I built this blog to challenge myself to build a website using typescript. In my last project I worked strictly with untyped javascript which invited a lot of headaches down the read. Now I can look at a module I wrote an know exactly what data it's operating on. To put it short, revisiting my old projects makes me want to stop time and ascend them to type script, haha.
For the most part, this blog exists solely for me to talk about my interests in detail. It coulg be anything and I am still planning out categories like a general discussion, and gaming. For now, I am focusing on topics closer to my career as I am in a pivotal point and wish to show prospective employers or even fellow devs my own challenges and how I overcame them. I also share unprofessional opinions, but that just comes with the territory. I will also be featuring my writing as I am a proud novelist and hope to share more to the world about it!
React (Vite) + Typescript + TailwindCSS
There was no scientific analysis that went into this stack, so I'll give a story instead. Early last year, I dived into react and built something as homework from a course. I already had some experience developing and working with backend technologies like .NET, Express, and Django for several projects. In my last project I decided to go full stack because a database needed to be utilized by the front-end, which can be done without a backend (see my crown clothing project using firebase). That side needed to have thousands of records preprocessed when rendering them to the browser, so creating a backend server with API endpoints to handle these niche requests seemed like the best course of action, and sure enough, it kept my front end logic nice and tidey.
Now the blog, I wanted to work with typescript sooner rather than later, and tailwind was also something I wanted to explore and oh boy am I never going back. The mild learning curve was worth it. I am no stranger to strict languages, as someone with a heavy C++ background, but something Typescript has over C++ (besides being easier to dive into) is having a helpful parser. Typescript feels like a coach calling out your bad habits in your ear while you work. It took me a few hours to write a simple context and frankly, typing my objects and data showed me how little I understood what some of my hooks were actually doing.
I want to migrate this project into a Nextjs project. This project is a blog for the most part. There isn't much need to limit it to a SPA when it's not really operating like an app (although I tried to make it feel like one). Sure there might not be crazy advantages in my case, but 1.) it's an excuse to learn static rendering and 2.) Static rendering would be useful for blog content which will have low client-side interactivity. 3.) I just like learning about things as I implement them.
Secondly I want to add demonstrations to the website in the future. I already cooked up an idea for an interactive chiptune player, that plays different tunes according to keyboard presses. From there I could make a mini tracker that users can play with. More to come.