dergachev

OS X Screencast to animated GIF

This gist shows how to create a GIF screencast using only free OS X tools: QuickTime, ffmpeg, and gifsicle.

Instructions

To capture the video (filesize: 19MB), using the free "QuickTime Player" application:

freeformz

A slightly updated version of this doc is here on my website.

Why I Like Go

I visited with PagerDuty yesterday for a little Friday beer and pizza. While there I got started talking about Go. I was asked by Alex, their CEO, why I liked it. Several other people have asked me the same question recently, so I figured it was worth posting.

Goroutines

The first 1/2 of Go's concurrency story. Lightweight, concurrent function execution. You can spawn tons of these if needed and the Go runtime multiplexes them onto the configured number of CPUs/Threads as needed. They start with a super small stack that can grow (and shrink) via dynamic allocation (and freeing). They are as simple as go f(x), where f() is a function.

travisbrown

scala> import scala.language.experimental.macros
import scala.language.experimental.macros

scala> import scala.reflect.macros.{ Context, TypecheckException }
import scala.reflect.macros.{Context, TypecheckException}

scala> object NoncompilationTests {
     |   def compiles(code: _): Boolean = macro compiles_impl
     |   def compiles_impl(c: Context)(code: c.Tree) = c.literal(
     |     try {

naan

# config/initializers/source_maps.rb

if Rails.env.development?
  module CoffeeScript
    class SourceMapError < StandardError; end;

    class << self

      def compile script, options
        script = script.read if script.respond_to?(:read)

pivotal-chorus

## db/migrate/20130319164401_create_animals.rb

class CreateAnimals < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    create_table :animals do |t|
      t.boolean :alive
      t.timestamps
    end
  end
end

quchen

13:15 <xQuasar>      | HASKELL IS FOR FUCKIN FAGGOTS. YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF 
                     | FUCKIN PUSSIES
13:15 <xQuasar>      | JAVASCRIPT FOR LIFE FAGS
13:16 <luite>        | hello
13:16 <ChongLi>      | somebody has a mental illness!
13:16 <merijn>       | Wow...I suddenly see the error of my ways and feel 
                     | compelled to write Node.js!
13:16 <genisage>     | hi
13:16 <luite>        | you might be pleased to learn that you can compile 
                     | haskell to javascript now

daichan4649

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="daichan4649.lockoverlay"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="15"
        android:targetSdkVersion="17" />

avibryant

require 'continuation'

module Monad
  def -@
    MonadContext.bind(self)
  end

  def wrap(val)
    raise NotImplementedError
  end

adamwiggins

Make it real

Ideas are cheap. Make a prototype, sketch a CLI session, draw a wireframe. Discuss around concrete examples, not hand-waving abstractions. Don't say you did something, provide a URL that proves it.

Ship it

Nothing is real until it's being used by a real user. This doesn't mean you make a prototype in the morning and blog about it in the evening. It means you find one person you believe your product will help and try to get them to use it.

Do it with style

adamwiggins

It's with a heavy heart that I announce that Friday, May 31 2013 will be my last day at Heroku.

How can I possibly put into words what Heroku has meant to me these last six years? I can say it was a tremendous experience; or the opportunity of a lifetime; or the greatest thing I have ever been a part of. I can say that Heroku has been my life's work, as I did recently in a public blog post. All of those things are true, but none seem to capture the enormity of what's transpired these past six years.

I tend to focus on mechanical elements of a company: product, code, design, process. But what has surprised me the most at Heroku is that none of these things is the best part. The best part is the team.

I've never had the chance to work with a more singular group of people. Talented, passionate, skilled, dedicated. Most of all, sharing a set of values: elegance, craft, maniacal focus on simplicity; and an uncompromising belief that the future will be made of software, and how that software gets made will shape