August 2010 Summaries

GitHub has enhanced its pull request system to create a more dynamic and efficient environment for code review and collaborative development. The updated design transforms pull requests into living discussions, facilitating better communication and management of changes through a revision-aware interface. This system supports both the fork-and-pull model and scenarios involving a shared repository, allowing for seamless integration with GitHub Issues and providing a comprehensive view of all pull requests via a centralized dashboard. The platform ensures all pull request activities are archived, indexed, and easily accessible, while offering tools for commenting, tracking changes, and linking to specific requests. These improvements aim to streamline the process of discussing and refining code before it is merged into the main repository.

Mozilla Labs has started mirroring its open-source projects on GitHub, making them accessible at http://github.com/mozillalabs. This move suggests that more Mozilla projects may appear on GitHub in the future, reflecting a potential shift towards increased collaboration and visibility within the open-source community. The announcement, shared by Chris Wanstrath, highlights the growing relationship between Mozilla and GitHub as a platform for open-source development.

In an update from August 2014, Scott Chacon announced that GitHub supported the display of Git notes on commit pages, allowing users to view them at the bottom of the diff when viewing a commit. Although this functionality is no longer supported, Git notes were originally highlighted as useful for appending information from automated systems like ticketing or build systems, rather than for interactive discussions among developers. These notes were distinct from GitHub commit comments, offering a different mode of communication and documentation within the Git framework.

Jekyll 0.7.0 has been released and deployed to GitHub Pages, featuring support for SmartyPants through RDiscount for Markdown files. This update allows users to easily incorporate typographical elements such as curly quotation marks, em/en dashes, and ellipses by configuring their Jekyll repository's _config.yml file with specific settings. Once configured, users can push their repository to GitHub to automatically implement these enhancements. It's important to note that SmartyPants functionality is applicable only to pages composed in Markdown.

Kinisoftware has produced a Spanish-language video tutorial demonstrating how to set up a Grails development environment, incorporating tools like Git with GitHub for remote repository management and SpringSource Tool Suite. This educational content is appreciated by the community, as noted by Chris Wanstrath, also known by his username @defunkt.

iOSDevCamp 2010 is taking place at the PayPal headquarters in San Jose, California, and serves as an annual, not-for-profit event focused on developing applications for iOS devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The camp, previously known as iPhoneDevCamp and iPadDevCamp, encourages the use of both the native SDK and web standards, providing a collaborative environment for developers to innovate and share ideas. Chris Wanstrath, also known as @defunkt, is attending the event and invites others to connect during the gathering.

A meetup event is scheduled to take place at Benders Bar, located at 806 S Van Ness Ave between 19th and 20th Streets, on Thursday, August 19th, 2010, at 8:30 pm. The announcement is authored by Melissa Severini, also known by the handle @luckiestmonkey.

Scott Chacon is attending the FOSSLC conference in Ottawa, Canada, and invites attendees to join a gathering at Dantessa Italian Bar at 9:00 PM. GitHub is sponsoring the event by providing drinks, offering an opportunity for participants to network and share their newfound tech knowledge. The event is characterized by a casual and friendly atmosphere, encouraging social interaction among attendees.

Earlier today, GitHub launched a minor design update featuring a streamlined and more straightforward homepage to better communicate its offerings to newcomers. This update includes a new footer, a language switcher, and significant CSS improvements, reducing reliance on image-based gradients, as noted by Kyle Neath. The redesign aims to reflect GitHub's evolution since its inception and serves as the first of many steps to enhance user understanding of the platform.

GitHub is launching a new Git-backed wiki system to enhance user experience by addressing feedback on the current system, featuring improved support for multiple markup formats, including Markdown, and leveraging Git for history and change comparisons. This new system allows for easy referencing of images, importing and exporting wikis as Git repositories, and enables local content viewing and modification through the Gollum ruby library. The platform aims to improve user interactions by sanitizing javascript and CSS, ensuring users remain logged in when viewing open-source wikis. While still in beta, users are encouraged to upgrade their wikis, with the company planning to disable classic wikis by September 12th.

GitHub Jobs has officially launched, offering a variety of enticing job opportunities highlighted over the past week. Notable positions include a Node.js ninja apprentice for Nodejitsu, a web application engineer in Japan for Forschooner, and a senior UI/frontend/Rails developer in Berlin. The platform also features job categories focused on futuristic technologies such as Clojure, Node.js, Redis, and iOS. Among the standout companies hiring, Acquia seeks Drupal engineers to work on dynamic open-source web technology, Remember the Milk is looking for a software engineer passionate about Scala, and Hello, Chair Inc is in search of a machine learning specialist for competitive, Netflix Prize-like challenges. Chris Wanstrath, known by his handle @defunkt, sheds light on these opportunities and more available through GitHub Jobs.

GitHub is hosting a casual event offering free beer for tech enthusiasts at Flat Top Johnny’s in Cambridge, scheduled for Tuesday, August 10th, at 9:30 PM. This gathering coincides with the Boston Ruby (bostonrb) after-party, creating an opportunity for attendees to socialize and network. The event is tied to Scott Chacon's visit for LinuxCon, with the potential attendance of some LinuxCon participants. Additionally, the event doubles as a celebration for PJ's birthday, encouraging attendees to partake in the festivities in his honor, even though he will not be present.

GitHub has introduced a new feature to help users manage their email notifications more effectively by adding a special header to all outgoing repository and direct message notifications. This header assigns a List-ID of user.github.com for direct messages and repo.user.github.com for repositories, making it easier to filter emails. Additionally, Gist comments now receive a List-ID of ID.gist.github.com. The implementation aims to alleviate the burden of excessive notifications by offering a simple filtering solution, while GitHub continues to explore more comprehensive fixes to improve user experience without overwhelming them with complex settings.

GitHub is preparing to launch GitHub Jobs, with a discounted posting rate available until midnight PDT before the official launch. The platform has received high-quality job listings, and some notable ones will be featured on the blog soon. Job seekers can enhance their visibility by opting into the job profile section of their account settings, which will allow relevant job listings to appear on their GitHub dashboard. Additionally, updating the location field on their public profiles is recommended for better job matching. The announcement is written by Kyle Neath, whose username is @kneath.

Tom Preston-Werner announces another GitHub Meetup in Boulder, set to take place at The Southern Sun, a popular South Boulder bar. The event is scheduled for 8:30 pm on Tuesday, August 10th, and is located at Southern Sun Pub & Brewery on 627 S Broadway St, Boulder, CO 80305. Attendees can enjoy the outdoor setting at the picnic tables if the weather permits.

At the Yet Another Perl Conference in Europe, Scott Chacon discusses the excitement surrounding the release of Rakudo Star, the first usable implementation of Perl 6, marking a significant milestone for the Perl community after a long phase in specification. Patrick Michaud's talk highlighted this release, which allows developers to experiment with early Perl 6 features and provide feedback. Hosted on GitHub, the Rakudo team is actively developing Perl 6's implementation, inviting users to download and install it from the GitHub repository. Chacon expresses enthusiasm about the Perl community's engagement with GitHub and provides resources for further exploration of Perl 6, such as the official website and a book available on GitHub.