Don't Git Confused

Making Github easier, and writing code your teammates won't hate

Author

David Thurman
January 02, 2025

Morning folks! This is Beyond Code - the newsletter designed to help developers build their careers, one Thursday at a time.

Note: This newsletter is not sponsored. Any websites/tools/apps we recommend are purely because we enjoy them personally

Did You Know…

JavaScript was created in just 10 days

The creator of Javascript, Brendan Eich, developed the language for Netscape back in 1995. His goal was to add dynamic functionality to web pages, and he created the language in only 10 days!

Although if you regularly code in JavaScript, this might not seem surprising…

Handy Coding Tool

Don’t Wanna Git Good? Then try a Git GUI

Sourcetree

Learning Git and GitHub is a rite of passage for every developer, but the command line can be intimidating. Instead of memorizing endless commands, why not try a Git GUI (Graphical User Interface)?

Git GUIs provide a visual interface for managing your projects, making tasks like branching, merging, and resolving conflicts easier to understand. They offer the same functionality as the terminal, but in a more user-friendly format.

Popular Git GUIs include Sourcetree, GitKraken, and Fork

And if anyone tells you that “real developers only use the terminal,” just let them know they should “Git a life.”

Tech Highlights

12 Days of OpenAI Comes to an End

Source: openai.com

OpenAI decided to spice up the holidays by doing a “12 Days of OpenAI.” Starting December 5th, they began releasing a new feature or announcement each day.

Highlights included:

  • The o1 Model, which works slower but is better at reasoning, was officially released

  • Their video generation tool, Sora, was released

  • GPT Web Search, which allows for GPT to use search engines and gather sources, will now be available for all users

  • o3 and o3-Mini Models were announced (although they won’t be available for a while)

  • But most importantly, anyone still on a landline now has access to AI by calling 1-800-CHATGPT

    So next time grandma asks why her computer isn’t working, just tell her to give GPT a ring

Programming Tip

Don’t Want Other Developers to Hate You? Use Good Variable Names

One of the simplest yet most powerful ways to improve your code is by adopting consistent and meaningful naming conventions. Good naming makes your code easier to read, understand, and maintain—for you and your teammates.

  • Improves readability: Clear names act as documentation for your code

  • Reduces confusion: You don’t have to guess what on Earth “x” or “temp2” means.

  • Saves time: Debugging is faster when you can easily tell what each variable or function represents.

4 Each Ways to Write Good Variables:

  1. Be Descriptive/Specific

  2. Consistent Casing

  3. Plurals for collections

  4. Prefix booleans

Bad

Good

Why It’s Better

temp

temporaryFilePath

Indicates it’s a file path

arr

userIds

Describes what the array contains. Also being plural indicates it’s a list

check()

checkUserAccess()

Explains what is being checked

data

userResponseData

Gives context on the type of data

btn

saveButton

Tells the purpose of the button

validUser

isValidUser

Describes what the boolean is checking

Ask the Experts

“What qualities do you think set successful software developers apart from those who struggle to find success in the industry?”

I think humility is a very important quality as an engineer; you will sometimes be wrong or not understand something, no matter how experienced you are. Being willing to ask for help, or to admit that you were wrong is very important not only to earn and maintain the respect of your peers, but also will accelerate your rate of learning.

James N, Senior Software Engineer @ Clayton

Open Source Highlight

One Bookmark to Rule Them All - LinksHub

Today we’re highlighting LinksHub, a website with a lot of helpful links for developers of any specialty. Check out the collection of resources for whatever your programming language/interests/etc is.

What’s Open Source?
“Open sourced projects” refer to projects that have their code open to the public. They allow anyone to contribute to the project and help maintain it. Not only are they a great way to get hands on experience early on in your career, they also provide you a way to add bigger projects to your resume!

Shameless Plug

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Pop Quiz

Can You Spot the Bug?

function findMaxValue(inputArray) {
  let maxVal = 0;
  for (let index = 0; index < inputArray.length; index++) {
    if (inputArray[index] > maxVal) {
      maxVal = inputArray[index];
    }
  }
  return maxVal;
}

console.log(findMaxValue([-10, 20, -5, -1]));

Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter!

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Pop Quiz Answer: Initializing maxVal to 0 ignores negative numbers in the array