Barefoot Developer's Guide: Start Here

Rob Annable · Set 1 of 3

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Barefoot Developer's Guide

Set 1: Start Here

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What is barefoot development?

Code you can understand,
fix,
and share.

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Not about being better.
About being understandable.

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What happens when code breaks
and the person who wrote it is gone?

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Two paths:

1. Hire an expert
(expensive, creates dependency)

2. Start from scratch
(lose everything)

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Barefoot is a third option:

Code you can read.
Code you can fix.
Code you can learn from.

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Single file = no mystery

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Example: index.html

• Open it → browser shows the page
• View source → see exactly how it works
• Edit it → changes happen immediately
• Break it → error shows what's wrong
• No build step, no dependencies

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What about larger projects?

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Still keep it legible:

• Multiple files: named clearly
(not bundle.min.js)

• Folders: organized by purpose
(not by framework)

• Transformations: readable
(TypeScript → JS = translation)
(Webpack bundles = obfuscation)

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Domain knowledge
>
Framework knowledge

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Which do you want to learn?

React component lifecycle

or

How maps work?

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Frameworks change.
Problems don't.

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Who is this for?

• Researchers who need tools
• Designers who want to code
• Architects building their own software
• Anyone maintaining code someone else wrote
• People who want to understand, not just use

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Not anti-professional.
Not anti-framework.

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It's about:

Choosing tools that match your context

Knowing the tradeoffs

Not being trapped by your own code

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Tools should serve you,
not the other way around.

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Repair culture

When it breaks,
you can fix it.

Not call someone.
Not reinstall.
Not start over.

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Personality permitted.

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Code can have a stance.
Code can be conversational.
Code can reflect how you think.

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Personal instruments

These tools don't need to outlive you.

Knowledge transfers through:
• Teaching
• Conversation
• Legible code

Not maintained codebases.

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These slides are barefoot.

Single HTML file.
View source to see how it works.
Edit the JSON to change it.

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Next:

Set 2: Making It Run

• Getting code working
• Understanding what you downloaded
• When something breaks
• Reading error messages