Joe Stein

I've been using Python for years for ETL, miscellaneous scripting tasks, and quick-start web apps using Flask (and heavier ones with Django). I like how easy it is to whip something up in Python, and its package management makes creating reproducible apps easy.

PHP was my first web language, and I'll always have a soft spot for the Apache + PHP + MySQL stack. Its lack of typing, organic development, and various feature adoption from C sometimes make it difficult to debug, but I've seen it all. PHP was developed with the intent to fail as late as possible, which unfortunately, along with other development practices, has made it especially ripe for hackers. I've seen all of OWASP's nightmares in PHP, and know how to avoid them.

While working at Facebook, where React was developed, I built out both web React and React Native frontends for various internal tools. I love using React - its core concept of declarative, modular, composable components defined separately from the DOM makes frontend development fast, sustainable, enjoyable, and performant!

I've worked with both C and C++. At Facebook, I worked on services written in C++; in school, I did extensive coursework and was a TA for systems courses, all in C. I'm glad to see other low-level, high-performance languages emerging that are easier to write in and/or more memory safe, like Rust and Golang. That being said, C and C++ are still good options, as they're very mature languages with plenty of robust tooling and standard libraries.

Almost every project I've ever written has been backed by a MySQL database. Although I've dabbled in NoSQL with MongoDB, I much prefer the schema organization and predictability of relational databases like MySQL or Postgresql. I enjoy designing sensible, relational schemas that are adapted to the current data, allow for easy expansion, and leverage relational DB performance.

Java was my first programming language. In fact, when I started, it was even still used in web applets! I've written some small Android apps with it as well. I appreciate its strong typing and strict object-oriented paradigm.