Best Practices – Consultadd Technology https://ca.technology Partner in Technology Tue, 22 Feb 2022 13:09:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.3 https://ca.technology/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/cropped-logo_512_512-32x32.png Best Practices – Consultadd Technology https://ca.technology 32 32 Top Trending Tools in React  https://ca.technology/top-trending-tools-in-react%e2%80%af/ Fri, 07 Jan 2022 18:54:51 +0000 https://ca.technology/?p=3257 The React app development market is rapidly expanding. A few tools are required to continue to improve this language and make coding easier and faster. The react tools provide a plethora of options for selecting the best one for your task. Because there are numerous ways to solve a problem in React development, learning about the best tools for react development is a wise decision. With that in mind, let us look at some of the Top Trending Tools in React for improving the development process’s efficiency and productivity. 

Reactide  

Reactide is a desktop program that incorporates a simulator for live reloading and rapid prototyping of React components and is a popular tool in React. 

It features a custom browser simulator as well as an integrated Node server as a cross-platform application. As a result, a React project can be created by simply clicking a React JSX file. 

It includes features like hot module reloading, streamlined configurations, and component visualization that are extremely useful. While coding in Reactide, you can see a live representation of the architecture of your React app. So, if you use Reactide to keep track of changes in the app architecture, editing or upgrading your React app is unlikely to go wrong. 

Storybook  

Another open-source tool is Storybook. It makes it easier to create and write UI components and pages. Visual component coding is a constant back-and-forth between code and the webpage. With their UI editor, Storybook makes this process much convenient and is thus one of the best tools for React. While developing each visual component, you can inspect and interact with it for increased productivity and a better overall process.  

It has a Sandbox Storybook for developing UIs in isolation, mocking difficult-to-reach use cases, documenting use cases as stories, and automating testing. It also has Built-in filters that prevent deviations. 

React Developer Tool 

React Developers Tools are the most popular and user-friendly React tools in our list of Top trending tools in React for accelerating development. It is an open-source React JS library that inspects a React tree, including props, component hierarchy, state, and more. You can also investigate how one component affects another. These debugging tools are extremely useful and are completely open-source. 

It includes full react hook support, allowing you to use react functionality without creating a class. Its filter mechanisms make it easier to navigate deeper into nested hierarchies. 

It can even assist you in observing and noting an app’s performance. It is a must-have for your react development if you genuinely want to create an app that stands out from the crowd. 

Create React App             

For any new React project, the Create React App is the best place to start and is one of the Top trending tools in React. With only one command, you can get your React app up and running. This react tool will take care of everything, whether it is selecting the proper module or constructing the project structure. As a result, developers will spend less time configuring it and will be able to use it with any backend language. 

With a single command, you can get your React app up and running. There are no build configurations required. You do not have to be concerned with the best project structure or which support modules to include; Just execute the following command: 

                                                         npx create-react-app my-app 

BIT  

Bit, designed by Jonathan Saring is an open-source, and one of the most popular react developer tools on the market. It allows you to quickly develop and share react components with the help of Bit. 

After Bit has verified your react components, you can share them with other developers using an online platform and a command-line program. You can also search and download components created by others and render them to fit your specific project on the internet platform. In a nutshell, Bit’s third-party marketplace lets you shop for third-party components. You may even change the component and see a preview of it using Bit, which allows you to go over several components and choose the one that best suits your project making it a popular tool for React. 

React Sights 

React Sight is one of the best React development tools that aid with react inspection. It displays the hierarchy of your app’s components in real-time time. You can easily track the relationships between components with a tree-like flow chart of your app’s architecture. Additionally, when you hover the cursor over a component, you can see its current state and properties. 

Also, after installing the Chrome extension, make sure to enable access to file URLs. 

React Bootstrap 

React Bootstrap is a tool that combines the benefits of both Bootstrap and React while eliminating their respective Individual limitations. It is a well-known CSS framework react dev tool that many people use. It is a collection of CSS classes and JavaScript functions that allow you to create stunning user interfaces with any of those technologies without having to be a pro. 

