🧶 Newsletter #44: building games with Ruby, less meetings, better testing...
A bi-monthly newsletter about Ruby on Rails and the web.
In this issue we develop our testing skills, we applaud the arrival of container queries, we learn to share our knowledge, …
😚 French version (version française) | 🤌 Italian version (versione italiana) | 🤝 Spanish version (versión española)
Web News 🗞️
Did you find your person on Valentine’s Day? 💗 We did… since we learned on February 14 that containers-queries are now stable in all stable browsers. And if you don’t like Valentine’s Day, then you can now call it the “Container Query Day” 💝
Ruby and Rails News 🛤️
🧶 Ruby and Amiguris: friends for life!
Have you ever tried to explain what coding is to someone who thinks computer things are magic? Tori Machen can explain what is a software by comparing it to crocheting. One good way to shine at your next family dinner, right?
✨ Crocheting & Coding: they're more similar than you think! - Tori Machen
🤏 News in Brief
Ruby Central shared the videos of Ruby Conf and Ruby Mini 2022: 80 videos you can choose from! That’s a lot but don’t panic, we will talk about the ones we liked in the upcoming issues of the newsletter (by the way, the video above comes from that playlist)
Do you have a technical interview in Ruby / RoR soon? Here are a little 10 questions test to see if you need to dust off the basics.
Emmanuel Hayford shares the new features coming with Rails 7.1
A cute magazine to learn video game programming with Ruby, oui oui!
Code Tip 💎
Regex visualizerFor some of us, Regex is an enjoyable game, for others, it’s a PITA.
Maybe this visual tool for Regex will help those who struggle with it. 🪄🖼
On the Web 🕸️
💪 When Nothing Goes as Planned
Looking at the tech industry today can make us panic. Massive layoffs, large-scale scams discrediting the industry, Elon shenanigans… It is hard to keep our cool this year (and it’s only February). Gina Trapani reminds us that difficult periods, even if chaotic, are completely normal, and gives us some tips to plan for the future, even when uncertain.
✨ How to make plans for an uncertain future - Gina Trapani
👩🏾🏫 Lessons That Teach Something
If you already took a coding course online to learn Ruby, SQL, or any other language, you might have noticed how the exercises are nothing to compare with real-world problems. Coding a card game is cute, though unless you work for a gambling platform, the chances to reuse this experience are very low. In this episode of Badass Courses, Angie Jones explains how she builds pragmatic coding lessons that can really improve students’ skills. Keep that in mind for when you’ll want to create your own.
✨ Engaging Learners with Practical Challenges with Angie Jones - Angie Jones
🛑 It Could Have Been an Email!
Because of Covid, the time spent in meetings rose, people wonder if all these meetings are really useful, and they even start to block focus time on their calendars… Jennifer Riggins has a solution to protect a team against meeting overload.
✨ Tech Works: How Can We Break Our Obsession with Meetings? - Jennifer Riggins
Some Code 💻
🤏 Less Tests, Less Stress
Tests are great, but let’s be honest, aren’t we doing too much sometimes? There are multiple reasons why we could write fewer tests, but the most important thing is to do it smartly. Louise Gibbs gives us tips to reduce the scope of the tests, and finally have more time in our daily schedule to stroll at a café terrasse. No? Oops, sorry!
✨ Reducing Scope: Let's Test Less - Louise Gibbs
🤖 Speaking About Tests
Of course, before reducing their scope, first we need to write them right? For example to test what happens in the browser. Roselyne Makena comes with us on this mission with the help of Selenium for Ruby.
✨ Getting Started with Automation Testing Using Selenium Ruby - Roselyne Makena
🚀 Pay at the Speed of Sound
So, do you swipe, chip, or tap? With your card, phone, or watch? What if we tell you now that you can transfer money with sound? Charlie Gerard made a little experiment and share the discoveries with us.
✨ Ultrasonic payments - Charlie Gerard
Fun 🎉
A beautiful book to add to your personal library: 150 years of keyboard designs.
✨ Shift Happens: A Forthcoming Book Catalogs the 150-Year History of the Keyboard
Events 🎡
💫 Connect Empower - March 2nd
Women Who Code organizes a full day of conferences on various subjects. The speakers will talk about optimization, a career in the Cloud, the framework war, the aftermath of the layoffs in the tech industry...
✨ WWCode CONNECT Empower - Women Who Code
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Editors: Aurelie, Camille, Lucille and Juliette
English version: Aurelie
Italian version: Paola
Spanish version: Kattya