#schmutz #ramble #videoGames #javascript #typescript

I’m not really a writer, but I’m trying to get better at writing. In effort of that, I am going to start this series of sorts called Schmutz, which is Yiddish for dirt. Schmutz seemed fitting because I expect a lot of these posts to be mostly trash. I’m ok with that because with honing any craft, your best work stands atop a pile of previous trash and that’s just how it is save for the geniuses out there.

So expect any post with Schmutz (n) in the title to be somewhat rambley, topic du jour and/or stuff-that-I-am-working-on type posts. Let’s get Schmutzy!

JavaScript Syndrome

I am starting to see why people shit on JavaScript so much. Or at least, my personal problems are more with Node.js and less so JavaScript in the browser. My personal pain is started to become apparent when I begin an earnest attempt at learning Python recently. I knew the syntax from dabbling with it before I found my first dev job, but I hadn’t built anything with it. In building a Discord bot that calls AWS Polly, I realized a lot of things I have been struggling with in JavaScript land.

ESM vs CJS, Next.js and TypeScript Module Resolution

If you know, you know. I’m not sure I have anything smart to say about these issues that hasn’t already been said. It feels like this is all a mess that is difficult to navigate when trying to build a library that ships both CJS and ESM. Maybe it’s because the Next.js compiler re-bundles all of your dependencies and it can’t read ESM modules properly? I’m not quite sure, but I have been having a lot of pain with these topics and nothing is really clear. The rewrite of the Next.js compiler in rust is cool for speed or whatever, but it kind of sucks that I have to learn a whole new language to inspect the code to figure out why my library all of a sudden doesn’t work with the new version of Next.js.

Tears of the Kingdom

I tried to like Breath of the Wild, I really did, but I did not get very far into the game before getting frustrated with some of the mechanics. Mainly, I did not love the weapon or food/cooking system. Tears of the Kingdom brings back both mechanics pretty much the same, but there is one major difference on the weapon front: the fuse ability. This makes it trivial to be stocked on good weapons throughout the game. I am nearing the end (I think so anyway), and I have been really happy with this mechanic.

The food/cooking is still the same, but I think since I had watched a fair amount of BotW speedruns before playing TotK, I understood that cooking in bulk wasn’t so bad. It is still kind of annoying, but it is what it is and I can stomach it given how cool the rest of the game is.

Looking For Work

Thanks for reading to the end! I wanted to mention that I am currently open to new developer roles. I love building tools that enhance DX, but I am open to a wide range of opportunities. I currently work with TypeScript, Node.js, and a variety of frontend frameworks, but I am looking to get into more of a backend or fullstack role. I recently started learning python and I’m confident I can pick up anything fairly quickly. Please reach out to me via any channel listed on my contact page.