Git Reference card

Git create remote branch

To create a local branch

git branch branch_name

To switch/checkout local branch

git checkout branch_name

You can combine above two in one step instead

git checkout -b your_branch

Create remote branch (so that other co-workers/programmers/whoever can pull)

git push -u origin your_branch

Others can pull this by

git checkout origin/your_branch

View diff in GIT

What you will commit

git diff

diff between two branch

git diff master..branch_1

diff since last commit

git diff HEAD

This entry is a note to self for being amnesiac

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Disqus(ted)

Great added Disqus to blog. Looks like I lost all old comments (of whatever few I had).

Using git stash

A very useful feature in git is git stash, a write up on it GIT: Using the stash

Install ruby using RVM

This is note to self, for installing ruby 1.8.7 using RVM. Other versions can be installed in same way "mostly". Just replace the version 1.8.7 with version intended

Verbose documentation about RVM installtion can be found at https://rvm.beginrescueend.com/rvm/install/

bash < <(curl -s https://rvm.beginrescueend.com/install/rvm)
echo '[[ -s "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" ]] && . "$HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm" # Load RVM function' >>

add above line in ~/.bashrc file in the end

rvm package install zlib
rvm package install openssl
rvm install 1.8.7--with-openssl-dir=$HOME/.rvm/usr
rvm use 1.8.7 --default

zlib and openssl is required in many cases.

Sinatra: memcached as session store

A simple route for using memcached as session store.

require 'rubygems'
require 'sinatra'

use Rack::Session::Memcache, :memcache_server => 'localhost:11211', :expire_after => 3600, :namespace => "sinatra.chandankumar.com"

get "/" do
  "value = " << session[:value].inspect
end

get "/set" do
  session[:value] = params[:value].inspect
  redirect "/"
end

This would enable you to spawn multiple instances of (same) Sinatra app while sharing session store to achieve non sticky session. Helps scaling the front end.

Sinatra Ajax File Upload

Valums script at http://valums.com/ajax-upload/ works like a charm in sinatra route you would require something like

  get :upload do
    render "/test/upload", :layout => false
  end
  post :upload do
    logger.debug params
    newf = File.open("public/post.jpg", "wb")
    newf.write(request.body.read)
    '{success:true}'
  end

Tools that rule

Here goes a list of application that makes my computer life simpler (applications for Windows mostly, some of them are cross platform someway or the other).

• Chrome:- Browser without any fuss, its fast (in fact lightning fast). Alas Firefox is no more my favorite.
• Launchy: When you have laucnhy you forget your start menu. You would never need to use mouse to start any application installed on your computer. This nifty stuff indexes start menu to make your life easier.
• Notepad++: I ditched textpad for this. This is a must have application when you are dealing with text file to source code that you want to edit quickly. (FOSS)
• 7-zip: winzip is a malware, if you want something not annoying, 7zip simply does the job. It can handle a lot of different type of archive files. (FOSS)
• Dropbox: Dropbox allows you to sync your files online and across your computers automatically.
• Pidgin: Once you have Pidgin, you dont need to download several messengers. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once. (FOSS)
• Windows Media player: On windows Windows Media player simply does the job, plays music, plays movies. Just install codec appropriately and you would never need to use any other player.
• Libre Office (Previously open office). Almost a drop in replacement for Microsoft Office. This stuff is undermined, yet hell powerful and yet completely free, if you are looking for something that works and works free of cost Libre Office is here for you. (FOSS)
• Gmail: Simply the best Email one can have. Period.
• Google Calendar: For managing your calendar. There are a lot of stuff that you can do with Google Calendar, reminders on SMS, Email, Birthday reminders etc.
• Google Contacts: I use to hate Google Contacts, but hey Google is evolving, this is my "the" contact manager! It's dead simple and its easy to use and sync up with several devices and apps.
• Google History: In case you surf a truck load of websites and you are lazy in bookmarking Google History can remember what you visited.
• Google Reader: RSS reader, the best so far for me. Note that this can work offline as well with Google Gear.
• Simplenotes / Evernote: This is by far the best "text" note taking platform. It functions cross platform, for that matter I got this working on my Android Phone as well :). In the past I used Evernote, unfortunately I find it painfully slow. The advantage of evernote is that it can clip websites and I hence your notes can have photos. If you are looking for fancy note taking application evernote is the way to go. 
• Picasa: Photo manager free of cost. If fancy editing capabilities is not a requirement this stuff is simply awesome. It's lightweight has several cool basic features and its fast.

This list is not yet over, but I was a bit eager to post it. I hope to continue to update this as and when I come across something more.