Nate Meyvis

Nate Meyvis

📍 Winchester, MA

On learning Vim

I use Vim. I like Vim. But for all that's written about learning Vim, most of it is not useful. Suggestions on learning VimDo not put painful restrictions on yourself or shame yourself for using the mouse. Learn enough to get going, and when you find yourself trying to do

Python task manager from scratch, part 17: Generating some HTML

Last time I mentioned that we had two related issues to fix: What we were displaying as HTML was not in fact valid HTML;The code generating that "HTML" from a list of tasks was the least-tested part of Veery.Steps to fixing those problemsCreate a folder, and a file

Python task manager from scratch, part 16: Making a first Web display

Now we can just put the pieces together and add a function to serve a Web display of a list of tasks: @route("/") def list_tasks(task_repository: TaskRepository = repo): return "<br>".join([str(task) for task in task_repository.get_all_tasks()]) No, this is not valid

Python task manager from scratch, part 15: Preparing the way

I still, every time, get a thrill from seeing a Web interface to a new prototype. We're almost there. First we'll: Add the dependency on the Web framework;Remove old code;Make sure the tests still pass and the Web framework works as intended.The stepsDelete all current code from

Python task manager from scratch, part 14: Making an interface

So! We've separated the Task object from its persistence. An important practical benefit of that separation is that other parts of the code base--for example, a part that accepts and processes requests to add and delete tasks--can do their work independently of the details of that persistence. The repository is

Python task manager from scratch, part 13: Fix a major mistake

The whole point of the last few installments, and the thousands of words (and however much study) accompanying them, has been to separate the domain and persistence layers. Yet I failed to do that. To persist or load a Task, the repository needed to turn the domain object to or

On checklists, again

A while ago I wrote that checklists are (i) underrated and (ii) underrated by people who might be expected to rate them highly. One further note, which perhaps states the obvious: I suspect part of the resistance here is the tension between the rigidity and algorithmic nature of a checklist

Python task manager from scratch, part 12: Adding a repository layer

In part 10 I discussed separating the domain and persistence layers. We proceeded to create an object suitable for the domain layer. Now we're going to create a class suitable for the persistence layer. One canonical term for such a class is a "repository." This can be confusing, because the

A quick argument for naming all software prototypes after birds

Software ought to have a memorable name.It's good if software has a name that accurately describes what it does, but it's bad if it inaccurately describes what it does, and the magnitude of the badness of the mis-description is usually much larger than the benefit of an apt description.

On editing text

Here I assemble a bunch of things I believe, and find myself repeating, about text editors. Learning how to use your tools well is one of the two or three most underrated skills in software.It's also one of the most underrated skills in computer usage (and by extension modern