HN commenters repeatedly name it as the best explanation of the JS event loop and the first thing to watch before tackling async code.
Topics › Software Engineering & Languages
The best web development videos, according to Hacker News
152 videos about web development that Hacker News commenters keep pointing each other to, ranked by how many separate months they were recommended. Part of Software Engineering & Languages.
The most recommended introduction to Svelte, credited with sparking its adoption.
HN repeatedly recommends the Crockford series as a must-watch history of computing and programming languages, and as a way to learn to think in JavaScript.
Repeatedly urged on people choosing a stack, as a case against heavy SPA complexity and for shared web and native code.
A classic recommended to people learning JavaScript, even though some find it dogmatic and dated.
HN calls it the famous talk for understanding why React rejected separation of concerns by technology and for newcomers puzzled by JSX.
Seen as the canonical Redux introduction and a model live-coding talk about better developer tools.
A repeatedly recommended introduction to functional JavaScript that explains currying and why data should come last.
HN recommends it as the primary source for understanding LiveView's advantages and its middle ground between multipage apps and SPAs.
HN repeatedly points people to it as the clearest way to finally understand OAuth, to the point that one team made it required viewing for new hires.
HN treats it as the best primer on the event loop, praising its entertaining, easy-to-grasp visual explanations.
Repeatedly cited as an inspiring demo of what programming in VR could look like, which led some commenters to buy headsets.
It is the canonical demo HN people cite for live interactive development and hot reloading, as proof the workflow is real and not smoke and mirrors.
HN points people to it as the demo that shows why LiveView and Elixir are worth a look.
Recommended as the clearest explanation of Elm's design thinking and of making functional languages mainstream, plus a popular monad explanation clip.
HN people point to it as the clearest explanation of what FRP actually means and how its flavors differ.
HN commenters credit it with persuading them to adopt React, and cite it for the argument that HTML and JS cannot truly be separated.
Recommended as a short, fun talk on Node's philosophy and the reasons it was built that remains relevant.
HN commenters strongly recommend it as a fun alt-history of the web and bring it up whenever people muse about how the web could have been different.
HN treats it as one of the best intros to the math of 3D graphics and a staple answer to how to learn graphics programming.
Commenters credit it with opening their eyes to JSPM and using it to choose build systems.
HN points to it as thought-provoking material on the tradeoffs and costs of abstraction, especially in frontend tooling debates.
HN points to it as the original talk that explains the motivation behind React, Flux and Redux, and that sold some commenters on React.
HN cites it whenever people discuss rebuilding the web platform or what a better browser architecture could look like.
HN commenters call it one of the best JavaScript courses: rigorous and deep but not boring, and freely available.
HN points to it as a clear explanation of immutable data structures such as tries, and of the case for immutability with React and Flux.
Recommended as a clear, mind-changing introduction to observables and async programming from engineers using Rx in production.
HN commenters cite it as the clearest case for why mobile devices are slow and why code-splitting and progressive web apps are needed.
HN points to it as a rare side-by-side of the TypeScript and Dart designers, often to show how the two approaches to improving JavaScript differed.
HN recommends it as the best introduction to Reason's motivations, straight from React's creator.
Recommended as an approachable introduction to CRDTs and the local-first idea behind apps like Actual.
HN treats it as the classic talk on why Deno exists and on lessons from design mistakes in a widely used platform.
HN recommends it as the original LiveView announcement and demo, a compelling argument for server-side rendering as an alternative to JavaScript front ends.
It is the canonical introduction to hooks, given by the people who built them, and HN uses it to answer questions about why hooks exist.
Linked as a source for first-hand JavaScript and Netscape history, with commenters pointing to specific segments like the Java versus JavaScript decision.
HN points to it as the clearest frontend explanation of why McMaster-Carr feels so snappy, often contrasted with slow modern UIs.
HN commenters point to it as a real-world case study of moving from React to htmx, especially in threads on boring web development and HTML over the wire.
HN links it whenever menu hover problems or nearest-to-pointer selection come up, and as proof algorithms matter in front-end work.
