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The convenience of Ruby 2.1 def returning a symbol instead of nil
Prior to 2.1, if you defined a method, you received nil as a return value: irb(main):001:0> def fun irb(main):002:1> end => nil With 2.1, the method definition returns a symbol for the method name: irb(main):001:0> def fun irb(main):002:1> end => :fun One impact of this is that the following pattern for declaring a single private…
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Twitter as Record of the Evolution of Language
In Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, John McWhorter presents the case that the Celts were the reason for the introduction of the “meaningless ‘do’” in the English language, and presents other similar implicit influences that have no recorded evolution in formal language. Counterarguments cite that since the evolution wasn’t written down, it didn’t happen that way.…
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zsh alias to make and apply patch with git diff
I keep having to look up [patching with git diff](http://tamsler.blogspot.com/2009/02/patching-with-git-diff.html) to remember the syntax whenever I want to create and apply a patch file. Solution? Create an alias for it. It only uses one file, /tmp/patchfile, so don’t try to manage multiple patches with this (maybe I’ll make more intelligent/sophisticated someday. In my .zlogin, I…