Interesting Things

• If you use Git, and have problems with gitk, try qgit. It may work better for you.

Interesting Things

• There is a gotcha when creating a Ruby Hash with a default value. If you pass a object to the constructor, such as an empty hash, the same object will be used for all default values. That probably isn't what you want. Instead, use the form of the constructor which takes a block. Here is an illustration:

  $ irb 
  >> trickyhash = Hash.new({})
  => {}
  >> trickyhash[:a][:a] = 1
  => 1
  >> trickyhash[:b]
  => {:a=>1}
  >> betterhash = Hash.new {|h,k| h[k] = {} } 
  => {}
  >> betterhash[:a][:a] = 1
  => 1
  >> betterhash[:b]
  => {}
  

• ruby-prof and KCachegrind are very useful for profiling and performance optimization. We had problems compiling the OS X Darwin Port of KCachegrind, though - you may just want to run it on linux.

• Vine Server and Viewer 3.0 has been released.

Ask for Help

• "QuickSilver for Dummies?" - What is a good resource to learn about QuickSilver?

Ask for Help

• "Does Intellij Idea sometimes do an SVN up without asking?"
  • Sometimes, if you do an svn up on the command line, IntelliJ will not always pick up the changes. You need to make sure you click the "refresh" button in the version control "Changes" view, not just the "synchronize" button on the main toolbar.

Ask for Help

• "Can you use Google Maps on an https page?"
  • Probably via an iframe. Is there a preferred way?