Tien Nguyen
· 7 min read
Is JavaScript hard to learn? The parts that actually are
Is JavaScript hard to learn? Easy to start, hard to master. The hard parts are specific (the event loop, this, closures, coercion), plus the AI-era catch.
Read articleNotes from the build log
Honest writing on AI-augmented engineering, front end craft, and the dev tools that actually hold up. Mostly the things I wish someone had told past-me.
Tien Nguyen
· 9 min read
React Query vs Redux: the wrong question, and the right one
React Query vs Redux is the wrong question: one is server state, one is client state. Plus the real fight (RQ vs RTK Query) and the pattern AI still writes.
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Tien Nguyen
· 7 min read
Shallow copy vs deep copy in JavaScript, and the React bug
Shallow vs deep copy in JavaScript: shallow shares nested refs, deep is independent. The React bug it causes, and why structuredClone beats the JSON hack.
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Tien Nguyen
· 8 min read
Closures in JavaScript, and the stale-closure bug in React
What a closure is in plain JavaScript, and the stale-closure bug it causes in React hooks: the one idea behind bugs AI writes and juniors paste unread.
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Tien Nguyen
· 9 min read
Material UI vs Tailwind CSS: what you inherit vs build
Material UI vs Tailwind CSS: MUI gives you Material Design plus an Emotion runtime; Tailwind compiles to zero-runtime CSS, at ~10x MUI's npm downloads.
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Tien Nguyen
· 7 min read
Is shadcn/ui worth it? The honest 2026 tradeoff
Is shadcn/ui worth it? You own the code: full control and no lock-in, but you maintain it. The honest tradeoff, the Base UI switch, and when to skip it.
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Tien Nguyen
· 8 min read
Material UI vs Ant Design, and when to skip both
Material UI vs Ant Design is a design-language choice: Material vs Ant's enterprise density. The 2026 pick, the MUI X paywall, and when to skip both.
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Tien Nguyen
· 7 min read
Chakra UI vs Tailwind CSS: they're not the same layer
Chakra UI vs Tailwind CSS compares a component library to a styling method. The real 2026 choice, accessibility, Tailwind v4, and when to pick each.
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Tien Nguyen
· 8 min read
How to master React in 2026 (when AI writes the code)
How to master React in 2026: AI writes competent React now. The render model, re-renders, state architecture, and effects, past the tutorials.
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