Hey hey hey,

Mads here with this week's instalment of the Top 3 in Tech newsletter. One piece of advice, one resource and one tool to check out for your reading, viewing and learning pleasure.

Let's get to it:

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1. Think twice, code once

As developers, our most important job is to solve problems.

We usually accomplish this goal by writing code - like implementing new features and fixing bugs. Code is the go-to tool in our toolbelt for any problem that comes our way. Our brains are wired to immediately think "how can I solve this problem using code?"

That's not a bad thing. It's what we're paid to do.

The issue happens when we skip the problem solving part and dive straight into coding without a second thought. When we immediately crack open our editor and get to work, without really understanding what we're building yet.

That's why I recommend you to stop for a moment when you receive a new task, encounter a new problem or want to start on a new feature. Resist the urge to jump into coding right away.

Instead, work the problem. Understand the exact requirements of what you're trying to build. Double check your understanding with someone else, like your client, project manager or developer colleague to make sure you're on the same page.

Only when you fully understand the problem at hand can you begin to conjure up a solution. This is the second point where you might get tempted to start writing some code - but it's still too early.

Instead, sketch out your potential soluton on paper. Write a step-by-step guide to yourself of how you're going to implement this new feature or solve the given problem. You don't need to know everything yet, but try to be as specific as possible.

This list will uncover several potential issues before you've even started coding. And, as you can imagine, this is a much better time to discover those issues. Certainly better than when you've spent 7 hours coding down the wrong rabbit hole only to realize a fundamental flaw in your solution (speaking from experience here...)

The list will also serve as an excellent guide and TODO-list for when you finally start coding. And since you've already ironed out all the potential pitfalls, writing the actual code will be much simpler.

Think twice, code once.

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2. 100+ Computer Science concepts

If you've been following the newsletter for a while, you know that I'm a big fan of the Fireship YouTube channel. The channel features tons of great videos on different programming languages and technologies - but today I wanted to highlight a recent video explaining 100+ computer science concepts.

We live in a time where more and more developers are either self-taught or learn to code through a bootcamp. I'm a big fan of this movement because it makes coding much more accessible to people that don't have the time or resources to get a traditional CS degree.

That said, this new way of learning often skips out on a fundamental understanding of what a computer really is and how it works. That's a bit of a shame, because I think there's a lot of value in learning some of these concepts.

So instead of a degree, you can get started with the most important ones right here - all explained in a 13 minute video:

NB: You don't actually need to know all of these to be a developer (again, speaking from experience...)

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3. InertiaJS

I'm a front-end developer, so I like to reach for modern JS frameworks like Vue and React to build my applications.

These frameworks are great at what they do. But their strength is also their limitation: they're only for the front-end. If you need to store data by connecting to a database, you're out of luck.

That's why many backend and fullstack developers use backend frameworks like Laravel (for PHP) and Rails (for Ruby) to create apps instead. These frameworks are excellent at modelling data and querying databases, but the way they handle the accompanying frontend often feels suboptimal.

That's where InertiaJS comes in. It's a JS library serving as a "bridge" between the backend and frontend frameworks, allowing you to combine Laravel or Rails with React, Vue or Svelte.

It's an awesome library if you're already familiar with the backend frameworks and want to take your frontends to the next level - or if you, like me, are a frontend dev wanting to level up and dip your toes in the backend ecosystem.

​Learn more about InertiaJS​

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That's it for this week! Did you enjoy today's newsletter?

​👍 Yes, it was amazing!​

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I would really appreciate if you would share the newsletter with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email or copy/paste the link mads.fyi/top3 on other platforms. It really helps to keep me motivated and let the newsletter grow. See you in 2 weeks ✌

— Mads Brodt