920: How to Build MCP Servers

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about container queries, what they are and how you can use them. 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 4:30 - The General Idea Toward Responsive Elements — Brian Kardell 6:20 - Problems It’s not as easy as, “how do we write them” Some of the requirements may need a fundamental change to browser engines May be very impractical and take a long time “Did you know, for example, that there are multiple many year long efforts with huge investments underway already aimed at unlocking many new things in CSS? There are - and I don’t mean Houdini!” ~ Brian Kardell 8:56 - What’s been happening? Lots of conversations Dead ends “How do we make this into more solvable problems?” and “How do we actually make some progress, mitigate risk - take a step, and and actually get something to developers?” ~ Brian Kardell ‘containment’ and ResizeObserver, Implemented in all browsers in about 2 years 12:00 - Progress Lot’s of discussion Goog, Moz, Apple, smart people Not there yet Big ideas that could go somewhere .foo { display: grid; grid-template-columns: switch( (available-inline-size > 1024px) 1fr 4fr 1fr; (available-inline-size > 400px) 2fr 1fr; (available-inline-size > 100px) 1fr; default 1fr; ); } “A whole lot of the problems with existing ideas is that they heave to loop back through (expensive) phases potentially several times and make it (seemingly) impossible to keep CSS rendering in the same frame.” ~ Brian Kardell Or a system based on resizeObserver “In the coming months I hope to continue to think about, explore this space and continue discussions with others. I would love to publish some research and maybe some new (functional) experiments with JS that aim to be ‘closer’ to a path that might be paveable.” ~ Brian Kardell https://github.com/ZeeCoder/container-query https://github.com/FreddyFY/styled-container-query Links uses.tech Ian Kilpatrick Jared Palmer’s tsdx 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

2 Maalis 202024min

It’s another potluck! In this episode, Scott and Wes answer your questions about Gastby vs everything, Next, Vue, Rails, working with agencies, CSS, 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. Kyle Prinsloo Freelancing - Sponsor Kyle Prinsloo teaches you everything you need to know about freelancing, including how to quit your job, earn a side-income and start taking control of your life. Check it out at studywebdevelopment.com/freelaning. Use the coupon “SYNTAX” and get 25%. Show Notes 1:39 - This may be a crazy question but I need to build a similar system to Level Up Tutorials where people can access content based on a monthly subscription. Any recommendations where to start with either Next.js or Gastby.js? How do I check to see if a person is up-to-date with payment? 4:14 - What's your favorite new tab page? 6:19: CSS vs SCSS vs Styled Components? When you are developing a React or Next.js application which styling method do you guys use and why? Which one is “best practice”, or a more efficient way of going about it? 11:14 - What do you think of lit-html? 15:25 - I’m relatively new to React, and primarily learning the create-react-app way. When do you go for the create-react-app approach when building an application, and when do you customize the config? I’m uncertain when it’s time to escape the ‘create-react-app’ approach. Also, when escaping it, which main configurations are you grabbing? 18:19 - Is there a reason hasty treat intros are 2.5x the length of normal episodes? Now that Overcast has intro skipping it’d be nice if the intros were uniform in length. 21:23 - I see Kyle Matthews coming out with a lot of input on how Gatsby can be used for web applications as well. After listening to several of your podcasts, where you talk about Gatsby, it doesn’t seem like you agree, and would go for Next.js instead. In your opinion is the development at Gatsby really heading in the direction of SSG and web application? 27:17 - I’ve hopped on the Vue train from jQuery land, and am loving both Nuxt and Gridsome. However, I keep hearing all these good things about Gatsby. Would you guys say that it is worth it to learn Gatsby (and the whole react ecosystem for that matter) over Gridsome? This is mostly for small-medium-ish side-project web sites that connect to a headless CMS. 30:04 - What are your thoughts on CSS pre-processors nowadays? With all the advance and new features from CSS, do you guys really think that it is still worthy to use it those? 32:11 - Scott, can you talk a bit about why you decided to switch back to Meteor after putting in all the effort to convert LUT to Next.js? I am about to start a new fullstack project and was considering Next until I heard you switched back. Maybe I should consider Meteor instead? 40:21 - I’ve recently started an internship at one of my favorite tech companies where I’m using EmberJS and Ruby on Rails. I love the team I’m on (the people are so nice) but I’m not super passionate about the tech stack. I’d much rather be using something like React and NodeJS/Express in my day-to-day coding. Do you think it’s worth staying in a position (if I were to try and get a full-time gig in this role) if you don’t like the tech stack, but really like the people? 40:51 - I’m thinking of doing a bootcamp that teaches Ruby on Rails for backend. I hear a lot that Ruby is a dying language, but at the same time, I know it’s used for a lot of big-timers, such as Airbnb and Shopify. Could you please explain the relevance that Ruby/Ruby on Rails will have in 2020 forward, as well as if it’s worth learning for newer web developers at this point? 45:15 - What is the deal with CMSs/headless CMSs? I hear you guys talk about them all the time (Sanity, Keystone, Prisma?) but I’m not sure what they are good for. To me, they just seem like a UI to my database, but isn’t that what my application is? It just seems like it would be easier to have my frontend talk to my backend talk to my database instead of learning how each CMS wants things to be done and programming for that? Am I missing the point? 48:11 - What does Svelte needs for each of you to use it instead of React in personal and future developments? 50:38 - I freelance on the side as well as have a 9-5. The other dev I work with mentioned he’d help if I ever needed/wanted help on a client project. What are your thoughts on doing freelance work with someone who you also work with at your job? 52:01 - My team is currently in the design phase for a rewrite of our biggest product. We are switching from perl backend (y i k e s) to node (yay) but for some reason, our tech lead decided on hapi for the node framework. I have spent a little time with hapi and it seems cool but I am not sure about its longevity when compared to more established frameworks like express. How do you feel about hapi and should I push for a different framework? 54:29 - I’m a lead dev that recently joined an agency for the first time. What 🔥tips do you have for livin’ and devin’ in that agency life? Especially around time management, time estimation and dealing with clients. Links Stripe Braintree Recurly Firefox lit-html Overcast @kylemathews Gatsby Build Vue.js Nuxt.js Gridsome postcss-preset-env Meteor Ember Ruby on Rails Personal Capital Airbnb Shopify Missive Sanity Keystone Prisma Svelte hapi koa Express Matt Stauffer's Blog ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Caffeine by Michael Pollan Wes: Matt Stauffer - Setting Up Your Webcam, Lights, and Audio for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming Shameless Plugs Scott: New course on Framer Motion - 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

