In early 2012, I started Notifymode. Notifymode does application monitoring for Node.js apps. Notifymode could profile the functions and track CPU and memory usage. It provides a high level overview of how the Node.js app is doing. It was a bootstrapped project. I didn’t take any money. So why did I choose to build Notifymode?

I was intrigued about standing desks ever since I read about them. Will it make me more productive at work? Will it burn more calories(and help me lose weight)? One month ago, I decided to build myself a standing desk. Build is an overstatement. My total cost outlay is exactly zero.

As I was building the photo genius app for Tailored, I was tasked with uploading images to Etsy via its API. There is little documentation on how to do this. So I’m going to show you how to do it.

What is a command line application? Usually it means a program that is ran via the command line. It can be a simple script that changes your working directory. Or it can be a complicated program that has a multitude of options and arguments. Examples of command line applications are mutt, irssi, htop.

Coffeescript is a popular language that compiles to Javascript. Many developers prefer to write in Coffeescript due to its elegant syntax. If you want to use Coffeescript to write your Node.js project, you can do so easily. I’m going to write a small project as an example of how to use Coffeescript in your project.

In any substantial project, it is necessary to separate your code in different files. Node.js implements the CommonJS API standard to load modules from other files. Using exports can be a source of much confusion in Node.js. Let us explore how exports works.

About 3 weeks ago, my Thinkpad died. It died of a fan error. Luckily, it caught me on Sunday when I didn’t have to work. I had to get a working computer ready by the next day so that work does not get disrupted. Faced with less than a day of time, the logical choice is to get a new computer.

For computers, I only have eyes for Thinkpads and Macs. I wanted a Thinkpad. But the prices of Thinkpads in Singapore is ridiculously overpriced. It is about twice the price in the US. As much as I wanted a Thinkpad, I decided on a Mac.

No doubt the Mac desktop experience is good. But it can never compare to my Arch Linux setup where everything is customized to my liking. I spent much effort getting my Arch Linux to not only look good and to work effectively. Faced with the conclusion that the next few years of my computing life is going to be on a Mac, I decided to make life easier for myself.

The screenshots received much interest from my friends. I am going to show you how to build it. Long story short, use the same color theme for your applications.

SmugFTP is my side project. It has been out in the wild since this January. Why did I build it? The reason is I find uploading painful. I wanted to scratch my own itch.

I’m one of those who have tried both Vim and Emacs. I’ve always wanted to write a post to share my experiences on these 2 venerable text editors. Right now, my primry editor is Emacs. Not to say Vim is not good, but for Emacs fits my setup better. I’m typing this article on Emacs if you’re curious. First a little history. I started with Vim first. Once I got through the steep learning curve, it felt fast. I was typing faster. Vim made me saw how inefficient I was earlier. From time to time, I will see articles or comments that mention Emacs. My curiosity grew. I started trying out Emacs. When I started learning it, I forced myself to use only emacs for a week. After that week, I was able to memorise most of the basic key strokes. So after about 2 years of using Emacs, I think its the right time to summarise my opinions.