920: How to Build MCP Servers

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about Gihub Actions — what they do, why you might be interested in them, best practices 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. Show Notes 2:30 - What are Github Actions? 4:40 - Examples of Github Actions 6:02 - Will Github Actions replace continuous integration services? 9:19 - Libraries Links Codeship Github Actions nextdiff Figma Action 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

9 Des 201916min

It’s another potluck! In this episode Scott and Wes talk about tabs vs spaces, coding music, SEO, React vs Angular vs Vue vs Svelte, Rapping, Soy sauce 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”. 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 3:18 - Q: I am potentially starting a job as an Angular developer (modern angular). But I am scared that, even though I will continue to stay on the cutting edge in my personal projects, using Angular in my job will make it harder to get a job after that in more modern tech like React. Do you think there is any truth to this? 5:30 - Q: Yo guys, saw soy sauce stirred up quite the controversy…lol. What are some big developer disagreements you guys have? 11:40 - Q: In JavaScript, ! == is the same as ! =, but I was told there was a slight technical difference. I cannot find what the difference is. Could you elaborate on this? 14:17 - Q: What are the rules on using another dev’s repos as a boiler plate? Example: Using Wes’s advanced react starter files to utilize his set up for my own project? 15:35 - Q: What music do you listen to while you code? As an extension, could we crowd source a dev playlist and host it on Spotify? 20:26 - Q: How do you go about working with different technologies and stacks (front-end related) when you have to accommodate for the client or other developers’ biases towards specific things. For example, you have to learn a different set of tools because in a new project someone doesn’t like what you use and says X is a better tool for the job. 23:11 - Q: I know there is no magic SEO silver bullet, but what are some best practices for implementing SEO into your website or web application? 27:26 - Q: When dealing with responsive sites, how do you go about respecting the request in iOS safari to show desktop sites? 28:45 - Q: I get confused about your usage of the word ‘app’. You don’t make iPhone or Android apps, but you often through the word around like “I would create a Node App”, or “Some of the apps I made” etc. Is it just website applications, or how exactly should I interpret “Node App” or “Web App” compared to a mobile app? 31:36 - Q: I wanted to ask your thoughts on transform class properties plugin from Babel? Heard the podcast on react state, I found it mind blowing when setting everything up without constructors. 36:53 - Q: I am a beginner, I have mostly learned front-end so far (HTML/CSS, JavaScript, React). Should I first get pretty good at these before I start learning some back-end? Or, should I actually start learning back-end now and have a basic knowledge of both front-end and back-end? 39:00 - Q: If for some reason React died today and you were no longer able to use it, which framework would you pick up and use full time? Would it be Vue or Angular? Or something new like Svelte? 40:11 - Q: What habits, strategies, or specific tools do you rely on to prevent your hard drives from filling up with useless files? find . -name "node_modules" -type d -prune -exec rm -rf '{}' + 47:20 - Q: Which JS library is most like the Tesla Cybertruck? Links Tailwind CSS Syntax Spotify Playlist Head Bob Spotify Playlist Retired Scenester Metalcore Spotify Playlist DaisyDisk CleanMyMac Backblaze Tesla Cybertruck RxJS SynthWave '84 VS Code Theme RoboCopJS ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Keychron K1 Mechanical Keyboard Wes: Everlane Uniform Crew Neck Shameless Plugs Scott: Black Friday Sale on All Courses Wes: Beginner Javascript Course 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

4 Des 201955min

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about new CSS Logical Properties. 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. Show Notes 2:27 - The Box Model 5:32 - Grid and Flexbox 10:17 - Widths and Heights 11:20 - Text Align Links New CSS Logical Properties! Elad Shechter Adam Argyle 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 Des 201916min