The JS portions of React Bootstrap have been rewritten to ensure compatibility with React. As a result, you can now use their components the same way that you would use React components. 

React Bootstrap makes it incredibly simple to get started with a React app project. It is simple to install using a package manager, and it ensures that your app’s UI is clean. 

Wrapping up 

React has grown at a breakneck pace since it was introduced by Facebook. However, as popularity grows, the challenge for developers in creating larger apps becomes more difficult. Every year, the React developer tools community grows, and a new tool is introduced to the list of best tools for React. 

There are many more great tools available for React developers; these are just a few of our favorites that are widely used in react development. We hope these Top trending tools in React should make it easier for you to create, manage, and debug apps. Good luck 😉 

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Top Trends in Cloud Computing https://ca.technology/top-trends-cloud-computing/ Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:22:02 +0000 https://ca.technology/?p=2916 Cloud computing is a system that maintains data and applications via the internet and central remote servers. These top trends in cloud computing can help consumers and companies to use applications without installing them and access their personal files from any computer having internet access.

By centralizing storage, memory, computation, and bandwidth, this technology enables considerably more efficient computing. 

The cloud computing industry is also growing at a faster rate. As cloud technologies advance and more businesses adopt cloud-based services, it’s critical to keep up with the latest developments. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular trends in cloud computing. 

1. Growing Hybrid/Multi-Cloud

A hybrid cloud involves mixed computing, storage, and service environments that combine on-premises infrastructure, private cloud services, and a public cloud orchestration between the platforms. A company uses two or more cloud computing platforms to accomplish different tasks in a multi-cloud method.

Organizations that do not want to rely on a single cloud provider may combine resources from multiple providers to get the most out of each service. 

Hybrid cloud infrastructure is the latest trend in cloud computing; it combines two or more types of clouds, whereas a multi-cloud infrastructure combines multiple clouds of the same type.

More cloud and data center suppliers are working hard to develop hybrid and multi-cloud connections among various systems. More enterprises appreciate the different strengths of private clouds, public clouds, industry-specific clouds, and legacy on-premises installations. 

2. Containerization

Containers encapsulate an application’s lightweight runtime environment, as well as all its dependencies, such as libraries, runtime, code, binaries, and configuration files.

Containers offer a standardized approach to bundle all the components and operate them across the software development lifecycle (SDLC) on Unix, Linux, and Windows. 

As a result of the trend in cloud computing, containerization will be a factor of focus for the cloud computing industry in the coming years.

It will quickly gain traction, with large firms investing in their own containerization software packages. By 2023, 70 percent of worldwide enterprises are expected to be running more than two containerized apps in production. 

3. Cloud Security and Compliance

As with any new opportunity, leveraging cloud technology also introduces new forms of risk. Industry standards provide organizations guidance to create policies, plans, and to manage their cloud environments.

Organizations that do not use industry standards to harden their environments leave themselves open to cyber-attacks and misconfiguration. Cloud environments evolve and change, and CSPs are constantly adding new functional services that come with unique configurations and security tools to manage them.

However, organizations cannot be solely dependent on the CSP for security. One of the most effective ways for organizations to secure their public cloud accounts is to use the CIS Foundations Benchmarks.  

The CIS Foundations Benchmarks are a part of the family of cybersecurity standards managed by the Center for Internet Security (CIS). CIS Benchmarks are consensus-based, vendor-agnostic secure configuration guidelines for the most commonly used systems and technologies. 

There are more than 100 free CIS Benchmarks PDFs covering 25+ vendor product families such as operating systems, servers, cloud providers, mobile devices, desktop software, and network devices. The CIS Foundations Benchmarks provide guidance for public cloud environments at the account level. 

CIS Benchmarks are consensus-based, best-practice security configuration guides both developed and accepted by the government, business, industry, and academia.

The CIS Foundations Benchmarks are intended for system and application administrators, security specialists, auditors, help desk, platform deployment, and/or DevOps personnel who plan to develop, deploy, assess, or secure solutions in the cloud and is one the most useful cloud computing trends. 

