The 7 Most Popular DEV Posts from the Past Week
Tags: top7
Published: 2017-07-24 19:43:56

---
title: "The 7 Most Popular DEV Posts from the Past Week"
published: true
description: A round up of the most-read and most-loved contributions from the community this past week.
tags: icymi
cover_image: https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/xsr1z6iqv0pd7p3s6ns3.png
---

_Every Monday we round up some of the last week's top posts, comments, and tweets. If you have any feedback, please leave a comment._ â¤ï¸

# 1. A Side Note
<img src = "https://media.giphy.com/media/26xBwC6f9RzFyi1Co/giphy.gif" width = "700">

Almost any programmer will tell you that the best way to improve your skills while also creating something you can demonstrate to potential employers is to focus on some side projects. But first you need to _have_ a side project, so Sam Jarman lists a few ways to rev up your imagination:

{% link https://dev.to/samjarman/finding-ideas-for-programming-side-projects %}

One of his suggestions–finding ways to automate personal tasks–was well received:

{% devcomment ebc %}

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# 2. Emoji Module
<img src = "https://media.giphy.com/media/VELC2400W8PbG/giphy.gif" width = "700">

"One of the best things about Node.js is its massive module ecosystem," writes Dominik Kundel. So what did that motivate him to build? A module that reads the emojis from a string input and returns their shortcodes. Watch how he does it:

{% link https://dev.to/dkundel/writing-a-nodejs-module-in-typescript %}

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# 3. Go Build an API
<img src = "https://media.giphy.com/media/l0HlAKiRrw4vc5nkk/giphy.gif" width = "700">

It feels like every week there's a top dev.to post about Go. This week, it's Francis Sunday showing us how to build a RESTful API in the language:

{% link https://dev.to/codehakase/building-a-restful-api-with-go %}

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# 4. Tools of the Trade
<img src = "https://media.giphy.com/media/26BRDHKnjgXuhjlde/giphy.gif" width = "700">

There are so many languages, libraries, frameworks, etc. out there that it's difficult (and daunting) to try to figure out exactly what you need to know to be a sufficiently prepared full stack developer. Sam Jarman (who cracked this week's roundup twice!), runs down his list:

{% link https://dev.to/samjarman/what-should-be-in-a-coders-toolbox %}

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# 5. A Solid Introduction
<img src = "https://media.giphy.com/media/qUJTA6qpXCSWY/giphy.gif" width = "700">

SOLID principles were introduced a few decades ago by Robert C. Martin as standard for maintainable and flexible software design, and today they're still a quite useful set of guidelines. Theofanis Despoudis walks us through the five core ideas:

{% link https://dev.to/theodesp/understanding-solid-principles-dependency-injection %}

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# 6. Dirty Secrets of DevOps

<img src = "https://media.giphy.com/media/4fbrBPFJKHj8s/giphy.gif" width = "700">

Chris Dodds is tired of seeing only success stories about DevOps–"tales of bold IT leaders transforming their business and steering big corporate ships into the future," as he puts it–so he wrote up some "dirty secrets" about the DevOps failures you see fewer stories about:

{% link https://dev.to/liquid_chickens/dirty-secrets-of-devops %}

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# 7. Remote Danger
<img src = "https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6ZsYWCHFlexmVzNu/giphy.gif" width = "700">

There's so much praise for flexible work environments and working from home, that it can be easy to look past some of the pitfalls of such a set-up. Charles Villard, who works remotely himself, explains some of the dangers of WFH:


{% link https://dev.to/cdvillard/there-be-monsters-in-working-remotely %}

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_That's it for our weekly wrapup! Keep an eye on Dev.to this week for daily content and discussions...and if you miss anything, we'll be sure to recap it next Monday!_