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes celebrate 200 episodes of Syntax with a live Q&A! 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. 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. Show Notes 2:27 - With 2020 around the corner, what are your wild predictions for the the future of web design and development? 8:44 - Are site builders going to replace us as web developers? 13:30 - What does the future look like for Syntax? 19:01 - What emerging tech advancements most excite you for the next 5-10 years? 23:27 - What is the future of web hosting? What should hosting companies do differently? 27:40 - Why do you set your base font size to 10px? 32:40 - If you could go back in time, what would you say to yourself? 36:29 - How do you make an iFrame go 100% high? 39:10 - What’s one thing you see developers stress out about for no reason? 44:46 - Do you feel overwhelmed with creating new content when there’s so much already out there? 48:42 - How do you stay sane with your naming conventions? 51:15 - If Gatsby is best for static websites and Next is best for apps, how does Create React App compare? 54:30 - How much is too much or too little magic in a framework or library? 58:11 - Does Kait ever get tired of you buying a bunch of stuff? 61:45 - What is your office setup? 64:01 - How long until we can use Suspense for data loading with libraries other than Relay? Links Pigeonhole Keystone VulcanJS NextJS Gatsby Meteor Wix Squarespace Modulz Figma Sketch Framer Netlify dnsimple Digital Ocean AWS Heroku Syntax016: Rems vs Ems Seth Godin Notion Laravel Blaze Relay SWR Suspense Project Farm YouTube Channel ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: The Missing Crypto Queen Wes: Bosch Wiper Blades Shameless Plugs Scott: React and Typescript Wes: Beginner Javascript Black Friday Sale - Get 50% off! Scott’s Courses Wes’ Courses 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 Nov 20191h 14min

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about making courses — techniques, best practices, things to avoid, 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 3:07 - Validating your ideas 4:44 - Generating ideas 6:38 - Figuring out which ideas will stick 10:00 - Show your expertise 14:02 - Pay attention to what’s popular 15:50 - Collect email addresses Links Microsoft Excel Stream Highlights Refactoring UI Adam Wathan Steve Schoger Scott’s Svelte 3 course Wes’ Sublime Text articles 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

25 Nov 201919min

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk about how to get better at problem solving — one of the most important skills to build as a developer. Netlify - Sponsor Netlify is the best way to deploy and host a front-end website. All the features developers need right out of the box: Global CDN, Continuous Deployment, one click HTTPS and more. Hit up netlify.com/syntax for more info. Prismic - Sponsor Prismic is a Headless CMS for your next front end project. Create complex content type, relate data, and have your clients edit it all with the Prismic UI. Then pull the data into your project with their JSON or GraphQL API. Try it out with your next project - Gatsby, React + Apollo, or any other language. Check out their examples to get you started at Prismic.io/syntax. Show Notes 2:43 - Gather info What is this thing trying to do? Use tools DevTools are your best friend during this phase 8:01 - Know where to look (and use tools) Dev tools for client side Error logs Sentry LogRocket The most experienced people in any field know how to ask the right questions. Some of this will come with experience and nothing else. If you’ve seen a problem before, it’s easier to solve. 10:00 - Look at the end game What are you really trying to do here? Don’t focus so much on the tech that you miss the bigger picture. 13:17 - Read Again Error logs provide the best clues. Read them closely. Actually read your code — don’t skim it. Write comments while reading it, or follow existing comments — good for documenting, but also for structuring your thoughts. 18:08 - Make it simple (break it into smaller parts) Limit the number of inputs and outputs Get it working in a limited capacity (e.g. safe mode, Codepen, etc.) Comment out major sections of code until you have a working example Does this problem exist outside of the framework? Does this work in a clean environment? 25:35 - Take yourself out of your environment You should be able to take a look at the problem at all zoom levels Does it work locally but not on the server? Does it work in other browsers? 27:32 - Stay calm It’s easy to get nervous or worked up when the stakes are high It won’t serve you to panic. If you are panicking, take a 10 min walk to deep breath Take a shower, lift weights (seriously) 30:14 - Talk it over Getting the perspective of another developer can be invaluable 32:28 - Make things obvious Use debugger or label logs — don’t let it be ambiguous For CSS bugs, use primary colors to make things stand out Use the right tool to make the problem stand out Layers for CSS issues Network for network issues Performance tab (etc.) 35:12 - Use Git correctly to free up your techniques If you’re code commits are up to date, you can heavily modify code without fear of deleting things — just revert to a previous commit once you find the issue and fix. 36:10 - Don’t jump at solutions Take the time to fully dissect the problem Question you assumptions It can’t possibly be a problem with ____. Well maybe it is. Wes once spent hours trying to diagnose a check engine light when the gas cap was lose. 43:51 - Get good at pattern matching This comes with experience When did this problem start? Did we deploy any code? Did we change any logic? 44:54 - Get good at googling Being able to describe your problem is key. Search the error from Firefox Links DevTools Sentry LogRocket CodePen Syntax 154: SVGs with Sara Soueidan @walpolea Syntax 152: Debugging Tools + Tips @bowlendev @dan_abramov Ryan Dahl on creating Node.js @LaurieonTech Firefox DuckDuckGo ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Jeremy Ethier Youtube Channel Wes: Marpac Rohm Sound Machine Shameless Plugs Scott: Typescript in React Course - Sign up for the year and save 25%! Wes: Beginner Javascript Course 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

