waltermcginnis.com - Latest 50 Results in combined

Hacking low cost "smart" wifi enabled plugs to work with HomeKit

2020-06-14T23:35:29Z

Thanks to a number of open source projects and tutorials, I managed to set up PowerTech Wi-Fi Smart Plug to be controlled via Apple's Home app. [Update: just buy a

Explanation for non-US remote devs of paperwork to work with US companies

2017-10-04T00:31:05Z

I'm a remote software developer that is based in New Zealand, but often get full-time gigs with US companies. People wonder how best to handle the paperwork for taking on

Welcome

2008-03-31T19:53:27Z

Working at cogo.co with Elixir & Phoenix. I'm also a long time open source contributor. Most prominently, I was the original author and lead developer of Kete, a Ruby on Rails

Chris Beams: How to Write a Git Commit Message

2018-01-31T20:21:47Z

Another primer on how to write good commit messages. Explains and defines rules based on earlier write-ups.

Legacy Rails to Elixir and Phoenix Workshop

2017-09-04T03:17:18Z

Here's a thought balloon. I'm interested in leading a hands-on workshop for Rails developers that want to learn Elixir and Phoenix by porting a real world codebase. Who wants to

Turning a trickle into a flood

2017-08-09T03:47:35Z

Taking some small drips of revenue from a legacy project and turning them into a large pool of money for work via crowdfunding.

Using emacs, projectile, alchemist to search and replace `MyApp.Web` with `MyAppWeb`

2017-07-31T20:08:10Z

Phoenix 1.3 final changes a module naming scheme as compared to early release candidates across a lot of files. Here's how to quickly change any instances of the old `MyApp.Web`

Experimenting with decentralized social networks

2017-04-08T21:58:14Z

Getting started with scuttlebutt, a decentralized social network.

Using pow with ember-cli and Content Security Policy

2015-04-04T06:38:42Z

How to set up your config/environment.js to not complain about your .dev domain supplied by pow.

Aquamacs and emacsclient

2014-08-11T22:27:44Z

See the pertinent section of the Aquamacs FAQ. You may have to install the Aquamacs command line tools (adds aquamacs and Aquatics aware emacsclient CLI commands). After you have installed

Work Tools Revamp - binstubs instead of bundle exec

2013-05-09T21:08:46Z

Third installment in a series on sprucing up my text editor, shell, rubies, etc. This is a quick one that covers using binstubs rather than prefixing commands with bundle exec

Related: 4 Topics and 1 Discussion

I'm angry and I want to do something about it

2014-11-11T02:22:31Z

I love building software... I've mostly done this in the service of other people's goals, but I'm ready to take a chance on a project of my own. As a

A desk for both sitting and standing

2012-01-02T21:51:06Z

The details of my desk modification to make it able to convert from sitting height to standing height.

Related: 9 Images and 1 Discussion

Update: Working with ember-cli

2014-08-15T02:51:30Z

I'm working with ember-cli now rather than brunch. The same technique works. That is create a file under ~/.pow/ named for you app and containing only the port number. In

Getting Brunch to work under POW rather than localhost:3333

2013-02-01T04:40:02Z

Quick post on the steps necessary to use a virtual hostname rather than localhost and port number via POW even when using Brunch.

Related: 1 Discussion

Use of bundler zsh plugin

2014-08-02T20:27:14Z

If you use zsh and oh-my-zsh, an alternative to add ./bin to you path is to simply use the bundler plugin. In a project that uses bundler (ruby, commonly rails),

Custom theme

2014-08-02T08:36:13Z

I have a custom theme that can be pulled from my fork: https://github.com/walter/oh-my-zsh/commit/39a0aca3cb1d4e76e92e86bed071a2a53b29a013

Mark Darymple: The Universal Troubleshooting Process

2014-07-16T05:32:46Z

Mark D., a former coworker of mine at ArsDigita (wikipedia entry), outlines his interpretation of the UTP for software development.

Spreedly Blog: "Merge pull request" Considered Harmful

2014-07-16T05:22:57Z

Nathanial, maintainer of ActiveMerchant's open source repository, talks about the downsides of "merge pull request" button on the web interface of Github and presents an alternative. The most interesting part

FutureLearn: How we write readable feature tests with RSpec

2014-07-11T02:24:05Z

Talks about maintaining a more readable style of feature spec by extracting methods. An aid to moving from Cucumber to Rspec features.

Katrina Owen: Therapeutic Refactoring presentation at CascadiaRuby 2012

2014-07-11T02:07:38Z

Walks through a refactoring giving examples of patterns to refactored out.

How one story can set the course of your life

2014-05-21T23:20:38Z

Someone told me a story once...

Modal forms in Ember.js

2013-02-07T03:50:57Z

Example code using Twitter Bootstrap with Ember.js 1.0.0-rc.1 and Ember Data (See Update for helpful links for later versions of Ember.js)

Related: 2 Discussion

Trying to stop embedding bootstrap classes does not work

2013-12-23T21:26:35Z

I wanted all of the data tables in my application to be styled with bootstrap classes .table, .table-bordered, .table-striped, .table-condensed, so I made one class I call .datagrid and tried

Samuel Hulick: How Basecamp Onboards New Users

2013-11-16T23:14:32Z

A slideshow that is a "deep dive" of Basecamp's sign up and first use process. Nice highlights of why 37Signals's product and user interface choices work in context. An antidote

Orange Bar, Dorsoduro, Campo Santa Margharita, Venice, Italy

2013-10-25T16:23:27Z

Location for first "A Round" get together.

