Posts in "Developer"

What Tech Stack Does Shopify Use?

October 29, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

Shopify remains a multi-channel eCommerce platform used by millions of businesses worldwide. It allows different brands to set up an online store and sell their products via various media. The comprehensive tech stack is a major driving force for the success Shopify has enjoyed over the years.

What is Shopify’s current Tech Stack?

At the moment, Shopify boasts of about a hundred applications and technologies in its tech stack. There are close to 3.5 million app downloads monthly from the Shopify solutions stack, and 3 million out of these are of Shop; delivery and order tracker across iTunes and Google play.

Its top digital tools include Google Analytics, HTML5, JavaScript, Facebook Shops, Hatchful and several others. There are also about 4,000 apps that can directly be incorporated into the eCommerce platform. Furthermore, Shopify also possesses free built-in tools in its technology infrastructure.

Types of Ecommerce Tools from the Shopify Tech Stack

The tools the Shopify tech stack possesses fall into two groups; The first of which is the time-saving solutions that help to automate business operations. The other is KPI-driven solutions that help to boost revenue metrics, scale growth and increase profit margin.

Leveraging Shopify Plus Tech Stack for Customization

The ease of customization ensures that most eCommerce websites have a homepage that serves as the entrance to the rest of the customer’s experience. Hence, Shopify Plus was chosen as the eCommerce platform because of its swift marketing time and ease of management post-launch. As a SaaS platform, Shopify Plus removes the difficulty of hosting, managing downtime, and security updates.

Shared Code for Flexibility and Speed

Having to migrate three stores on a tight schedule can be pretty difficult. Shopify Plus helps ease this burden, thereby reducing the licensing cost of moving to a different eCommerce platform. With the use of Shopify’s theme backend, the amount of homepage and site configuration done by an average user will help reduce sales and marketing reliance on technical engineers for implementation.

Shopify Tech Stack; Internal tools and Apps

Shopify used MySQL as its relational database in its earliest days, i.e. the language of accessing and managing content within a database. However, in no time, MySQL became insufficient to store up all of Shopify’s data. This was when Shopify started sharding its data into dozens of smaller databases. In recent years, Shopify has transitioned from the use of shards to pods. Each pod is an isolated sector with its datastores that can be set up in any region. This technique has helped this platform to avoid global outages.

Shopify Plus solutions

Shopify Plus is an eCommerce platform that offers diverse solutions to merchants. Some of which are Enterprise Online Store, Multi-channel eCommerce, and a built-in omnichannel merchandising.

Shopify Plus Tech Stack App Partners

Shopify Plus also incorporates different certified app technologies that work hand-in-hand with the platform to give it a smooth run. Such includes; Refersion for affiliate marketing, Justuno for conversion optimization, Loop and Returnly for management of returns and exchanges, Findify for content and visual merchandising, and a whole host of others.

Developer

Introduction to Elixir

October 29, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

Elixir is a very scalable and dynamically functional typed language built on Erlang’s VM. While this application has become prominent in some highly concurrent web applications, many people are still yet very unfamiliar with it. This article will take us through what Elixir is.

The main features of Elixir

– It is built on top of Erlang’s VM; this means that for all of the concurrency tools that Erlang possesses, Elixir has access to it. This has made it one of the most powerful programming languages for building highly scalable systems.

– It has a Ruby-like syntax; If you’ve had to program with Ruby at one time or the other, then Elixir becomes easy for you to navigate. Even though Ruby is a productivity-oriented language, it is deficient in concurrency and performance. However, this deficiency is made up for with Elixir.

– Elixir is highly functional; Elixir is not just process-oriented, but it also has all the constructs you anticipate from most modern programming languages. In addition, an immutable data structure and pattern matching further confers on it its high functionality.

– Elixir possesses dynamic typing in contrast to other functional languages such as Haskell and Scala. This insinuates that typing is checked in run time and not during compilation. This helps to increase the development speed for simple web applications.

Benefits of Elixir

– Concurrency; Elixir utilizes isolated processes and runs across all central processing units, and communicates via messages. In addition, the immutability of the data structure makes it easy to write concurrent programs on Elixir

– Scalability; The processes it possesses also ensure that it scales systems easily, either horizontally or vertically.

