Week 318 - Interesting links

Predicting Test Failures

Aaron Patterson demonstrates how it’s possible to build a map of individual tests versus the lines of code which are covered by that test. This then makes it possible to only run the subset of tests that can conceivably have been affected by the lines of code you’ve changed since the last successful build.

I had a go at doing this aeons ago using Ruby 1.8.6, but I seem to remember I ran into problems with the way Rcov worked at the time. Anyway, I like the idea and if nobody else takes up the gauntlet, I might try turning it into a gem. — JM

rubyforge-redirects

As Tom Stuart says, “It’s a shame that all links to RubyForge projects are broken. Let’s fix it! Please help by contributing redirects.” — JM

Undercover restorers fix Paris landmark’s clock

For a year from September 2005, under the nose of the Panthéon’s unsuspecting security officials, a group of intrepid “illegal restorers” set up a secret workshop and lounge in a cavity under the building’s famous dome. Under the supervision of group member Jean-Baptiste Viot, a professional clockmaker, they pieced apart and repaired the antique clock that had been left to rust in the building since the 1960s. Only when their clandestine revamp of the elaborate timepiece had been completed did they reveal themselves.

I love this story. — JM

Consider Static Typing

Matz is apparently thinking about some form of static typing for Ruby 3.0. Prompted by this Tom Stuart recently gave a talk at RubyConf Australia which provides an excellent introduction to type systems and how static typing might work in Ruby. Available as both a video and an expanded transcript. — JM

JavaScript Has Won: Run Flash with Mozilla Shumway and Develop Silverlight in JS with Fayde

Well this is some amazing news that has been a long time coming. You can take your Flash apps and run them without Flash, and take your Silverlight apps and (almost) run them without Silverlight.

Excellent news! — JM

Habitat - Fosdem 2015 talk

Habitat is an external brain. It does things in response to your interactions with your digital-physical environment using behavior-driven development style tests. (Think self-hosted Google Now meets If This Then That).

I mentioned Habitat way back in week 279 but thought I’d mention it again given that Richard’s written up a talk he recently gave at Fosdem 2015. I’ve not tried it but am pretty excited by the possibilities. — CR

Why the hell not?

So when we were talking to our publisher about how we wanted REWORK to be organized and designed, I asked them if we could put the copyright page at the end, rather than the beginning. It would be one fewer page to leaf through up front, and if any page was ignored more than the others, it had to be the copyright page. So why the hell not just put it at the back?

I love these sort of stories of people challenging the accepted way of doing things. It reminds me of something Peter Jackson says in an interview with James Nesbitt in River Deep, Mountain High. I’m paraphrasing but it’s something along the lines of, “New Zealand has a healthy disrespect for the way the rest of the world works.” — CR

Digital Maturity

This amused me. Deloitte’s Digital Maturity survey to “help you understand where your existing strengths lie from a digital perspective” tells you to use a tablet or PC/Mac if you try to register using a mobile device :-) — CR