4. Role of Artificial Intelligence

One of the most common cloud computing developments to anticipate is artificial intelligence. AI and cloud computing are being seamlessly integrated into the IT industry to improve corporate operations, functionality, and efficiency. It now allows businesses to scale, adapt, manage, and automate their processes with ease.

Artificial intelligence can give an extra layer of security to the cloud by detecting and resolving issues before they cause harm. 

AI strengthens cloud computing by enabling it to manage data, disclose insights and optimize workflows. On the other side, Cloud computing enhances the effect and reach of AI.

Given all these considerations, AI is unquestionably a cloud computing topic to keep an eye on, since it enables more efficient organizational procedures. 

5. Serverless Architecture

Cloud computing is linked with serverless architecture. It helps businesses for designing and deploy applications without having to worry about the management of physical infrastructure, which eliminates the need for architectural engineering.

Cloud service providers handle all scaling, maintenance, and upgrades in exchange for a reasonable charge.

Because all resources are allotted by the cloud service provider, it is especially useful for software developers who no longer have to manage and maintain network servers. Although serverless computing is a relatively new cloud service, demand for it is predicted to increase by 25% by 2025. 

6. DevOps

DevOps is the automation of agile methodology. The idea is to empower developers to respond to the needs of the business in near real-time. In other words, DevOps should remove much of the latency that has existed for years around software development. 

The centralized nature of cloud computing provides DevOps automation with a standard and centralized platform for testing, deployment, and production. In the past, the distributed nature of some enterprise systems didn’t fit well with centralized software deployment. Using a cloud platform solves many issues with distributed complexity. 

DevOps automation is becoming cloud-centric. Most public and private cloud computing providers support DevOps systemically on their platform, including continuous integration and continuous development tools. This tight integration lowers the cost associated with on-premises

DevOps automation technology, and provides centralized governance and control for a sound DevOps process. Many developers who enter the process find that governance keeps them out of trouble, and it is easier to control this centrally via the cloud versus attempting to bring departments under control. What is most interesting is that the cloud is not really driving DevOps; rather, DevOps is driving the interest and the growth of the cloud. 

6. Sustainability Efforts

Efforts to reduce the harmful effects on climate are increasing throughout industries, along with the advancement in technology and the cloud market. Although the cloud is often more energy-efficient than on-premises infrastructure, the rise of AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) is forcing cloud technology to work harder than ever. 

Consumers see businesses not only as a catalog of their best products and services but also as a symbol of their beliefs.

Out of nine potential areas of concern, 80 percent of consumers choose sustainability as the most essential factor to consider when evaluating businesses. Migrations to the public cloud have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 59 million tonnes per year. As a result, it becomes a significant cloud trend. 

The aforementioned top trends in cloud computing are some of the most important ones to follow in the cloud computing industry in the next years. According to current trends, the cloud will continue to grow in terms of popularity and technological advancement. Cloud-based services will become more efficient, accessible, and adaptive in the next years. 

Author – Kartik Bansal

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Reasons to use React Native for Mobile development https://ca.technology/reasons-to-use-react-native-for-mobile-development/ Thu, 09 Dec 2021 16:19:08 +0000 https://ca.technology/?p=2898 In 2012 Mark Zuckerberg stated, “The biggest mistake we made as a company was betting too much on HTML as opposed to native.” Using HTML5 for Facebook’s mobile version resulted in an unreliable application that retrieved data slowly. He promised Facebook would soon deliver a better mobile experience. Following this, Facebook announced React Native in 2015. 

If we talk about reasons to use React Native for Mobile development It is a free and open-source UI framework. Experts consider it one of the highest rates of creating an excellent user experience.

It offers programmers to develop mobile applications by spinning up JS threads that interpret JavaScript code by making a native bridge between the app and the target platform. For this and many other reasons, developers love React Native.  

Many well-known firms have already implemented React Native for iOS and Android platforms, including Facebook, Skype, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. Now to back all this up, let’s discuss some of the reasons to use React Native for mobile development. 

1. Simple And Easy to Work 

React Native facilitates developers’ work by providing meaningful error messages and time-saving and robust tools. As a result, even inexperienced mobile app developers can easily create apps with React Native.

