5 ms·

Github teaches us that "great" is better than "good"

33 points by generalk 18y ago

gruseom 18y ago
I love stories like this. We're thinking for our startup that everybody can have the same job title: Customer Support.
swombat 18y ago
Ok, that's a nice story, but a bit short on meat. On the whole, it reads almost like an advert for Tender Support. Is the author affiliated?
- technoweenie 18y ago
  Nope, Jon Candy is not part of ENTP. We do really appreciate the kind words he said about Tender though :)
- generalk 18y ago
  Man, I almost wish I was. Yeah, I know it kinda reads like an advert, sorry about that. But I'm still a little shocked when I come across support systems that work as opposed to the common OSS-project style of "File bug in Bugzilla. Wait. Wait. WONTFIX."
unalone 18y ago
This might not be the place to ask, but I'm curious and I've never quite understood: why/how do you use version control systems like GitHub? I've never worked with it in a project, and I've never quite seen the point: I keep all of my files backed up, my partner does the same, and so if we need to go back and look at something it's not hard. We edit directly from the server, so there's no need to sync information. So: why would I use something like Git or Mercury? I'm not attempting to troll: I'm just curious. Since Github is YCombinator (I think, right?), I'm sure a lot of people use it. So: as somebody who works as part of a two-man group, who keeps his files all stored and backed-up offline, what does Git get me?
- utnick 18y ago
  Some reasons you might want to use it: 1) can you roll back a certain feature easily if there is a bug with them? 2) can you and your partner edit the same files at the same time without clobbering your changes? 3) do you have a record of all of the features added and bugs you have fixed by datetime 4) are you and your partner always in sync? 5) if you really just edit files while on server do you ever want to develop software while disconnected from the web? 6) copying to backup folders is really cumbersome 7) can you easily create branches of your software if you want to try out something new and experimental? The usefulness of version control increases exponentially with the number of developers you have but I even use it as a solo developer due to many of the reasons above.
  - drinian 18y ago
    Expanding on the issue of finding bugs, everyone should check out git's "bisect" feature for when regressions crop up: http://lwn.net/Articles/317154/ http://lwn.net/Articles/317154/
    - silentbicycle 18y ago
      It really helps that git has all the history locally stored, too - doing an intensive bisect search with something like perforce would take quite a bit longer.
- drinian 18y ago
  Also, it's "Mercurial." "Mercury" is the former name of a pretty awful commercial bug tracker now known as HP Quality Center.
  - latortuga 18y ago
    Not to mention a planet, an element on the periodic table, and a badass Roman god (perhaps in exactly the reverse order, in terms of which came first).
    - 18y ago
sgrove 18y ago
Github stands as one of the more inspirational companies. Their model - business/customer services/innovation - can be applied to a few other markets as well. I definitely wish them luck, as an avid user (though only at the $7/month level).
mhartl 18y ago
Is it just me, or did the author basically use %w(GitHub Github).rand to pick his spelling throughout this article? For the record: No, ma'am. Yes, sir! Github GitHub FaceBook Facebook Javascript JavaScript Blackberry BlackBerry
- generalk 18y ago
  Author here: Random number generators have logic behind them. My capitalization prefs there did not.
  - mhartl 18y ago
    No worries. I was just amused at how rapidly the case of the 'H' oscillated. (Judging from my comment's current score, apparently I was the only one; I think that including some actual working code should make comments downmod-proof.) My list of examples was meant to show that you are in very good company; major publications get this sort of thing wrong all the time. Keep up the good blogging!

33 points by generalk 18y ago

I love stories like this. We're thinking for our startup that everybody can have the same job title: Customer Support.

Ok, that's a nice story, but a bit short on meat. On the whole, it reads almost like an advert for Tender Support. Is the author affiliated?

technoweenie 18y ago
Nope, Jon Candy is not part of ENTP. We do really appreciate the kind words he said about Tender though :)
generalk 18y ago
Man, I almost wish I was. Yeah, I know it kinda reads like an advert, sorry about that. But I'm still a little shocked when I come across support systems that work as opposed to the common OSS-project style of "File bug in Bugzilla. Wait. Wait. WONTFIX."

unalone 18y ago

This might not be the place to ask, but I'm curious and I've never quite understood: why/how do you use version control systems like GitHub? I've never worked with it in a project, and I've never quite seen the point: I keep all of my files backed up, my partner does the same, and so if we need to go back and look at something it's not hard. We edit directly from the server, so there's no need to sync information. So: why would I use something like Git or Mercury? I'm not attempting to troll: I'm just curious. Since Github is YCombinator (I think, right?), I'm sure a lot of people use it. So: as somebody who works as part of a two-man group, who keeps his files all stored and backed-up offline, what does Git get me?

utnick 18y ago
Some reasons you might want to use it: 1) can you roll back a certain feature easily if there is a bug with them? 2) can you and your partner edit the same files at the same time without clobbering your changes? 3) do you have a record of all of the features added and bugs you have fixed by datetime 4) are you and your partner always in sync? 5) if you really just edit files while on server do you ever want to develop software while disconnected from the web? 6) copying to backup folders is really cumbersome 7) can you easily create branches of your software if you want to try out something new and experimental? The usefulness of version control increases exponentially with the number of developers you have but I even use it as a solo developer due to many of the reasons above.
- drinian 18y ago
  Expanding on the issue of finding bugs, everyone should check out git's "bisect" feature for when regressions crop up: http://lwn.net/Articles/317154/ http://lwn.net/Articles/317154/
  - silentbicycle 18y ago
    It really helps that git has all the history locally stored, too - doing an intensive bisect search with something like perforce would take quite a bit longer.
drinian 18y ago
Also, it's "Mercurial." "Mercury" is the former name of a pretty awful commercial bug tracker now known as HP Quality Center.
- latortuga 18y ago
  Not to mention a planet, an element on the periodic table, and a badass Roman god (perhaps in exactly the reverse order, in terms of which came first).
  - 18y ago

sgrove 18y ago

Github stands as one of the more inspirational companies. Their model - business/customer services/innovation - can be applied to a few other markets as well. I definitely wish them luck, as an avid user (though only at the $7/month level).

mhartl 18y ago

Is it just me, or did the author basically use %w(GitHub Github).rand to pick his spelling throughout this article? For the record: No, ma'am. Yes, sir! Github GitHub FaceBook Facebook Javascript JavaScript Blackberry BlackBerry

generalk 18y ago
Author here: Random number generators have logic behind them. My capitalization prefs there did not.
- mhartl 18y ago
  No worries. I was just amused at how rapidly the case of the 'H' oscillated. (Judging from my comment's current score, apparently I was the only one; I think that including some actual working code should make comments downmod-proof.) My list of examples was meant to show that you are in very good company; major publications get this sort of thing wrong all the time. Keep up the good blogging!