JavaScript Team Training with Vidyo

Vidyo

Teaching Idiomatic JavaScript

Vidyo approached Bocoup to provide a high-quality code audit and tailored JavaScript training for the skilled team of Java and C developers responsible for the new Vidyo web application and for the JavaScript API client for Vidyo’s software platform.

Vidyo, as a company, cared about the stability and longevity of its codebase and the continuous improvement for its development team. Vidyo sought a way to provide a high quality code audit and training tailored for its team of developers working on the internal JavaScript API, which was important for this and this and this.

Challenge

Global video collaboration company Vidyo is changing the way people connect. Vidyo(TM) technology aims to provide affordable, accessible HD-quality video conferencing through a powerful, flexible, and scalable software-based solution for clients across industries who depend on reliable conference communication. To maximize the portability, stability, and longevity of Vidyo’s desktop conferencing client software codebase, Vidyo elected to build that application using web technologies and Chromium Embedded Framework.

Vidyo’s [Neo application team], composed of experienced application developers, was already familiar with a range of compiled languages including Java and C. Because the new Vidyo software platform was implemented in Chromium Embedded Framework as a JavaScript web application, Vidyo needed a way to ramp this team up on the best practices of JavaScript application development.

Additionally, Vidyo wanted to audit their JavaScript library and application code with an eye toward making it idiomatic and usable to the broader JS development community.

Solution

Bocoup educators (consultants) met the Vidyo team for a three day discovery visit to develop a deep understanding of their team’s existing skills and the architectural challenges they faced within their web application.

In consultation with the Vidyo team over a period of one week, Bocoup created tailored educational material and performed a code audit of Vidyo’s web application and JavaScript video communication API client, leading to two specific recommendation documents and an educational curriculum customized to the team’s needs.

Bocoup then returned to Vidyo to deliver a two-day education curriculum followed by a day of personalized coaching, thorough code reviews, and presentation of the audit recommendations.

Over the period of one week, Bocoup educators delivered the following:

  • Assessment of the Vidyo team's experience and JavaScript skill level
  • Tailored education relevant to the team’s specific architectural needs
  • Audit of the existing codebase with a focus on architecture, workflow, and performance
  • High quality, actionable feedback on the team's architecture, library, and framework choices
  • Knowledge transfer

Impact

By training with Bocoup, the Vidyo team improved the long-term strength and capabilities of their team in the following ways:

  • The team identified key areas for re-architecture in their web application to improve the stability and extensibility of the codebase.
  • The team developed a good understanding of JavaScript basics and best practices, and understood how these new skills could be applied to existing problems the team has faced in their codebase.
  • The team identified ways in which their existing client API could be improved to provide a more hospitable environment to the JavaScript development community which Vidyo hopes will build a new generation of real-time communication applications on top of Vidyo’s software platform.

Furthermore, in addition to improving their code, the Vidyo team is now in a stronger position to grow their developer team and product. The audit and training ensure Vidyo is able to catch and fix bugs quickly while on-boarding new developers easily with their maintainable codebase.

With the help of Bocoup educators, the Vidyo team was also able to validate which of the existing architectural decisions match established practice, and which have been shown to lead to unstable or unmaintainable code. By pursuing a thorough audit, Vidyo ensures their ability to provide a usable, powerful client API library to their prospective customers.

Through the consultation, the Vidyo team was able to identify areas in the existing codebase that could be simplified to enable the application to scale performantly. As the product scales, the Vidyo team can avoid technical debt and make more informed decisions to scale their cutting edge services and codebase without sacrificing speed and reliability.

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