#advocacy (15 links)
- Why Walmart is using Node.js venturebeat.com
<blockquote>Bringing Node.js into PayPal removed the barriers between the layers in the software organization, Node.js and javascript all the way up from just above the services layer to the frontend layer, meaning you need fewer engineers.
In one project there was initially 25-30 java engineers were required to build a simple controller layer. Later this was simplified to a smaller team. But in parallel, the Node.js team did it with just 1-2 node engineers.</blockquote>
<blockquote>If you are not using Git, you will find yourself facing an increasing number of competitors who are, and a decreasing pool of candidates who are willing to tolerate the alternatives.</blockquote>
- Publish What You Learn | Smashing Magazine smashingmagazine.com
The collaboration on apps like GitHub should be exactly what happens on blog posts. The readers posting comments should read the entire article, and should offer constructive, polite criticism and suggestions, without any unnecessary negativity.
- Hacker News | Look, far be it from me to always be chasing and advocating the new hotness, and... news.ycombinator.com
Far be it from me to always be chasing and advocating the new hotness, and declaring the ignorance of the dark ages (ie. 5 years ago), because it's very very rare in technology that something is so utterly and dramatically superior in every technical aspect as Git (or Mercurial, or Darcs) is over SVN. [...] Now I understand there are many many valid reasons why it might be necessary to use subversion, but an easier transition from CVS is not one of them. [...] Version control is a developer's bread and butter. Investing in using one of the good ones may be the single greatest skills ROI a developer can get. Unless you understand both git and svn intimately, you won't grok this, but let me state from hard-won experience that in SVN you can occasionally hit nightmare scenarios requiring days or even weeks to sort out a problem that could be solved in under an hour in git.
- Distributed Version Control is here to stay, baby - Joel on Software joelonsoftware.com
With distributed version control, merges are easy and work fine. So you can actually have a stable branch and a development branch, or create long-lived branches for your QA team where they test things before deployment, or you can create short-lived branches to try out new ideas and see how they work. This is too important to miss out on. This is possibly the biggest advance in software development technology in the ten years I’ve been writing articles here.
Cleaner. Much cleaner. Proper unit testing. Real reusable components across applications. An ORM rather than a just a series of functional query helpers. Tighter conventions (q: how often do people using Python argue about bracing styles? a: they don't). We can update then test a Django core change without worrying about having to take apart our applications, and if we do need to make a change, it's easy to do because there's less, much more readable code. Every member of the tech team can meaningfully contribute because there are fewer specialized or hacked together pieces.
- MichaelMoore.com | Concentric Sky blog.concentricsky.com
Django, 5 weeks, 30k pages of content transitioned. Impressive.
- Why front-end developers are so important to the future of businesses on the web - paulcarvill.com paulcarvill.com
"A [front end developer] is responsible for everything that sits on the client side of the web stack — the content, presentation and behaviour layers. Few other roles touch so many other key aspects of a business as does a [front end developer]’s." Amen to that.
- Why Git is Better Than X whygitisbetterthanx.com
More worthwhile git persuasion info.
- JeffCroft.com: Django for non-programmers jeffcroft.com
Handy intro.