[VIP] Wizard Zines: Zine 10-pack

Wizard Zines is a little different from other technical publications. Here's my approach: Magazines focus on the basics: things that haven't changed much in the last 10 years and that probably won't change much in the next 10 years.

Jan 16, 2022 - 01:33

Jun 9, 2023 - 11:56

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Wizard Zines is a little different from other technical publications. Here's my approach: Magazines focus on the basics: things that haven't changed much in the last 10 years and that probably won't change much in the next 10 years. That's why there is a log about HTTP and not about, say, the Python request module. HTTP/1.1 was defined in 1997! The basics haven't changed since 1997 because we need backwards compatibility on the web!

The basics are important for two reasons:

you can just learn them once. Because HTTP doesn't change much, you can learn it now and have confidence in your knowledge. It will be the same in 5 years.
everything based on them becomes MUCH EASIER. If you know HTTP, learning curl or the AWS API or requests or whatever you need in your job becomes MUCH EASIER. It's easier to google, it's easier to ask colleagues a question, and it's easier to read the documentation.

Everyone needs to learn new things

One thing that I think is unfortunate about programming culture is that "knowing the basics is really helpful!" can sometimes play a bad joke on you ("oh, you don't know how THING works? WELL YOU SHOULD!! IF YOU DON'T KNOW, YOU ARE NOT A REAL PROGRAMMER").

It's OK to go through 5, 10 or 15 years of your programming career without learning anything that seems "basic". We all need to learn something new to do our job well!

useful to learn some of these "basic" things when you need them
But! it's perfectly normal that you didn't know them!

Only the most important ideas

We all have a lot to do. Not everyone has time to read 400 page programming books!

Each of these magazines is 20-28 pages long. I spend hours on every page to make sure each one explains one or two important ideas as concisely and clearly as possible.

avoid jargon

The internet is full of obscure explanations of programming concepts that seem to be designed to make you feel stupid. They are full of jargon and very formal, like "These are very important, serious ideas, and we need to use difficult words to accurately explain them."

Instead, these magazines explain "difficult" ideas in simple, easy-to-understand language. It is important that the explanations are accurate! It won't help anyone if the explanation is simple and fun but not true, and sometimes you need to use more specific language! But I avoid jargon unless absolutely necessary.

Zine 10 pack