It’s all about being productive

Stuff like this makes me sad:

Also, the github issue where TJ requests that everything gets rewritten in plain JavaScript: https://github.com/rethinkdb/rethinkdb/issues/766

 

We’ve been here before
Language discussions aren’t new (nor is vim vs. emacs). In the GNOME community we’ve seen a ton of them. Just recently there was a huge one at the DX Hackfest.

GNOME/Mono developers have certainly received their dose of crap thrown at them. But so have GNOME developers that preferred Vala, Python, JavaScript, or even just GObject/C. Whatever you seem to be using, it’s never the right thing for someone.

Have all these years of shedding words over it solved anything? Frankly: no. We are still seeing a large combination of languages being used and all of those projects have good reasons to do so.

I get TJ’s point though: by using CoffeeScript, the rethinkdb people are making it harder for the wider JS community to contribute to their project. But…

 

It really doesn’t matter
Most open-source projects (or modules) don’t have a ton of contributors. It’s usually a modest team of core maintainers/developers that do the bulk of the work. And that’s fine: the success of a project should not be measured by the number of contributors, but by the quality of the software it produces.

This smallish team of core developers will have their own good reasons for picking up a certain language. They’ll use the language that they feel most productive with for the task at hand. And that’s a good thing, they are mostly the people that move the project forward.

The biggest barrier to contributing on a project is not the language, there are plenty of projects written in unproductive languages that get a ton of contributions. Any good programmer can pick up a new language up quickly (and TJ is more than just a good programmer, he’s a fantastic one, much respect). The bigger hurdle is the specific domain knowledge involved.

Let’s all agree to disagree and have some respect for each other’s opinions, they are all valid anyway.

 

PS: I’ll be heavily moderating comments that try to turn this into a flame-war. I’m writing this to find some more respect and understanding.

Mono is life improvement for mobile developers

Being a developer myself, I’m constantly looking at how to improve my way of working. When it comes to mobile development, the best way to improve your life is by using Mono (Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android).

That’s, in a nutshell, the talk I’ve given today at Apps City: an introductory tour on Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android.

Slides are over here, though they’re very light on details and unlike my previous talk, I haven’t had time to annotate them.

mono-apps-city-2013

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Deploying Node.js: the modern way

Last week I gave a talk on deploying Node.js on your own systems with all the modern magic that systemd has to offer.

From the abstract:

Deploying Node.js with systemd: you can have the magic of the cloud too!
Cloud deployment platforms like Heroku and Nodejitsu contain a lot of infrastructure for managing your application: monitoring, automatic launching, log capturing, … In this talk we’ll have a look at systemd, the service manager on a number of Linux distributions. Systemd allows you to deploy your Node.js applications with the same advanced features, turning your own server into something that’s as professional as the cloud, while keeping all the control.

I’ve turned the slides into an annotated guide, which is now online. Read it here.

If you like this, why not help spread the word by giving it an upvote on Hacker News?

Mono @ FOSDEM 2013: Cancelled

Unfortunately, we’ve had to cancel the Mono Developer Room at FOSDEM 2013. While there was usually a torrent of presentations, this year it seems like everyone was out of ideas.

We’ll be hanging out around the venue though. Get in touch if you want to meet up!

Spam attack!

While deploying a new version of my website, I somehow must have broken one of the fundamentals of the Internet (or in this case: RSS). This caused a flood of tweets, Facebook posts, entries in Google Reader and occurrences on planets (e.g. Planet GNOME).

Apologies for that!

On the bright side, I’m planning to get a lot more writing done this year. Some very good things are coming soon!

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Mono Developer Room at FOSDEM 2013: CFP

We are continuing the great tradition of having a Mono Developer Room at FOSDEM, on Feb 2, 2013.

This means that it is time to start preparing your presentations!

Talks on any topic are fine, as long as it’s related to Mono and open-source. These do not need to be life-changing project announcements either: deeply technical things or pet projects that will make us all giggle with hacker joy are just as desired.

Please send your talk proposals using this form: http://bit.ly/mono2013

You have until Dec 25 (Christmas) Dec 31 to send in talks. A final schedule will be made available on Jan 10. Note that we get more talks than we can schedule each year, so we’ll unfortunately have to make a selection. If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me.

And while we’re talking mono:
If you happen to live in Belgium, don’t forget to attend the Belgian Mono Community Kick-off on Nov 20! More info on meetup.com. 

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Belgian Mono Community, Mono @ FOSDEM 2013

Two great nuggets of news for all friends of Mono:

  1. We’re launching a Belgium Mono Community. The first meetup will be on November 20. More info on our meetup group. Be sure to RSVP.
  2. There will be a fourth edition of the Mono Developer Room at FOSDEM 2013. Mark February 2, 2013 into your agenda. Let us know you’re coming. A call for presentations will be sent out soon.

To stay up-to-date on Mono events in Belgium, join the Belgium Mono Community on meetup.com.

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Belgian Mono community

For the past three years, we’ve been organising a Mono Developer Room at FOSDEM, which provided a nice get-together each winter.

When talking to fellow Belgian Mono users, we’ve realised we wanted to do more. We’re going to set up a Belgian Mono community, both for users and developers (in fact, anyone is welcome).

Some of the things we could do:

  • Seminars
  • Social Events
  • Trainings
  • Exchange job offerings
  • … (these are just ideas floating around, we’d love any other ideas/suggestions)

This is where we need you. If you’d be interested in a Mono community in Belgium, then fill out this form: http://bitly.com/monobe

Spread this to your friends, family and fellow Mono enthusiasts.

No GUADEC for me this year.

I won’t make it to GUADEC this year, which is a terrible shame as I had boatloads of fun on the past four editions I attended. Have a productive and fun GUADEC everyone, hope I’ll make it next year!