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| -rw-r--r-- | _config.yml | 1 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | _layouts/post.html | 6 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | _pages/index.md | 6 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | _posts/2018-08-15-the-perl-conference-in-glasgow.adoc | 254 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | css/custom/blockquotes.less | 18 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | css/custom/helpers.less | 5 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | css/custom/navigation.less | 30 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | css/formats/asciidoc.less | 45 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | css/main.less | 99 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | css/variables.less | 11 |
10 files changed, 378 insertions, 97 deletions
diff --git a/_config.yml b/_config.yml index 3236bd9..083f894 100644 --- a/_config.yml +++ b/_config.yml @@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ keep_files: - img asciidoctor: attributes: - icons: font imagesdir: /img pygments-style: emacs pygments-stylesheet: css/pygments.base.css diff --git a/_layouts/post.html b/_layouts/post.html index b3d68f4..b00fea7 100644 --- a/_layouts/post.html +++ b/_layouts/post.html @@ -6,11 +6,7 @@ layout: default <header> <h1> {{ page.title }} - {% if page.wip %} - <span class="badge badge-warning"> - WIP - </span> - {% endif %} + {% if page.wip %}<small>(WIP)</small>{% endif %} </h1> </header> <main> diff --git a/_pages/index.md b/_pages/index.md index 69818aa..557aee6 100644 --- a/_pages/index.md +++ b/_pages/index.md @@ -9,8 +9,10 @@ description: > software related. --- -{% for post in site.posts limit:1 %} -{% assign blogpost = post %} +{% for post in site.posts %} + {% if post.wip %} {% continue %} {% endif %} + {% assign blogpost = post %} + {% break %} {% endfor %} ## About me diff --git a/_posts/2018-08-15-the-perl-conference-in-glasgow.adoc b/_posts/2018-08-15-the-perl-conference-in-glasgow.adoc new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e79b2e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2018-08-15-the-perl-conference-in-glasgow.adoc @@ -0,0 +1,254 @@ +--- +date: 2018-08-15 +wip: true +feed: false +tags: Perl Conference +description: > + My feedback and comments on some of the talks I attended during The Perl + Conference in Glasgow, in 2018. +--- += The Perl Conference in Glasgow +:toc: preamble + +This year the European Perl Conference was hosted in Glasgow, and of course +I've attended a number of presentations there. On some of these, I have some +feedback or comments. These talks, and the feedback I have for them, are +detailed in this blog post. For some talks, I'll detail it as a summary of the +presentation, because I feel the message is important. + +== Discourse Without Drama + +[NOTE] +==== +There used to be comments here to show a different perspective to the speaker. +However, someone's lightning talk has been removed because +https://act.perlconference.org/tpc-2018-glasgow/news/1568[some people played +the "offended" card], and no specifics are being published about it. As such, I +cannot make any assertions on what is and what is not allowed, and have to +assume that criticism of harmful beliefs will be shut down. As such, I have +removed the comments which used to be here, in an attempt to keep it from +detracting from the rest of my post. +==== + +== European Perl Mongers Organiser's Forum 2018 + +The Perl community isn't big nowadays, which is sad. The Perl 6 language also +offers a lot of concepts which are very well suited for modern programming. +However, if no new users try out the language, it will be all for nothing. As +such, we need to bring new blood in to the community. + +One of the ways of doing this, is by extending our promoting efforts outside of +the Perl community. Most people who like Perl are in a social bubble with other +people that are also familiar with the Perl programming language, be it 5 or 6. +But we need to reach new people as well, who will most likely be outside of +this social bubble. These people don't have to be techies either, they might +just as well be marketeers or designers. + +I myself am part of the "techies", so I'll stick to this particular group for +now. And I know people like me can be found at meetups, so it would be +worthwhile to promote Perl at meetups which are not dedicated to Perl. Think of +more generic programming meetups, or GNU+Linux User Groups. We have to be +mindful not to be too pushy, though. Listen to others people, and try to +understand the problem they're facing. Most of them will not be open to use a +different language immediately, especially not Perl (which sadly has a +particularly bad standing amongst people unfamiliar with it). Try to assist +them with their issues, and slowly introduce them to Perl (6) if it helps to +showcase what you mean. It might also be interesting to show people examples on +how to solve certain issues before telling them the language's name, so they +don't have a negative preconception solely from the name. + +Another thing to note is that Perl is more than just a programming language. +It's a