It is simple to learn as long as the developer is familiar with JavaScript or React. The developer only needs to understand the integration of appropriate mobile components with their corresponding web components. 

2. Cross-Platform Reusable Code 

When you use React Native for a mobile app, a single code can develop the app for both iOS and Android operating systems. 

Using React Native, developers do not need to create different codes for different platforms (iOS or Android), as it is possible to use Javascript for both. Reusing code boosts efficiency and delivers super-quick development results, and diminishes expense. 

3. Third-Party Plugin Support 

It is challenging to create new software for any mobile application, and at times there are components required in a new application. Not to worry, React Native gives you the ability to link any plugin with a native or third-party module. With these 3rd party plugins, you can improve your mobile application without hassle. 

4. Easy to Debug

A single bug in mobile app development can cause significant issues. It can take hours to examine the codes and identify the problem areas to be corrected. Fortunately, since React Native development uses a single codebase, it takes a single bug fix to revitalize the entire system.

The developer’s workload is reduced because of the ease of bug fixing, saving a significant amount of time. The framework includes tools such as Nuclide and console.org to aid in debugging. 

5. Transforms Easily from Web to Mobile App 

React Native enables the developers to save a lot of time by making the journey from transforming a web page to a mobile app super easy. 

6. Online Community Support

The React Native developer community is vast, and it is one of the largest cross-platform groups. Almost every day, they continue to investigate and contribute to this framework. 

It helps programmers and developers because they can ask for advice and direction from the community if they encounter any issues while developing the app. You can get assistance from community experts or search for libraries of relevant material to help you build React Native-based applications. 

7. UI Design

React Native’s interface is highly responsive and adaptable. It gives developers and designers a lot of creative leeways.

 

Wrapping Up, we’re all aware of the importance of mobile phones and apps in our daily lives. People spend countless hours on a single app. The demand for mobile development will only grow over time; with the reasons to use react native for mobile applications cited above, we can all agree that React Native will be one of the leading forces in mobile development. 

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Best Practises in Node.js https://ca.technology/node-js-best-practices/ Wed, 20 Oct 2021 20:10:07 +0000 https://ca.technology/?p=2796 Node.js was born in 2009, and ever since then, developers have been implementing the best practices in Node.js for web development framework platforms. 

It’s fast, asynchronous, uses a single-threaded model, and has a syntax easy to understand even for beginners.

But that doesn’t mean it’s a walk in the park; one can easily get stuck in some error which can quickly become your nightmare. 

To counter this, we have listed some of the essential practices in node.js, which will help you create efficient and sustainable Node.js applications.

With the implementation of these best practices, the app automatically can minimize JavaScript runtime errors and turn into a high-performance, robust node.js application. 

Error Handling Practices 

Using Async-Await or promises for error handling. (for API calls as well) 

It doesn’t take long for callbacks to spiral out of control when they are nested one after the other, which results in callback hell. At this point, your code will be pretty unreadable.

Instead, you can prevent all this by using a reputable promise library or async-await, enabling a much more compact and familiar code syntax like try-catch (should use .then).

Using built-in Error object. 

Having an error bring down the entire production is never a great experience.

Many throw errors as a string or some custom type which complicates the error handling logic and the interoperability between modules.

There are many ways available for developers to raise an error and resolve them.

They can use strings or even define custom types. Still, using a Built-in error object makes a uniform approach to handle errors within our source code and prevent loss of information.

Not only that, but it also provides a standard set of helpful information when an error occurs. (wrap functionality in .then followed by a catch block) 

Handle Errors Centrally 

Without one dedicated object for error handling, more significant are the chances for inconsistent error handling in Node.js projects: Every logic that handles errors like logging performance, sending mails regarding errors should be written in such a way so that all APIs, night-jobs, unit testing can debug messages and call this method whenever any error occurs. Not handling errors within a single place will lead to code duplication and improperly handled errors. 