– Reliability; Elixir has a different approach to fault- tolerance; the supervisor system can quickly restart the lightweight processes in case of any production failure.

Functional Programming

Unlike some programming languages such as JavaScript or Python, Elixir code is structured in functions and modules instead of objects and classes. Furthermore, all of the data types are immutable. What functional programming does is that it takes advantage of many things such as declarative style of writing codes, pattern- matching and higher-order functions. With all of these, you achieve attendant benefits such as better testing and debugging, easier handling of concurrent programs, better maintenance, and high-level abstractions that simplify coding.

Phoenix

Phoenix enables you to efficiently churn out web apps while not compromising on either speed or maintainability. The lightweight processes of Elixir are fantastic for problem-solving, especially concerning concurrency and scalability in web services. However, it is essential to note that the ecosystem of Phoenix and Elixir is not as mature and robust as that of Ruby on Rails or Python’s Django, so that one might run into problems. Well, the important thing is that the benefits outweigh the costs.

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React JS and Why it is Perfect for Enterprise App Development.

October 28, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

Due to its Facebook spotlight, React JS is a notable JavaScript library. The application is extremely simple to use, and its smoothness, scalability of JavaScript makes it very impressive.

First, we will touch up the benefits of React JS:

Speed

There is nothing that can compete with React Js’s extremely fast speeds that ensure quick completion of tasks. It provides space for multiple developers to service a single application, meaning they can code their designated parts.

Flexibility

Developers can mold React JS’s features for their own requirements; this comes as a huge advantage.

Performance

React JS can help the user create great changes to their own websites.

Usability

If you are familiar with JavaScript, then using React JS should be a walk in the park.

Mobile-Friendly

React Js is a very mobile-friendly application. It can be used on different mobile operating systems.

Next, we will look at why use React JS for Enterprise Apps:

Easy to Navigate

React is known for its easy and transparent system. It is extremely easy to learn and will not cause the user any headaches.

Code Reusability

React is suitable for Android and can reuse its codes.

Unidirectional Data Flow

Using React, you can streamline data, transfer, make amendments, change the values with HTML flats, etc.

Streamlined Testing

React JS has many times been chosen over JavaScript. React allows users to test their build, which is very easy and effective.

Code Stability

Thanks to code stability, the number of errors will be reduced, enabling the task to be completed within the deadline. Reacts code is always being updated, which results in a continuous workflow.

Fast Rendering

A major advantage to React over other development tools is its rendering process. It is lag-free using a VDOM

SEO-Friendly

SEO is essential for apps to find their ranking in someone’s search results online. If a webpage is built using React JS, it will find itself on a high ranking on the search page.

Access to Developers

React is known for its simple, understandable, and logical interface for its users. Many developers grapes the concepts of React very quickly and easily.

Interactive Interface

React makes it possible for its developers to make amends and change their design features on their website. Not only does react make it possible, but does it swift and very secure.

Advanced Level Performance

React has the highest level of graphics and immersive experience. Not only that, but users have the ability to experience the amazing features anywhere from their computers, tablets, and even smartphones. Data transfers can be done between any device.

User Simplicity

React stands out for being extremely user-friendly and simple to use. Some developers believe that it is easier to use and navigate than Angular.

Resilience

React has only simplified web development in the tech world. Although some developers have had challenges in their development process, this is certainly outweighed by the ease and flexibility React constantly is showing.

In Conclusion, the web development world is rapidly changing, and React JS is effortlessly keeping up to date with the industry stands and needs.

What is your take on React JS?

Developer

Rust Isn’t Going Anywhere and Here’s Why

October 26, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

Initially an alternative to C++, Rust was created by Graydon Hoare, a former Mozilla developer, and released in 2006. Ever since then, developers have slowly transitioned from preferring C++ to using Rust instead. Its popularity has continued to rise as well since its release.

Rust has more security measures compared to C++, protecting its data in ways its predecessor can’t. While Java uses garbage collection, which does slow down performance speed, Rust is still faster than Java. Against Python, Rust is inexpensive when it comes to fixing bugs in code. Rust is also more expressive and flexible compared to Go. Each of those popular programming languages has its own strengths but, when compared to Rust, there is at least one area that the latter excels in.

