Playful Programming
@playfulprogramming.com
The perfect place to learn all kinds of programming, from introductory ideas to advanced abstractions.
Join our Discord!
https://discord.gg/FMcvc6T
Join our Discord!
https://discord.gg/FMcvc6T
Dithering is an important concept to many program's aesthetics...
But how does it work under-the-hood??
We're fortunate enough that Damar is willing to join us for tomorrow's book club to answer this question!
Come join us in our Discord to hear Damar share his insights:
discord.gg/FMcvc6T
But how does it work under-the-hood??
We're fortunate enough that Damar is willing to join us for tomorrow's book club to answer this question!
Come join us in our Discord to hear Damar share his insights:
discord.gg/FMcvc6T
November 5, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Dithering is an important concept to many program's aesthetics...
But how does it work under-the-hood??
We're fortunate enough that Damar is willing to join us for tomorrow's book club to answer this question!
Come join us in our Discord to hear Damar share his insights:
discord.gg/FMcvc6T
But how does it work under-the-hood??
We're fortunate enough that Damar is willing to join us for tomorrow's book club to answer this question!
Come join us in our Discord to hear Damar share his insights:
discord.gg/FMcvc6T
Getting apps to be local-first can be a huge challenge. Luckily for us, TanStack has a new library to help solve that problem: TanStack DB!
Join our book club tonight at 4:30PM PST to talk about an interactive article on TanStack DB to learn how it can help your applications.
Join our book club tonight at 4:30PM PST to talk about an interactive article on TanStack DB to learn how it can help your applications.
October 30, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Getting apps to be local-first can be a huge challenge. Luckily for us, TanStack has a new library to help solve that problem: TanStack DB!
Join our book club tonight at 4:30PM PST to talk about an interactive article on TanStack DB to learn how it can help your applications.
Join our book club tonight at 4:30PM PST to talk about an interactive article on TanStack DB to learn how it can help your applications.
Selectors have a weight to them that we can quantify. This defines their hierarchy and allows you know ahead of time which selector can override another and when!
September 24, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Selectors have a weight to them that we can quantify. This defines their hierarchy and allows you know ahead of time which selector can override another and when!
Selectors come in many varieties, all for different but important purposes. It's important to know which one to use for each case!
September 24, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Selectors come in many varieties, all for different but important purposes. It's important to know which one to use for each case!
📝New article alert!
Specificity in CSS is one of the most misunderstood and important concepts in the web dev space. It refers to the algorithm that browsers run when trying to decide which CSS declarations to apply to HTML elements.
Specificity in CSS is one of the most misunderstood and important concepts in the web dev space. It refers to the algorithm that browsers run when trying to decide which CSS declarations to apply to HTML elements.
September 24, 2025 at 7:57 PM
📝New article alert!
Specificity in CSS is one of the most misunderstood and important concepts in the web dev space. It refers to the algorithm that browsers run when trying to decide which CSS declarations to apply to HTML elements.
Specificity in CSS is one of the most misunderstood and important concepts in the web dev space. It refers to the algorithm that browsers run when trying to decide which CSS declarations to apply to HTML elements.
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Dan Hollick's "What is a color space?" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, September 11th, at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Dan Hollick's "What is a color space?" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, September 11th, at 4:30 PST!
September 8, 2025 at 9:36 PM
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Dan Hollick's "What is a color space?" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, September 11th, at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Dan Hollick's "What is a color space?" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, September 11th, at 4:30 PST!
📚 We have a very special book club this Thursday! 📚
For this week's book club — where we hang out and talk about a dev article — we're joined by the author of an awesome interactive blog post about "Big O": @samwho.dev
Join our Discord and discuss the article with us all!
For this week's book club — where we hang out and talk about a dev article — we're joined by the author of an awesome interactive blog post about "Big O": @samwho.dev
Join our Discord and discuss the article with us all!
September 3, 2025 at 1:31 AM
📚 We have a very special book club this Thursday! 📚
For this week's book club — where we hang out and talk about a dev article — we're joined by the author of an awesome interactive blog post about "Big O": @samwho.dev
Join our Discord and discuss the article with us all!
For this week's book club — where we hang out and talk about a dev article — we're joined by the author of an awesome interactive blog post about "Big O": @samwho.dev
Join our Discord and discuss the article with us all!
