AdaLiszk is a Full-Stack Application Developer from Budapest, Hungary with over seven years of experience. He loves working on PHP on the backend but is not afraid to use other programming languages. He also uses Google’s Polymer library on the frontend without frameworks. Why? Let’s ask him about that 😉

He caught our attention when he started developing a Nightbot implementation for LiveEdu.tv. We always encourage users to pick challenging projects that can help the community as a whole.

We have managed to get through to AdaLiszk for an interview. He will share his experience on his development journey across multiple projects and our platform LiveEdu.

Username:              AdaLiszk /ædælɪsk/

Real Name:             Ádám Liszkai /ædæm lɪskæɪ/

Alter ego:                AdaLiszk and Kicsivazz /kɪtʃsɪæzz/

Location:                Budapest, Hungary

Profession:            Mechatronic Technician

Working as:           Full-Stack Application Developer

Competences:       Assembly, PHP, MySQL, Firebird, Firebase, HTML/CSS, ES6, Node.js, Polymer, LAMP, CodeIgniter, Lumen(Laravel), PHPUnit, Codeception

Channel:                  LiveEdu.tv/AdaLiszk

Q: Szervusz(Hi) AdaLiszk, can you tell us more about yourself?

Hello, I have five years working experience as a Full-Stack Developer, before that, I was a PHP Developer programming in Assembly. I have learnt how to be a Mechatronic Technician, so I’m capable of designing robots, automatized production lines, and IoT devices. I also started working as a Freelance Web Developer in PHP during my studies and I created a few local city websites. After that session, I got a job through the hosting company.

I preach and abide by the programmer’s oath by Uncle Bob and try to follow other cutting-edge technologies. I also utilize SOLID principles to create stable and durable applications in various languages. Presently I am focusing on creating Progressive Web Applications using Google’s Polymer library and Node.js with a PHP API behind it.

I started streaming towards the end of 2015 all through to the beginning of 2016 then I got busy and didn’t stream for one year. Meanwhile, in the same year that I stopped streaming, I started working towards achieving my goals of creating content and becoming a Developer Advocate who can help grow the community. I want to create my tech channel which will cover programming, science and technological topics. Creating a premium tutorial on LiveEdu.tv and streaming is also included in the plan.

Q.What inspired you to choose PHP as your daily driver?

After using Assembly, C and Pascal, it was refreshing to see PHP with flexible types. PHP has been a part of the web since 1995, and it is extensively used now to create dynamic websites. I made use of PHB from 2008 up till 2010 when I found a use for Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)  and just recently I stretched myself to adopt TDD. Nevertheless, I do not follow TDD completely because I like to make prototypes before I get started with tests creation and defining patterns.

Q: Many internet websites predict that PHP will be a dead language? Do you agree?

Definitely not, PHP has been used to create over 80-85% of websites on the internet, and it is estimated that at least 50% of all available websites are WordPress! The web evolved rapidly In the past 2-3 years making it possible for developers to share ideas in a community – like setting and enabling them to take part in programming language development.  PHP also benefitted heavily from this community setting hence the release of its PHP 7.0 and 7.1 updates. These updates enabled PHP to compete in the market with the new feature set and bug fixes.

The competition made many server-side web-based languages to iterate fast and release key features for sustenance in the market. Sure PHP has lost a bit of usage, but that doesn’t mean it is dead or will die in the future. The PHP team is catching up fast with the release of new features.

I’m not against other server-side languages, but I didn’t find the same flexibility in other programming languages compared to what PHP offers. However, Kotlin and Node.js is an exception after ES6 modules were implemented.

Q. What was your first programming language and what did you love about it?

Assembly was my first programming language. I wrote code for PIC Microcontrollers, and it was great for the reason that it’s close to the actual hardware. It was fun being able to create and program my first hardware and seeing an object engage in an activity was intense for me. I liked to create things at my school, both on the hardware and software side.

Q: Do you want to share any other experiences?

