- A Practical Guide to Varnish — Varnish is the http accelerator used by the discerning devops.
- Ferrofluid Sculptures (New Scientist) — hypnotic video of an iron-based fluid that is moulded by magnetic fields, which I include for no good reason than it is pretty pretty science. (via Courtney Johnston)
- Twisted Highscores List — clever leaderboard for tickets, reviews, commits, and fixes. A fun retro presentation of the information, rather than a determined effort to jolly up the grim task of software development by spraying on a thin coat of gamejuice. (via Jacob Kaplan-Moss)
- Beauty of Maps (YouTube) — BBC’s “Beauty of Maps” tv show is available in full on YouTube. Aspects of visualization and design here, as well as practical cartography. (via Flowing Data)
"developers" entries
Moneyball for software engineering
How metrics-driven decisions can build better software teams.
Don't dismiss "Moneyball" just because it began in the sports world. Many of the system's metrics-based techniques can also apply to software teams.
Is your Android app getting enough sleep?
Frank Maker on Android power consumption and app etiquette.
Researcher Frank Maker discusses Android power consumption best practices and the risks of hogging mobile resources.
Mobile metrics: Like the web, but a lot harder
Flurry's Sean Byrnes on the challenges of mobile analytics.
Flurry's Sean Byrnes talks about the intricacies of mobile analytics, the metrics app developers care about most, and the problems that stem from Android fragmentation.
Top stories: July 18-22, 2011
Google+ is a social backbone, how to fix the patent mess, and programming well with others.
This week on O'Reilly: We examined the deeper and broader implications of Google+, four solutions to the patent quagmire were offered up, and we learned about the "art of mass organizational manipulation."
FOSS isn't always the answer
Proprietary software has its place.
James Turner says the notion that proprietary software is somehow dirty or a corruption of principles ignores the realities of competition, economics, and context.
Scale your JavaScript, scale your team
The challenges of building big JavaScript apps with big teams.
"High Performance JavaScript" author Nicholas Zakas discusses the issues that pop up when you build big JavaScript apps with big teams.
JavaScript spread to the edges and became permanent in the process
Node.js expert James Duncan on JavaScript's rise and what lies ahead.
James Duncan, the chief architect at Joyent, is one of the people using JavaScript in surprising ways. In this interview he shares his thoughts on how we came to depend so heavily on the language and where it might be headed.
The ascendance of App Inventor
David Wolber on why Google App Inventor isn't just for novices.
Google's App Inventor has transformed from a simple entry point for Android programming into an increasingly robust app creation platform. In this interview, "App Inventor" co-author David Wolber discusses the tool's evolution and future applications.
Process kills developer passion
Best practices sound good in isolation, but they can suck the life out of developers.
The software industry is now full of "best practices," and many of them make sense when considered in isolation. But when you lump them all on the backs of developers, you end up with dispirited bureaucrats/bean counters.