community, and a large library of modules, known as CPAN. And CPAN +offers some nifty tools, such as the CPAN testers, which help ensure module +developers that their code runs on a massive set of platforms and Perl +versions. + +This has led me to consider the creation of a new Perl 6 module: +`CPAN::Tester`, to make it easy for people to contribute to a large-scale +testing environment for Perl 6. The idea is that one can run `CPAN::Tester` on +their machine, which will keep track of new Perl 6 modules being uploaded to +CPAN. The results are to be sent to another server (or multiple servers), which +can aggregate the data and show a matrix of test results. This aggregating +server could also be built as a Perl 6 module, possibly named +`CPAN::Tester::ResultsServer`. This would make setting up an environment +similar to CPAN testers for Perl 5 quite easy for Perl 6. + +== TPF Update + +This talk gave some interesting information on the current state of The Perl +Foundation. And there have been some nice developments in the past year, mostly +the updated websites (https://perl.com and https://perlfoundation.org). Sadly, +some sites remain in a slightly outdated state, though there are plans to +update these too. Most notably, https://jobs.perl.org seems to require a +webmaster to bring the platform online and keep it in check. If this is +something you'd like to do, don't hesitate to contact The Perl Foundation about +it. + +Furthermore, The Perl Foundation is looking for more sponsors, as always. +However, you don't need to be a massive corporation to be able to help them +out. They are looking for more smaller sponsors as well. The money of the +sponsorships will be used to support the Perl community. This means money will +be going towards organizing events, such as The Perl Conference, or grants for +both Perl 5 and Perl 6 development and promotion. + +If you'd like to help the Perl community through The Perl Foundation by +volunteering, this is also greatly appreciated. The time commitment expected of +you will depend very much on the tasks you want to deal with, but about 10 +hours a month is a good estimate. + +== Perl 6 in Real Life $Work + +The speaker shows the perfect use case for +https://docs.perl6.org/language/grammars[Perl 6 grammars], advanced yet +readable parsing of text and doing stuff with the results. It's an interesting +talk, showcasing some nifty grammar constructs. The best part of this is, that +it actually runs in production, where it parses over 700 files, consisting over +100,000 lines of code, in about 22 seconds (on his laptop). This goes to show +that Perl 6 is no longer "too slow to use in production". + +It might be interesting to run this application of grammars on every Perl 6 +release to gather more information on the speed improvements of Perl 6, much +like Tux's `Text::CSV` runs. + +== Releasing a Perl 6 Module + +Personally, I prefer GitLab over GitHub, as they have much better testing +functionality, and they actually release their own platform as an open source +package. I'd like more GitLab love from the community and speakers as well if +possible. This would also make the speakers CI configuration simpler, for which +he currently uses a `.travis.yml` file. This requires him to build Perl 6 from +source every test run, wasting quite a lot of time. + +A number of directories were listed which are standard in Perl 6 module +skeletons. However, the `resources` directory was left out of it, which should +get its fair share of love as well. Files listed in here can be made accessible +through the `%?RESOURCES` variable in your program, allowing you to easily +bundle additional resources with your moule. + +It was also noted that there's a module to help you set up this module +skeleton, `mi6`. The speaker also noted that it doesn't seem to add much once +you know how a Perl 6 module is organized, and I tend to agree with this. +Actually, I made a module precisely because I agree to him here, `App::Assixt`. +This module intends to smoothen the entire course of module development, not +just the creation of a skeleton file. It will take care of keeping your +`META6.json` up to date, and ease uploading your module to CPAN as well. + +Lastly, the speaker says the `META6.json` documentation can be found in S22. +While this is technically correct, S22 is *not* the implementation's +documentation, this lives in the official Perl 6 documentation instead. S22 +offers many additional information to be stored in the `META6.json`, but using +these fields will actually break installation of your module through `zef`, +rendering it unusable by others. I would strongly recommend people not to use +S22 when trying to figure out what they can or cannot do with their +`META6.json`. + +== How to become CPAN contributor? + +Submitting a pull request (or more correctly named, merge request) to a +repository is possibly the most straightforward way to help out other projects. +However, sometimes it will take a long time to get a response. The speaker +notes this can actually be on the scale of years. I have authored a number of +modules myself, and have been in the situation where I had not realized I got a +merge request from another person (same goes