HN commenters recommend it as the lead ClojureScript developer's own account of Om's evolution, one-way data flow and single-state design.
Recommended in incremental computation and reactive UI threads as the best conceptual overview of Incremental and incr_dom.
It is the go-to reference in debates about whether open source maintainers are owed compensation, and commenters say it is worth watching even for non-Rails developers.
HN commenters recommend it as the clearest explanation of how Fiber and React 16 work.
HN commenters point to it as an alternative take on the data-fetching problem GraphQL addresses, and as a clear argument for when RPC or graph models beat plain REST.
HN commenters point to it as a primer on modern Rails and as a rebuttal to cloud 'learned helplessness', worth watching even by non-Ruby developers.
HN points to it as an impressive look at how far WebAssembly can go, and as the explanation of the architecture behind CheerpX and its Flash support.
Recommended to people confused by monads as a friendly, practical explanation for JavaScript developers, with one commenter saying it finally made it click.
HN recommends it as a hilarious talk by a beloved speaker, and also uses it to jab at JavaScript's quirks.
HN points Rails developers to it as a real-world case for migrating to Phoenix, backed by numbers.
HN commenters cite it whenever JavaScript classes, `this` or inheritance come up, as the clearest case for classless OOP from Crockford.
HN recommends it as an exciting look at how a browser can be rebuilt for performance and safety, including the WebRender ideas that fed into Firefox Quantum.
Recommended to JavaScript skeptics as a persuasive case for ClojureScript, covering Closure Compiler optimizations and code-splitting.
Recommended as a short, clear rundown of one-dimensional versus two-dimensional layout.
HN people point to it as a very visual demonstration of what hot-reloading and interactive development can offer, and as an example of a great dev tool pitch.
Recommended as the clearest demo of what concurrent rendering solves, including the memorable clock animation.
Recommended to beginners asking how to start in web development as a compact survey of the toolscape of its time.
HN recommends it as a classic dev tool pitch with palpable energy, and cites it for why Node was created.
Pointed to as a concrete demonstration of REPL-driven development and ClojureScript with React Native.
HN commenters recommend it as an inspiring demonstration of how powerful CSS Grid is and how it repairs the relationship between HTML and CSS.
Praised as solid, research-backed advice on front-end web performance.
HN commenters recommend it as a fresh perspective on layout and styling in CSS discussions.
Commenters link it as a demo of what a live, inspectable, Smalltalk-style environment in the browser can be, in threads about Alan Kay, Smalltalk and web limitations.
HN recommends it as the creator's own account of why Node was built and how he thinks about humility.
Pointed to as the best source on Phoenix Presence internals and for combining Phoenix with Elm.
HN commenters share it to show that modern PHP is much better than its reputation.
Often recommended as a demystifying monad talk in plain JavaScript, though some find it light on definitions.
Recommended as a classic JavaScript performance talk whose fundamentals about reflow and efficient code still apply.
HN recommends it as the best starting point for understanding the Wasm Component Model and WASI direction, straight from its designer.
HN recommends it as a practical case for intrinsic, fluid CSS that cuts down on media queries and selectors.
HN commenters cite it as a clear account of the trade-offs between static and dynamic typing and why the industry is swinging back to types.
HN loves the Browser hacking series for its clear debugging method of reducing bugs to minimal reproductions, which people say influenced their own testing.
HN commenters recommend it for the live-coded demos running at high frame rates, calling the performance impressive.
HN treats it as top-tier investigative journalism on YouTube and the video that triggered lawsuits against Honey.
HN commenters cite it as Crockford's first-hand account of JSON's origins and of the no-evil license anecdote.
Commenters point to it as the clearest explanation of why re-rendering beats tracking data changes, and say it sold them on React.
Referenced in debates over Chrome hiding URLs as a compelling case for why full URLs are hard even for experts.
Linked as the origin story and rationale for Solito and for sharing code between web and mobile.
Recommended to people who call Rails bloated, as an argument that its size comes from features you eventually need.
HN points newcomers to it as the thing to watch before tackling uBlock Origin's advanced mode and filter syntax.