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing @joshwcomeau.com 's "An Interactive Guide to SVG Paths" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, August 28th, at 4:30 PST!
discord.gg/FMcvc6T
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing @joshwcomeau.com 's "An Interactive Guide to SVG Paths" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, August 28th, at 4:30 PST!
discord.gg/FMcvc6T
August 26, 2025 at 11:28 PM
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing @joshwcomeau.com 's "An Interactive Guide to SVG Paths" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, August 28th, at 4:30 PST!
discord.gg/FMcvc6T
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing @joshwcomeau.com 's "An Interactive Guide to SVG Paths" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, August 28th, at 4:30 PST!
discord.gg/FMcvc6T
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Lee Robinson's "Reflections on the React community" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, August 21st, at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Lee Robinson's "Reflections on the React community" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, August 21st, at 4:30 PST!
August 19, 2025 at 7:01 PM
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Lee Robinson's "Reflections on the React community" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, August 21st, at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Lee Robinson's "Reflections on the React community" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, August 21st, at 4:30 PST!
📚 Join our book club today! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Framework Field Guide's "Linters, Formatters, and Type-Checkers" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, August 14th, at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Framework Field Guide's "Linters, Formatters, and Type-Checkers" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, August 14th, at 4:30 PST!
August 14, 2025 at 5:48 PM
📚 Join our book club today! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Framework Field Guide's "Linters, Formatters, and Type-Checkers" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, August 14th, at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Framework Field Guide's "Linters, Formatters, and Type-Checkers" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, August 14th, at 4:30 PST!
📝 Once again, what are monads?
Our new article is out, and it covers a topic that's been explained many times, in many different ways: Monads!
Monads are a staple of functional programming but, for some, the resources available explaining them don't cut it.
Our new article is out, and it covers a topic that's been explained many times, in many different ways: Monads!
Monads are a staple of functional programming but, for some, the resources available explaining them don't cut it.
August 13, 2025 at 6:04 PM
📝 Once again, what are monads?
Our new article is out, and it covers a topic that's been explained many times, in many different ways: Monads!
Monads are a staple of functional programming but, for some, the resources available explaining them don't cut it.
Our new article is out, and it covers a topic that's been explained many times, in many different ways: Monads!
Monads are a staple of functional programming but, for some, the resources available explaining them don't cut it.
📝 New article: You should be using unitless values for line-height!
In our new blog post we lay out why unitless line height values are good for maintainability, and accessibility.
Unitless values inherit from the parent, ensuring it works on all value types.
In our new blog post we lay out why unitless line height values are good for maintainability, and accessibility.
Unitless values inherit from the parent, ensuring it works on all value types.
July 23, 2025 at 8:37 PM
📝 New article: You should be using unitless values for line-height!
In our new blog post we lay out why unitless line height values are good for maintainability, and accessibility.
Unitless values inherit from the parent, ensuring it works on all value types.
In our new blog post we lay out why unitless line height values are good for maintainability, and accessibility.
Unitless values inherit from the parent, ensuring it works on all value types.
Fiber, the rewrite before it, brought concurrency, prioritization, pausing and incremental rendering. It laid the groundwork for many other features and allowed for error boundaries!
July 9, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Fiber, the rewrite before it, brought concurrency, prioritization, pausing and incremental rendering. It laid the groundwork for many other features and allowed for error boundaries!
Hooks, for example, were introduced in React 16.8 and introduced useState and useEffect making reusable stateful logic easy. This was a massive improvement over the previous iteration.
July 9, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Hooks, for example, were introduced in React 16.8 and introduced useState and useEffect making reusable stateful logic easy. This was a massive improvement over the previous iteration.
🌐 The History of React Through Code
We have a new article for you, and this is a big one. 👀
There were many criticisms of React's design throughout the years, but how valid are they? Our new article explores that and much more!
We have a new article for you, and this is a big one. 👀
There were many criticisms of React's design throughout the years, but how valid are they? Our new article explores that and much more!
July 9, 2025 at 11:45 PM
🌐 The History of React Through Code
We have a new article for you, and this is a big one. 👀
There were many criticisms of React's design throughout the years, but how valid are they? Our new article explores that and much more!
We have a new article for you, and this is a big one. 👀
There were many criticisms of React's design throughout the years, but how valid are they? Our new article explores that and much more!
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing own our article, Framework Field Guide's "Styling" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, July 10th, at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing own our article, Framework Field Guide's "Styling" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, July 10th, at 4:30 PST!
July 8, 2025 at 10:28 PM
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing own our article, Framework Field Guide's "Styling" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, July 10th, at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing own our article, Framework Field Guide's "Styling" article!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, July 10th, at 4:30 PST!