I had made use of jQuery before I shifted to native development with the release of ES6. With native development approach, I can create anything I like and it is evolving rapidly. This experience led me to have arguments with jQuery lovers who do not understand that they are implementing same features by writing code that is not necessary. (hey @samccone and @gauntface from Web Development Workflow – Google I/O 2016)

I like how the web is evolving. The web components and micro-services will be the new way to develop responsive websites and applications. It’s fascinating to see how the web is available on every platform natively.  This creates a blazing fast environment when creating a multi-platform application using web technologies, it is an amazing experience.

Q: Tell us about the Nightbot implementation for LiveEdu and why you are developing it?

In 2015, I tried to participate in the “Create ChatBot” competition. However, I couldn’t make enough time for it. Since then I have been streaming and publishing videos on multiple platforms which include LiveEdu. Nightbot is one of the tools that I used to interact with the viewers.  However I was a bit disappointed when I realized that there is a challenge in integrating big chatbots, this is the reason why I am developing a Nightbot for LiveEdu.

The streaming tool site is another aspect of my project, it will create interfaces and tools on the streaming platforms. I also plan on creating dashboards for streamers which will enhance communication between the streamers and their moderators. The LiveEdu NightBot project is a good start to that effect and that’s why I have started working on it.

Q: Application program interface (API) – What makes them so valuable in our current development environment?

Most services have connection points from which they get data to trigger actions in targeted systems. However, if there is a gap between two services, then you will need to either use the API provided by the services/system or just hope the developers can manually integrate them. These connection points and the API’s can be used to pipe action through one service to the other service and vice versa. API is a simple end-points used to connect applications with similar or different architecture or design.

API’s present a way to achieve polymorphic open/closed principle on a platform level where it’s open for extensions but closed for modifications. The business logic is safe and you can build on it.

API’s are valuable for the platform developers because they can use it internally and publish it for the users. The users benefit by using the API’s to extend their app capabilities and create feedback for the developers.

Q: Which other side projects are you currently working on?

As I mentioned before, I am currently working on the streamer tools site where I put tools together and use them in a multi-purpose dashboard for streamers and moderators.

I am also developing an Ionize CMS which is a cool content management tool. This CMS doesn’t rely on plugins to create complex sites. It’s a toolbox with components for a website, and you can couple together almost any type of website out of the box. But before all these, I would want to restart my blog so I can share articles about almost everything that interests me.

I will broadcast my projects on LiveEdu and I also plan to make premium tutorials because it seems like there is a lot of topic unanswered.  One more reason I want to create premium tutorials is that I want to teach techniques for designing architectures because there is a huge need for that.

Q: What projects do you want to create as tutorials?

Basically Progressive Web Applications and then focus on PHP Backend codes. I will also try to create tutorials on multiple topics, however, my focus will be mainly on one or two main topics. That means each of my tutorials will focus on one particular job or feature. I intend to use multiple cases and code examples that will make it easier for my viewers to digest the concept. This will enable my viewers to utilize the concept on different technologies.

While creating the tutorial, I also intend to be detailed as much as possible. The focus is to share one idea and then move on to the next one. To ensure proper learning and understanding, I will encourage viewers to ask questions during the stream. This will help me improve my content in future engagements. Also to make sure that the engagements with my viewers are effective, I will host a separate Q/A session.

If everything goes right, maybe Kicsivazz will be joining the show.

Q: Thank you for your time! Is there anything you want to say before we end?

Yes one more thing, I’m currently working on a book about OOP using mainly PHP. My aim is to share examples in an adaptive way so that it could be read and understood in your favorite language (natural language or programming language). I also want to make a short learning book on Object Oriented Software Development for beginners and intermediate programmers. The book will focus on real-world practices and their proper usage.  I’m not a genius on this topic, but I am willing to share my knowledge.

Last but not the least, follow me on twitter @adaliszk. You can also catch me during livestreams and I will be excited to answer your queries!