I’ve been making a career transition to software engineering for about a year and a half, starting first in a –gasp!– bootcamp and then eventually to Launch School. I’m at a good inflection point now to reflect on the journey so far, talk about the process, the challenges, the joys–and be grateful for everyone who has made this transition possible.

One of the most basic and fundamental models for application architecture is the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern. Many architectures leverage this pattern – whether in a Ruby on Rails, server-side application or a React front-end interface – so it’s important to understand how, why, and so what?

The JavaScript engine is only one of several tools browsers use to deliver a user interface that is both dynamic and able to asynchronously interact with multiple databases and events. Other main components include WebAPIs (including the DOM), two queues, and the Event Loop.

Sometimes, we need to display the same basic HTML, but with some customized data interspersed here and there. The Handlebars.js library is perfect for this. It takes less than 5 minutes to learn how to use this simple and efficient templating tool.

Probably the least understood aspect of JavaScript, the prototypal inheritance model is also coincidentally its most salient and powerful feature. This flexible system enables a rich variety of ways to create objects.

The Journal of John Woolman offers an introspective look into the life of a Quaker itinerant preacher, mystic, abolitionist, and lover of humankind. In addition to providing a taste of the rich inner dialogue and vast moral, spiritual, and physical journeys of Woolman, the journal has the distinction of being the oldest book in North America that has been continuously in print since its first publication in 1774, second only to the Bible.

Written as a memoir to his son William, who at the time was the governor of New Jersey, Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography offers several valuable insights into the life of one of the most remarkable men of the 18th century.