Work Flow for Solo Developers and Small Teams

Is your theme folder filled with files like this: page.old.2.bak.php? Does Git make you angry inside? Do you resent that everyone except you regularly visits the magical place referred to as "The Command Line"? Are you afraid of the vagrant who stole your puppet? In this workshop you will get a step-by-step introduction to working efficiently as a Drupal developer in small teams, or as a solo developer. We'll focus on real world examples you can actually use to make your work faster and more efficient.

Full workshop available. For more details, visit: http://designtotheme.com/workshops/work-flow-solo-developers-and-small-teams

Transcript

1. Work Flow for Solo Developers and Small Teams @emmajanedotnet emma@emmajane.net
2. Today 1. Developer’s Environment (The Command Line) 2.Version Control Basics 3.Developer Tools for Larger Teams
3. A Developer’s Environment
4. Together, Yet Separate
5. The command line is used in many free, online resources.
6. GUIs reveal complexity in different ways. SourceTree, OSX SmartGit, cross-platform
7. $ _
8. In the Beginning, Was the Command Line A command-line interface (CLI) is a means of interaction with a computer program where the user (or client) issues commands to a program in the form of successive lines of text (command lines). The command-line interface evolved from a form of dialog once conducted by humans over teleprinter machines, in which human operators remotely exchanged information, usually one line of text at a time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command-line_interface
9. Commands Affect Your Environment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language)
10. Commands Affect Your Environment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRhbcDzbGSU
11. Command Line Interface http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_Prompt
12. define:prompt a transitive verb meaning To move to action. ? forward 90 > open mailbox At the command line, you are constantly being asked by the computer, “What action would you like to take next?”
13. Commands (verb) • One-word actions: – sing – jump – look • One-word commands: – help – exit – history
14. Commands With Parameters (verb noun) • An action, and a direct object: – take book – read pamphlet – open window • Commands with parameters: – cd /var/www – man <command_name> – mv file_current_name.jpg file_new_name.jpg
15. Commands With Modifiers + Parameters (verb adjective noun) • Refining the request: – go down stairs – take blue pill – open left door • Adding a flag/switch/modifier: – mkdir -p parent_directory/sub-directory – tar xvf file_to_extract.tar.gz – ls -lh
16. Ten Commands I Use All the Time ls list files cd change the current directory mv move a file to a new location (and/or rename) cp copy a file pwd print working directory (answers: where am I?) rm remove file clear refresh the screen man read the manual page for a specific command tar work with packages of files chmod change the “mode” (aka permissions) of a file or directory
17. “All” The Commands http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/browse This site includes a “rating” function.
18. Learning the CLI tools makes your knowledge portable. • OSX and Linux both use the same flavour of command line environment (“the shell”). • Not all Web server applications have a graphical administrative interface, so learning to use the command line allows you to run server applications in your local developer environment. • Sequences of commands can be captured as scripts, which you can run on any compatible machine without having to point-and-click.
19. Version Control Basics
20. Benefits of Version Control • Backup and restore • Syncronization across multiple systems • Short-term undo to test implications • Long-term undo to reverse bugs • Track changes to see why/how software evolved • Track ownership to give ‘credit’ to change makers • Sandboxing our code to test changes without affecting others
21. There is no excuse for not having version control. The cheapest way to get version control is to use an automated backup system, like Dropbox, for your code.
22. Terminology • Repository. The database of changes to your files. • Server. The computer storing the repository. • Client. The computer connecting to the repository. • Working copy. Your local copy, where changes are made. • Trunk (or “main”). The current, primary source for unchanged code. • Head. The latest revision in the repository.