Due to its popularity and strengths that make it better in certain areas compared to other languages, Rust isn’t likely to go anywhere. Here are 5 reasons why that’s the case:

It just keeps increasing.

While there are other languages like C++ that do have a bigger community of developers and libraries, Rust’s continues to grow. It already has over 50,000 development tools, frameworks, and libraries that have been created by Rust’s community of developers. Additionally, there’s a subreddit for the language that is highly active.

It’s highly adaptable.

Commonly referred to a low-level programming language, Rust has good embedding capabilities and excellent for building 3D video games. Its compiler is one of its best features, with the safety of coding following close behind. This helps prevent the use of immutability as well.

Proficient memory safety is its focus.

When it comes to memory management, Rust excels is protecting code and the data it collects. One of its best functions is its ability to let developers manage memory on top of the values it contains. In fact, keeping memory safe is a primary focus of Rust, as explained by its creator. A strict compiler and notifying the developer of any issues is how Rust helps with that.

High-performance speed and flexibility are its strengths.

Running quickly, even with performance-critical tasks, is something Rust also does well. This allows Rust to perform faster than Scala and, in some cases, Java. Being statistically typed and holding data without needing overheads aids its performance speed too. By predicting that variables are immutable, Rust is able to be optimized easier and is more flexible.

It’s backed by major corporations.

Rust is still considered a fairly new programming language. Even many companies who haven’t started using Rust plan to use it at some point in the future. Major corporations like Microsoft admitted to switching several infrastructures within its system over to Rust, though it does plan to continue using C++. Other major corporations using Rust include Mozilla, Dropbox, and Sentry. Even one of the world’s largest businesses, Amazon, has incorporated the language within its system. As Rust becomes even more popular, particularly with such influential companies backing it, this language is sure to continue being a major player in the worldwide development community.

Developer

What You Need to Know About Clojure

October 26, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

Clojure is a general-purpose programming language and is a dialect of Lisp. Lisp and Clojure have their detractors but are worth some regard.

Clojure was designed to help with problems in functional programming in a practical way. Its language was fused with Lisp and run on the Java platform. This made the development process run more quickly. It is efficient, excellent for fast prototyping, easy to debug and functions do exactly what they are supposed to.

Clojure is used for processing large volumes of data and Big Data solutions. It uses code as data systems beyond s-expressions (used to represent both source code and data) into maps and vectors. As a result, maps and vectors can be used in macro syntax with literal reader representations.

Why is Clojure popular?

The data structure of Clojure cannot be changed while being accessed. If it is, Clojure separates the reference types and notes the changes and their values for review later.

Here are some of the advantages of using Clojure:

Clojure runs on JVM: this is a functional language running on the JVM, interoperable with Java. Code is written once and is available across multiple platforms.
It Isn’t Lisp: Clojure’s structure and operation names are consistent. It is also polymorphic. Lisp on the other hand has many hard-to-understand names and type-specific functions of the same function.
You Won’t Miss Anything: making programmes small isolated functions means the data never changes.
Tail/Snail: Unlike other functional programming languages, Clojure is very expressive and you don’t need to obtain head/tail-recursive processing as much.
Concurrency: Even though Clojure is about making things simpler, there are still tools to use for concurrency if required.
Parentheses: they don’t exist in Clojure.

And the disadvantages

Clojure runs on JVM: also a disadvantage as there are no tail recursions or continuations.
Complicated: Using namespace can be quite difficult. While flexible, it doesn’t have many keywords and it is a case of getting used to using it.
It is different from others: programmers usually prefer large libraries. In Clojure, there are many functions with slight differences which can be hard to remember.
While polymorphism is great, the downside is that the results of this are usually presented in seqs which is not always optimal when using hash maps. It is one of those things that you just need to get on with.
Macros are great, but the syntax looks awful. You can tidy it up but it’s something you have to put up with, unfortunately.
You’ll have to work with Java as Clojure runs on JVM. If you’re a developer who hates Java…sorry.

In summary:

Clojure isn’t perfect but sometimes it is the best way to get a project complete. It’s definitely worth knowing and here are 5 ways to train online for better knowledge.