for issue reports). I would +recommend people who are not getting timely responses to their contributions to +contact the maintainer via other channels which are more suited for +communications. Think of email or irc, for instance. You'll generally have a +much better chance of getting a timely response from the author, and then you +can work out your contribution and see if you can get it merged into the main +project. + +The speaker also lists a couple of ways to get started with contributing to +modules. One thing I missed in particular was the Squashatons for Perl 6. These +generally offer a good entry point to help out with the language's development +and the ecosystem's maintainance. + +Near the end, it was pointed out that it is a good idea to have a thick skin. +Even when it's not intended, people can come accross as rude. This is in +opposition to the talking point of the speaker yesterday (_Discourse Without +Drama_), but he does raise a good point here. People oftentimes don't mean to +insult you, but context is easily lost in written communications. Try to stay +mature and professional, you can simply ask for clarification. If you feel the +person remains hostile towards you, walk away. There's plenty of other projects +that would love your contributions! + +== Conference Organizers & European Perl Mongers Organiser's Forum 2018 BoF + +Well, that's certainly a mouthful for a heading, and it even contains an +abbreviation! This event was not a presentation, but a platform to exchange +ideas together. + +One of the items that were up for discussion was _A Conference Toolkit_, or ACT +for short. This is the platform used to organize Perl events, such as this +conference and Perl workshops throughout the world. However, ACT is dated. +They enabled HTTPS a short while ago, but it's still not the default because +people don't want to risk breaking the platform. I think this is enough of +an indication that it might be time to make something new to replace it. + +And I'm not alone in that sentiment, it seems. However, ACT is big and contains +a lot of data we don't want to lose. It's a massive undertaking to make a new +tool that works at least as well, and allows us to make use of the old data as +well. There is a Trello board available that lists all the features that would +be required to implement, so that's a good start already. I think now it needs +a dedicated product owner with people contributing code, so a start can be +made. This does seem like a touchy subject, since I'm far from the first person +to want this. Many before me have tried and failed already. + +As such, I'd propose not making it a Perl centric tool. Make it a modular, +generic event organizing tool. Get a good database design that we can import +our old data into, so nothing is lost, but things can be converted to be more +useful for our current needs. This way, we can work in small steps, and maybe +even reach contributors from outside the regular Perl circles. This might even +bring in new partnerships (or sponsors) towards the Perl community. + +Personally, I'd like to see something like this to be written in Perl 6. This +way, it could also be used as a showcase project for the Perl 6 programming +language. + +== Writing a Perl 6 Module + +Perl 6 has this very neat feature called +https://docs.perl6.org/language/typesystem#index-entry-subset-subset[subsets]. +These can be used to make your own types with very little effort, which can +help tremendously to keep your code clean and consise. There are two arguments +I have in favour of subsets that the speaker did note touch upon. + +First off, using a subset instead of a `where` clause in a sub or method +signature will bring much better error messages. If you use a `where` in your +signature, and the check fails, you'll get an error that there was no signature +that matched `where { ... }`. + +Secondly, if you want to use abstract methods, you can't really use a where. +https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51570655/how-to-use-abstract-multi-methods-containing-a-where[I've +asked a question about this on Stack Overflow], which has the details as to why +this doesn't work the way you might expect. + +Next, there's some cool things about operators in Perl 6. There are many of +these available by default, and it's _very_ easy to add new ones yourself as +well. In fact, the `Math::Matrix` module used throughout the presentation makes +some available as well. Thanks to the ease of adding operators in Perl 6, if +you have a `Math::Matrix $m` in Perl 6, you can get the norm by writing `|| $m +||`. This is the mathematically correct way to write this, making it easy to +understand for everyone using matrixes in their daily lives. If you're a +mathematician, small things like these are great to have. + +I have some comments on the `Math::Matrix` module itself as well, based on +slides shown in the presentiation. The first thing I noticed is that there's a +`norm` method using a `where` clause when it's not needed: + +[source,perl6] +---- +method norm (Str $which where * eq 'row-sum') +---- + +This can be written instead as: + +[source,perl6] +---- +method norm ('row-sum') +---- + +This is shorter and clearer, and you'll get