Ty's Web Development Training Blog

A List of Programming Tools and Resources to Make You a Better Programmer

by Tyronne on June 4, 2025

Tyronne Ratcliff here. Below is a nice list of programming tools broken down by category.

These programming tools and resources will help you become a better programmer and speed up development time.

Data Structures & Algorithms Training:

LeetCode – LeetCode is a popular online platform that provides a vast collection of coding and algorithmic problems designed to help developers practice their programming skills, learn data structures and algorithms, and prepare for technical interviews at software companies.

Users can solve problems across various difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard) in multiple programming languages, submit their solutions, and receive immediate feedback on correctness, execution time, and memory usage, often comparing their performance against other users’ submissions.

Beyond individual problem-solving, LeetCode also features study plans, competitive programming contests, and a vibrant community forum where users discuss solutions, share interview experiences, and collaborate, making it an invaluable resource for both aspiring and experienced software engineers.

Coding Education:

MDN Web Docs – MDN Web Docs (Mozilla Developer Network) is an authoritative online encyclopedia for web technologies, maintained by Mozilla and a global community. It provides comprehensive and up-to-date documentation for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and various web APIs, with a strong emphasis on accuracy, web standards, and browser compatibility. Unlike simpler tutorials, MDN dives deep into how web technologies work, offering detailed explanations, syntax, code examples, and compatibility tables. It’s an essential reference for all web developers, from those learning fundamentals to experienced professionals seeking precise technical information, ensuring they have access to the definitive source for the open web.

W3Schools – W3Schools is a widely recognized online educational website that provides free tutorials and references for various web development technologies.

Launched in 1998, it covers a broad range of topics including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, Python, PHP, and many popular frameworks and libraries like React, Angular, and Node.js.

The platform is known for its simple, structured lessons, often presented with interactive “TryIt Editor” examples that allow users to modify code directly in the browser and see the immediate output. While it’s an excellent resource for quick lookups, syntax reminders, and grasping fundamental concepts due to its accessibility and clear examples, some experienced developers occasionally point out that its explanations might lack the depth of official documentation (like MDN) or might not always reflect the absolute latest best practices.

Nevertheless, for beginners seeking to learn web development from scratch or anyone needing a quick reference, W3Schools remains a popular and valuable starting point.

Code Editors & AI Powered Coding Assistants:

Visual Studio Code – Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a popular, free, and open-source code editor developed by Microsoft. It’s renowned for its lightweight yet powerful nature, offering extensive features like intelligent code completion (IntelliSense), debugging tools, built-in Git integration, and a vast marketplace of extensions that allow users to customize it for virtually any programming language or development workflow. Its cross-platform compatibility (Windows, macOS, Linux) and strong community support make it a go-to choice for developers across various disciplines, from web development to data science.

PyCharm – PyCharm is a powerful and popular integrated development environment (IDE) specifically designed for Python programming.

Developed by JetBrains, it offers a comprehensive suite of tools that streamline every stage of the software development lifecycle, from writing and debugging to testing and deploying Python applications.

Key features include an intelligent code editor with smart completion, error highlighting, and code refactoring capabilities, a robust graphical debugger for step-by-step code execution analysis, and integrated unit testing frameworks.

PyCharm also boasts seamless integration with version control systems like Git, supports various web development frameworks such as Django and Flask, and provides extensive support for scientific libraries like NumPy and Matplotlib, making it a versatile choice for a wide range of Python projects, including data science and machine learning.

Claude Sonnet – Claude Sonnet, developed by Anthropic, is a member of the Claude family of large language models. The latest version, Claude Sonnet 4, was released on May 22, 2025. It is positioned as a mid-size model that offers a balance between performance and cost, surpassing its predecessor, Claude Sonnet 3.7, in coding and reasoning capabilities. Claude Sonnet 4 is designed for various applications including code reviews, bug fixes, AI assistants, efficient research, and large-scale content generation and analysis. It is available to users through the Claude.ai web interface, iOS, and Android, with Sonnet 4 being accessible even on the free tier. For API users, pricing starts at $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens, with potential cost savings through features like prompt caching and batch processing.

Authentication Tools:

Clerk – Clerk is an authentication and user management platform designed to simplify the process of adding user sign-up, sign-in, and account management to applications.

