#love backend web dev

[tototavros]

feels good to shit out 200 loc on a whim

[borealing]

"learn to code" as advice is such bullshit. i have learned and used four and a half different coding languages through my career (html/css, java, python+sql, c++) and when i say used i mean I've built things in every one but the things that i actually used these languages for??? these earn zero money (with the caveat of until you have seniority in, e.g. front end web dev) what people really mean when they say learn coding is "learn to code. go into investment banking or finance startups." coding does not inherently have money in it. my absolute favourite part of coding? my peak enjoyment? was when i was developing for a visual coding language (you put it together like a flowchart, so say youre using a temperature sensor and you want it to log the temperature once every four hours, you can put the blocks together to make it do that. i was writing the code behind the blocks for new sensors) and i was earning £24k a year and that wasn't even part of my main role. it was an extra voluntary thing i was doing (i was working as a research assistant in biosensors - sort of - at a university, and was developing the visual code for students who didnt want to learn c++) like. i want people to learn to code, i want people to know how their electrical equipment works and how coding works, but dont believe the myth that there is inherently money in coding. the valuable things, the things people are passionate about are still vulnerable to the passion tax (if you want to do it you dont have to be paid for it). skills arent where the money is, money is where the money is.

[the-nox-syndicate]

SysNotes devlog 1

Hiya! We're a web developer by trade and we wanted to build ourselves a web-app to manage our system and to get to know each other better. We thought it would be fun to make a sort of a devlog on this blog to show off the development! The working title of this project is SysNotes (but better ideas are welcome!)

What SysNotes is✅:

A place to store profiles of all of our parts

A tool to figure out who is in front

A way to explore our inner world

A private chat similar to PluralKit

A way to combine info about our system with info about our OCs etc as an all-encompassing "brain-world" management system

A personal and tailor-made tool made for our needs

What SysNotes is not❌:

A fronting tracker (we see no need for it in our system)

A social media where users can interact (but we're open to make it so if people are interested)

A public platform that can be used by others (we don't have much experience actually hosting web-apps, but will consider it if there is enough interest!)

An offline app

So if this sounds interesting to you, you can find the first devlog below the cut (it's a long one!):

(I have used word highlighting and emojis as it helps me read large chunks of text, I hope it's alright with y'all!)

Tech stack & setup (feel free to skip if you don't care!)

The project is set up using:

Database: MySQL 8.4.3

Language: PHP 8.3

Framework: Laravel 10 with Breeze (authentication and user accounts) and Livewire 3 (front end integration)

Styling: Tailwind v4

I tried to set up Laragon to easily run the backend, but I ran into issues so I'm just running "php artisan serve" for now and using Laragon to run the DB. Also I'm compiling styles in real time with "npm run dev". Speaking of the DB, I just migrated the default auth tables for now. I will be making app-related DB tables in the next devlog. The awesome thing about Laravel is its Breeze starter kit, which gives you fully functioning authentication and basic account management out of the box, as well as optional Livewire to integrate server-side processing into HTML in the sexiest way. This means that I could get all the boring stuff out of the way with one terminal command. Win!

Styling and layout (for the UI nerds - you can skip this too!)

I changed the default accent color from purple to orange (personal preference) and used an emoji as a placeholder for the logo. I actually kinda like the emoji AS a logo so I might keep it.

Laravel Breeze came with a basic dashboard page, which I expanded with a few containers for the different sections of the page. I made use of the components that come with Breeze to reuse code for buttons etc throughout the code, and made new components as the need arose. Man, I love clean code 😌

I liked the dotted default Laravel page background, so I added it to the dashboard to create the look of a bullet journal. I like the journal-type visuals for this project as it goes with the theme of a notebook/file. I found the code for it here.

I also added some placeholder menu items for the pages that I would like to have in the app - Profile, (Inner) World, Front Decider, and Chat.

i ran into an issue dynamically building Tailwind classes such as class="bg-{{$activeStatus['color']}}-400" - turns out dynamically-created classes aren't supported, even if they're constructed in the component rather than the blade file. You learn something new every day huh…

Also, coming from Tailwind v3, "ps-*" and "pe-*" were confusing to get used to since my muscle memory is "pl-*" and "pr-*" 😂

Feature 1: Profiles page - proof of concept

This is a page where each alter's profiles will be displayed. You can switch between the profiles by clicking on each person's name. The current profile is highlighted in the list using a pale orange colour.

The logic for the profiles functionality uses a Livewire component called Profiles, which loads profile data and passes it into the blade view to be displayed. It also handles logic such as switching between the profiles and formatting data. Currently, the data is hardcoded into the component using an associative array, but I will be converting it to use the database in the next devlog.

New profile (TBC)

You will be able to create new profiles on the same page (this is yet to be implemented). My vision is that the New Alter form will unfold under the button, and fold back up again once the form has been submitted.

Alter name, pronouns, status

The most interesting component here is the status, which is currently set to a hardcoded list of "active", "dormant", and "unknown". However, I envision this to be a customisable list where I can add new statuses to the list from a settings menu (yet to be implemented).

