Workspace for JavaScript Developers

I created this GitHub repo https://github.com/icaro-capobianco/awesome-cardano-workspace which is a pnpm workspace that allows developers to work libraries while they code their projects.

This is achieved by:

- Cloning the open source libraries under /libraries
- pnpm then uses symlinks to direct the node_modules to the cloned repo's directory

The result is that, instead of just copying the JS files (which is often transpiled in some way, like with TypeScript), you have the source code available for you to modify, this leads to code reusability.

Think about it, we are seeing more and more apps around Cardano and this means that developers are solving problems which are often the same for all those projects. By announcing this strategy of development we can empower developers to contribute more to the open source libraries designed to solve these problems.

What I see currently happening is that developers install dependencies and as soon as they need something that the libraries don't provide they code it in the source code of their projects, this is against the principle of separation of concerns or single responsibility.

Your app probably shouldn't have the code to access some API, that can be done in a separate SDK library.

The workspace allows the developers to easily tap into both codebases.

(Funny note: that can lead to multiple instances of VSCode being open and a real reason to use multiple monitors beyond the aesthetics)

My plan

If I get funded I will spend the next 2 months announcing, teaching and contributing to this repo. This includes:

- Telling developers about it and showing how it works
- Looking for the open source projects, libraries and packages that can be part of this
- Supporting edge cases
- Writing scripts to facilitate even more the use of the workspace
- Applying the right tools to generate a visual representation of the dependency graph

The value

My current hourly rate is $40/h, I plan to work on this full time for period of 8 weeks with no holydays. That totals to USD$12,800.00

While Fund5 goes on I will talk to people about this and see what questions they may have, I will then update this plan and write more details.