26 Helmi 20201h 2min

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about how to make servers fast! 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 3:58 - Ram / Memory Things like variables, functions, callstacks, application cache, sessions are all stored in memory Large processes can eat up lots of memory Reading 1,000,000 lines of a CSV npm installing Swap Memory If your node application is limited by memory, it will crash or wait longer for memory to be freed up (garbage collection) Garbage collection can take up CPU resourced High-performance databases 7:52 - CPU The processor on your server - the brains of the computer A task - like 1 + 1, or function handleClick(), takes CPU time - the faster the processor, and the more cores it has, the faster it can think and perform these tasks A faster CPU means your node app will start more quickly 9:26 - GPU Most servers don’t have a GPU GPUs are not only good for graphics, but they are great at solving complex tasks Bitcoin mining is fast on a GPU Machine Learning 11:47 - Disk Space SSD vs HDD The files have to be read from the hard drive and served up to the web server - the hard drive speed determines how fast they can be read, and how fast they can be written SSD is more expensive but makes for a much faster application HDD is cheaper and is better for storing larger files that aren’t as time-sensitive An SSD will mean your node app will start faster and serve up files more quickly Links Atlas Digital Ocean 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

24 Helmi 202015min

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk about serverless and cloud providers - the benefits, limitations, providers and more! .TECH Domains - Sponsor If you need eyes on your project, you’ll need a domain, and .TECH is perfect for representing your brand. Find out if your .TECH domain is available at go.tech/syntax2020. Use the coupon code Syntax2020 and get 90% off 1- 5- and 10-year domain names. 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. Show Notes 4:05 - What is Serverless? URL driven Startup/shut down (Heroku works this way) Digital Ocean droplet works differently 8:15 - What are the benefits? Scale up specific functions rather than everything - aka potentially cheaper Security - your singular server instance being hacked is not a possibility Less knowledge overhead required You don’t need to manage your own server Empowers front-end devs to do more Faster deploys Only re-deploy the code that changed 17:05 - What can you host on Serverless? Static Files - SPA (React) Single functions It can be in JS, Python, GO, PHP 18:07 - What can’t you host on Serverless? Entire applications Large apps have slow coldstarts 500mb limit 23:40 - Raw Providers Google Cloud Azure AWS Lambda SAP Red Hat IBM Cloud Functions Cloudflare Workers Kind of cool because they work like service workers where you can intercept any HTTP request 27:33 - Easy Providers + Frameworks Begin + Arc.codes Zeit Now + Next.js Anything + Serverless Netlify AWS Amplify Apex Up - TJ Holowaychuk Open Faas + Digital Ocean Links Heroku Digital Ocean Meteor Galaxy Codepen Radio: Preprocessors and Lambda Zeit Now Wes’ tweet about serverless @maxsteenbergen uses.tech Google Cloud Azure AWS Lambda SAP Red Hat IBM Cloud Functions Cloudflare Workers Begin Arc.codes Severless Netlify AWS Amplify Apex Up Open Faas @tjholowaychuk Scott tries Begin.com SyntaxFM Reddit ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Matt McMuscles YouTube Channel Wes: Modern Vintage Gamer Shameless Plugs Scott: Scott’s YouTube Channel Wes: Beginner Javascript Course - 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

