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0 pointsTAForObvReasons5y ago0 comments

While `left-pad` certainly wasn't the most optimized implementation, it wasn't a "click-grabbing" project of the sort saurik was positing. It solved the problem the name suggested it would solve. The fallout around it really didn't have anything to do with "resume-driven development"

EDIT: Not sure why this was downvoted, maybe people forgot that padStart and friends appeared in ES2015, long after left-pad was created

0 comments

vxNsr5y ago

off-topic: I still don't understand the use case that left-pad solved. I'm not into js at all but why do you need a dependency to add space to text? I'm asking honestly, I just don't get what the use for this was.

scambier5y ago

Literally what it says: https://github.com/left-pad/left-pad/blob/master/index.js

Now if you ask "but why?", ultra-small packages like this are popular in JS because of the lack of a standard lib. Lots of devs prefer to install a dependency for each one-liner utility rather than write them themselves.

The only added value of those packages is that they're usually unit-tested against weird edge-cases that you might miss if you wrote them yourself.

Edit: related discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20223190

TAForObvReasonsOP5y ago

the small libraries are best compared to stackoverflow code snippets. Instead of reading and copying a solution that may be out of date, you can use a (theoretically) tested solution that receives bug fixes. In many ways it is superior to the copy and paste of lore

vxNsr5y ago

You're misunderstanding, what is the use-case of that specific package? like I've never found myself needing to pad text on the left, just trying to understand why this was such an important package.

2 more replies

chris_wot5y ago

The smaller the library, the better.

1 more reply

redis_mlc5y ago

> I'm not into js at all

Programming in JS is just this way.

I had to include moment.js yesterday just to format a date. Nothing fancy, but no easy way around it.

smichel175y ago

I'm not sure this is a good example; dates are actually pretty complicated.

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orange85y ago

You did not have to, moment.js is just a wrapper around the dozens of inbuilt functions provided by the Date object.

Why could you not have used Date.toLocaleDateString() or Date.toDateString() or Date.toISOSting() or any other of the inbuilt functions outlined here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...

z3t45y ago

The module system in Node.js (not ES6 modules) makes it super easy to use modules because a module is bound to a variable and you can require the module from anywhere and it will be scoped to the function. It's like if all code in the global JavaScript collective is available in global scope.

z3t45y ago

Its easier to use a community module in Node.js then it is to use a standard library feature in most programming languages.

d3nj4l5y ago

JS didn't have a pad method in its standard library, so you needed left pad to do that. Now you have padStart, so it's not really necessary.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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vxNsr5y ago

scambier5y ago

Literally what it says: https://github.com/left-pad/left-pad/blob/master/index.js

The only added value of those packages is that they're usually unit-tested against weird edge-cases that you might miss if you wrote them yourself.

Edit: related discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20223190

TAForObvReasonsOP5y ago

vxNsr5y ago

You're misunderstanding, what is the use-case of that specific package? like I've never found myself needing to pad text on the left, just trying to understand why this was such an important package.

2 more replies

chris_wot5y ago

The smaller the library, the better.

1 more reply

redis_mlc5y ago

> I'm not into js at all

Programming in JS is just this way.

I had to include moment.js yesterday just to format a date. Nothing fancy, but no easy way around it.

smichel175y ago

I'm not sure this is a good example; dates are actually pretty complicated.

1 more reply

orange85y ago

You did not have to, moment.js is just a wrapper around the dozens of inbuilt functions provided by the Date object.

z3t45y ago

Its easier to use a community module in Node.js then it is to use a standard library feature in most programming languages.

d3nj4l5y ago

JS didn't have a pad method in its standard library, so you needed left pad to do that. Now you have padStart, so it's not really necessary.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse