CityJSConf 2021 talks to Francesco Strazzullo
A developer and partner at Flowing, as well as the author of ‘Frameworkless Front-end Development’ and ‘Decision-making for Software Development Teams’. Strazzullo’s talk at CityJSConf 2021, ‘A DIY guide to building your own Rendering Engine’, will help people understand the basic principle behind a declarative rendering engine like React to create performant and maintainable web applications. We caught up with him in the run-up to the 2021 CityJSConf.
Is TypeScript the future of JavaScript? And why?
I would be cautious in defining TypeScript the “future” of JavaScript. While I think that TypeScript is a great tool that brings a lot of advantages, in the long run, it may become a liability just like any other tool/framework. In the last 10 years of front-end development, I saw a lot of tools that were widely used. After some years some of these tools started to fade from conferences and blog posts, but they remained in the code of many projects. My point with TypeScript is that a software development team should compare the undeniable advantages with the risks to have a non-standard language in their codebase five years from now.
Are you aware of new tools like Deno, Svelte or any other libraries you would like to share? Tell us what new JS stuff is coming and how you feel about those?
In the last months, I’m experimenting with WebXR and A-Frame. I really love the idea to use web technologies to create immersive applications. I strongly believe that the growth of the remote-working phenomenon caused by COVID-19 is here to stay. In this scenario, VR can help us build some kind of remote-friendly virtual office environments, and I am quite excited about it.
What was your first programming language? And how long have you been using JavaScript?
My first language was Visual Basic 6 at school! I clearly remember my first JavaScript side project: to load via Ajax different movie posters clicking on buttons. One of the movies was ‘Matrix’ so I think that it was around 1999. My first professional JavaScript project was in 2010, more than a decade later.
What advice do you have for junior devs starting out in JavaScript in 2021?
Use frameworks to bootstrap your knowledge, but invest your time in learning what is happening under the hood. Fundamentals always beat novelty.
What are you working on right now in your job? And what are you using to do this?
Right now I’m working in helping teams in modernising their front-end codebases. Most of the teams that I’m helping are migrating from jQuery, Backbone and AngularJS to newer technologies. The ones that I am using the most are React, Stencil and also a lot of frameworkless code.
How has Covid-19 affected the way you work?
My company (Flowing) was already remote-only before the pandemic started, so it didn’t affect my work very much.
Do you have any side projects you’re willing to talk about? If so, spill the beans!
Well… I’m currently writing a second book! While the first one was about frameworkless development, this new book is titled ‘Decision-making for Software Development Teams’. In the book, I cover some techniques to help teams to decide their next tech stack, the next feature to build, the kind of tests needed and so on. It’s quite a challenge for me, but I’m quite proud of the work so far. If you want more info you can go to the official Leanpub page.
How has your journey as a conference speaker been affected by COVID-19 over the past year?
I really loved to move to conferences to meet new people and visiting new places. In 2020 I strongly reduced my effort as a speaker because I don’t have the same ‘vibrations’ from online conferences. But, starting from this year I decided to be back on stage. I firmly believe in giving back my knowledge to the community, just like the community has helped me to grow.
What would be your ideal online conference set-up?
I’m used to working remotely, so I will use my standard set-up. My earphones, my big screen and some lights. I don’t love more complex setups, I always had the feeling that something may not work during the event! 😅
Tell us about where you are in the world right now.
Right now I live in Treviso, 20 minutes from Venice.
How is the Covid-19 situation where you are?
Right now we are not in a lockdown, but there are a lot of restrictions about going outside to restaurants, sports and so on.
How do you relax and de-stress?
I really love to cook new dishes for my wife. When it’s not enough I use video games to help reduce the stress. I’m actually in love with my Oculus Quest 2.
Have you made a bucket list for the end of lockdown and restrictions? If so, what will you be doing?
I would start travelling in Europe, working from different cities. I really miss to see new places!
