Blog
2023
Python packaging is the craft of preparing for and reaching distribution of your Python work to wider audiences. Following conventions for packaging help your software work become more understandable, trustworthy, and connected (to others and their work). Taking advantage of common packaging practices also strengthens our collective superpowers: collaboration. This post will cover preparation aspects of packaging, readying software work for wider distribution.
This post is intended to help demonstrate the use of Python on Alpine, a High Performance Compute (HPC) cluster hosted by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Research Computing. We use Python here by way of Anaconda environment management to run code on Alpine. This readme will cover a background on the technologies and how to use the contents of an example project repository as though it were a project you were working on and wanting to run on Alpine.
There are many routine tasks which can be automated to help save time and increase reproducibility in software development. GitHub Actions provides one way to accomplish these tasks using code-based workflows and related workflow implementations. This type of automation is commonly used to perform tests, builds (preparing for the delivery of the code), or delivery itself (sending the code or related artifacts where they will be used).
Git provides a feature called branching which facilitates parallel and segmented programming work through commits with version control. Using branching enables both work concurrency (multiple people working on the same repository at the same time) as well as a chance to isolate and review specific programming tasks. This article covers some conceptual best practices with branching, reviewing, and merging code using Github.
This article covers using the software technique of linting on R code in order to improve code quality, development velocity, and collaboration.
Programming often involves long periods of problem solving which can sometimes lead to unproductive or exhausting outcomes. This article covers one way to avoid less productive time expense or protect yourself from overexhaustion through a technique called “timeboxing” (also sometimes referenced as “timeblocking”).
Software documentation is sometimes treated as a less important or secondary aspect of software development. Treating documentation as code allows developers to version control the shared understanding and knowledge surrounding a project. Leveraging this paradigm also enables the use of tools and patterns which have been used to strengthen code maintenance. This article covers one such pattern: linting, or static analysis, for documentation treated like code.
2022
The act of creating software often involves many iterations of writing, personal collaborations, and testing. During this process it’s common to lose awareness of code which is no longer used, and thus may not be tested or otherwise linted. Unused code may contribute to “software decay”, the gradual diminishment of code quality or functionality. This post will cover software decay and strategies for addressing unused code to help keep your code quality high.
Apache Arrow is a language-independent and high performance data format useful in many scenarios. DuckDB is an in-process SQL-based data management system which is Arrow-compatible. In addition to providing a SQLite-like database format, DuckDB also provides a standardized and high performance way to work with Arrow data where otherwise one may be forced to language-specific data structures or transforms.
Diagrams can be a useful way to illuminate and communicate ideas. Free-form drawing or drag and drop tools are one common way to create diagrams. With this tip of the week we introduce another option: diagrams as code (DaC), or creating diagrams by using code.
Have you ever found yourself spending hours formatting your code so it looks just right? Have you ever caught a duplicative import statement in your code? We recommend using open source linting tools to help avoid common issues like these and save time.