It provides a comprehensive suite of embeddable UI components (like pre-built login and signup forms), flexible APIs, and admin dashboards, allowing developers to quickly integrate various authentication methods such as password-based login, social logins (Google, Facebook, etc.), one-time passcodes (email/SMS), and multi-factor authentication, ultimately saving development time and effort in building secure user authentication systems.

Application Programming Interface (API) Tools:

Insomnia – Insomnia is a popular open-source API client that simplifies the process of designing, debugging, and testing various types of APIs, including RESTful, GraphQL, gRPC, SOAP, and WebSockets.

It offers a clean and intuitive user interface that allows developers to easily create and send HTTP requests, analyze responses, and organize their API interactions into collections and workspaces.

Key features include dynamic environment variables for managing different settings (development, staging, production), authentication helpers, code generation, and the ability to chain requests to automate complex workflows. Insomnia also supports a plugin ecosystem for extending functionality, and offers both local and cloud storage options for collaboration, making it a versatile tool for individual developers and teams alike.

DummyJSON – DummyJSON is a free, online REST API designed to provide placeholder JSON data for various development and testing purposes.

It eliminates the need for developers to set up a complete backend server just to get sample data for their frontend applications, prototypes, or learning projects.

DummyJSON offers a wide range of pre-built datasets, including products, carts, users, posts, comments, quotes, and recipes, all accessible via simple HTTP GET requests. Beyond just retrieving data, it also simulates various HTTP methods like POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE, allowing for more comprehensive testing of API interactions. Additionally, it offers features like pagination, filtering, sorting, and even dynamic image generation, making it a versatile tool for quickly simulating real-world API responses and streamlining frontend development workflows.

Misc:

GitHub – GitHub is a widely used web-based platform that leverages Git, an open-source distributed version control system, to facilitate collaborative software development.

It serves as a central hub for developers to store, manage, and share their code repositories, tracking every change made over time.

This enables teams to work on projects simultaneously, propose and review code changes through “pull requests,” and easily revert to previous versions if needed. Beyond just code hosting,

GitHub integrates project management tools like issue tracking, continuous integration, and wikis, fostering a vibrant ecosystem for both open-source projects and private development, making it an indispensable tool for millions of developers worldwide.

What programming tools and resoures do you use as a web developer?

Let us know in the comments section below!

{ 0 comments }

How to Track User Dwell Time on Your Webpage with React

by Tyronne on May 31, 2025

page load speed

Understanding how users interact with your website is crucial for improving user experience and achieving business goals. One fundamental metric is “time on page” – how long a user spends actively engaging with a specific part of your site.

In this tutorial, we’ll build a robust React component that accurately measures the duration a user spends on a webpage. We’ll leverage React’s powerful useEffect hook to manage the timer, handle component lifecycles, and even account for users switching tabs!

Why Measure Time on Page?

Engagement Insights: Longer times can indicate higher engagement with your content.
Content Optimization: Identify which pages capture user attention and which might need improvement.
User Behavior Analysis: Correlate time on page with conversions or other user actions.
Analytics Integration: Send valuable data to your analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics, Mixpanel) or your own backend.

The Core Idea

Our React component will primarily rely on these concepts:

Start Time: Record the precise moment the user lands on the page (when our component mounts).
Duration Calculation: Continuously update a state variable to show the live time spent.
End Time/Cleanup: When the user leaves the page (component unmounts), calculate the total time and trigger a callback.
Activity Tracking: Account for users switching tabs or minimizing the browser to ensure accurate “active” time.

Let’s dive into the code!

Step 1: Set Up Your React Project (If You Haven’t Already)

If you don’t have a React project ready, you can quickly create one using Vite or Create React App

# Using Vite (recommended for new projects)
npm create vite@latest my-time-tracker-app -- --template react
cd my-time-tracker-app
npm install
npm run dev

# Or using Create React App
npx create-react-app my-time-tracker-app
cd my-time-tracker-app
npm start

Step 2: Create the `TimeOnPageTracker` Component

Inside your src folder, create a new file named TimeOnPageTracker.jsx (or .tsx if you’re using TypeScript).