Practices for Project Structure  

Start all projects with npm init 

Use ‘npm init’ when you start a new project. It will automatically generate a package.json file for your project that allows you to add a bunch of metadata to help others working on the project have the same setup as you.  

Layer your components

Layering is essential, and thus each component is designed to have ‘layers’ – a dedicated object for the web, logic, and data access code.

You can make an orderly division of performance issues and significantly differentiate processes from mock and test codes by layering. It is advisable to create reusable components. Write API calls, logic, services in separate files. 

Use config files

You must have a config.js file that will hold all configurations in a centralized way. This practice ensures that other developers can locate and adjust config values much more quickly and much more easily.

Having one centralized file ensures reusability of config values and can give a quick insight into the Node.js project and what technologies/services/libraries are available to use.

Organize your solution into components (into components, services, modules etc) 

 The worst large applications pitfall is managing a vast code base with hundreds of dependencies – such a monolith slows down developers as they try to incorporate new features. Instead, partition the entire codebase into smaller components so that each module gets its folder and is kept simple and small. 

   

 Code Style Practices 

Use Strict Equality operator (===) (check object equality wisely) 

The strict equality operator (===) checks whether its two operands are equal and return a Boolean value. Unlike the weaker equality operator (==), the strict equality operator always considers operands of different types, whereas == will compare two variables after converting them to a common type. There is no type-conversion in ===, and both variables must be of the same kind to be equal. 

Use Linting Packages 

Use popular linting tools like ESLint, the standard for checking possible code errors, identifying nitty-gritty spacing issues, and detecting serious code anti-patterns like developers throwing errors without classification.

Though ESLint can automatically fix code styles, other tools like prettier and beautify are more potent in formatting the fix and working with ESLint. 

  • Do not use ‘True/ false’ largely for logic building instead use constants. 
  • Have seperate file for Constants 
  • Do not use heavy operation builtin functions 
  • Check for null or undefined values  
  • Use comments for @param, @return values for functions 
  • Practice writing Comment in between 

Name your functions 

Name all functions, including closures and callbacks. Restrict the use of anonymous functions. Naming is especially useful when profiling a node app.

Naming all functions will allow you to quickly understand what you’re looking at when checking a memory snapshot. (use arrow function) 

Use Arrow functions 

More extended codes are more prone to bugs and cumbersome to read, so it is advisable to use Arrow functions which make the code more compact and keep the lexical context of the root function.

However, according to the best practices in Node.js, it is recommended to use async-await applications to stop using functional parameters when working with old APIs that can accept promises or call-backs. 

Other Points to remember

  • Have a separate file for Constants. 
  • Reduce the use of heavy operation built-in functions   
  • Check for null or undefined values before use.  
  • Write a comment to increase readability. Comments are always handy for understanding the code. 

Going To Production Practices 

Monitor 

Failure === disappointed customers. Simple 

At the fundamental level, monitoring means you can quickly identify when bad things happen at production, for example, by getting notified by email or Slack.

It is a game of finding out issues before customers do.

The market is overwhelmed with offers; thus, consider defining the basic metrics you must follow.

Then going over additional fancy features and choose the solution that ticks all boxes. 

Increase transparency using smart logging 

 Logs can be a dumb warehouse of debug statements or the enabler of a beautiful dashboard that tells the story of your app. It’s advisable to plan your logs from day 1.

A proper framework for collecting, storing, and analyzing logs can ensure that we extract the desired information when required. 

Install your packages with npm ci 

When installing packages, you must ensure that the production code uses the exact version of the packages you tested.

Run npm ci to strictly do a clean install of your dependencies matching package.json and package-lock.json. Using this command is recommended in automated environments such as continuous integration pipelines. 

npm ci is also fast—in some cases, twice as fast as using npm i, representing a significant performance improvement for all developers using continuous integration. 

Testing and Overall Quality Practice 

Write API (component) tests 

Most projects do not have any automated testing due to short timetables, or often the ‘testing project’ ran out of control and was discontinued.

It will help plan your project deadline so that all your developed functionality by developers can adhere to automated testing.

For that reason, prioritize and start with API testing, which is the easiest way to write and provides more coverage than unit testing.

