April 2012 Summaries

GitHub has open-sourced Akavache, an asynchronous, persistent key-value cache library designed for native desktop and mobile applications in C#. Akavache functions similarly to memcached, helping applications manage the downloading and caching of remote data efficiently while maintaining responsive user interfaces. It addresses issues of inconsistent and duplicated caching code by unifying the caching of various object types, such as HTTP responses, JSON objects, and images. Akavache's core is a key-value byte array store with extensions for handling arbitrary objects, HTTP requests, image loading, and secure storage of user credentials. The library utilizes Reactive Extensions to provide non-blocking operations through Observables, simplifying concurrency problems in UI programming. An example of its application includes Twitter for Mac, where cached content is immediately available with logic for refreshing data when necessary. Akavache is also integrated into Play for Windows, showcasing its utility in diverse applications. For those interested, the library is available on GitHub and can be installed via NuGet.

GitHub has introduced revamped and new graphical tools to enhance insights into hosted repositories, including three new graphs: Contributors, Commit Activity, and Code Frequency. These tools are designed to provide detailed information about project contributions, weekly commit activity over the past year, and the overall additions and deletions in a project's history. Although the Impact graph is no longer available, the Punchcard graph still helps users visualize the frequency of commits by hour and day. The new graphs utilize the d3 library, created by Mike Bostock, to offer enhanced data visualization capabilities.

Scheduled maintenance on a fileserver pair occurred on April 25th, 2012, at 9 PM PDT, temporarily placing a small percentage of repositories in maintenance mode for approximately 30 minutes, affecting access through HTTP, Git, and SSH. The maintenance was successfully completed, and users were thanked for their patience.

GitHub has introduced an enhanced interface for creating repositories, highlighted by a newly positioned "create repository" button in the header. The redesigned screen prominently features organizations and allows users to upgrade their accounts to add private repositories directly from this interface. Users can now automatically initialize a repository and select a .gitignore file from available templates, streamlining the setup process.

Smart HTTP support for GitHub offers a more user-friendly alternative to the SSH-based approach, particularly benefiting Windows users by allowing them to push changes using their GitHub username and password instead of setting up an SSH key. However, the need to repeatedly enter credentials can be cumbersome. To address this, a utility by Andrew Nurse leverages Git 1.7.9’s HTTPS Credential Caching to create a native password cache for Windows, eliminating the need to re-enter passwords until they change. This utility, compatible with GitHub and other repositories supporting Smart HTTP, is easy to install and comes with GitPad, which changes the default commit message editor to Notepad or another text editor. The utility requires different .NET Framework versions depending on the Windows version, while Mac users can utilize the native OS X credential cache APIs by enabling it through a simple command.

Fabian "ryg" Giesen, a coder from the renowned demoscene group farbrausch, has open-sourced a GitHub repository that includes the group's work from 2001 to 2011, featuring a wide range of tools and productions integral to the demoscene community. The repository contains hundreds of C++, C, and assembly files, showcasing tools such as the kkrunchy x86 executable compressor and the werkkzeug3 engine, known for its revolutionary procedural content generation that powered many of farbrausch's successful projects. Notable productions include .kkrieger, a first-person shooter with advanced graphics in only 96kb, and the award-winning demo fr-041: debris. Despite the historical significance of these resources, much of the code is outdated, although there is an effort underway to update it for Visual Studio 2010. Giesen's series of blog posts also provide valuable insights and guidance for navigating the repository.

GitHub for Mac version 1.2.5 introduces a new update panel that provides users with detailed information about the features included in each release, along with a convenient Relaunch button that allows users to easily restart the application and continue from where they left off. This update panel will only appear after users update to version 1.2.5, and it won't be present in earlier versions. The update is designed to download automatically, though users can manually check for updates via the GitHub menu. New users can download the application from mac.github.com. The announcement was made by Justin Palmer, also known as @Caged.

Notch, the creator of Minecraft, has introduced a new game called 0x10c, a space simulator where players program their spaceships using a CPU managed by a Virtual Machine. GitHub has recognized the game's programming language, DCPU-16 Assembly, as an officially supported language, enabling automatic recognition and highlighting of relevant files and code blocks. The game has gained significant popularity, with numerous repositories on GitHub dedicated to various aspects of 0x10c, including virtual machines for multiple programming languages and tools like an LLVM backend that generates DCPU-16 assembly. Enthusiasts and developers are actively contributing to the game's community by creating resources like a live editing environment and a kernel written in DCPU-16 assembly, fostering a vibrant ecosystem around Notch’s latest creation.

Portland is renowned for its excellent beers, second only to its remarkable summers, and to celebrate, a drinkup event is being organized at the Rialto Pool Room this Thursday, starting at 8 pm. Attendees are invited to enjoy a complimentary beer and engage in conversation with fellow developers, with the attire of fixies and skinny jeans being optional but anticipated. The event, scheduled for April 12th from 8:00 to 10:00 pm, is detailed by Alex Malinovich, also known as @demonbane, and is tagged under events.

GitHub is celebrating its fourth anniversary by returning to Zeke’s Diamond Bar, the location where the platform was conceived, for a commemorative event. The celebration is scheduled for Thursday, April 12th, at 8:00 pm, at the bar located at 600 3rd Street. This event marks a reflection on GitHub’s early beginnings and a look forward to its future developments, with Kami Richey, also known as @kamzilla, sharing the details.

GitHub is streamlining its platform by removing two outdated features: the Fork Queue and Private Messaging. The Fork Queue, once revolutionary for accepting code contributions, has been rendered obsolete by the more efficient Merge Button, which is integrated into Pull Requests to facilitate comprehensive branch merges and discussions. Private Messaging is being discontinued due to its redundancy, as email remains the preferred method of communication. This decision reflects GitHub's commitment to continuous improvement, acknowledging the contributions of these features while focusing on enhancing user experience.

GitHub has introduced a new GitHub Page Generator, allowing users to easily create aesthetically pleasing pages for their projects. By navigating to the admin page of a repository and selecting the Automatic Page Generator button, users can quickly generate a page by filling out the text and choosing from eight designer-crafted themes. This tool aims to simplify the creation of project pages without requiring extensive design skills. Additionally, recent hardware upgrades have improved the speed of page builds. The themes, contributed by various designers, offer a range of styles, and more information on GitHub Pages can be found on their website and documentation.

GitHub is hosting a social event next Thursday, April 12th, at the Anacapa Brewing Company in Ventura, CA, starting at 8 pm, where attendees can enjoy free beer and engage in discussions about technology. The gathering, sponsored by GitHub and organized by Scott Chacon, is an opportunity for tech enthusiasts to connect and share ideas in a relaxed atmosphere.