// src/TimeOnPageTracker.jsx
import React, { useState, useEffect, useRef } from 'react';

const TimeOnPageTracker = ({ onTimeSpent }) => {
  const [startTime, setStartTime] = useState(null);
  const [duration, setDuration] = useState(0); // In seconds
  const intervalRef = useRef(null); // To store the interval ID for cleanup

  // Effect 1: Initialize timer and handle component unmount
  useEffect(() => {
    // Record the initial start time when the component mounts
    const initialStartTime = Date.now();
    setStartTime(initialStartTime);
    console.log('Page entered at:', new Date(initialStartTime).toLocaleTimeString());

    // Start an interval to update the duration every second
    intervalRef.current = setInterval(() => {
      setDuration(Math.floor((Date.now() - initialStartTime) / 1000));
    }, 1000);

    // Cleanup function: This runs when the component unmounts (user leaves the page)
    return () => {
      clearInterval(intervalRef.current); // Clear the interval to prevent memory leaks
      const endTime = Date.now();
      const finalDuration = Math.floor((endTime - initialStartTime) / 1000); // Calculate final duration in seconds
      console.log('Page left at:', new Date(endTime).toLocaleTimeString());
      console.log('Total time spent on page:', finalDuration, 'seconds');

      // Call the onTimeSpent prop to send the final duration to the parent
      if (onTimeSpent && typeof onTimeSpent === 'function') {
        onTimeSpent(finalDuration);
      }
    };
  }, [onTimeSpent]); // `onTimeSpent` is a dependency to ensure the cleanup function gets the latest version if it ever changes (though usually it's stable)

  // Effect 2: Handle page visibility changes (tab switching, minimizing)
  useEffect(() => {
    const handleVisibilityChange = () => {
      if (document.hidden) {
        // User switched tab or minimized browser - pause the timer
        console.log('User is inactive (tab hidden)');
        clearInterval(intervalRef.current);
      } else {
        // User returned to the tab - resume the timer
        console.log('User is active (tab visible)');
        if (startTime) { // Ensure startTime is set from the first effect
          // Adjust startTime to ensure continuous duration calculation
          // We set startTime to what it *should have been* to get the current duration
          setStartTime(Date.now() - (duration * 1000));
          // Restart the interval
          intervalRef.current = setInterval(() => {
            setDuration(Math.floor((Date.now() - startTime) / 1000));
          }, 1000);
        }
      }
    };

    // Add event listener for visibility changes
    document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', handleVisibilityChange);

    // Cleanup for this effect: remove the event listener
    return () => {
      document.removeEventListener('visibilitychange', handleVisibilityChange);
    };
  }, [startTime, duration]); // Dependencies for this effect

  // Helper to format the duration into a human-readable string
  const formatDuration = (totalSeconds) => {
    const hours = Math.floor(totalSeconds / 3600);
    const minutes = Math.floor((totalSeconds % 3600) / 60);
    const seconds = totalSeconds % 60;

    return `${hours > 0 ? `${hours}h ` : ''}${minutes > 0 ? `${minutes}m ` : ''}${seconds}s`;
  };

  return (
    <div style={{ padding: '20px', border: '1px solid #ccc', margin: '20px', borderRadius: '8px', backgroundColor: '#f9f9f9' }}>
      <h3>⏱️ Time Tracker</h3>
      <p>Time spent on this page: <strong>{formatDuration(duration)}</strong></p>
      <p style={{ fontSize: '0.8em', color: '#666' }}>
        (This timer updates live. The final time is logged when you leave or close this tab.)
      </p>
    </div>
  );
};

export default TimeOnPageTracker;

Code Breakdown:

