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Hey there,

Mads here with another issue of the Top 3 in Tech newsletter. Some exciting resources and updates this week, so let's get right into it:

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1. Guide to React Rendering

React is the most popular front-end framework, and for good reason. It's easy to get started with, and it has an incredibly powerful model to build resilient and performant web applications.

But it also has a lot of unique concepts that might be difficult if you're coming from pure HTML/CSS with some light JavaScript. In that sense, React is quite a different paradigm from what you might be used to - or if you're just early on in your programming career.

One of the biggest struggles I faced when learning React some years ago was understanding exactly *when* my code was running. React tries it's best to run the code building your app at the right times, but knowing exactly what makes React render (or re-render) the UI is one of the most important concepts to level up as a React developer.

And that brings me to today's first pick:

​The Interactive Guide to Rendering in React​

This article is a seriously impressive resource to really understand how React works "under the hood" - and what exactly makes it trigger a new render to update the UI.

Check it out if you're having some troubles really understanding React, or if you're curious on how the most popular web framework actually works 🙌

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2. HTML Popover API

Modals are almost as old as the web itself. And basically any website today requires some form of a modal, tooltip or menu. And up until now, it's always been on the developers to implement custom JavaScript solutions to these problems.

Well, that time might be over soon! The official Popover API makes it a lot easier to implement modals and tooltips using pure HTML.

It's still early stages, and currently behind a feature flag in Chrome. So it will be a while before it's fully available in all modern browsers. But any time the platform makes it easier for us to implement great and accessible UI, it's a win for all developers - so hopefully this feature gets shipped sooner, rather than later.

​Read a detailed article on the Popover API here​

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3. Apple Vision Pro

The WWDC23 (Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference) is going on this week - and less than 48 hours ago, it all kicked off with a brand new announcement from Apple: The Apple Vision Pro.

In case you missed it, the product is a new AR/VR headset, but with lots of unique features and insane technology to power it. You'll be able to consume media, play games, do FaceTime calls and use apps right from within the headset.

The demos Apple showed were quite amazing, but I personally have trouble seeing if we'll all get used to running around with a big headset on our face. And at $3499, it's definitely not a product for everyone (yet).

But alas, it's a super interesting product and Fireship breaks down the pros and cons nicely in this video here, so check it out:

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​That's all for now! See you in 2 weeks ✌️

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— Mads Brodt