GitLab team member and author of the blog post here. Both excited and terrified to be on HN, honestly - what a honor!
* Totally agree that the Makefile was a high bar of entry right at the beginning. Since we're working with a single source file, I just opened an MR to update the blog post to compile it directly in the terminal [1]. Do you think this approach would make it more beginner-friendly?
* My fondness for C++ might've steered the direction of the project a bit! I considered a 2D platformer at first, but felt that I/o centric approach would be easier for a beginner. I could always rebuild the text adventure into a 2D platformer - would make for an interesting follow-up post. I hadn't thought of an ASCII crawler at all, so thank you for that idea!
* Lately, everyone's been using AI assisted code as a helping hand, especially in simpler projects like this one where it's likely to provide helpful suggestions. The integration was an attempt to, of course, promote our Code Suggestions feature ;), and also showcase how AI can function something like copy pasting code from a tutorial by providing you with code you can use.
* As for the complexity, I was debating between writing this for beginners vs an intermediate audience and asked myself things like "Can I assume that this person who knows what conditionals like while or for loops are?". After some peer reviews, it became a very introductory C++ lesson. Striking the right balance can be tricky. I'm hoping to get into more complex code in future parts, but first I really need to introduce functions because the code needs it haha.
Thanks for your valuable feedback and things to think on, super appreciated! :)
Hiiiiii :) GitLab team member and the author of the blog post here.
After reading your comment, we swapped out the photo so that no one else would have such an unsettling experience! I liked the compass photo, so I feel a bit silly that I didn't notice what you did! I'll remember your comment and zoom the next time we pick a stock photo, haha. Thank you!
Hey, GitLab team member here. We have a high level roadmap for FY24 in our handbook[1] and our OKRs are listed publicly[2] so you can see our vision for the product and what we're working on.
Appreciate the comment, but just genuinely curious. You guys seem to be clamping down on freemium, but not really landing any valuable "hooks" (product-wise). Would something like a better overall project management experience not be more urgent than a command pallete? Not to be nitpicky, but GH now has a scheduler component on top of custom fields - not amazing, but adds a ton of flexibility.
Thanks for mentioning a possible bug! I looked over the page to check and get it fixed, but it looks like Eddie and Dana are listed in the Table of Contents, but under "Internal Personas" (assuming you meant they weren't listed in the User Personas list in the beginning): https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/personas/#internal...
I used that site to generate avatar images for “users” on my service.
It was only 10K users, which is a rounding error, for most “Big Data” types, these days, but I did send the author an email, explaining what I was doing. I didn’t expect a response, and didn’t get one, but it was only polite.
I saw in another comment that you use the avatar images for fake user accounts that are as realistic as possible - that's pretty cool.
Coming back to what you noticed about the personas page. Another GitLab team member (u/john_cogs) created a Merge Request[1] to update the page so that there's a "List of internal personas" to match the list at the top :)
Oh that's cool, the ODS (Ontario Digital Service) also published their personas as a part of their user research guide: https://www.ontario.ca/page/personas
For the first time in many years, I have a manager who doesn't cancel 1:1s, provides us autonomy to do our work, and gives specific feedback.
Our 1:1 structure is based off the CEO's suggested 1:1 format[1] and was something I put together because I wanted more structure. From what I've heard, members of my team have different formats with the same manager.
1. Check-In - personal check-ins on life
2. Discuss/Help/Review - items I need my manager to help or advice with, issues we need to discuss, or updates on projects related to OKRs
3. FYI/Think - items I'm thinking about or working on that manager may not be aware of. We don't always vocalize this section, sometimes its there for me to showcase things I'm considered e.g I think it would be cool to work on X, but I don't have a plan yet.
4. What’s going well: a celebration or something to my credit
5. What could go better: item that could've gone better
6. Action Items: any TODO items for myself or manager
When there isn't a lot to discuss due to a quiet week or larger projects ongoing, my manager will check in on how I feel about my role, work, and capacity. It's helpful because I often get caught up in the day to day and it's hel,pful
There were recent changes to user limits on the Free tier of GitLab SaaS. We are limiting the number of users per namespace on the Free tier to 5 users per namespace. Details are in this blog post: https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2022/03/24/efficient-free-tier.
Booqsi looks really pretty and I love that it supports local bookstores! Are there plans to support imports from Goodreads? I know many people who have curated their shelves for years so that might be an important feature for them to switch over.
I've been using and loving an alternative, https://www.thestorygraph.com/it has similar vibes to Booqsi and also includes a Goodreads import, AI based recommendations, and some mood-based book tracking (i.e tags like fast-paced, dark, emotional)
Right, if the question is asking about exporting your book lists from Goodreads and then (eventually) importing them into Booqsi, that's definitely allowed.
Yes, sorry! I may have phrased that incorrectly - I meant exporting your Goodreads data and importing them into Booqsi (which Storygraph allows you to do, though it can take some time).
I believe in some cases (e.g. instagram) the user agreement you sign when using the site makes your copyright over e.g. the pictures you upload be handed over to the site owners (again, to prevent competition). Just to point out that the common sense idea that "you own the data" thing isn't always true. Nevertheless this question has been resolved through other comments on here so it seems not to be the case in this scenario.
Yes! We realized pretty quickly that we need a way to import booklists (specifically from Goodreads), so we're actively working on that! Should be rolled out soon.
Yes, I've used StoryGraph as well, but felt like I needed something that provided a few more social features. The book mention feature of the social feed is one of my personal favorites with Booqsi.
GitLab team member and author of the blog post here. Both excited and terrified to be on HN, honestly - what a honor!
* Totally agree that the Makefile was a high bar of entry right at the beginning. Since we're working with a single source file, I just opened an MR to update the blog post to compile it directly in the terminal [1]. Do you think this approach would make it more beginner-friendly?
* My fondness for C++ might've steered the direction of the project a bit! I considered a 2D platformer at first, but felt that I/o centric approach would be easier for a beginner. I could always rebuild the text adventure into a 2D platformer - would make for an interesting follow-up post. I hadn't thought of an ASCII crawler at all, so thank you for that idea!
* Lately, everyone's been using AI assisted code as a helping hand, especially in simpler projects like this one where it's likely to provide helpful suggestions. The integration was an attempt to, of course, promote our Code Suggestions feature ;), and also showcase how AI can function something like copy pasting code from a tutorial by providing you with code you can use.
* As for the complexity, I was debating between writing this for beginners vs an intermediate audience and asked myself things like "Can I assume that this person who knows what conditionals like while or for loops are?". After some peer reviews, it became a very introductory C++ lesson. Striking the right balance can be tricky. I'm hoping to get into more complex code in future parts, but first I really need to introduce functions because the code needs it haha.
Thanks for your valuable feedback and things to think on, super appreciated! :)
[1]https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/-/merge_request...