Article Roundup - Week of 07/16/2017

GPU.js
Browsers have been pushing boundaries for a while. This libraries uses some more recent advances to allow you to offload expensive JS computations to the GPU using WebGL. It will even gracefully fallback to using the CPU if the browser doesn’t support the necessary features.

Setting up 2FA for Node.js Applications
If you use 2-Factor Authentication much you might wonder what it is like to implement it in an application. It really isn’t all that difficult, and the best way to understand it is to do it. This tutorial uses Node.js but you should be able to find comparable libraries in whatever language you want.

Generating Images in JavaScript Without Using the Canvas API
JavaScript doesn’t provide a lot of low-level access, and when you need to be memory conscious that can make things tricky. In this article the author ends up manipulating raw PNG data with JavaScript. Even if you aren’t interested in the JS part, this is worth a read just for the raw data manipulation.

Reverse Engineering One Line of JavaScript
128 bytes of JS can create some cool effects. The author of this article reverse engineers a ASCII ray traced checkerboard effect that is only 128B.

How to Create a Pattern Library and Why You Should Bother
Pattern Libraries are collections of UI or UX patterns that can be used throughout a site or application. They help to ensure a consistent experience and present building blocks that can be used. In many ways Bootstrap’s components are a pattern library, but that could easily be built on top of to help ensure an even greater level of consistency and customization within an application.

DomFlags - Chrome Dev Tools Extension
DomFlags lets you create bookmarks in your HTML that you can jump to in the Dev Tools. You can add then through the DevTools Elements tab, JavaScript, or have them included in your HTML when the page loads.