Postman is a service that helps developers test APIs before going live. There are a multitude of use cases for which it is helpful. I’ll highlight a few examples — I do not work for them, by the way — where it is a valuable resource for developers.

So you want your app to connect to an external API and receive data? Perhaps, you would like your users to be able to play back their favorite YouTube content. …

Last week I began to note some of the major differences I found as someone with React experience who is a newcomer to React Native. I will continue this week with some more variations.

For those new to React Native, the transition from React is not terribly difficult once your environment is up and running.

This setup process takes a bit of time, but it is required to see your work in action. …

The prospect of learning a new programming language is far more daunting than the idea of expanding upon a language you already know (in my opinion). That’s why once you know JavaScript, it’s easier to learn React, and once you know React, it’s easier to learn Redux. Now, I know this isn’t the best analogy because React and Redux are JavaScript libraries and not their own languages, but I like to look at them as important stepping stones to a broader understanding of the JavaScript ecosystem as a whole.

My next stepping stone to JavaScript mastery — this was hard…

I wasn’t sure what to make for my next personal project, but I knew I wanted to integrate a robust, feature-filled API. I went with Google Maps.

Because it is so widely used, there is a wealth of documentation and tutorials, both from Google and from the many junior and senior programmers who have implemented its services.

I had worked with the YouTube Data API on a previous project, so I already had a developer’s console set up and was familiar with the registration and process for obtaining an API key. These steps are quite simple, by the way.

With…

In my last blog, I revisited an old project and did some refactoring as a means to discuss the Context API and useContext hook. This week I am revisiting the same project to enhance the functionality of my video playback component using callback function props.

I’m using this revisit as a chance to enhance features I hadn’t gotten to in the past and to brainstorm potential future iterations of the app.

My app, Horrific, is a mock social media platform for horror film fans to catalog, review, and discuss genre films alongside video references. …

State management is one of — if not the — most important considerations when creating a React application. Depending on the size of your project, you might want to implement a library like Redux to collect state in one place, i.e. the store.

The problem is that setting up Redux is a lot of work with a lot of files, and it doesn’t always feel worth the hassle and complexity for a small-to-medium-size project. Is there something in between? Yes, enter the Context API to store data, and the useContext hook to retrieve it.

According to the React docs,

“Context…

For a recent portfolio project, I’ve been building an E-commerce site to strengthen some of my skills. While my site is fictional — I’m not actually selling anything — it is capable of real-world operation.

To bring my site to life, I implemented Google Firestore for inventory database storage, as well as Google Firebase for user authentication and Google sign-in capabilities. The next feature I added is what takes the project from theoretical to functional, working credit card authentication and authorization through the Stripe API. I will demonstrate below how to set-up and integrate Stripe into your project.

What I…

As a part of a technical challenge, I was asked to describe how to implement a digital lottery system for ticket purchasers. I have very little knowledge of system design, so I did a lot of research into potential technologies.

But before I dug into the specs, I wanted to consider the variables in play, though, admittedly, I’m unsure how best to handle all of them. …