April 2011 Summaries

GitHub has launched documentation for API v3, introducing support for new Issue resources such as Labels, Issue Comments, Milestones, and Events, while also providing full Gist support. This update signifies a shift towards REST conventions, simplifying URL structures and ensuring more consistent resource handling, with URLs returned in the resource fields to ease client-side operations. API v3 exclusively uses JSON for requests and responses due to its ease of parsing and compactness compared to XML. The new system also introduces a rate limiting mechanism, allowing a daily cap of 5,000 requests to manage API usage more effectively. Transition plans from API v2 to v3 are in place, with ongoing collaboration with GitHub library communities to ensure compatibility with new endpoints, and any breaking changes during the beta phase will be documented.

GitHub has enhanced its functionality, allowing users to edit files in repositories they do not have write access to by introducing a 'Fork and edit file' button. This feature enables users to suggest changes to files in another person's repository by forking the project automatically if needed, making edits, and then seamlessly creating a pull request to inform the repository owner of the proposed changes. This streamlined process facilitates quicker collaboration by allowing users to make and submit changes to any visible file within seconds.

A group is traveling to Amsterdam for Puppet Camp EU and will co-host a social drink event with Optiver at Cafe The News on Thursday, the 28th, starting at 21:00. The event is open to everyone, not just conference attendees, providing an opportunity for drinks and engaging conversations. The location can be found on Google Maps, and the announcement was penned by Corey Donohoe, also known as @atmos.

Pull Requests 2.0 has streamlined the process of reviewing code and accepting patches by introducing a Merge Button, simplifying what previously required multiple steps on the command line. This feature is extensively utilized at GitHub and is particularly appreciated in open-source projects. Now, a single click can automatically merge and close a pull request, although if a merge conflict is detected, users are provided with manual merge instructions instead. The merge operation always creates a merge commit that includes the number, source, and title of the pull request, enhancing clarity and traceability in project management.

Every night, a Hubot bot posts statistics in a Campfire room, revealing significant numbers related to GitHub activity. Recently, it was noted that 70% of GitHub's git repositories were created in the past year, with about 4,500 new projects emerging daily. While many might assume that Ruby and JavaScript dominate GitHub, the data indicates a diverse range of primary languages across projects. The statistics highlight the dynamic and rapidly expanding nature of GitHub's ecosystem, offering an intriguing glimpse into the platform's growth and the varied programming activities of its users.

The GitHub Reflog provides a weekly overview of notable GitHub repositories and community activities, introducing readers to new and interesting projects. This edition highlights several repositories, including Spine, a micro MVC framework for JavaScript applications offering features like class inheritance and HTML5 local storage, and Flea, a Ruby-inspired mini Lisp interpreter. Other remarkable repositories featured include go-fuse for Go's FUSE bindings and Vundle, a plugin manager for VIM. Promising projects like python-daemon for running Python applications as daemons, wpadmin for WordPress command-line administration, mule for distributed Python testing, redislite as a local Redis database, and 4clojure for Clojure tutorials are also discussed, inviting contributions and feedback from the community. Readers are encouraged to explore these repositories and participate in the open-source ecosystem.

GitHub extensively utilizes Markdown to render wikis, issues, pull requests, and user-generated comments, learning valuable lessons about Markdown parsing through experience. To address vulnerabilities such as DOS attacks, GitHub adapted Natacha Porté's Upskirt library, enhancing it with both feature and security improvements, and developed a Ruby wrapper called Redcarpet as a drop-in replacement for BlueCloth and RDiscount. This library has been successfully deployed across GitHub's frontend machines, and users are encouraged to report any rendering errors for further refinement. In celebration of the new library's release, GitHub Flavored Markdown now supports syntax highlighted code blocks without requiring four-space indentation, allowing users to simply create fenced blocks with backticks and optionally specify a language for syntax highlighting.

GitHub has been added to the apps.gov platform, a development credited to the efforts of the FCC and GSA. This inclusion is significant for users familiar with apps.gov, as it expands the platform's offerings to include GitHub, a major tool in software development and collaboration. The announcement was made by Chris Wanstrath, also known by his username @defunkt.

