{"id":1860,"date":"2016-06-13T14:43:09","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T18:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cindypotvin.com\/?p=1860"},"modified":"2016-06-12T22:11:02","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T02:11:02","slug":"simple-code-is-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cindypotvin.com\/simple-code-is-beautiful\/","title":{"rendered":"Simple code is beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"
Despite the large number of languages and tools that will get thrown at you if you mention web development (Ruby! React! Node.js! AngularJS! Gulp! Python!), the simplest web application you can create includes HTML, CSS and a bit of JavaScript for the interactivity. You don’t even need to setup a web server: just open it in your browser or host it with any cheap shared hosting and it just works.<\/p>\n
Anyone can maintain this application with just a text editor, a web browser and some experimentation. It’s a great way to learn how the web works, and it is a good solution for a few pages showing static information or a little JavaScript calculator. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, it all goes downhill from there as soon as you need to save the state of the application or introduce some other form of server-side logic. Also, your application will soon turn into an unmanageable mess if you have to update many pages every time there is a small change. <\/p>\n
Once you get started on this path and have chosen a web development stack, you’ll end up depending on many tools, technologies and frameworks for your developments process. In many cases, you HAVE to do this: most stacks don’t include everything, and you have to choose libraries according to the needs of your project. Unfortunately, every new bit that you add needs to be updated and can break on you. You need to find a balance between the time saved now by using a tool or automating a process, and the time waster further down the road if it breaks.<\/p>\n