Developing Orbit and the Future of Cross Framework Solutions with Dan Gebhardt

Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Web Development, Neat

Years ago, Dan Gebhardt was mapping out data needs for an app he was building. In a struggle to make sense of every requirement and apply them to other packages like Ember Data, he hit a wall. At this point, there was no option for adapting Ember Data to the complex specificities of his app's needs.

Dan tried to rationalize a solution, deconstructing entire data universes and all aspects of a data library. The end result was Orbit, a framework-agnostic data layer with use cases beyond the obvious. Since its inception, many developers have leaned on Orbit, including those at Ship Shape.

In this episode, Chuck and Robbie talk with Dan about Orbit's origin story, the best (and least obvious) ways to use Orbit, why Dan chose platform-agnostic, what he really thinks about Starbeam, his ultimate goal with Orbit, and Dan's all-time favorite power tool.

Key Takeaways

• [00:45] - A brief intro to Dan.
• [03:02] - A whiskey review - Nikka Single Malt Miyagikyo.
• [11:04] - Why Dan created Orbit.
• [15:47] - Unexpected use cases for Orbit.
• [21:42] - How Orbit flags a conflict.
• [25:33] - Orbit's use cases outside of JSON:API.
• [32:46] - What Dan thinks about Starbeam.
• [35:12] - How Dan escapes his computer.
• [40:32] - Dan's favorite power tool.
• [42:33] - Dan's thoughts on New Hampshire (and New Jersey).
• [48:46] - Dan's closing thoughts and his sneak peek at a new release.

Quotes

[13:28] - "Sometimes building for the hard case first also helps clarify the simple case and I think that Orbit really scales from the very simple to the very complex set of requirements." ~ @dgeb [https://twitter.com/dgeb]

[17:47] - "That's one of my favorite aspects of working with Orbit is using it as simply as possible to just prototype an app really quickly." ~ @dgeb [https://twitter.com/dgeb]

[33:32] - "The frameworks have too long been siloed and we are now seeing some really interesting cross framework solutions out there, whether you're talking about Starbeam or even something like Remix or Astro." ~ @dgeb [https://twitter.com/dgeb]

Links

• Dan Gebhardt [https://twitter.com/dgeb]
• Ember Core Team Emeritus [https://emberjs.com/teams/]
• JSON:API [https://jsonapi.org]
• Orbit.js [https://github.com/orbitjs]
• Tilde [https://www.tilde.io]
• Ruby On Rails [https://rubyonrails.org]
• Rust [https://www.rust-lang.org]
• Yehuda Katz [https://yehudakatz.com]
• JSONAPI::Resources [https://jsonapi-resources.com]
• Nikka Single Malt Miyagikyo [https://www.nikka.com/eng/brands/singlemalt-miyagikyo/]
• Nikka From The Barrel [https://www.nikka.com/eng/brands/fromthebarrel/]
• The Glencairn Whiskey Glass [https://www.glencairnwhiskyglass.com]
• The Norlan Whiskey Glass [https://norlanglass.com/pages/norlan-whisky-glass]
• GraphQL [https://graphql.org]
• IndexedDB [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/IndexedDB_API]
• Ember Data [https://guides.emberjs.com/release/models/]
• Swach [https://swach.io/]
• Git [https://git-scm.com]
• Apollo [https://www.apollographql.com]
• Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Discovering Ember, Adopting Orbit, and Unlocking Optimization with Chris Thoburn (runspired) [https://www.whiskeywebandwhatnot.fm/discovering-ember-adopting-orbit-and-unlocking-optimization-with-chris-thoburn-runspired/]
• LinkedIn [http://www.linkedin.com]

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