Related: 1 Topic

A Round: Orange Bar, Campo Santa Margharita, Dorsoduro, Venice, Italy - 10am, Sunday, Oct. 27th, 2013

2013-10-25T16:37:42Z

The first "A Round" meetup!

Related: 1 Topic

Meeting up while "A Round"

2013-10-06T20:15:38Z

Think I will organize a tech meetup somewhere I would like to go rather than in my area. Hmm. — Walter McGinnis (@wtem) April 30, 2013 So I'm actually going

Related: 1 Topic and 1 Image

Sacha Grief: SASS & Color Variables

2013-10-08T03:09:13Z

A practice for how to balance semantic naming of variables when using SASS with color names, etc.

8th Light: Stuck in the Muck

2013-10-08T00:53:00Z

For many of us this will be how we have found ourselves troubleshooting programming problems already. Perhaps a mentor has shown us the way (I can thank ArsDigita's Bootcamp back

Nathan Powell: The designers’ problem of less is more

2013-10-06T21:28:42Z

A good read to excercise the "what's important here" muscle. How beautiful the app is, or how well it conforms to a trend, is meaningless if doesn't allow people to

Everyday Rails: Get more from Guard

2013-10-03T21:16:06Z

Introduces more advanced uses of guard to automatically run things when you save a file. Acts as a good introduction to tools for scanning code quality and security practices.

Clojure for the Brave and True: Start Using Emacs

2013-09-04T08:15:10Z

One of the best introductions to Emacs that I've seen. Good description of basic concepts. Good to reread the fundamentals every now and then and I picked up a couple

Work Tools Revamp - JavaScript and CSS indents in emacs

2013-08-13T05:17:55Z

I can't believe this took so long to find! How to get CSS and JavaScript modes to honor tab-width.

Related: 4 Topics

Work Tools Revamp - zsh and oh-my-zsh

2013-05-05T22:34:05Z

Second installment in a series on sprucing up my text editor, shell, rubies, etc. This covers modernizing my shell experience by switching to zsh from bash and taking advantage of

Related: 1 Web link, 4 Topics, and 1 Discussion

Work Tools Revamp - emacs server and emacsclient

2013-04-26T03:46:27Z

First installment in a series on sprucing up my text editor, shell, rubies, etc. This covers solving the common emacs gotcha of $EDITOR being called from external programs.

Related: 4 Topics and 1 Discussion

Work Tools Revamp - Hubot for IRC logging

2013-08-07T23:53:15Z

How to set up Hubot for IRC channels with a web accessible log viewer

Related: 4 Topics

darian moody: Protect yourself from the hidden dangers of `curl | sh`

2013-08-19T23:30:12Z

Talks about possible attack for piping a script from curl to bash (what your browser user agent sees when viewing the file is not necessary what curl's user agent sees)

darthdeus: PostgreSQL Basics by Example

2013-08-19T02:13:47Z

Quick reference for Postgres common access commands, etc.

Thoughtbot: Design Patterns in the Wild: Null Object

2013-08-16T00:22:26Z

Walks through a refactoring in FactoryGirl using the Null Object pattern to simplify logic.

Thoughtbot: Rails Refactoring Example: Introduce Null Object

2013-08-15T22:54:09Z

Introduces Null Object pattern and talks about how you can use it to take advantage of duck typing for better OO design. Not really a great example of how powerful

Thoughtbot: git bisect

2013-08-11T22:29:56Z

An introduction of git bisect's utility and how to use it to determine a commit that caused failing tests.

Whenever you hand something off...

2013-08-02T22:33:15Z

A simple rule that helps improve your work as a software developer.

Serious Pony: Your app makes me fat

2013-08-02T01:42:11Z

Talks about the importance of not dumping bad UX on people because it is ACTUALLY harmful to people.

Relevance: On Naming

2013-08-01T04:10:49Z

An essay on naming with linquistic, semantic, and anthropological meanderings.

SocialCast: Incremental Redesign with Rails

2013-07-26T02:05:16Z

Talks about how to use prepend_view_path to serve different versions of the same view depending on context. E.g. only show the beta redesign of pages to a certain class of

Thoughtbot: The Perils of Uniqueness Validations

2013-07-17T23:28:37Z

How to reenforce your uniqueness validations with indexes in your RDBMS so that uniqueness is truly consistent.

Paul Graham: Do things that don't scale

2013-07-16T22:02:47Z

I found the most useful, or at least resonant parts for me, towards the end.

Burnside Digital: What’s a (Good) REST API?

2013-07-13T04:29:56Z

A summary of three levels of "RESTfulness" of APIs with links to further reading. Pragmatic description.

Quick People Blog: Useful Github Patterns

2013-07-12T03:39:59Z

Runs down some strategies for working via Github that help increase communication as well as allow you to make improvements while maintaining separate commits, etc.