23. Basic Actions • Add. Put a file into the repo. • Revision. Checks what version a file is on. • Check out. Download files from the main repository. • Check in. Upload changed files to the main repository. • Changelog. A list of changes made to a file since it was created. • Update/sync. Synchronize your files with the ones from the main repository. • Revert. Throw away your local changes and reload the latest version from the repository.
24. Workflow: The Solo Developer Create project Add files Do your work Do more work Upload files
25. define:work Basic Check-ins Milk Milk Eggs Milk Eggs Juice Milk Eggs Soup Milk Eggs r1 r2 r3 r4 Main Trunk
26. Diffs Show the Difference Between Two Versions of a Project Milk Milk Eggs Milk Eggs Juice Milk Eggs Soup Milk Eggs r1 r2 r3 r4 Main Trunk + Eggs + Juice - Juice + Soup
27. define:work Tagging Milk Eggs Soup Milk Eggs Soup Bread Milk Eggs Soup Bread M&Ms r4 r7 r9 Main Trunk James’s Final Grocery List Emma’s Additions Groceries Purchased
28. define:work Branching Milk Eggs Soup Milk Eggs Soup Bread Milk Eggs Soup Bread M&Ms r4 r7 r9 Main Trunk Candy Store
29. Workflow: Read-only Projects “Fork Me” on GitHub Improved version of project Random Project on the Internet My Fork (branch)
30. Workflow: Partner 1. James starts a grocery list 2. Emma already had a grocery list started. She asks to see James’s list. 3. James remembers a couple more items. 5. The grocery lists are combined and James goes shopping. 4. Emma adds a few things from her list.
31. Collaborative Actions • Branch. Create a separate copy of a repository for personal use. • Diff/change/delta. Identifies the differences between two versions of a file. • Merge/patch. Apply the changes from one version of a file, to another. • Conflict. When two versions of a file have proposed changes at the same place. • Resolve. Deciding which version of conflicting changes should be applied, and which should be discarded.
32. Merging Milk Eggs Soup Milk Eggs Soup Bread Milk Eggs Soup M&Ms Main Trunk (James’s List) + Bread Milk Eggs Soup + M&Ms + M&Ms Milk Eggs Soup Bread M&Ms
33. Resolving Conflicts Milk Eggs Soup Milk Eggs Bread Milk Eggs Soup M&Ms Main Trunk (James’s List) + Bread - Soup Milk Eggs Soup + M&Ms + M&Ms Milk Eggs Bread M&Ms + Bread
34. Sample Project http://betterexplained.com/articles/a-visual-guide-to-version-control/
35. Workflow: Centralized no local commits checkout commit
36. Workflow: Decentralized with a shared mainline clone (or) pull push commit commit
37. Developer Tools for Larger Teams
38. Complicated problems are complicated. • Bigger code base = more contributors -> formalized code review process • Bigger projects = more stakeholders -> project management • Bigger projects = more infrastructure -> devops
39. Formal Code Review Process • Code should never be released into the wild without having a second set of eyes on it. • It’s very easy to overengineer your workflow process. • Make sure you do what’s right, not what’s easy, for your team.
40. Workflow: Decentralized with human gatekeeper clone request merge commit commit reject changes merge changes pull (for updates)
41. Workflow: Decentralized with automated gatekeeper clone merge request commit commit reject failed patches push pull (for updates) request review
42. Project Management • software – Trac, Basecamp, JIRA, (etc, etc) • philosophies – Waterfall, Agile (XP, Scrum, Kanban)
43. * Driven Development • Test-driven development (TDD) Write an (initially failing) automated test case that defines a desired improvement or new function, then produces the minimum amount of code to pass that test, and finally refactors the new code to acceptable standards. • Behaviour-driven development (BDD) Behaviour-driven development specifies that tests of any unit of software should be specified in terms of the desired behaviour of the unit.
44. DevOps Developers + Operations (System Administrators) • Culture • Automation • Measurement • Sharing
45. DevOps Tools • Deployment automation – fai, kickstart, preseed, cobbler • Configuration management – puppet, chef, cfengine, bcfg2 • Build automation – jenkins, hudson, maven, ant, cruisecontrol
46. Start Today, Refine Later Today. • Don’t try to change everything at once. • Look for easy things to change and implement little bits at a time. • Sometimes you need to have short term inefficiencies (learning a new tool) to gain long term productivity. • Don’t let the enemy of progress be perfection.
47. Let’s Keep In Touch • emma@designtotheme.com • @emmajanedotnet
48. Credits • Type face: – Neutra Text by House Industries. • Icons: – “Gartoon” icon theme pack for GNOME from http://art.gnome.org/themes/icon – http://openclipart.org/user-detail/yyycatch • Diagram ideas: – http://betterexplained.com/articles/a-visual-guide-to-version-control/ – http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/Workflows