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Every Tuesday at 12pm Mountain Time

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A casual weekly virtual chat mostly focused on web and software development.

Weekly Dev Chat is a place to ask questions, hear different viewpoints, and get to know your fellow developers. Every week there is an initial topic posted to get the discussion started. Sometimes we discuss the initial topic the entire chat, and other times the topic changes several times through the natural flow of the conversation.

Everyone and anyone are welcome to join as long as you are kind, supportive, and respectful of others.

picoCTF Ensemble

picoCTF logo

Let's work on picoCTF challenge in today's (February 3rd, 2026) Weekly Dev Chat. It will be the usual where I share my screen and we work through some challenges together.

This will be good practice for the upcoming picoCTF competition in March:

https://picoctf.org/

If you are in the Edmonton area and interested in joining a team ping yegsec as they usually organize a local team:

https://www.yegsec.ca/

Also, the next Weekly Dev Chat IRL event in February will be picoCTF themed! Exact time and date to be announced soon.

Everyone and anyone are welcome to join as long as you are kind, supportive, and respectful of others. Zoom link will be posted at 12pm MDT.

https://weeklydevchat.com/join/

Notes for Swap Meet (Jan 28, 2026)

Hello Hardware Swappers!

Thank you to those participating in the 1st ever Swap Meet and Hardware Demo hosted by the Weekly Dev Chat team! Below are some notes, mostly for people bringing items to sell, but there is also advice that applies to everyone.

If you signed up for a table (PIN 3 or 4 ticket) you can show up between 6:30pm to 7:00pm to unload and set up. If you signed up just to browse (PIN 1 or 2) please show up at 7:00pm or later unless you feel like helping us setup.

The buyer and seller are responsible for figuring out payment methods (e-transfer, cash, swap for other hardware, free, etc). All sales are final by default. I recommend sellers or buyers confirm the item works before the sale which might require brining a monitor, computer, and other items not for sale to demo the working item.

There is paid parking close to library and free parking in the neighbourhood if you don't mind walking a block or two. Please read and obey all parking signs.

The Edmonton Strathcona Library is one of the oldest libraries in Alberta which means it looks cool, at least in my option, but has the downside of not being the most accessible. The swap is on the 2nd floor of the library and their are stairs to get into the main door. If you need to use the elevator it is on the side of the building.

Library Map (Accessibility Entrance on the side):

https://www2.epl.ca/public-files/branch-maps/Strathcona_L0-L1-L2_Directory%20Map.pdf

Strathcona Library History:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strathcona_Library

If you need a hand unloading or have any questions feel free to ping the Weekly Dev Chat team.

Looking forward to seeing you all tonight!

What's in a name? That which we call a var by any other name would make code smell

In today's (2026-01-27) chat we will discuss names.

In Clean Code (Robert C. Martin), naming variables, functions, classes, and other structures is compared to naming a child. Yet we still see placeholders like x, tmp, or d littered throughout codebases.

How do you approach naming? • Do you iterate endlessly? write → delete → rewrite—until the name feels perfect? • Do you drop a quick name and come back to refactor later? • Or do you stick with the first name and tell others to stop “wasting time” on naming?

Everyone and anyone are welcome to join as long as you are kind, supportive, and respectful of others.

Cookie jar labeled as 'Basmati Rice'