19 Helmi 202053min

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about Framer Motion — why it is so cool, and how it can improve animations 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 4:53 - The 411 Previous knowns as Pop Motion Pose Animation library with focus on ease of use Utilizes both spring and duration based animations 7:19 - Pose Pose was previously more pose based - aka you made scenes and toggled between them This still exists within Motion as variants, but isn’t the main way 8:06 - The New New motion.div animate prop is basically a live value for the animation initial for initial state exit for animating out with use of animatePresence Hard stuff made easy drag prop Full control over properties like duration and easing Orchestration features, this then that Variants Multiple scenes allow you to orchestrate many animations with a single state change Handles hover and tap easily Scroll values SVG path animations 19:45 - Final Thoughts Framer Motion is easier React Spring is much smaller React Spring makes very complex animation possible Links Framer Motion React Spring Framer Motion Examples Framer X 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 Helmi 202023min

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk about web dev GUIs — what are they, are they going to replace developers, are they good or bad, and more! Hasura - Sponsor Hasura is an open source real-time GraphQL engine. It connects to your databases & microservices and instantly gives you a production-ready GraphQL API. Check it out at Hasura.io. 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 1:30 - What is “codeless”? The codeless movement is coming in with a force. Are they just selling something? Or is it a real concern? All types of jobs are being replaced by computers Truckers Cashiers Lawnmowers Doctors Why not web developers? 7:22 - First experience building sites with a GUI? Dreamweaver 10:18 - Entire website builders: Wix Squarespace Webflow Modulz Grid.io Wordpress Builders 13:17 - When are GUIs useful? Brochure site Basic e-commerce 20:26 - Is a GUI/Codeless always better? It depends what you’re capable of doing 25:21 - Levels of hell GUI assistance in builders CMS - Just modifying content and basic markup Access to code, drag blocks into place No or minimal access to code No modification outside of options 31:36 - Are there GUIs for making applications? Native Mobile Zapier 36:54 - Are jobs at risk? Yes I think a lot of WordPress tinkering has already been replaced The guy who knows what buttons to push is at risk? Webmaster jobs where the roll was just occasionally updating HTML and text No Government Educational institutions Major corporations that can’t have their content stored via a service 39:55 - Our favorite GUIs to help development Scott: Netlify Heroku Studio 3T VS Code Wes: Sketch CSS Export Digital Ocean Cyberduck Transmit ZSH VS Code Links Roomba’s first autonomous lawnmower Notepad++ Geocities Angelfire Sketch Figma Gatsby Excel Meteor Recurly Gumroad Begin.com ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Baron of Botox Wes: Owlet Smart Sock Shameless Plugs Scott: How To Build A GraphQL API - 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 Helmi 202052min

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about hobbies — how they can improve your life and make you a better developer, as well as the hobbies they enjoy. 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 3:19 - What are our hobbies? Wes: Focus on one thing, learn it, move along Kombucha, Fermentation and Curing Projects Bike flipping Kids ride on repairs + hacks ATV fixing ICE to Battery conversion Scott: Dance - 15+ years Weightlifting / fitness Video games Watching hockey Design Computing / coding Snowboarding Kung fu movies 9:00 - Why are they good? Fuel your coding project Maybe could even become your key to a job you love They keep your mind sharp Good for downtime Good for mental health and mood Can be meditative Be cognizant of what they do to your mental state Promotes creativity and critical thinking Fun man 17:54 - How do you find a hobby? Wes I always need an end game I want to grow hot peppers I want a wicked ATV for cheap I think batteries are fascinating but I need something real to do Scott - I start with the fascination I think dancing is cool, but I could never learn I think _____ is cool, but I don’t know where to start Deep dark YouTube holes YouTube has an endless selection of educational content Facebooks groups or forums Meetups / volunteering Introverts will have a hard time with this, push yourself 22:50 - What is your hobby? Tweet us @syntaxfm SyntaxFM Reddit Links Oculus Quest 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 Helmi 202023min

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk about running backups and a home server — Synology setups, apps, 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. 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. Show Notes 2:03 - What is it? A little headless computer 5:07 - Drives WD Red or Seagate Ironwolf — They are loud, you can put SSDs in them, but it’s $$ 6:25 - RAID 11:17 - Power Backup Time Machine over the network You can upgrade the memory SSDs 22:40 - Backing up your Backups Mirror folders to Backblaze B2 Slow, but worth it 30:53 - Apps Plex + Emby Storage Analyzer Docker - anything really Node js ;) Security cameras Pi-hole or custom DNS server Moments Drive Links Screenflow Synology DS918+ DS219+ WD Red Drives Seagate Iron Wolf Govee Thermometer Now Squizzy Backblaze B2 Plex Emby Storage Analyzer DaisyDisk Docker Node.js Raspberry Pi Dokku Synology vs Blue Iris Moments app Pi-hole Discourse ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Lululemon Men’s Jogger Wes: DS918+ Shameless Plugs Scott: How to Build a GraphQL API - 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 Helmi 202059min