📚 No, really, what's a monad? 📚
That's what we're gonna answer in today's book club!
Every Thursday we hang out and discuss an article; this week, it's Ryan Marcus' article about monads — whatever they are.
Join us today on Discord at 4:30 PM PST!
That's what we're gonna answer in today's book club!
Every Thursday we hang out and discuss an article; this week, it's Ryan Marcus' article about monads — whatever they are.
Join us today on Discord at 4:30 PM PST!
July 3, 2025 at 6:30 PM
📚 No, really, what's a monad? 📚
That's what we're gonna answer in today's book club!
Every Thursday we hang out and discuss an article; this week, it's Ryan Marcus' article about monads — whatever they are.
Join us today on Discord at 4:30 PM PST!
That's what we're gonna answer in today's book club!
Every Thursday we hang out and discuss an article; this week, it's Ryan Marcus' article about monads — whatever they are.
Join us today on Discord at 4:30 PM PST!
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Stanislav Vishnevskiy’s "How Discord Scaled Elixir to 5,000,000 Concurrent Users"!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, June 26th, at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Stanislav Vishnevskiy’s "How Discord Scaled Elixir to 5,000,000 Concurrent Users"!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, June 26th, at 4:30 PST!
June 26, 2025 at 7:15 PM
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Stanislav Vishnevskiy’s "How Discord Scaled Elixir to 5,000,000 Concurrent Users"!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, June 26th, at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Stanislav Vishnevskiy’s "How Discord Scaled Elixir to 5,000,000 Concurrent Users"!
Join our Discord and meet us on today, June 26th, at 4:30 PST!
The third chapter is about styling, where we discuss different ways to style your apps, either by organizing your code using specific patterns or using existing libraries for customization, like Tailwind.
June 18, 2025 at 9:07 PM
The third chapter is about styling, where we discuss different ways to style your apps, either by organizing your code using specific patterns or using existing libraries for customization, like Tailwind.
The second chapter is about linting, formatting, and type-checking; all of which provide insights into your code, allowing you to optimize and fix errors. This includes Prettier, ESLint, TypeScript, and more.
June 18, 2025 at 9:07 PM
The second chapter is about linting, formatting, and type-checking; all of which provide insights into your code, allowing you to optimize and fix errors. This includes Prettier, ESLint, TypeScript, and more.
The first chapter is about bundling, which unlocks many features such as transpiling, automatic linting, merging and optimizing of code and many more features.
June 18, 2025 at 9:07 PM
The first chapter is about bundling, which unlocks many features such as transpiling, automatic linting, merging and optimizing of code and many more features.
Today we’re proud to release the first 3 chapters of Framework Field Guide’s second book: Ecosystem.
This book discusses the tools surrounding frameworks — we're going to talk about all the capabilities that are unlocked when using them and their usefulness!
This book discusses the tools surrounding frameworks — we're going to talk about all the capabilities that are unlocked when using them and their usefulness!
June 18, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Today we’re proud to release the first 3 chapters of Framework Field Guide’s second book: Ecosystem.
This book discusses the tools surrounding frameworks — we're going to talk about all the capabilities that are unlocked when using them and their usefulness!
This book discusses the tools surrounding frameworks — we're going to talk about all the capabilities that are unlocked when using them and their usefulness!
📅 Now that we've reached the halfway point of 2025, it's time to recap what Playful Programming has been up to so far! Here's a big-ish thread to get you up to speed:
June 12, 2025 at 7:01 PM
📅 Now that we've reached the halfway point of 2025, it's time to recap what Playful Programming has been up to so far! Here's a big-ish thread to get you up to speed:
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Brandon Dail’s "Fault Tolerance"!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, June 12th at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Brandon Dail’s "Fault Tolerance"!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, June 12th at 4:30 PST!
June 10, 2025 at 12:15 AM
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Brandon Dail’s "Fault Tolerance"!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, June 12th at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Brandon Dail’s "Fault Tolerance"!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, June 12th at 4:30 PST!
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Dan Abramov's "RSC for Astro Developers"!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, June 5th at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Dan Abramov's "RSC for Astro Developers"!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, June 5th at 4:30 PST!
June 2, 2025 at 9:29 PM
📚 Join our book club this Thursday! 📚
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Dan Abramov's "RSC for Astro Developers"!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, June 5th at 4:30 PST!
In our book club we hang out and talk about an article — this week, we're discussing Dan Abramov's "RSC for Astro Developers"!
Join our Discord and meet us on Thursday, June 5th at 4:30 PST!