August 2017 Summaries

A recent update has introduced a feature that allows users to quickly review pull requests by listing changed functions or methods in the pull request file finder, now extended to Python enthusiasts as well. This enhancement enables users to search for the term "function" or the name of a changed function within a Python file, providing a timeline-style view of the results for easier identification of the most impactful parts of a pull request. The update aims to streamline the review process within the Python community, and users are encouraged to provide feedback or suggest additional search functions through a help form.

Efficient organization of projects and teams on GitHub enhances communication and transparency, as outlined by GitHub Solutions Engineer Phil Holleran in a webcast. The webcast emphasizes establishing a clear organizational structure with a single GitHub organization containing a hierarchy of teams, which can be expanded as needed. For repositories, managing documentation, contributions, and releases consistently prevents sprawl and ensures all team members are informed about project progress, aiding new developers in getting up to speed. Task organization on GitHub benefits from utilizing task lists, labels, milestones, and project boards, which offer varied strategies for task initiation, assignment, and issue tracking, with project boards serving as central hubs linking people to tasks and issues.

The GitHub Training Team is offering a week-long series dedicated to integrating GitHub with various Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), each day focusing on a different tool to enhance user workflows. Starting September 11, participants can learn about GitHub Desktop's capabilities like branch creation and repository synchronization, followed by using the eGit plugin with Eclipse for handling branches and commits. The week continues with sessions on leveraging Visual Studio for GitHub integration, featuring experts Jeremy Foster and Matt Desmond, and exploring Xcode's robust GitHub capabilities for macOS and iOS development. The series concludes with a look at Atom.io's integration for managing Git and GitHub tasks directly within the editor, all presented by Cynthia Rich.

Review requests in software development are enhanced by new features that simplify finding and managing pull requests needing attention. Users can leverage the "review-requested:nplasterer" filter to view all pull requests requiring their review, including those from any team they are part of. For direct team requests, the "team-review-requested:github/octocats" filter is available. Updates to the global Review Request tab aim to streamline this process further, offering qualifiers like "review:none," "review:required," "review:approved," and "review:changes_requested" to categorize pull requests by their review status. These updates are designed to help users organize work more effectively and review code more efficiently, with additional support available through documentation and feedback channels.

Universe, an event hosted in San Francisco, offers a diverse lineup with over 40 breakout sessions, 12 workshops, and a benefit concert, aimed at providing a comprehensive learning experience for attendees. The schedule, now fully released, includes talks from notable figures in the software industry such as Sara Cope from the U.S. General Services Administration, Trent Willis from Netflix, Frances Haugen from Pinterest, Machisté Quintana from Slack, and Cindy Payne from Nationwide. Participants can engage in hands-on workshops on various topics, including advanced Git commands with Cynthia Rich from GitHub, Heroku pipelines for continuous delivery with Josh Lewis from Heroku, and mental wellness in the tech industry with Amanda Gelender from GitHub.

Nathaniel Woodthorpe, during his summer internship as an Engineering Intern at GitHub, contributed to enhancing GitHub Classroom by implementing new features and updates that benefit teachers and students. These include setting assignment deadlines which allow teachers to track student progress by capturing the latest commit SHA as a submission, and enabling students to continue work for partial credit without altering the base commit. Additionally, he improved the setup process with Classroom rosters that simplify linking student names to GitHub usernames and added short URLs for assignment invitations, improved assignment views, and performance enhancements. Woodthorpe expressed gratitude towards his mentors and announced his upcoming role as a full-time Platform Engineer at GitHub, while also encouraging applications for future internships.

The GitHub Bundle, available in the GitHub Shop, offers a discounted collection of items designed to help users stay organized and stylish. Priced at $55, which is $20 off the regular cost, the bundle includes six items: a cotton shirt featuring Hubot, a lined notebook with Hubot on the cover, a GitHub ballpoint pen, a cotton tote bag with the slogan "Pull Requests Welcome," an Octocat water bottle with space for a GitHub username, and a 10-pack of assorted Octocat stickers. These items provide practical and fun tools for GitHub enthusiasts, available while supplies last, as shared by Brandi Firestine.