Clojure Bridge Curriculum: A community-based support, this one is for the absolute beginners.
Clojure From the Ground Up: A guide aimed at programmers which is written in a simple and inviting way.
4Clojure / Clojure Koans: aimed at post-beginners. Practice exercises and then move into Clojure Koans for more complex projects.
Installation Guides: how to build applications to run Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Cheatsheets: get tips from the experts

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Overview of the Vue.js Programming Language

October 25, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

What exactly is Vue.js?

Vue.js is a lightweight framework that allows developers to construct visually appealing user experiences. It is a well-known JavaScript framework for developing cross-platform mobile native apps. The Vue.js framework organizes and simplifies user interface development. This framework is built from the ground up to be adaptable in stages. Its core is solely concerned with the view layer.

In addition, with a combination of supporting libraries and modern tools, Vue is the ideal choice for creating single-page apps.

Vue.js Features

Rendering in Declarative Form

With the assistance of this functionality, developers may build code that is outcome-focused. Aside from that, declarative rendering conceals any code implementation specifics. It ensures that the data is consistent, and any modification is permitted only when fresh inputs are entered.

React Native compilation

Vue is reliant on React Native. As a result, newcomers who have never worked with React may quickly develop mobile applications utilizing Vue’s basic framework. The developers may view and render the React Native components using Vue.js. This framework also enables a Vue.js development company to use Vue Native scripts to execute Vue components on React Native.

Binding in both directions

Vue.js’s support for two-way binding is one of its most delicate features. It adheres to a v-model directive. By eliminating the need to develop additional logic, the binding technique quickly propagates any data changes to the code’s output.

When working with Vue.js, developers must keep in mind that changes to the development model will be reflected immediately in the UI. If you make modifications to the UI, they will be reflected in your development model.

Calculated Properties

The calculated properties of Vue.js assist in listening to changes in the user interface and doing the required computations. There is no additional coding necessary to do this.

Virtual DOM

Vue.js takes advantage of virtual DOM. A DOM replica is created, which is now available as JavaScript data structures. Any modifications to the development model are made first in the JavaScript data structure and then applied to the real data structure. After everything is finished, the developers make modifications to the DOM to view the results.

Animation

You may apply the transition to HTML elements by using Vue.js. When elements are added, modified, or deleted from the DOM, this may be done. Aside from that, Vue.js has a built-in transition component that can be wrapped around components to give them a transition effect.

Templates

Vue.js has HTML-based templates for binding the DOM to Vue instance data. Vue compiles these templates into Virtual DOM render methods.

Who Should Opt for Vue.js?

Who should consider using Vue.js in their next project? This is the most frequently asked question among front-end developers. The choice of a framework is influenced by various factors, including the language competency of the development teams. For example, if you are familiar with the fundamental ideas of JavaScript, CSS, and HTML, then working with Vue.js would be ideal.

We will soon see a significant upgrade to Vue.js that will include new functionality to improve the framework. Migration, Default TypeScript and Composition API are among the features. Many developers would select Vue for their next project because of these capabilities. As a result, anyone who wants to develop an app with user-friendly features may utilize this framework.

Developer

Top Reasons to Use Clojure

October 25, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

Why Clojure?

What is the final aim of creating any programming language? The author of Clojure, Rich Hickey, wanted to make written programs simple. It aims to enable writing clear and compelling code. It expedites the software development process and reduces code understanding, changing, and support time demanded.

“Simplicity is a prerequisite for trustability.”

Clojure’s syntax can be a difficulty for freshers, and at the same time, it’s easy and accessible for learning and coding. You will see the advanced benefits which are essential for enterprise projects after getting used to the language.

Reasons to Choose Clojure

Clojure has many other strengths, which makes it a good solution for your product. Let’s take a look at them.

· Performance: Clojure offers you performance that fits for working with lots of data (it’s close to Java). So also, you do not have to pay the price.

· Community: Clojure has a vibrant community, enthusiastic, which encourages innovation and new ideas. By the way, up to 27% of Clojure users are actively helping beginners.

