Dev Diary : Mix helps you build it

art by Moebius

I'll post updates here about what I've done using my SSBC Grant (December).
In short, my grant is about enabling others to learn. This could be through:

• helping people build their scuttlebutt ideas
• making resources for beginners
  • example solutions to simple problems
  • videos / streams
• cheerleading

Ask me for help!

You'll see me offering support, but please feel free to contact me directly with requests.

I'm collecting and tracking requests here : trello.com/b/AEhGA3pX/mix-helps-you-built-it

Hey @Karl (Laptop) I'm going to fork your question to another thread.

Keen to keep this as a pristine record for reflecting on what came out of grants

2018-01-05

ssb-client - did prep to understand ssb-client enough to be able to do a demo
streaming - installed all the guff needed to stream to Twitch using obs, did some test runs

2018-01-06

Scuttlebutt Guide

• a place to start aggregating / mapping resources to support learning
• created the repo and started populating it

ssb-client

• prepped for stream (wacom tablet + external cam/mic drivers)
• streamied and recorded a session on twitch
• wrote up and publish a repo (code, links, video) :
  

ssb: %DQVOkek...
github: https://github.com/mixmix/ssb-client-intro

Organised a new contributors call

2018-01-07

Learnt about FlumeDB in preparation to make a video / guide about it.

I highly recommend reading the flumeDB repo README it's a great place to start

Wrote a first pass on a Flume setup (just implementing documentation to make sure I've understood it):
flumeDemo.js

Opened issues to improve my understand and might have caught a bug :

• https://github.com/flumedb/flumeview-reduce/issues/4
• https://github.com/flumedb/flumelog-offset/issues/7
• https://github.com/dominictarr/pull-cont/issues/1

( @dominic if those issues on flume aren't errors, I'm happy to make PRs )

Made a small PR to the flumeDB README:

• https://github.com/flumedb/flumedb/pull/13/files

Really enjoying flume so far. Looking forward to learning how it's integrated in scuttlebutt.

2018-01-08

flumeview-reduce - made a PR https://github.com/flumedb/flumeview-reduce/pull/6

Read to the bottom of how Flume views are attached to Scuttlebot as plugins - like peeling a big onion!
Now have enough to build ssb-actual-friends and enough to stream

Had a call with @zach discussing a possible future where he does some code education.

After building a simple demo plugin, I'll review #flume and #flumedb to check best practice.
Will probably check in with people to see I'm not propogating anti-patterns

I think I did some PRs and resolving minor README things yesterday .. surprising how easy it is to forget what I did

2018-01-11

Flume stream + repo : https://github.com/mixmix/flume-intro
Also published to git-ssb here : %cC74Fte...

An introduction to flumeDb - the database under secure scuttlebutt. Also, mix is a dragon onsie. Learn about the basics of Flume, and how to make a materialised view with it.

2018-01-12

worked out the kinks in how get an sot plugin working.

did various #community-gardening publically and privately. Things like :

• helping connect people to code courses
• calling Dominic to discuss how some of his communication landed, and where to
• reaching out to check if there's any way I can support some stressed people

2018-01-13

node-intro

@mycognosist organised an Intro to NodeJS gathering / stream. This came of out a conversation about some earlier streams, and people asking for what they needed

It felt amazing to have support to coordinate this into being - myco framed the invite, ran a Doodle, communicated the time clearly, and opened a Gathering, then collected requests of what people wanted to learn.
I was able to turn up at 9am my time, run the stream for 90 mins, then focus on tidying up some notes and guides, and publishing the video (which takes a bit of time). Thank you thank you thank you

Here's the repo with the video / notes / code I wrote:
%rRmgg8g... or https://github.com/mixmix/node-intro

ssb-server-plugin-intro

This is the follow-up to the flumedb-intro, which shows you how to plugs your flumeview into scuttlebot as a plugin.

