Chris rot26

How to GTD with Simpletask

This is a guide to implementing Getting Things Done (GTD) using [Simpletask][] by [Mark Janssen][].

Simpletask uses the [todo.txt][] syntax, but has sufficient differences and quirks of its own to be worth describing in detail---at least, that's the story I'm going with. I actually began this guide as an exploration of my own trusted system. Personal workflows are by definition eccentric; I have included only what seems to me to be broadly useful.

This implementation of GTD covers the "standard" classifications: next actions by context, projects, somedays, agendas by person and meeting, etc. In a departure from strict GTD, each entry in these lists is also tagged with an area of focus, interest or responsibility. I find that the ability to slice the system by this extra dimension is worth the additional complexity at the processing and organizing stages. Limitations, issues and workarounds are discussed at the end.

Before we begin, some words of wisdom

The MBP is my development machine, so I needed all of my tools installed with the ability to update them with ease. In the past, I used MacPorts to take care of my MySQL, Memcached, and Ruby installions and it worked just fine. This time around however, I wanted something new and fun. Homebrew.

Homebrew is a new package manager for OS X. Unlike Fink or MacPorts, Homebrew integrates with the core operating system, reducing the number of extra libraries to install etc. Another neat feature is the ability to write software package recipes in Ruby, awesome.

Here are some raw installation instructions (clean system). I like to keep everything under user ownership to make life more enjoyable, say no to sudo.

You will need the latest version of xcode, you can get it here. After the installation is complete, you may continue.

sudo mkdir /usr/local

Better local require() paths for Node.js

Problem

When the directory structure of your Node.js application (not library!) has some depth, you end up with a lot of annoying relative paths in your require calls like:

const Article = require('../../../../app/models/article');

Those suck for maintenance and they're ugly.

Possible solutions

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:

node_modules in git

December 10 2011
By mikeal

One of the many things we have been forced to rethink in the world of node is how we handle dependencies in applications.

One of the big changes that came with 0.4.0 was support for node_modules. This change had major consequences. It elevated local modules, in a local directory, above modules installed globally. Along with npm changing its default install preference to local rather than global we've seen a nearly unanimous shift to local module installs that has made global installs somewhat distasteful.

Mac web developer apps

This gist's comment stream is a collection of webdev apps for OS X. Feel free to add links to apps you like, just make sure you add some context to what it does — either from the creator's website or your own thoughts.

— Erik

	<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
	RewriteEngine on
	RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR]
	RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR]
	RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
	RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]
	RewriteRule ^(.*) /app/index.html [NC,L]
	</IfModule>

	/**
	* Simple authentication and authorization example with passport, node_acl,
	* MongoDB and expressjs
	*
	* The example shown here uses local userdata and sessions to remember a
	* logged in user. Roles are persistent all the way and applied to user
	* after logging in.
	*
	* Usage:
	* 1. Start this as server

	# Compiled source #
	###################
	*.com
	*.class
	*.dll
	*.exe
	*.o
	*.so

	# Packages #

	// sloppy traceroute clone
	// inpired by https://blogs.oracle.com/ksplice/entry/learning_by_doing_writing_your
	// and made possible by https://www.npmjs.org/package/raw-socket

	var raw = require('raw-socket');
	var dns = require('dns');

	var target = process.argv[2] \|\| '173.230.146.29';
	var MAX_HOPS = 64;
	var TIME_LIMIT = 5000;