Over the past year, GitHub has transitioned its core Ruby on Rails application that powers github.com and api.github.com to Kubernetes clusters running on its metal cloud infrastructure, marking a significant milestone in its infrastructure evolution. This shift from a traditional setup using Unicorn processes and Puppet-managed servers to a containerized environment in Kubernetes was driven by the need for greater scalability, flexibility, and efficiency in deploying and managing services. The transition aimed to provide engineers with a self-service platform to experiment, deploy, and scale new services rapidly. The migration process involved extensive testing and validation, including creating a Kubernetes-powered deployment environment called "review lab" to facilitate exploratory testing and enhance deployment confidence. The transition to Kubernetes allowed GitHub to better handle growth and complexity while maintaining performance and reliability standards, even as they encountered challenges such as kernel panics during high load periods. Moving forward, GitHub is poised to extend Kubernetes deployment to more applications, including stateful workloads, thereby enabling the Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) team to focus more on delivering infrastructure products and improving the overall GitHub experience. The project was a collaborative effort involving multiple teams and drew significant inspiration and guidance from the Kubernetes open-source community.

Teams can enhance productivity by having all necessary information consolidated in one place, and this is facilitated by the ability to embed code snippets directly into issues they are working on. By using permalinks, team members can include relevant code snippets without leaving the conversation, thereby streamlining workflow and collaboration. To add a snippet, users select the desired lines, use the inline toolbar to copy the permalink, and paste it where needed. Additionally, the toolbar allows users to open a new issue directly from the selected code. For further details, documentation is available on how to use embedded code snippets and initiate issues from code.

Earlier this month, feedback was solicited from the community on proposed changes to GitHub's Terms of Service and Corporate Terms of Service, resulting in significant community engagement with 45 issues and 17 pull requests opened. This feedback led to refinements in various sections, including clarifications in the Private Repositories section, updates to the "Federal Government" amendment, and the new Publicity section, alongside multiple typo and grammar corrections. While some suggested ideas were not implemented in this cycle, they are expected to be addressed in upcoming updates. The revised Terms of Service, reflecting these community-driven changes, went into effect on August 7, and users are encouraged to continue participating in future discussions and updates to further refine these policies.

GitHub for Unity, initially announced at the Games Developer Conference and open-sourced at Unite Europe, has released version 0.16-alpha, offering support for Unity 2017 and new features like publishing repositories directly from Unity and deleting old branches without using the command line. This release, made possible by contributors' efforts, also enhances the authentication workflow, allowing the use of the Enter/Return keys for confirmation during the process. Users are encouraged to download the latest release, view the complete release notes, and contribute through feature requests, bug reports, or pull requests as the project progresses toward version 1.0, under the guidance of Lee Reilly, a Senior Program Manager at GitHub.

Bard College, a liberal arts institution, integrates computer science into its curriculum through innovative teaching methods led by professors Keith O’Hara and Sven Anderson, aiming to make programming accessible to all students, regardless of their prior experience. The approach begins with the Language and Thinking program, where students are encouraged to use code to express ideas and create artifacts, bridging disciplines like philosophy and poetry with computing. Methods include remixing HTML using JS Bin, creating expressive projects like poetry-generating algorithms, and understanding link structures through hands-on activities, such as using yarn and wooden nickels to simulate internet link dynamics. These creative assignments are designed to shift students' attitudes towards computer science by demonstrating its relevance across diverse fields, potentially influencing their future educational and career choices.

GitHub is offering resources to facilitate the transition from REST to GraphQL through a webcast and an online training course. The webcast, scheduled for August 8th, features GitHub Platform Engineer Mark Tareshawty and Trainer Matt Desmond, who will discuss how GraphQL provides significant advancements over REST APIs, including how to transform REST calls into precise GraphQL queries and combine multiple REST calls into a single query. Additionally, an on-demand course titled "Introduction to GraphQL" is available, guiding users through building a GraphQL query and performing a simple mutation using the GraphQL explorer. These educational offerings aim to help users understand and implement GraphQL effectively.

GitHub Marketplace is a platform designed to enhance and customize workflows for developers by providing an array of GitHub Apps suitable for both open-source projects and software companies. The marketplace recently introduced seven new apps and expanded into four new categories: Dependency Management, Localization, Security, and Time Tracking. Notable tools include Better Code Hub, which offers actionable feedback on code quality, Code Climate for automated code review and technical debt assessment, and Coveralls for tracking test coverage. Other tools like StyleCI focus on maintaining PHP coding styles, while Gemnasium manages project dependencies and alerts users to vulnerabilities. GitLocalize aids in continuous localization, and WakaTime provides insights into programming activity through time tracking. These tools collectively enable developers to automate and streamline their development processes, offering a comprehensive suite of solutions to improve code quality, security, and productivity.