Cited as evidence that DOM access is not the bottleneck for WebAssembly, and as an explanation of signals-based updates versus virtual DOM.
HN cites it as a statement of React's early design philosophy of keeping APIs small and understanding JavaScript itself.
HN recommends it for understanding the original motivation behind GraphQL before judging whether it fits your problem.
HN links it in Imba threads as a quick demonstration of how the language combines code, HTML and CSS.
The standard pointer for anyone asking how to organize larger Elm codebases.
Cited as the primary source for why Node exists and why JavaScript was chosen, in debates about async models and language choice.
HN people recommend it as a quick way to get a sense of what Elm does and what adopting it incrementally looks like.
HN treats it as the model for a compelling developer demo and a benchmark for how simple web development once felt.
HN commenters cite it as a roundup of useful DevTools features and tips from Paul Irish.
HN points to it as a look under the hood of a remarkable one-developer project.
HN recommends it as the best account of what is wrong with npm's governance and why alternative or decentralized registries are hard.
HN commenters cite it as a funny and candid first-hand account of the guilt and burnout of a prolific open source developer.
Recommended whenever local-first software, sync engines and CRDT alternatives come up, as a practical production account.
Cited as the explanation of how Linear's fast, locally synced UI works.
HN commenters point to it as a live demonstration of interactive Lisp development, including compiling single functions in a running program and debugger-driven workflows.
HN mostly drops it as a joke in async, Node and concurrency threads, and some call it hysterically funny.
Cited as the primary source on React with a custom rendering backend and on Netflix's Gibbon engine.
HN recommended it as a good beginner screencast and as an example of the kind of tutorial other frameworks needed.
A classic recommendation among JavaScript talks and for reading real library code to learn patterns.
Cited as evidence that ordinary users often don't understand basic technology like browsers, as a reminder for designers and developers.
Commenters cite it as the authoritative source for why the port is faster and why Go was chosen.
Cited as the source for Sapper's end and SvelteKit's origin, and as an early view of where JS frameworks were heading.
HN points to it as an entertaining, insightful talk about the nature of programming, with memorable lines about programmers and a refreshing slide style.
Recommended as a framework-agnostic, common-sense guide to structuring large front-end applications.
HN points to it as the example of the weird, artistic, animation-heavy web UIs of the Flash era.
Shared as a joke about JavaScript culture and tooling, usually without much explanation.
Shared as a funny programming joke poking at the endless proliferation of web frameworks.
Cited as the origin of react-armor style DOM obfuscation, and as a favourite short talk from the conference.
HN cites it as the best explanation of how Persona's provisioning and login work, and of why it used email addresses as identity.
HN points to it for understanding Glimmer and Ember's view layer, and as a reference for opcode-compiled templates.
Cited in sync-engine threads as the origin story for Zero and for hybrid local and remote queries.
HN commenters say it convinced them to drop other layout approaches and embrace Grid, and cite its advice on fallbacks for older browsers.
HN commenters link it as a delightful example of how far TypeScript types can be pushed, since they are Turing complete.
HN commenters cite it as a detailed source on Servo's design and performance, including plans to move Servo code into Gecko.
HN commenters point to it when discussing how WebRender works and as evidence of what GPU-based browser rendering can achieve.
The go-to citation for why free, open APIs get shut down and for the fate of services like Yahoo Pipes.
Pointed to as the original talk by the author of the SIMD-in-JavaScript proposal, whenever SIMD on the web comes up.
HN cites it as the original showing of ForPlay (later PlayN), the cross-platform Java game library.
HN commenters cite it as an example of Microsoft's surprisingly stylish newer ads and as a contrast to the company's messaging elsewhere.
Cited as the original React presentation and to credit Jordan Walke as its creator.
Whenever HN asks whether you can program with steno, this is the go-to demo showing it working.
HN uses it as visual evidence that JPEG XL decodes progressively while AVIF shows nothing until fully loaded.
Which of these have you already seen?
Connect YouTube and HackerTube AI hides what you've watched and ranks the rest for you.