Secure Shell (SSH) is an invaluable tool to help developers manage code and data over different computers and services, eg. Github, Heroku. By creating a public/private key it also means you dont have to enter a username & password each time you use the service. Ideally you should create a public/private key using a long passphrase, so that is what I will cover here.

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In part one I showed how easy it is to version a project using Git from within Emacs, using the Magit package. This time we look at the git log within Magit.

Working with the log gives you a lot more detail about your changes, helps you compare local and remote repo commits. All of which helps you understand when you should push your code.

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Getting to grips with Git was not to much of a learning curve, although I found it quicker to work on the command line than using graphical tools. Using git status and git log made it easy to keep a handle on my code changes.

As I do most of my Clojure development in Emacs, it was great to discover I could drive git from Emacs using Magit. What follows is a flow through the first steps with Magit.

In part two I look at Git logs with Magit

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Even though I use .gitignore files to control common files that should not be committed to a git repository, its very easy to forget about the backup or temporary files that my development tools generate. As these auto-generated files are development tool specific, they are not always included in a .gitignore file.

Especially when you are under pressure to commit changes or deploy your code its easy to include a few things you dont need, especially when using the commands git add . or git commit -am "".

So when I discovered the idea of using a .gitignore_global file, I quicky adopted this and saved myself a lot of time with this simple approach.

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During the London Scala community hackday at the Guardian, we first put together the LSug community webapp. For this we used Play2 framework, MongoDB, Github for pull requests and deployed onto Heroku.

Towards the end of the hackathon, someone suggested we also wired the project up to Travis-CI, although none of us knew much about using it. As the hackday was all about discovering how to use new stuff, I decided to add Travis-CI and worry about setting it up when we got to it.

What is Travis-CI ?

Travis-CI** is a continuous integration service that allows you to run build jobs and tests automatically, straight from Github. Its ideal for open source projects.

As its on the web then there is no installation required and its really easier to configure. You simply point Travis-CI to your Github account and you can choose which projects you want Travis-CI to run on. Travis-CI will scan you public repositories, as well as any Github organisations you are part of. Its then an easy matter of switching on those repositories you want Travis-CI to monitor (eg. build, run tests, etc.)

Travis-CI in action

Whilst Travis-CI has been pointed to the the lsug-dojo/lsug-website repo on github via my account, no one got round to adding a Travis-CI configuration file. The down side of this is that those contributors to the lsug-dojo/lsug-website repository received an emailed error message each time something was pushed to the repository or a pull request was accepted.

Not having a working Travis-CI was also noticeable when reviewing pull requests, as Travis-CI talks to Github and lets it know that your projects have failed. It then up to you wether you still want to merge.

Screenshot taken from travis-ci blog

With a quick Google I found an example travis-ci configuration file for Play 2 framework. I just dropped in a new .travis.yml file into the lsug-website github repository and that triggered another travis-ci build. This time the test ran and passed!!

Screenshot taken from travis-ci blog

One benefit of using Travis-CI is to encourage the use of tests, it also gives information about the state of the github repository. This is especially useful when working with pull requests.

This is the first time I have used Travis-CI and it was really easy to configure. If you have any comments or ideas about this, please share them with the group or myself directly.

Thank you.
@jr0cket

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So as soon as I decided to write about LightTable, the developers go and improve a whole bunch of things. With the 0.2.3 release that happened earlier today the configuration of LightTable now works correctly.

This change is going to make it so much easier to use LightTable for demo’s and coding dojo’s. The has been an update to the default solarized light theme that looks very pretty to me.

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LightTable is a kickstarter project to create new kind of developer tool for Clojure development, inspired by the Inventing on Principle talk by Bret Victor.

LightTable aims to give developers instant feedback about their code, showing how any change affects their applications. Giving you a developer “surface” to work on, which will bring information to the places you need it the most. The principles of the LightTable design include:

• Documentation there when you need it, no need to search
• Edit anywhere and anything - not just text and not just as files
• Discover by doing, changes produces instantaneous results
• Shine a light on related pieces of code

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