⚛️ You’re using useEffect wrong

We're rethinking how React should be taught

For too long, developers have been stuck choosing between incomplete tutorials, outdated courses, or expensive bootcamps that rush through the fundamentals.

What if there was a better way?

We're building something different. It’s coming soon, but I can’t tell you more yet.

☑ The 4 most common useEffect mistakes
Everyone says “avoid useEffect,” but that’s missing the point, it’s not evil, it’s just easy to screw up. After reviewing 50+ React apps, this dev found the same four traps over and over: messy dependencies, pointless derived state, forgotten cleanups, and code that shouldn’t be in effects at all. If your app’s randomly re-rendering or leaking memory, chances are one of these mistakes is haunting your useEffect.

⚡ React Server Components: Do They Really Improve Performance?
Everyone’s talking about React Server Components, but few actually get what they are. The author admits they didn’t either… until they compared how CSR, SSR, and RSC actually handle data and performance under the hood. This deep dive finally demystifies RSC, breaking down what really changes when you move from client to server, and why it might just reshape how we build React apps.

🏃 I Tried React 19’s Activity Component, Here’s What Surprised Me
React 19 dropped a game-changing component, the new <Activity> tag. It finally fixes the old “hide but lose state” problem every React dev has fought. Instead of unmounting or relying on CSS hacks, Activity keeps components alive in the background, preserves state, and slashes performance costs. This might just be the cleanest way yet to toggle UI without breaking your app’s flow.

🙅 A critique of React Server Components and Next.js 15
This dev’s had enough of Next.js, not because of bugs, but because of its core design. From RSC headaches to App Router pain, they argue Vercel’s choices are breaking developer sanity. But here’s the twist, their team escaped the Next.js trap entirely by migrating to TanStack Start, and the results might make you rethink your stack too.

⚖ State-based vs Signal-based rendering
Most devs think of state vs. signals as just another API debate, but it’s actually a fundamental shift in how rendering works. React’s state model re-renders everything where state is created, while signals like in Preact or Solid.js only re-render where state is used. That tiny inversion changes everything, faster apps, cleaner mental models, and fewer headaches trying to “optimize” what never needed re-rendering in the first place.

Quick Links

🧠 Why Large Language Models Won’t Replace Engineers Anytime Soon
Every few months, someone claims AI is coming for engineers, but the math says otherwise. LLMs like GPT don’t understand cause and effect; they just predict what “looks right.” Engineering, on the other hand, is about acting, testing, and learning from reality, not text. Until AI can truly experience consequences, it won’t replace engineers, it’ll just make them faster, sharper, and more capable.

📚 You Cannot Outsource Understanding
Every decade, someone declares they’ve found a way to build software without developers, outsourcing, no-code, AI. And every time, it crashes back to the same truth: you can’t automate understanding. Russ Miles argues that businesses keep mistaking efficiency for insight. Tools can speed coding, but only people make sense of complexity, and that’s the real work of software.

💻 Why Your Front End Should Do More
Most apps split logic between front and back ends out of habit — but Nate Meyvis argues that’s outdated thinking. His case for “front-end maximalism” says: do as much as possible on the client, as little as possible on the server. With modern tooling and stable networks, it’s often faster, simpler, and more secure.

🤔 Do AIs think differently in different languages?
Do AIs think differently in different languages? Kelsey Piper put it to the test, asking chatbots moral and personal questions in Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, and more.

🆓 Google’s Free AI and Tech Courses
Google just launched Google Skills, a new platform bringing together 3,000+ AI and tech courses from Cloud, DeepMind, and Grow with Google. It’s built for everyone, from students to execs, with hands-on labs, gamified learning, and real certifications. Best part? Much of it’s free, and companies can use it to hire directly from trained learners.