Tool or Die, a Web Developer’s Workflow

This is a talk I gave at Nebraska Code Camp 2013.

“Tool and die makers are a class of machinists who work primarily in toolroom environments—…often in an environment with flexible, semipermeable boundaries from production work.”

These are the people that make the tools to make the products. This was the environment I grew up in—watching my father work as a tool and die maker. He could make anything! But more importantly, he knew the value of good tools—even if you had to construct them yourself.

Tools are important and tooling for Web Development is improving! I’ll go through a few of my favorites: Node.js, grunt.js, npm, yepnope, SASS, grunticon, Browser devtools, Testing tools, and others.

Watch on YouTube

View the Slides

Fork the Slides on GitHub

But You Don’t Have to Take My Word For It

Cory House was quick off the blocks with a review of all the talks he attended:

Zach laid out his presentation in a unique way, relying totally on hand-made lean HTML markup that slowly blossomed as he walked us through topics. I really enjoyed this iterative and novel approach – it was the perfect choice for such a markup heavy session.