The Modern Magicians of JavaScript Development

In the ever-evolving landscape of web development, JavaScript stands as the cornerstone, powering the dynamic and interactive elements that have become the standard for modern web experiences. Among the myriad of tools and frameworks available, a few have risen to prominence, each bringing its unique approach to solving the challenges of web development. Let’s dive deeper into the magic behind these frameworks and understand why they are the top choices for developers around the globe.

React - UI Bliss

Developed by Facebook, React has revolutionized the way developers think about building user interfaces. Its component-based architecture allows for reusable UI elements, making code more manageable and development faster. React’s virtual DOM optimizes rendering, making it incredibly efficient. This efficiency, combined with its flexible nature, offers developers a blissful experience, hence earning its place at the top of many developers' lists.

Vue - Progressive Magic

Vue.js stands out for its progressive nature, allowing developers to integrate it into their projects where needed, bit by bit. This framework is loved for its simplicity, yet it does not compromise on power or versatility. Its gentle learning curve makes it accessible to beginners, while its robustness satisfies the needs of advanced projects. Vue's detailed documentation and supportive community add to its magic, making web development a more approachable and enjoyable craft.

Svelte - Vanishing Act

Svelte introduces an innovative approach to building web applications. Unlike other frameworks that add overhead by requiring the browser to do heavy lifting, Svelte shifts that work to compile time. This process results in highly efficient imperative code that directly updates the DOM, effectively making the framework disappear at runtime. This unique characteristic leads to faster load times and enhanced performance, capturing the interest of developers looking for an efficient and modern approach to web development.

Angular - Robust & Scalable

Developed by Google, Angular is a comprehensive solution for building complex and scalable web applications. It’s a full-fledged MVC (Model-View-Controller) framework that encourages developers to write clean, maintainable, and testable code. Angular’s rich feature set includes two-way data binding, modular development, and an extensive suite of tools, making it a go-to framework for enterprise-level applications that demand robustness and scalability.

Next.js - SSR & Jamstack Hero

Next.js is a React-based framework that brings the best of both server-side rendering (SSR) and static site generation (SSG) to the table. It enables developers to build fast, scalable applications that benefit from improved SEO and user experience, thanks to its pre-rendering capabilities. With features like automatic routing, API routes, and built-in CSS support, Next.js is a powerful solution for developing Jamstack websites and applications that stand out in the modern web.

Nuxt.js - Vue's Dynamic Duo

As to Vue what Next.js is to React, Nuxt.js provides a framework for creating Vue.js applications with an emphasis on server-side rendering and static site generation. It simplifies the process of developing universal Vue applications, making it easier to get the benefits of SSR for SEO and performance without the complexity. Nuxt.js aims to make web development painless by offering a powerful and intuitive framework for the Vue.js community.

Express - Fast Backend Routes

Express is not just another framework; it's the backbone of many web applications built on Node.js. Known for its speed and minimalism, Express provides a thin layer of fundamental web application features, without obscuring Node.js features that you know and love. Whether you're building APIs, web applications, or real-time services, Express offers the flexibility and performance needed to deliver fast and efficient back-end solutions.

---

The landscape of JavaScript frameworks is diverse, with each offering its unique strengths to address different aspects of web development. Whether you're drawn to the blissful UI development of React, the progressive enhancement of Vue, the enterprise-scale robustness of Angular, the innovative efficiency of Svelte, the SSR and SSG prowess of Next.js and Nuxt.js, or the back-end capabilities of Express, there's a framework out there that fits your project's needs. The choice of framework often depends on the specific requirements of the project, the team's expertise, and the desired user experience. As the web continues to evolve, so too will these frameworks, pushing the boundaries of what's possible and continuing to enchant the world of web development.

Add json config to Heroku config variables

If you have a multiline JSON credentials file such the one you get from Google Firestore, you can simply do that if you already have Heroku cli installed in your machine as follows:

`heroku config:set FIRESTORE_CREDENTIALS="$(< /path/credentials.json)"`

You may also have to append the app name with `-a app-name-here`

Rails Benchmark Execution Time

Sometimes we need to benchmark the execution time of a code segment to check the performance.
For this we can use the `Benchmark` library available in Rails like below.

puts '====== Start benchmark ========'
time = Benchmark.realtime {
  ... Code being tested goes here ... 
}
puts time
puts '====== End benchmark =========='

Disable Ember CLI Mirage in a specific test

There can be a scenario where you want to disable ember-cli-mirage server in a specific test file; acceptance specially. You can do that by shutting down the Mirage server in `beforeEach()` in an acceptance test. For example,

```
moduleForAcceptance('Acceptance | test name', {
  beforeEach() {
    server.shutdown();
  }
});
```

Run Ember Tests without running `ember t -s`

It is possible to run the Ember server with `ember s` on one port 4200 by default and testing with `ember t -s` on port 7357 by default.

However, it is possible to run the server and run the tests on that same port (4200) as well just by navigating to `http://localhost:4200/tests` after running `ember s`

Merge pdf files into one pdf file using GhostScript on Linux

Command:

gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=finished.pdf file1.pdf file2.pdf

Explanation:

• gs starts the Ghostscript program. 
• -dBATCH once Ghostscript processes the PDF files, it should exit. If you don't include this option, Ghostscript will just keep running. 
• -dNOPAUSE forces Ghostscript to process each page without pausing for user interaction. 
• -q stops Ghostscript from displaying messages while it works 
• -sDEVICE=pdfwrite tells Ghostscript to use its built-in PDF writer to process the files. 
• -sOutputFile=finished.pdf tells Ghostscript to save the combined PDF file with the specified name.

Crop a video file using ffmpeg

If you want to crop the file beyond 1 min then use the -t flag and as follows. It will generates the output.avi video with the first 60 seconds of the input.avi

ffmpeg -t 60 -i input.avi -an -vcodec copy output.avi