Software Development

There are 90 posts filed in Software Development (this is page 7 of 9).

How should developers build apps?

Earlier this week, I read a post titled “Build Libraries, Not Apps“, where the author (Nicolás Ortega Froysa) puts forth an idea that software developers should create the main part of their applications as libraries, then create APIs so that other developers can create alternate user interfaces in other clients if desired. I can see that being an appealing goal for developers who want their application to be used in lots of other settings. However, I do not think that most applications are designed to have alternate user interfaces. For myself, I think of the user interface that I want my application to have, and then create it, and then create the logic that powers that interface. It is not a design goal for me to support an API. Froysa mentions different ways that Unix/Linux applications can interact with libraries (GUI, text interface, command line interface). To me, if a design goal of the application is to support multiple clients, or provide services to other applications, then including an API makes sense.

Install notes on 1999.io and MyWord Editor

I am working with Ron Chester to set up some instances of the 1999.io and MyWord Editor blogging tools, and have some test installs working on my Digital Ocean instance. I did have to make a tweak to one of the files in the nodestorage app, will be filing a Github issue on this. However, I did want to capture a few points that I re-learned in doing this again:

  • Install separate instances of nodestorage for each app (using different ports), otherwise you will mess up one of the tool outputs.
  • The Twitter API setup at apps.twitter.com has changed a little bit, what used to be called consumer secret and API secret are now part of the API secrets at the top of the page with the secrets info.

If you want to try the installs, go to the following URLs:

Read: Tools are more valuable when they are connected

Read Tools Valuable On Their Own, More Valuable When Connected by Ton Zijlstra

Jerome Velociter has an interesting riff on how Diaspora, Mastodon and similar decentralised and federated tools are failing their true potential (ht Frank Meeuwsen).
He says that these decentralised federated applications are trying to mimic the existing platforms too much.
They are attempts at reb…

Read: The Culture War at the Heart of Open Source

Read The culture war at the heart of open source

There’s a war going on. When isn’t there a war going on? But I’m not talking about a physical war here: I’m talking about a war over meaning. This particular war is a fight over what “open source” means. Let’s take a few steps back. The Free… | Steve Klabnik | “The most violent element in society is ignorance.” – Emma Goldman

More thoughts on what “open source” means…

Read: Why open?

Read Why open? by Ben WerdmüllerBen Werdmüller

I’ve been building open source platforms for my entire career. It has not made me rich. Nonetheless, I’m more committed than ever to openness as an ideology, strategy, and organized response.
It took me years to realize that the startups I founded were more acts of resistance than they were ways to …

Here’s a part of open source that I have not thought about before:

Open source is a bottom-up, worker-led movement. The means and outputs of production are available to everybody. I think that’s beautiful – and, in a world where every aspect of our lives has been packaged and monopolized for profit, a powerful force for good.