About Me

I make things...

for the web...

and I ♥ OSS!

About Me

Lead Developer

Formerly, Web Engineer

Tools for Developers

Any piece of software or process that aids in the development and management of a software project.

• Version Control (Git, SVN)
• Language-Specific Frameworks (RoR, Laravel, Bootstrap)
• Build Process Tools (Grunt, WebBlocks)
• Testing Aids (RSpec, PHPUnit, Selenium)
• Team Management/Communication Apps (Slack, Jira, Toggl)
• And more...

Three Classifications of Tools

• Libraries, Components, and Frameworks

• Version Control, Build Tools, Testing Aids, and Editors

• Communication Apps, Issue Trackers, Resource Management Tools

Code-Based Tools

• Most obvious/visible to developers
• Huge productivity gains for common problems
• Can provide organization/development methodologies

Components

• Active Record
• Carbon
• Modernizr.js

Frameworks

• Zend Framework
• Ruby on Rails
• Bootstrap

Frameworks

In this sense, frameworks are the new programming languages. They are where the latest ideas, philosophies, and practicalities of modern-day coding are found. Some flame out, but many are becoming the new fundamental building blocks of programming.

Case Study: Ruby on Rails

• Ruby v0.95 released in 1995
• Rails v1.0 released in 2005

Case Study: Ruby on Rails

• Popularity exploded due to ease of use
• Incredibly powerful for rapid prototype development
• Built in ORM, scaffolding functionality, and command line generators

Case Study: Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails is unquestionably Ruby's killer app. It can take a lot of credit for lifting Ruby from obscurity outside its native Japan. No other programming language can boast a simple web application framework that also has almost all of that languages developer mindshare.

Case Study: Javascript

Many features that are making their way into ES6 originated in OSS efforts.

• Dependency loading (require.js)
• ES6 Promises (promise.js, es6-promise)
• jQuery array functions

Code Process Tools

• Not the most obvious or popular tools to developers
• Massively powerful when utilized correctly
• Often encapsulate or enforce paradigms and best practices

Version Control

• CVS
• SVN
• Mercurial
• Git

Package/Dependency Managers

• NPM
• Homebrew
• Ruby Gems / Bundler
• Composer
• Bower

Build Process Tools

• Preprocessors (Handlebars, SASS, Coffeescript)
• Concatenators
• Linters / Style Checkers
• Task Runners (Grunt, Gulp, Rake, Artisan)

And Many More

• Code Quality Tools
• Continuous Integration
• Static Site Generators
• Editors
• Testing Tools

Case Study: Composer

• 1.0.0 alpha released in 2011
• Package / Dependency manager, inspired by NPM and Bundler
• Packagist - hosted package repository
• Includes autoloading generation for all managed components

Case Study: Composer

• Popularized highly specialized de-coupled components
• Triggered huge paradigm shift in framework development
• Ex: Laravel 5 - Illuminate components

Example: Laravel Illuminate

Of course, writing solid, de-coupled code bases is nothing new...However, it hasn't always been widely embraced in the PHP world, especially amongst micro-frameworks. That is changing. Wonderful new tools like Composer make building and consuming these components easier than ever...

Example: Laravel Illuminate

...For that reason, over the past month or so I have converted most of Laravel into stand-alone, PSR-0 / PSR-1 compliant components that may be used in any project. To distinguish the components from the Laravel framework itself, I have named them the "Illuminate" components.

Example: Laravel Illuminate

Laravel, in additions to using its own custom packages like Eloquent and Blade, utilizes a whopping 23 packages from the wider PHP community. Using the "best of the best" PHP packages allows for greater interaction between Laravel and the wider PHP community.

Example: Laravel

Example: Laravel

Process Management Tools

• Frequently disregarded or disliked by developers
• Especially valuable in teams
• Helps with management of a software project

Communication Tools

• Corporate Chat
• Video Conferencing
• Screensharing

Project Management

• Issue Tracking
• Project Management
• Resource Management

Case Study: Cloudcompli

• Began as a tool for a consulting firm with one developer
• Became the basis for a new tech company
• Transitioned from ad-hoc meetings, emails, and word documents to transparent, cloud-based discussions and issues

Case Study: Cloudcompli

• Slack for communication
• Google Hangouts for remote meetings
• GoToMeeting for remote presentations, training, and screen sharing

Case Study: Cloudcompli

• Github for issue tracking, code review, and documentation
• Toggl for resource management
• Google Drive for document sharing