better feedback from the compiler +as well. I https://github.com/pierre-vigier/Perl6-Math-Matrix/pull/49[submitted +a pull request on the GitHub repository] in an attempt to improve this, which +got merged! The speaker was not aware it could be done this easy, so I'm proud +I got to teach him something right after he did his presentation. diff --git a/css/custom/blockquotes.less b/css/custom/blockquotes.less new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3984472 --- /dev/null +++ b/css/custom/blockquotes.less @@ -0,0 +1,18 @@ +@import "../variables.less"; + +.quoteblock { + width: 90%; + margin: 0 auto; + border-left: double black; + padding: 0.5em; + background-color: @blockBackgroundColor; + + blockquote { + font-style: italic; + } + + div.attribution { + text-align: right; + margin-right: 1em; + } +} diff --git a/css/custom/helpers.less b/css/custom/helpers.less new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c4d80b --- /dev/null +++ b/css/custom/helpers.less @@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ +@import "../variables.less"; + +.center { + text-align: center; +} diff --git a/css/custom/navigation.less b/css/custom/navigation.less new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c9ef4e --- /dev/null +++ b/css/custom/navigation.less @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +@import "../variables.less"; + +// Navigation bar +nav { + padding-bottom: 8px; + border-bottom: double @bodyTextColor; + text-align: center; + font-family: Sans; + + a, a:visited { + margin: 0 0.5em; + font-size: 24px; + text-decoration: none; + color: @bodyTextColor; + } + + .brand-name { + text-align: center; + display: block; + font-weight: bold; + font-size: 32px; + color: @bodyTextColor; + margin-bottom: 8px; + } +} + +// Generic links +a, a:visited { + color: @linkColor; +} diff --git a/css/formats/asciidoc.less b/css/formats/asciidoc.less new file mode 100644 index 0000000..89dfcb2 --- /dev/null +++ b/css/formats/asciidoc.less @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +@import "../variables.less"; + +.toc { + font-weight: bold; + + ul { + font-weight: normal; + list-style-type: decimal; + } +} + +.admonitionblock { + background-color: @blockBackgroundColor; + border: 1px solid @blockBorderColor; + margin: 0.5em auto 1.75em auto; + width: 90%; + padding: 0.5em; + + table { + td.icon { + text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); + font-size: 1.5em; + + div.title { + margin: 0 1em; + } + } + + td.content { + padding: 0 1.125em; + border-left: 1px solid #ddd; + } + } +} + +div#footnotes { + font-size: smaller; + + hr { + margin-top: 2em; + width: 80%; + text-align: left; + color: @blockBorderColor; + } +} diff --git a/css/main.less b/css/main.less index 199ef30..21f7a8e 100644 --- a/css/main.less +++ b/css/main.less @@ -1,21 +1,13 @@ -@bodybgColor: #fefefe; -@bodyTextColor: #454545; - -// Link Colors -@linkColor: #07a; -@linkVisitedColor: #07a; -@linkVisitedInvertedColor: #ac5a82; -// =============== - -@wrongColor: #c0392b; -@shittyBlue: #0000EE; -@shittyViolet: #551A8B; -@motherfuckingColor: #16a085; -@blockQuoteColor: #456; -@openQuoteColor: #666; +@import "./variables.less"; + +@import "./custom/blockquotes.less"; +@import "./custom/helpers.less"; +@import "./custom/navigation.less"; + +@import "./formats/asciidoc.less"; html { - background-color: @bodybgColor; + background-color: @bodyBackgroundColor; } body { @@ -32,33 +24,6 @@ small { font-size: 0.7em; } -nav { - padding-bottom: 8px; - border-bottom: double @bodyTextColor; - text-align: center; - font-family: Sans; - - a, a:visited { - margin: 0 0.5em; - font-size: 24px; - text-decoration: none; - color: @bodyTextColor; - } - - .brand-name { - text-align: center; - display: block; - font-weight: bold; - font-size: 32px; - color: @bodyTextColor; - margin-bottom: 8px; - } -} - -a, a:visited { - color: @linkColor; -} - li p { margin: 0; } @@ -67,57 +32,13 @@ table { width: 100%; } -blockquote{ - color: @blockQuoteColor; - margin-left: 0; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - - span{ - float: left; - margin-left: 1rem; - padding-top: 1rem; - } - - author{ - display: block; - clear: both; - font-size: 0.6em; - margin-left: 2.4rem; - font-style: oblique; - - &:before{ - content: "- "; - margin-right: 1em; - } - } - - &::before{ - font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, Arial; - color: @openQuoteColor; - content: open-quote; - font-size: 2.2em; - font-weight: 600; - float: left; - margin-top: 0em; - margin-right: 0.2rem; - width: 1.2rem; - } - - &::after{ - content: ""; - display: block; - clear: both; - } -} - pre.pygments { - border: double @openQuoteColor; + border: 2px solid @blockBorderColor; padding: 8px; } code { - background-color: #eee; + background-color: @blockBackgroundColor; padding: 2px; } diff --git a/css/variables.less b/css/variables.less new file mode 100644 index 0000000..88347cf --- /dev/null +++ b/css/variables.less @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +// Main site colors +@bodyBackgroundColor: #fefefe; +@bodyTextColor: #454545; + +// Link Colors +@linkColor: #07a; +@linkVisitedInvertedColor: #ac5a82; + +// Special blocks +@blockBackgroundColor: #f6f6f6; +@blockBorderColor: #d7d7d7; |