The fourth edition of The GitHub Reflog highlights notable GitHub repositories and community activities, featuring the project apenwarr/sshuttle as the "Featured Repo of the Week." Sshuttle, known as a "Poor Man's VPN," allows users to connect to a remote machine and forward all network ports to their local machine, effectively routing all traffic through the server with minimal dependencies. The "Awesome Repo of the Week" is asarazan/Narwhalingus-EP, where The Bristol 7’s band shared their EP under a Creative Commons license on GitHub, inviting remixes. Among "Remarkable Repos," jonromero/music-as-data offers a live programming environment for music sequence generation, 37signals/pow provides a zero-config development server for Rack applications, and DanielWaterworth/raphters is a C-based framework for web app development. Promising repos include cldwalker/tux, a Ruby shell interface for Sinatra, and ded/Ender.js, a JavaScript module combining eight utilities into a single API. Feedback and contributions are encouraged, with more open-source news available through The Changelog and GitHub Explore.

CodeConf 2011 was highly successful, with gratitude expressed to the speakers, sponsors, organizers, and attendees for their contributions. For those who missed the event or specific talks, The Changelog offers detailed summaries for both days of the conference, while Lanyrd provides access to slide decks, and Flickr hosts a substantial collection of photographs. The note, penned by Chris Wanstrath (@defunkt), concludes with a hopeful message about future gatherings.

GitHub Jobs has introduced several enhancements to streamline the job search process, including the launch of an iPhone app that allows users to save searches based on location, skills, or requirements and receive push notifications for matching jobs. The revamped GitHub Jobs homepage now features local job listings, highlighted positions on The Changelog, trending job searches, and a showcase of companies actively seeking talent. Additionally, an API has been made available, allowing developers to create custom applications or integrations. These updates aim to make it easier for job seekers to find opportunities tailored to their preferences and needs.

GitHub has introduced Issues 2.0, an upgraded version of its issue management tool that enhances organization and navigation for users. This update allows users to assign issues, add them to milestones, and utilize a trifecta of labels, assignees, and milestones for efficient issue management. The platform features a new browsing interface that simplifies filtering and finding issues, with sticky filters that remember user preferences. Users can also benefit from deep integration with commit messages, email reply support, and improved search functionalities, including quicksearch and a comprehensive search engine that indexes all aspects of issues. Additionally, Issues 2.0 offers advanced keyboard navigation and utilizes PJAX technology for responsive partial page loads, enhancing the user experience for those on compatible browsers like Firefox 4 or Chrome.

GitHub is offering an online Git training course on April 11, led by Matthew McCullough of Ambient Ideas, designed to help participants quickly learn the basics of Git from their home or office. The course consists of six 50-minute sessions covering foundational Git commands and runs from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm EST, with a cost of $195 for one student or $435 for three students. Previous attendees have praised the course for its clarity, practical examples, and professional presentation, noting that it made them more comfortable with Git and highlighted the power of features like rebase.

A GitHub Drinkup event is scheduled to take place in New York City, organized by Scott Chacon and PJ, at the Apple Bombar near Washington Square Park and NYU. Attendees are invited to join the gathering at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, April 6th, for a social evening that includes complimentary beer. The event aims to bring together community members for an informal meetup, encouraging networking and camaraderie among participants.

The third edition of The GitHub Reflog highlights various notable activities and projects within the GitHub community, including the migration of Apple's MacRuby project to GitHub and the creation of official GitHub mirrors by the Eclipse Foundation and the Glasgow Haskell Compiler. Featured projects include divegeek/uscode, which offers an up-to-date, plaintext version of the United States Code for version control, and scoates/owty, a unique project for comparing beer recipes using GitHub's image compare views. Additional remarkable repositories include dotcloud/cloudlets for creating universal server images, josevalim/elixir for a functional language runtime on Erlang, ilektrojohn/creepy for displaying personal data locations, jordansissel/fpm for simplifying package management, and javisantana/whitebrd.me, a promising web app for real-time collaborative sketching. Other interesting projects are atomicobject/objection, a lightweight dependency injection framework for ObjectiveC applications, and mikeal/spider, a programmatic web spider powered by jQuery. The edition encourages community engagement and contributions to these emerging projects.

An impromptu social gathering is being organized at the Westin Reston Heights Vinifera Bistro, where attendees of Ruby Nation are invited to enjoy complimentary drinks, with LivingSocial providing finger foods. The event is scheduled to take place at 6:30 pm on Friday, April 1, at 11750 Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston, VA. The announcement, made by Scott Chacon, emphasizes the spontaneity and informal nature of the meetup, encouraging people to come by and network with fellow participants.