useState Hooks:
- startTime: Stores the timestamp (milliseconds since epoch) when the component first rendered.
- duration: Stores the live, continuously updated time spent in seconds.
useRef(null) for intervalRef:
- useRef is essential here because setInterval returns an ID that we need to store. If we stored it directly in useState, updating it would cause unnecessary re-renders. useRef allows us to hold a mutable value that persists across renders without triggering them.
useEffect (Main Timer and Unmount Logic):
- Mounting: When the component mounts, Date.now() captures the initialStartTime. A setInterval is set up to run every second, updating the duration state.
- Unmounting (the return function): This is the cleanup phase.
  - clearInterval(intervalRef.current): Crucial! This stops the setInterval loop, preventing memory leaks and ensuring the timer doesn’t run after the component is gone.
  - The finalDuration is calculated.
  - onTimeSpent(finalDuration): This prop is a callback function passed from the parent. It’s where you’d typically send the time data to your analytics or backend.
useEffect (Visibility Change):
- This secondary useEffect listens for the browser’s visibilitychange event.
- document.hidden: When true, the user has switched tabs or minimized the browser. We clearInterval to pause the timer.
- When false, the user has returned. We restart the timer. Importantly, we adjust startTime: setStartTime(Date.now() - (duration * 1000)); This “rewinds” the startTime so that when the timer resumes, the duration continues from where it left off, rather than jumping up due to the time spent while inactive.
onTimeSpent Prop:
- This prop makes our TimeOnPageTracker component reusable. It’s a function that the parent component provides to receive the final time spent.

Step 3: Integrate into Your `App.jsx`

Now, let’s use our TimeOnPageTracker component in your main application file (e.g., App.jsx).

// src/App.jsx
import React from 'react';
import TimeOnPageTracker from './TimeOnPageTracker'; // Import our new component
import './App.css'; // Assuming you have some basic CSS

function App() {
  const handleTimeSpent = (timeInSeconds) => {
    // This function will be called by TimeOnPageTracker when the user leaves the page.
    // Here, you would typically send this data to your analytics service or backend.
    console.log(`User spent ${timeInSeconds} seconds on the page (from App.js callback).`);

    // Example of sending to an analytics service (replace with your actual implementation)
    // myAnalyticsService.track('time_on_page', { duration: timeInSeconds });

    // Or send to your backend API
    // fetch('/api/log-time', {
    //   method: 'POST',
    //   headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    //   body: JSON.stringify({ path: window.location.pathname, duration: timeInSeconds })
    // });
  };

  return (
    <div className="App">
      <header className="App-header">
        <h1>Welcome to My Awesome Website!</h1>
        <p>This is some content to keep you engaged.</p>
        <TimeOnPageTracker onTimeSpent={handleTimeSpent} />
      </header>

      <main style={{ padding: '20px' }}>
        <h2>Explore More Content</h2>
        <p>
          Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor
          incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis
          nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
          Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore
          eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident,
          sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
        </p>
        {/* Add some tall content to enable scrolling and test more interaction */}
        <div style={{ height: '800px', backgroundColor: '#e0e0e0', display: 'flex', alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'center', margin: '20px 0' }}>
          <p>More content here...</p>
        </div>
        <p>Thanks for visiting!</p>
      </main>
    </div>
  );
}

export default App;

Testing Your Tracker

Run your React application (npm run dev or npm start).
Open your browser’s developer console.
Observe the live Time spent on this page update.
Test 1: Tab Switching: Switch to another browser tab. You should see “User is inactive” in the console. Switch back, and “User is active” should appear, and the timer should resume accurately.
Test 2: Page Navigation/Closure: Navigate to a different URL, close the tab, or close the browser. You should see the “Total time spent on page” message in your console, triggered by the onTimeSpent callback.

Important Considerations and Limitations

Browser Tab Closure/Crash: While the useEffect cleanup function generally works well for unmounting, there are edge cases (e.g., browser crashes, sudden power loss) where the beforeunload event (which triggers useEffect cleanup) might not fire reliably. For mission-critical analytics, consider periodic “heartbeat” pings to your server.

User Inactivity: This component accurately tracks active time (when the tab is visible). It doesn’t track if a user is simply idle on the page (e.g., walked away from their computer). For deeper activity tracking, you’d need to monitor mouse movements, keyboard presses, and scroll events, which can add complexity and overhead.

Single-Page Applications (SPAs): If your React application uses client-side routing (which most do), this component tracks the time on the specific React component instance where it’s mounted. If you want to track time on different “pages” (routes) within your SPA, you’d typically place the TimeOnPageTracker component inside each route’s main component, allowing it to mount and unmount with route changes. Alternatively, you could pass the current route as a prop to the tracker and reset its internal state when the route changes.

Conclusion

You now have a powerful and flexible React component to measure how long users spend on your webpages.

This data is invaluable for understanding user engagement and making data-driven decisions to improve your website.

Remember to integrate the onTimeSpent callback with your preferred analytics solution to truly leverage this information!