Pop Tech TL;DR Episode 1 - A review of tech about APIs, JavaScript search, SVG, GraphQL, Testing!
Tags: javascript, css, graphql, react
Published: 2019-02-09 18:30:36

---
title: Pop Tech TL;DR Episode 1 - A review of tech about APIs, JavaScript search, SVG, GraphQL, Testing!
published: true
description: Pop Tech TL;DR Episode 1 - A review of tech about APIs, JavaScript search, SVG, GraphQL, Testing, and more stuff about software engineering!
tags: javascript, css, graphql, react
cover_image: https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--f6c-I4Lg--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_880/https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2600/1%2Avc082TQVqbMi0w26lC1ccw.jpeg
series: Pop Tech TL;DR
---

*Originally posted at [https://devstuffwithjpada.com/pop-tech-tldr-episode-1/](https://devstuffwithjpada.com/pop-tech-tldr-episode-1/).*

![Pop Tech TL;DR](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/6322yxiidrkxw4nmdho8.JPG)

Hey guys! I'm starting a new series called Pop Tech TL;DR, where we'll take a look at popular technologies, concepts, advances, and trends in the world of software engineering. This episode will be the first in the series.

## [1. Learning to work with APIs](https://workwithapis.com/)

> This guide is designed for people who have something they want to accomplish that requires using an API, but aren't quite sure how to get started.

![Learn how to build APIs with Slash the Dog](https://devstuffwithjpada.com/media/posts/13/responsive/Screen-Shot-2019-02-03-at-6.14.44-AM-xl.png)

This site will teach you how to use REST APIs, which are a must if you want to get information or use services created by other people. It talks about authentication, requests, responses, tools, etc. If you want to learn how to consume REST APIs, check it out! It's really easy to understand.

## [2. FlexSearch.js](https://github.com/nextapps-de/flexsearch)

> Web's fastest and most memory-flexible full-text search library with zero dependencies.

![FlexSearch.js Github Repository](https://devstuffwithjpada.com/media/posts/13/responsive/Screen-Shot-2019-02-03-at-6.31.31-AM-xl.png)

FlexSearch is a new JavaScript library for almost everything you'd want in text search functionality. It's full featured, supporting things like async search, partial matching, phonetic matching, and more! Apparently it's also really really fast, but as always, take everything with a grain of salt and actually try it out yourself to see if their measurements really do check out.

## [3. Everything You Need To Know About SVG](https://css-tricks.com/lodge/svg/)

> Using SVG can be very simple, but if you start digging in, there is a lot to know about SVG. In this series you're going to learn why SVG is such an important part of building websites. From why SVG is useful and how to get your hands on it all the way to implementing it as a system and fancy stuff like animating it.

![CSS Tricks - Everything You Need To Know About SVGs](https://devstuffwithjpada.com/media/posts/13/responsive/Screen-Shot-2019-02-03-at-6.31.48-AM-xl.png)

CSS Tricks just updated the look and feel of their site and man, is it gorgeous. Very fitting, being the CSS masters that they are. This new course they have about SVGs is no exception. It look so slick, elegant, and modern. Of course, the content is very important, and they have videos on what SVGs are, why we need them, how to use them, tools, optimizations, and tips to really help you understand SVGs in-depth. Designer or not, it's a pretty awesome course to check out.

## [4. GraphQL Designer](http://www.graphqldesigner.com/)

> A developer web-app tool to rapidly prototype a full stack implementation of GraphQL with React.

![GraphQL Designer](https://devstuffwithjpada.com/media/posts/13/responsive/Screen-Shot-2019-02-03-at-6.42.55-AM-xl.png)

Pick a database, create a schema, export your code and voila!
GraphQL Designer is a rapid GraphQL API design and prototyping tool that allows you to pick a database, create a schema, then convert the schema you made into working code! You'll download the database schema, the GraphQL schema, and client code for making requests to your GraphQL API. Great for prototyping in hackathons or if you're building simple or straightforward apps. In any case, if you work with GraphQL, you might want to check this out.

## [5. React Testing Library](https://testing-library.com/react)

> Simple and complete React DOM testing utilities that encourage good testing practices

![React Testing Library by Kent Dodds](https://devstuffwithjpada.com/media/posts/13/responsive/Screen-Shot-2019-02-03-at-6.49.48-AM-xl.png)

The prolific React and JavaScript developer Kent Dodds created this library as an alternative to Enzyme. It gives us less flexibility because it's opinionated, but this also means that we're going to be implementing best practices by using it. Less options means we have less rope to hang ourselves. Kent already has a tutorial video on how to use it on YouTube but I think I'll cover it in Filipino for all my Filipino developer peers out there. Definitely look forward to it!