We can mock database calls and make sure whether the last changes done by someone else are broken or not after implementing new features.

Have Unit tests and functional tests for maximum coverage

Code coverage tools come with features that tell us whether we have converted codes under test cases or not. Some frameworks also help identify a decrease in testing coverage and highlight testing mismatches. 

You can set a minimum limit of test coverage % before committing code to make sure most of the statements are covered.

Structure tests  

It shouldn’t feel like reading imperative code rather than HTML – a declarative experience when reading a test case. To achieve this, keep the AAA convention so the reader’s minds will parse the test intent effortlessly.

Structure your tests with three well-separated sections: Arrange, Act & Assert (AAA). 

Arrange contains all the data or parameters or expected output used in subsequent calls or comparing actual and expected results, Act calls actual implementation with all arranged parameters, Assert compares the actual result with the desired result.

This structure guarantees that the reader spends no brain CPU on understanding the test plan. 

Tag Your Tests 

There are multiple scenarios where we have to run tests like smoke testing before committing changes to a source control system or when the pull request generates.

We can do this by using tags on tests with different keywords. You can tag tests with keywords like #api #sanity so you can grep with your testing harness and summon the desired subset. 

Security Best Practices 

Embrace linter security rules 

Use security-related linter plug-ins such as ESlint-plugin-security to catch security vulnerabilities and issues as early as possible, preferably while you are writing the code.

Tools like ESLint provides a robust framework for eliminating a wide variety of potentially dangerous patterns in your code by catching security weaknesses like using eval, invoking a child process, or importing a literal module string (e.g., user input). 

Strong Authentication

Having a solid authentication system is necessary for any system security. The lack of authentication or broken authentication makes the system vulnerable on many fronts. These are the few steps you can take to build a robust authentication system: 

  • Remember to avoid basic authentication and use standard authentication methods like OAuth, OpenID, etc. 
  • When creating passwords, do not use the Node.js built-in crypto library; use Bcrypt or Scrypt
  • Ensure to limit failed login attempts, and do not tell the user if the username or password is incorrect. 
  • And be sure to implement 2FA authentication. If done correctly, it can increase the security of your application drastically. You can do it with modules like node-2fa or speakeasy. 

Limit direct SQL Injections

SQL injection attacks are among the most infamous attacks today; As the name suggests, a SQL injection attack happens when a hacker gets access and can execute SQL statements on your database.

Attackers often send in queries by a pretense of user inputs which forces the system under attack to involuntarily give up sensitive data/information.

A secure way of preventing injection attacks is by validating inputs coming from the user. You need to validate or escape values provided by the user.

How to do it strictly depends on the database you use and how you prefer it. Some database libraries for Node.js perform escaping automatically (for example, node-MySQL and mongoose). But you can also use more generic libraries like Sequelize or knex.

Run automatic vulnerability scanning 

The Node.js ecosystem consists of many different modules and libraries that you can install. It’s common to use many of them in your projects and creates a security issue; when using code written by someone else, you can’t be 100 percent sure that it’s secure.

To help with that, you should run frequent automated vulnerability scans. They allow you to find dependencies with known vulnerabilities.

Use tools like npm audit or snyk to track, monitor, and patch vulnerable dependencies. Integrate these tools with your CI setup so you catch vulnerabilities before making it to production. 

Implement HTTP response header 

Attackers could perform direct attacks on your application’s users, leading to significant security vulnerabilities. We can avoid these attacks by adding additional security-related HTTP headers to your application. You can use plug-ins like – Helmet, which will add even more headers to secure your application, and it is easy to configure. 

The helmet can implement eleven different header-based security for you with one line of code: 

app.use(helmet()); 

Now, these are some of the best practices that will improve your node.js sense and remind you, these practices are not just limited to amateurs but to the entire Node.js developer community – from specialists to newbies.  

And so, concluding with the generic coding practice, let me remind you to KISS – Keep it Simple and short 🙂 

Check our node.js development services.

Looking for a team that can help in node.js development, Enterprise Software Development Companies like consultadd can help.

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