· Usability: Clojure is a pragmatic and practical language. It enables the organization to have a fast and efficient software development process. So, it can be recommended for rapid prototyping and lean startups.

· Polymorphism: It’s a vital feature for building flexible and extensible systems. Clojure can help multiple taxonomies and dispatches through static, dynamic, or external properties, metadata, e.t.с. It is the best implementation of the polymorphism concept.

· Reliability: Adopted by Citibank), Pico Quantitative Trading, Simple(formerly BankSimple Amazon, Groupon, Netflix, and many other great companies. Clojure has proved its stability and reliability.

· Innovativeness: Clojure connects Lisp’s strength with several modern features, such as

software transactional memory (STM),
interactive programming through a read-eval-print loop (REPL),
Java API calls, etc.

Developer

Top Benefits of Vue.js

October 25, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

A popular JavaScript framework, Vue.js is used by a large number of developers in the tech industry. It was created by a former Google employee, Evan You, and is often compared with Angular and React. In some ways, You took frameworks like Angular, which he worked with as an employee at Google, and hoped to develop a framework that filled in the gaps they had.

Companies such as Upwork, GitLab, and Behance incorporate Vue.js into their frontend systems. The development process benefits from this open-sourced tool in many ways, including:

Lower File Size

With a file size between 18 to 21 KB, Vue.js is much smaller than other frameworks. This means the download speed is shorter. Similarly, page loading speeds are faster, which attracts the eye of developers all over the world.

Supportive Community

Like most frameworks, Vue.js has built up a community of supportive and dedicated developers. A large portion of those developers are seasoned and knowledgeable, applying that to Vue.js’s capabilities.

Highly Adaptable

Being a JavaScript framework, Vue.js is highly adaptable to nearly every platform and development tool. This makes it cross-platform compatible, leads to a flexible integration with various technologies, and maintains its fast loading speeds. Scalability is also one of Vue.js’s strengths, which is important in modern technological advances. Excessive user bases lead to slower load times, increase the chance of issues, and can be harder to maintain if the scalability of the framework can’t contain the amount of data.

Documentation

Vue.js holds comprehensive documentation in order to help developers stay on top of the best development methods. It’s also detailed, as well as continuously improved upon and updated to stay current in those methods.

Virtual DOM

The framework contains a DOM, or Document Object Model, which significantly helps with rendering web pages. To put it simply, the DOM holds the characteristics (i.e. elements, content, and styles) of varying necessary HTML pages.

Performance Speed

Due to its JavaScript base, Vue.js has a high-performance speed. This is further aided by its decreased file size and faster loading times.

Easy to Use

Since JavaScript is based on the English language, most developers find Vue.js easier to learn than number-based frameworks. Even for developers with little to no experience, they only have to know how to use HTML and CSS to be able to use Vue.js. It also has a browser plugin, allowing developers to gain access to the framework through browsers like Google and Firefox. The ability to store code in one file is yet another benefit to using Vue.js.

Final Thoughts

Vue.js is one of those frameworks designed to be fast and effective. While most newer frameworks are following in its footsteps, Vue.js continues to stay at the top of developers’ list for excellent frontend development tools. It’s adaptable, scalable, and fast, which are three must-have characteristics developers look for. This framework can also handle various types of projects and is cross-platform compatible thanks to JavaScript.

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E-Commerce and Ruby on Rails: Why Do They Go Hand-in-Hand?

October 25, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

Nowadays, having a professional-looking website is a huge asset to any business. Online shopping, commonly called e-commerce, requires more than just an appealing website. It must be able to function smoothly.

When it comes to creating those websites, frontend development tools—or the elements that are visible to users—and backend tools, the things they can’t see, are equally important to achieving a smooth user experience. There are many tools for both ends of development, but the backend tools serve as the foundation for the site.

One such important backend development tool is Ruby on Rails.

Why Choose Ruby on Rails?

Apart from Ruby on Rails (RoR), other popular backend frameworks include PHP, Python, and Java. RoR has over 15 years of experience in the development community. This is because of the numerous advantages that make it great for development projects like e-commerce websites. These include:

Popularity

Believe it or not, having popularity in the development community is a testament to its effectiveness. RoR’s community is large and active, meaning there are always developers helping to improve the software’s functionality.