20 Nov 201959min

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about tips for writing good CSS. Sizzy - Sponsor Sizzy - The browser made for developers and designers. Stop manually resizing your browser window and switching between devices so you can test responsive design. Speed up your workflow by developing and previewing your website on multiple devices at once. Sizzy includes powerful features and plugins that will help you take your web development game to the next level. Sizzy.co. Show Notes 4:08 - Use a system 4:50 - Use overrides and cascading Embrace the cascade Don’t rewrite the same CSS over and over again Understand why scoping is good 9:07 - Nail down typography early You can always revisit if it isn’t what you need 10:36 - Pick a pattern and stick to it BEM Functional CSS CSS in JS 14:39 - Don’t style based on element type (kind of) — a class should describe the component 17:09 - Good naming techniques Describe what it is, not what it looks like Thing ThingChild ThingChild-modifier Scale sizes (e.g. s, m, l, xl) 21:43 - Other tips Group like CSS together Chunk into different files Write good comments CSS properties FTW Links Stylus Webpack Parcel 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

18 Nov 201925min

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk about design foundations for developers — tips to follow that will make your designs better! 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 6:35 - Our backgrounds in design 12:41 - Foundations Consistency makes a big difference Use “training wheel” tools until you are confident Always work within a system Less is more - subtle is better 19:39 - Color Color theory Complementary colors and shades Stick to color pallet generators until you are good enough 28:51 - Spacing More spacing than you think you need Vertical rhythm Letter spacing: -1px Consistent margin and padding 34:47 - Typography Sans vs serifs Finding fonts Use proven combinations until you know your way around 41:49 - Interaction Design for all states (e.g. standard, visited, active, hover, etc.) Animations should be quick Interactions should make sense 45:04 - Concerns beyond visuals Accessibility via color contrast Thin fonts and light grey are awful Think about the poor Windows users 48:47 - Inspiration + Resources Take inspiration from the best — you’ll find your own voice after enough work Go easy on trends - blobby characters with purple hair Take a trip around the world wide web Stripe Dribbble Site Inspire codrops Refactoring UI Links Designer Starter Pack - Andrea Crofts LastPass Colour Lovers Syntax 142: Travis Neilson on Skills Gap, Design, Focus and Working at Google Bloomberg Dropbox FontPair FontJoy Figma - Google Font Pairings Type Scale Creative Market Radnika Next Stripe Dribbble Syntax 72: Accessibility Firefox Site Inspire codrops Refactoring UI Adam Wathan Steve Schoger ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Reelgood Wes: Magnesium Shameless Plugs Scott: FullStack React with NextJS - Sign up for the year and save 25%! Wes: Beginner Javascript 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

13 Nov 20191h 1min