August 23, 2018 — Everyone has their preferred choice of Development tools, but it is important to see what options are available. While there are a number of benefits, this talk is designed to cover some of the top reason to give an IDE a test drive.
1. Using xdebug to troubleshoot your code.
2. Stepping through the code.
3. Jumping to where a function is defined.
4. Code suggestions due to the fact that the IDE knows about WP Core functions.
5. PHP Codesniffer

July 13, 2018 — This talk is geared towards getting people up to speed with how Modern Javascript works. The bulk of this talk will be used to cover the newer Javascript syntax, since that syntax will be used in the following React Talks. The Modern JS talk will also cover how to navigate the board Javascript ecosystem, and we will be touching on topics such as Node, NPM, and some of the various build tools that exist. Additionally, we will discuss some more advanced Javascript topics like Async Programming, and building modular Javascript applications.

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July 10, 2018 — His talk will cover core Javascript concepts which can often be overlooked when simply writing jQuery. In order to move beyond jQuery, this talk will first demystify how jQuery actually works at a fundamental level. To do this we will build our own MVP version of jQuery. Next this talk will cover other core JS concepts to provide a well rounded base before moving into the next talk (Modern JS). Some of the topics we will be touching on are the prototype, higher order functions, and various ways to create objects.

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July 10, 2018 — This talk will teach you the very basics of using React. We will be covering things like basic component creation, rendering React to the DOM, and basic state management. We will also have a brief discussion about some of the core concepts behind React. Such as the virtual dom, and functional programming. At the end of this talk users will have the required knowledge to build a simple React Application. This talk will also include a number of practical examples, and those in attendance will be able to demo the examples using free online tools such as codesandbox.

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June 20, 2018 — In this talk we will continue to build up our React knowledge by discussing more advanced concepts which most real world applications will require. Concepts such as:

More advanced state management with Redux.
Creating more complete apps using React-router.
Building more advanced components by creating Higher Order Components and using render props.
The basics of server side rendering.

March 18, 2017 — A big hurdle for WordPress Developers when jumping into Javascript development is the paradigm switch from PHP’s Class based classical inheritance to Javascript’s more Functional prototypal inheritance.

In this talk we will be taking an in-depth look at how objects work in Javascript. We will also be look at different ways to handle inheritance in Javascript. In addition to reviewing what JS Prototypes are, we will also spend some time looking at object creation patterns in JS. How they differ from PHP, and in some ways how they are similar. We will even cover cool things that Javascript lets us do like borrowing methods from other objects. And much much more.

Presentation Slides »

February 27, 2017 — One of the most important parts of building a WordPress site from scratch, is brainstorming and building out the various types of data, and how they relate to each other.

In this talk we will cover:

Creating Custom Post Types
Creating Custom Taxonomies
Using Metadata for CPT’s and taxonomies
How best to make relationships between these two data types.
How to build performant queries.
And lastly we will look at some basic caching techniques that we can employ with Transients and/or Object Cache to make these queries even more performant.

January 9, 2017 — One of the most important parts of building a WordPress site from scratch, is brainstorming and building out the various types of data, and how they relate to each other.

In this talk we will cover:
Creating Custom Post Types
Creating Custom Taxonomies
Using Metadata for CPT’s and taxonomies
How best to make relationships between these two data types.
How to build performant queries.
And lastly we will look at some basic caching techniques that we can employ with Transients and/or Object Cache to make these queries even more performant.

Presentation Slides »

July 18, 2015 — This talk will be geared towards WordPress users who have taken the dive into customizing WordPress. The goal is to take them from copying and pasting random code snippets in functions.php, and have them better understand the event driven nature of WordPress.

In addition to a basic discussion of actions and filters, this discussion will also include coding examples of hooks in action.

To make this talk more relevant to developers already past the hooks hurdle, I would also end the talk by touching on the concept of adding custom WordPress hooks into your own code.