Damian’s notes

Instructions for renaming the ‘master‘ branch in your Git repository to ‘main‘. There is no particular reason for the main branch of your repo to be called ‘master‘, so you might as well rename it rather spend eternity explaining to people that this isn’t a reference to ‘master–slave’ relationships; ‘main’ is as good a replacement as any.

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  Easily rename your Git default branch from master to main - Scott Hanselman

A runtime for TypeScript or JavaScript programs that is positioned as a single-executable alternative to TypeScript + Babel + Node + NPM + ESLint + Prettier + Webpack. Modules are imported from URLs (same system as ES6 modules running in browsers), and asynchronous APIs use promises rather than those old-fashioned callbacks (so not a drop-in replacement for Node). Implemented in Rust, and aiming to be secure-by-default by restricting access to files and networks unless explicitly allowed.

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  Deno — A secure runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript. Deno is a simple, modern and secure runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript that uses V8 and is built in Rust.

Apple’s photos app does machine-learning-powered analysis of all your photos and stores the result sin SQLite files that can reveal a wealth of information if you know how.

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  Using SQL to find my best photo of a pelican according to Apple Photos According to the Apple Photos internal SQLite database, this is the most aesthetically pleasing photograph I have ever taken of a pelican: Here’s the SQL query that found me my …

HTTPretty is a Python package for writing tests for code that interacts with remote web services. You write expectations for requests the test code should make and the responses, and the tests run without accessing real networks at all. Works particularly nicely with JSON-based protocols.

• HTTPretty’s - HTTP Client Mocking for Python — HTTPretty 0.9.6 documentation

I am beginning to think that configurable web sites are a terrible idea. Here is an old article ranting about the hugely complicated web frameworks created so that sites may be built ‘without writing a single line of code’.

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  Without Writing a Single Line of Code 8 August 2009

pipx is a tool to help you install and run end-user applications written in Python. Each app is installed in its own virtualenv and the commands added to a directory you put on your path.

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  pipx

Using GitHub Actions to updatge the README of a repository of short tips & tricks articles.

(Via Simon Willison on Twitter)

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  Using a self-rewriting README powered by GitHub Actions to track TILs I’ve started tracking TILs—Today I Learneds—inspired by this five-year-and-counting collection by Josh Branchaud on GitHub (found via Hacker News). I’m keeping mine in GitHub too, and using GitHub Actions to …

Detailed documentation for the .properties files used in Java programming is surprisingly obscure. Are quotes permitted around values? What limits are there on key tokens? It’s a mystery.

• Properties (Java SE 10 & JDK 10 )

Optimizing your network caching to account for the properties of your storage hardware sometimes takes you in unexpected directions.

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  Why We Started Putting Unpopular Assets in Memory Recently, we developed a technology that reduces our hit tail latency and reduces the wear out of SSDs. This technology is a memory-SSD hybrid storage system that puts unpopular assets in memory.