, easy to use Simpler No context providers Cons Smaller community 2.6k stars on Github Can inform components transiently (without causing render) 27:04 - Apollo Client Have we used? Scott: Yes Wes: Yes Pros Fits in well with your GraphQL API Dev tools Cons Complex, large syntax for simple operations Dev tools SSR story is really complex. It’s hard because they aren’t also the framework. 31:35 - RXJS Have we used? Scott: No Wes: No Observable based 33:02 - React Query Have we used? Scott: No Wes: Pros Fast growing community Awesome dev tools Cons Not sure if this can be used for application state or just data 35:37 - Recoil Have we used? Scott: Yes Wes: No Pros Very good for complex, splintered state needs Cons Overly complex for most use cases 38:34 - MobX Have we used? Scott: No Wes: No Pros Big community Not just React Powerful Observable capabilities Cons Uses decorators, but doesn’t have to? 43:15 - Easy Peasy Have we used? Scott: No Wes: No Pros Simple API (easy peasy) Redux dev tools supported 45:06 - Meteor ReactiveDict / ReactiveVar Have we used? Scott: Yes Wes: No Pros Very simple Get, set Is Reactive Cons Lock-in to Meteor 46:19 - Final Thoughts On State Wes: Go for simpler solutions Scott: I think application state should be separate from application data, but maybe that’s because there isn’t a solution that does both how I want Links Svelte Meteor Syntax 206: State Machines, CSS and Animations with David K Piano Syntax 268: Potluck - Beating Procrastination × Rollup vs Webpack × Leadership × Code Planning × Styled Components × More! Zustand CodeSandbox swr ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Becoming Bond Wes: IRWIN VISE-GRIP GrooveLock Pliers Set Shameless Plugs Scott: Modern CSS Design Systems - Sign up for the year and save 25%! Wes: All Courses - Use the coupon code ‘Syntax’ for $10 off! Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets

5 Elo 202054min

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about their experience upgrading Syntax.fm and some of the site’s big changes. LogRocket - Sponsor LogRocket lets you replay what users do on your site, helping you reproduce bugs and fix issues faster. It’s an exception tracker, a session re-player and a performance monitor. Get 14 days free at logrocket.com/syntax. Show Notes 02:26 - The old Syntax site Next.js Custom server for API - shows, Latest shows, sick picks On-demand page builds Custom routing 06:41 - The new Syntax site Next.js has solved those things now, no need for a custom server. API Routes On-demand page builds: SSG with Next.js. It’s a server, but caches the page builds. Releasing the shows happens with revalidation. It’s statically generated like Gatsby, but you can also choose Custom routing is now done with [pages] Very fast to load Very fast to build Very fast to deploy It’s now a “dynamic static site” Zeit Now 1 to “Vercel” Huge thanks to Tim Neutkens and Luis Alvarez from Vercel for making it happen. 13:23 - Why not: Gatsby Entire site would need to be regenerated exactly at 9am eastern API of the site would need to be done with something else like Netlify Functions - not nearly as nice as Next API routes Sapper Links Next.js Gatsby Sapper Vercel Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets

3 Elo 202017min

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk with Filipe Névola about Meteor and the exciting things happening in the Meteor world! LogRocket - Sponsor LogRocket lets you replay what users do on your site, helping you reproduce bugs and fix issues faster. It’s an exception tracker, a session re-player and a performance monitor. Get 14 days free at logrocket.com/syntax. Sentry - Sponsor If you want to know what’s happening with your errors, track them with Sentry. Sentry is open-source error tracking that helps developers monitor and fix crashes in real time. Cut your time on error resolution from five hours to five minutes. It works with any language and integrates with dozens of other services. Syntax listeners can get two months for free by visiting Sentry.io and using the coupon code “tastytreat”. Guests Filipe Névola @filipenevola Show Notes 01:20 - What is your background? 03:41 - What exactly is Meteor? 12:00 - What are the biggest misconceptions of modern meteor? 18:20 - What do you say to people who think Meteor is dead? 21:33 - How does data get from your Meteor into your React app? Example of getting data on client side import { useTracker } from 'meteor/react-meteor-data' // Hook, basic use, everything in one component const MyProtectedPage = (pageId) => { const { user, isLoggedIn, page } = useTracker(() => { // The publication must also be secure const subscription = Meteor.subscribe('page', pageId) const page = Pages.findOne({ _id: pageId }) const user = Meteor.user() const userId = Meteor.userId() const isLoggingIn = Meteor.loggingIn() return { page, isLoading: !subscription.ready(), user, userId, isLoggingIn, isLoggedIn: !!userId } }, [pageId]) if (!isLoggedIn) { return Create an Account Log in } return {page.title} {page.content} Log out ({user.username}) } 27:50 - What do you think is the ideal usecase for Meteor? 31:09 - Why did Meteor 1.0 fail to maintain hype? 36:41 - What does Meteor’s future look like? 45:27 - Are there any plans to integrate serverless into Meteor? 46:55 - Any little known features of Meteor that people might be interested in? Links Meteor Tiny Capital Deno Meteor Galaxy Mongoose Parcel Apollo MongoDB Svelte Meteor repo Meteor Up https://howtocreateanapp.dev/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8A0hHUaCBvuBs0eA5g_q3A Cordova Missive Meteor Forums ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Filipe: 1: Galaxy 2: Terere Scott: Amplifi Alien Router Wes: Parcel - Global Package Tracking Shameless Plugs Filipe: @filipenevola Scott: All Courses - Sign up for the year and save 25%! Wes: All Courses - Use the coupon code ‘Syntax’ for $10 off! Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets

29 Heinä 20201h 4min

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about noopener and noreferrer and why you should use them with links that have blank targets. Sentry - Sponsor If you want to know what’s happening with your errors, track them with Sentry. Sentry is open-source error tracking that helps developers monitor and fix crashes in real time. Cut your time on error resolution from five hours to five minutes. It works with any language and integrates with dozens of other services. Syntax listeners can get two months for free by visiting Sentry.io and using the coupon code “tastytreat”. Show Notes 03:35 - What’s the big deal? If you have a link that is target="_blank" you should add rel=“noopener” and rel=“noreferrer” Retail Me Not uses it Valid use cases: Same domain change the page from a popup Cross domain changing page data Example: https://mathiasbynens.github.io/rel-noopener/ 05:39 - Why doesn’t the browser just fix it? Safari did - You can use rel=“opener” to allow it Firefox did Chrome hasn’t yet https://twitter.com/HugoGiraudel/status/801475801397030912 10:48 - Does this hurt SEO? It breaks analytics of the recipient site, turning a referral visit from your site into direct traffic, unless the link has UTM or similar tracking parameters. If you have a site where passing traffic offsite is part of the business model, links need an affiliate id instead. Links @argyleink Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets

27 Heinä 202014min

It’s another potluck! In this episode, Scott and Wes answer your questions about transitioning to backend dev, tips for beating procrastination, Rollup vs Webpack, code planning, growing as a leader and more! LogRocket - Sponsor LogRocket lets you replay what users do on your site, helping you reproduce bugs and fix issues faster. It’s an exception tracker, a session re-player and a performance monitor. Get 14 days free at logrocket.com/syntax. Sentry - Sponsor If you want to know what’s happening with your errors, track them with Sentry. Sentry is open-source error tracking that helps developers monitor and fix crashes in real time. Cut your time on error resolution from five hours to five minutes. It works with any language and integrates with dozens of other services. Syntax listeners can get two months for free by visiting Sentry.io and using the coupon code “tastytreat”. Show Notes 02:33 - I am a junior dev, coming up on two years at my current agency. I have been primarily on the frontend using Angular and templating with Handlebars and other HTML and CSS. I have been asked if I would be interested in moving more into backend, with a focus on Node.js. Outside of creating APIs, what else should I do to learn “backend”? 06:08 - I work as a web master and would like to be a frontend developer someday. Currently I am working on a MERN stack app on my own to enhance my skills, but have problems focusing and tend to procrastinate a lot. How do you tackle distractions and get things done? I would appreciate some tips. 11:00 - Rollup or Webpack? Webpack 5 still doesn’t seem to support ES6 module output, as described by Philip Walton, so instead of upgrading to Webpack 5, this might be a good time to think about switching to Rollup (or Parcel). 13:46 - I have been learning web development (HTML, CSS and JS) and am at a place where I can build simple websites for small businesses, but I feel like a beginner and am wondering if you have any recommendations on courses to get to a more intermediate/advanced level? 18:01 - Why should you choose Styled Components over other ways of writing CSS? 22:56 - What are your thoughts on companies that make senior developer roles require leadership responsibilities? A great technical person does not always make a great leader or visa versa. 26:36 - I am often not good at planning out code from the start. I find that it’s easier to start coding, write a few lines, run it to see where I’m at, and carry on. This technique doesn’t work when I need to wait for a deploy to finish before I can view the result, as it greatly increases dev time. Do you have any advice for what I can do better? 31:43 - I have a very random question. for context I’m a Mac and Linux user myself. However, recently while building our company application I’ve noticed that Windows does extremely weird things with font sizes. Since we have a pretty decent Windows user base, obviously this is something my partner and I want to solve. However I’m very unsure of the best way to handle it. It seems entirely different from user to user. How in the world do we as developers account for these inconsistencies? We have tried vertical media queries that more or less kick them to tablet mode. Obviously this is less than optimal. 37:50 - Are side projects common among developers? I recently mentioned to my boss that I have a few side projects - nothing serious, just for learning mostly - and he said he would rather I didn’t, and instead focus on my work. He said he hadn’t really heard of developers doing side projects, and that if I want to work on things that aren’t our work he has other things I can do. Links inputmag.com Focus app TSdx Rollup Webapck Parcel Beginner Javascript Typescript Darknet Diaries ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Malicious Life Podcast Wes: LaCie Rugged USB-C External HDD Shameless Plugs Scott: Modern CSS Design Systems - Sign up for the year and save 25%! Wes: Beginner Javascript - Use the coupon code ‘Syntax’ for $10 off! Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets

22 Heinä 202050min