datagrok

Python

__debug__ vs. -O

Python has a built-in variable __debug__ which is set to True when python is called without -O (optimize). The -O flag disables all assertion code.

This seems at first glance like a very easy and clean construct to rely on when coding in development versus production: in development, don't use -O, defensively litter your code with type- and sanity-checking asserts. Perform development-only debugging by testing __debug__ beforehand.

When in production, run all code is run with -O which disables asserts (speeding execution) and sets __debug__ to False.

datagrok

This article is now published on my website: A one-off git repo server.

datagrok

Ideas for improvements to git log --graph

I will maybe someday get around to dusting off my C and making these changes myself unless someone else does it first.

Make the graph for --topo-order less wiggly

Imagine a long-running development branch periodically merges from master. The git log --graph --all --topo-order is not as simple as it could be, as of git version 1.7.10.4.

It doesn't seem like a big deal in this example, but when you're trying to follow the history trails in ASCII and you've got several different branches displayed at once, it gets difficult quickly.

datagrok

This article is now published on my website: Prefer Subshells for Context.

datagrok

When you cancel a Jenkins job

Unfinished draft; do not use until this notice is removed.

We were seeing some unexpected behavior in the processes that Jenkins launches when the Jenkins user clicks "cancel" on their job. Unexpected behaviors like:

• apparently stale lockfiles and pidfiles
• overlapping processes
• jobs apparently ending without performing cleanup tasks
• jobs continuing to run after being reported "aborted"

datagrok

"Vendoring" is a vile anti-pattern

What is "vendoring"?

From a comment on StackOverflow:

Vendoring is the moving of all 3rd party items such as plugins, gems and even rails into the /vendor directory. This is one method for ensuring that all files are deployed to the production server the same as the dev environment.

The activity described above, on its own, is fine. It merely describes the deployment location for various resources in an application.