Flexibility

RoR is very flexible in its integration capabilities and scalability. It also has a modular architecture, meaning it can be modified for various different projects. With e-commerce, RoR supports platforms such as B2B, B2B2C, and B2C.

Reliability

This framework has a ‘Convention over configuration’ principle. It aids Ruby on Rail’s ability to work with other frameworks. Ruby on Rails was released in 2004 and its predecessor, Ruby, was released in 1995. It makes both established development tools that continue to be used and popular.

Performance Speed/Cost Efficiency

Alongside containing a fast performance speed, RoR is more cost-efficient as a result. This framework is designed to reduce development time. Thus, it’s simpler and easier to use. Companies like Doordash, Netflix, and Airbnb also incorporate Ruby on Rails into their systems.

A unique characteristic of RoR is its use of gems, which are pre-designed elements to help set up payment systems, virtual carts, and authentication options. These are extremely beneficial for e-commerce sites. Being open-sourced and free are other benefits too.

Why do e-commerce sites and Ruby on Rails go hand-in-hand?

The ability to use gems in RoR is one of the biggest reasons, in tandem with a fast performance speed, that developers like to use this framework when creating e-commerce sites. These websites must be able to not only hold a lot of data but run many tasks simultaneously, contain safe and secure ways to process data and run smoothly and quickly for users. All of these characteristics combined contribute to a positive user experience. Ruby on Rails was created to be startup-friendly, but support large businesses’ needs too. It’s also flexible enough to evolve with surrounding technologies. The community of developers backing it up to serve as a lifeline for RoR to remain a popular development tool as technological advancements and demand increase.

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Top 7 Reasons Developers Should Use Ruby on Rails for Startup Web Development

October 25, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

Ruby on Rails is an open-sourced, free framework that was released in 2004 for developers to use in a variety of different development projects. From large corporations down to startup businesses, this framework aims to be fast, easy to use, and secure. Commonly referred to as RoR, Ruby on Rails is great for startup web developers who may have little to no experience. RoR’s success and effectiveness are backed by major corporations like Hulu, Fiverr, Twitch, and Bloomberg. Those companies show how this framework can be used for different purposes such as news, live video streaming, and offering freelance services.

Here are 7 reasons why Ruby on Rails is great for startup web development:

Time to Market (TTM)

This indicates how long it takes development projects to reach the publishing stage. Thanks to the use of modules and plugins, Ruby on Rails can reduce development time up to 50%.

Tracks Code

By tracking code across different platforms, the projects created with RoR can continue to run even years later. Code doesn’t have to be reconstructed or transferred to another platform because the previous one was out of date.

Good for E-Commerce Sites

Ruby on Rails’s features are very accommodating for the development of e-commerce websites. It helps implement cart functionality, adds payment options, and can hold large amounts of data needed to maintain such a site.

Flexible & Low Cost

An open-source framework, RoR is free and flexible across varying platforms. This allows startup businesses, in particular, to benefit from a decrease in development cost due to the framework’s functions. Designed to do just that, and be high-performing as well, Ruby on Rails makes it simpler for developers to maintain the quality of their projects.

Easy to Learn

The creator of RoR intended for it to be easier to learn how to use than most other backend tools. Using an English-based syntax, the framework lowers the chance of coding errors previously experienced with number-based syntaxes. Similarly, it implements reusable code, which simplifies the development process.

Fast-Performing

A high-performance speed is one of Ruby on Rails’s specialties. The smaller file size, which leads to a decreased download speed, adds to the speed of the framework’s performance on top of having a faster load time.

Simple to Maintain

Ruby on Rails has a large, active community of developers. This adds to the simplicity of being able to maintain it. Libraries, in tandem with those developers, can solve issues that arise with using RoR, making the maintenance of the framework itself much easier. Within it exists a community hosting service called RubyGems as well.

Conclusion

When starting a business, it’s important that developers choose frontend and backend development tools that can support the business’s growth. Ruby on Rails is a lightweight, high-performing framework that can do just that. From startup companies to major corporations, RoR can handle all of it while running smoothly. Isn’t that the ultimate goal for any aspiring business owners?