There's not a video for this one, but there are notes. If anyone wants a stream for this, please do ask, maybe you can help me book a time which works well for you an at least one other person. :)

repo : %f2PZYba...) | github)

Reflection + Feedback

I'm having a great time!!! I'm learning and supporting others learning, and while the resources I'm making are far from perfect, they feel super accessible

If you have feedback on what I'm doing, or requests (for streams or particular problems to have support with) I'd love to hear (in a PM, or in a fresh thread in #ssb-learning )

2018-01-15

Worked on a proposal for extracting an example client-agnostic helper module : scuttle-book for all your book needs : %KiSCJIm...

woke through the night dreaming about pull streams and minimal flume views

2018-01-16

reviewed @Josiah 's work on ssb-tags (links here) which was really awesome

engaged with @SoapDog's organising of the next community call and offered some feedback on how to make it easier for people to engage

dreamt more about scuttle-book streams

oh, back on Sunday 14th, I had a call with @craig about the buttz and things that could be of interest to him.

2018-01-17

Posted this image of the network as I see it today as a temptation / invitation for others to interested in visualising the network (and a reminder to myself)

Confirmed match-funding of ssb-loomio with @Dan Hassan

Started + followed up on threads to track exciting community stuff :

• Dev Diary META thread (started previously, followed up with people who hadn't posted yet)
• Funding META thread

Tried to take @cel's ssb-git for a spin, and the conversation where I asked for help accidentally surfaced learning resources (ssb-npm-101) that @noffle
wrote and has added to the Scuttlebutt Guide!

Wrote up a breakdown of mutant-scroll to support @craig with flumeroll development / exploration.

This is all outside of calls exploring existing and future contracts / funding around scuttlebutt, trying to figure out how to manage some conflict, hanging out with @Ziva, and planning a coop day tmrw with @piet. It's been a full and exhausting day

2018-01-29

reviewed some of @Josiah 's code on the new tags feature.

Paired with @piet on scuttle-book as an examplar helper app for particular domains. This is in prep for ssb-loomio / scuttle-loomio.

In the course the the day also:

• wrote comprehensive documention for ssb-about
• did early testing of the new scuttle-testbot that @piet wrote
  • learning how to use it so I can teach others
  • using it in scuttle-book
  • helping refine the api (it's now really similar to scuttlebot)

I've been less active on the grant in the past week and will be for another week - I'm currently doing some more work for a deadline on #ticktack

2018-02-26

it's been a long time since I updated - I've been on pause while working on ticktack.

Over the past month I've only done a few small things:

• reviewing and giving feedback on @Josiah's ongoing tags work
• started a collaboration with @teq on accessibility features.
• finished creating scuttle-blog, a helper for rendering blogs
  • helps ticktack
  • enables blogs to be rendered in Patchbay (and soon Patchwork)
  • was research work for scuttle-poll - the upcoming ssb-loomio helper. @piet is able to easily reuse the learning I did making this module

2017-03-18

• reviewed Joiah's Patchwork PR for tags
• researched a lot of high level CSS options for hacking accessibility for text replacement of images. Ultimately this isn't possible. Need to focus on what's easier
• ported Dominic's animations into an accessible format : %/BdFvhk... so that @cameralibre can better inform his animations for his ssbc-grant
• built a quick prototype in patchbay in response to some accessibility feedback for someone contributing to #mmt
  • custom branch mmt, which was an immediate success for this person
  • inspired a more general solution, which has now been merged into patchbay : https://github.com/ssbc/patchbay/pull/185

mmm, have replied to odd bits and pieces questions and posted up breadcrumbs of ideas that people could take up, but nothing that much worth documenting

2017-05-13

Had a call with @peg to review his work on mmt-metadata work so far

2017-05-14

Encouraged @Kieran to add his rad ssb electron scaffold to the scuttle-guide.

2017-05-16

Had a call with @LOUIS and @corlock about organising a peer-to-peer-web type regular event in #wellington. This is broadly about supporting people to learn together, but is a bit more of a longer term project. We're gonna explore what learning from each other might look like, stay tuned

2017-05-17

Enganging with @Josiah and @matt to do a push on ssb-tags. Josiah's is looking really good.
Left some comments : %UUW36at... and made PR on his work to offer feedback https://github.com/wittjosiah/scuttle-tag/pull/1

In the process of organising a weekly call, which I'm pretty excited about.

@mix

Just wanted to let you know how much I got out of your video on flume, watching that plus having the code in the git repo took me from "what the hell is flumedb" to writing a pull request (which I'm sure will need work, but still). Anyway, I thought it was really neat that you put that together. Thanks!

thanks @Christian Bundy it was part of this grant, and meant to enable others to learn
I'd love to do another series of videos sometime. We should talk about that when we organise and get on a call finally!