

Ask HN: Review my weekend project GitTwitIt - jmathai
http://gittwitit.com

======
jmathai
I wanted to familiarize myself with a nosql database. So I decided to use
mongohq which is a hosted mongodb.

This site lets you send Twitter updates when you push to GitHub. GitHub
provides similar functionality but it's pretty lame since you have to hand
over your creds. OAuth ftw!

~~~
chrismear
OAuth is great, but the app doesn't actually say what it's going to _do_ with
my Twitter account. Developers especially are wary of handing over access to
their accounts (OAuth or not), so it might be good to summarise what your app
will post before making the user authenticate.

~~~
isamuel
Strongly agreed. "First, you'll need to login." Actually, first, I need to be
told what this app does.

~~~
jmathai
Haha, point taken. I always error (literally) on the side of conciseness. I'll
add more verbage.

I added better messaging and error handling since Twitter seems to be really
flakey this morning.

~~~
karanbhangui
*err, not error

~~~
jmathai
I did not know that! Seriously. May I recall all the times I've misused
"error".

~~~
karanbhangui
Yep, you may :D

------
MrMatt
I think I'm missing something here - doesn't GitHub already support Twitter
under their service hooks?

~~~
ErrantX
From below:

> GitHub provides similar functionality but it's pretty lame since _you have
> to hand over your creds_. OAuth ftw!

~~~
defunkt
GitHub's similar functionality is open source:

[https://github.com/pjhyett/github-
services/blob/master/servi...](https://github.com/pjhyett/github-
services/blob/master/services/twitter.rb)

~~~
jmathai
Fyi, as is this one:

<http://github.com/jmathai/gittwitit>

------
MicahWedemeyer
I'd never use it, but kudos for playing with a NoSQL database and making
something neat. No better way to learn than by playing like this.

------
joshfinnie
I didn't get past the first page (since I can't sign into Twitter @ work), but
I have to agree that some explanation of what the service is first would be a
huge help for conversion. Also, as a pet-peeve of mine, if you are going to
link to CSS and XHTML validation, make sure your website validates (in this
case it doesn't).

~~~
jmathai
Heh, the design of the site I got from a decent free template site. I didn't
bother to remove (or check for that matter) the validation links. I had
assumed they validated :).

~~~
joshfinnie
I have done that before. Not a problem, just something I check when I see it.
Like your idea though, definitely will try it out once I get access to
Twitter.

------
diN0bot
i really just want our dev email list to receive a post whenever someone
pushes...

~~~
kneath
You can do that with GitHub already. Just go to the repository -> admin ->
service hooks and set up the email one. Here's a pic of the screen:
[http://share.kyleneath.com/captures/Service_Hooks_for_kneath...](http://share.kyleneath.com/captures/Service_Hooks_for_kneath_s_lighthouse_burndown_-
_GitHub-20091021-110101.gif)