Alter image

I wanted the folder that contained alter images and other assets to be outside of my Laravel project, in the Pictures folder of my operating system. I wanted to do this so that I can back up the assets folder whenever I back up my Pictures folder lol (not for adding/deleting the files - this all happens through the app to maintain data integrity!). However, I learned that Laravel does not support that and it will not be able to see my files because they are external. I found a workaround by using symbolic links (symlinks) 🔗. Basically, they allow to have one folder of identical contents in more than one place. I ran "mklink /D [external path] [internal path]" to create the symlink between my Pictures folder and Laravel's internal assets folder, so that any files that I add to my Pictures folder automatically copy over to Laravel's folder. I changed a couple lines in filesystems.php to point to the symlinked folder:

And I was also getting a "404 file not found" error - I think the issue was because the port wasn't originally specified. I changed the base app URL to the localhost IP address in .env:

…And after all this messing around, it works!

(My Pictures folder)

(My Laravel storage)

(And here is Alice's photo displayed - dw I DO know Ibuki's actual name)

Alter description and history

The description and history fields support HTML, so I can format these fields however I like, and add custom features like tables and bullet point lists.

This is done by using blade's HTML preservation tags "{!! !!}" as opposed to the plain text tags "{{ }}".

(Here I define Alice's description contents)

(And here I insert them into the template)

Traits, likes, dislikes, front triggers

These are saved as separate lists and rendered as fun badges. These will be used in the Front Decider (anyone has a better name for it?? 🤔) tool to help me identify which alter "I" am as it's a big struggle for us. Front Decider will work similar to FlowCharty.

What next?

There's lots more things I want to do with SysNotes! But I will take it one step at a time - here is the plan for the next devlog:

Setting up database tables for the profile data

Adding the "New Profile" form so I can create alters from within the app

Adding ability to edit each field on the profile

I tried my best to explain my work process in a way that wold somewhat make sense to non-coders - if you have any feedback for the future format of these devlogs, let me know!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclaimers:

I have not used AI in the making of this app and I do NOT support the Vibe Coding mind virus that is currently on the loose. Programming is a form of art, and I will defend manual coding until the day I die.

Any alter data found in the screenshots is dummy data that does not represent our actual system.

I will not be making the code publicly available until it is a bit more fleshed out, this so far is just a trial for a concept I had bouncing around my head over the weekend.

We are SYSCOURSE NEUTRAL! Please don't start fights under this post

[flutterflowdevs]

Flutterflow Development Company for Bold App Builders

Welcome to the era of lightning-fast, code-smart, design-perfect app development. In today’s digital arms race, getting your app to market quickly—and beautifully—is the key to domination. If you're tired of long dev cycles, bloated budgets, or mediocre results, it's time to work with a Flutterflow development company that moves as fast as your ambition.

Introducing Flutterflowdevs—the ultimate Flutterflow development company for startups, enterprises, and visionaries who refuse to wait months for MVPs.

This isn’t business as usual. This is app development at breakneck speed, pixel-perfect quality, and zero compromise.

Why Flutterflow? Why Now?

Flutterflow is the no-code/low-code powerhouse built on Google’s Flutter framework. It’s the modern developer’s secret weapon—blending visual design with real Flutter code. With Flutterflow, your app can be ready for iOS, Android, and the web in record time.

But here’s the catch: not all teams can unlock its full potential.

That’s where Flutterflowdevs, a dedicated Flutterflow development company, steps in. We know the platform inside and out—and we don’t just build apps. We build products that scale, convert, and crush expectations.

Cut Your Build Time in Half—Or Less

Traditional app development can drag on for months—burning time, budget, and morale. At Flutterflowdevs, we leverage the power of Flutterflow to launch stunning, fully functional apps in days or weeks—not months.

Your idea doesn’t have to wait anymore.

Want a slick onboarding flow? A dynamic e-commerce platform? A responsive dashboard with backend integration? We’ve done it. And we’ve done it faster, better, and more affordably than most dev agencies still stuck in 2015.

What Makes Flutterflowdevs the #1 Flutterflow Development Company?

1. 100% Flutterflow Focused We live and breathe Flutterflow. While other firms dabble, we dominate. Our devs, designers, and UX experts specialize exclusively in Flutterflow, allowing us to squeeze every drop of performance, design, and scalability from the platform.

2. End-to-End Service From wireframes to deployment, we handle it all. Design, development, animations, integrations, Firebase setup, custom functions—you name it. We don’t hand off half-baked builds. We deliver polished, launch-ready apps.

3. Real Developers. Real Code. Real Results. While Flutterflow is visual, real expertise still matters. We know when to go no-code, when to use custom code, and how to architect a solution that works at scale. Our apps aren’t just pretty—they’re powerful.

4. Proven Track Record We’ve helped dozens of startups, entrepreneurs, and growing enterprises turn raw ideas into successful products. From fintech to fitness, logistics to learning apps, Flutterflowdevs is trusted by leaders across industries.

Stop Waiting. Start Winning.

Every day you delay is a day your competitor could launch, your market could shrink, or your investors could lose interest. The modern app economy doesn’t wait for traditional dev cycles. It rewards speed, iteration, and execution.

By partnering with Flutterflowdevs, you gain a competitive edge with faster builds, lower costs, and better UX.

We don’t just build apps. We build momentum.

Our Process: Fast, Focused, Flawless

At Flutterflowdevs, we’ve engineered a rapid development process that keeps you in the loop and keeps your app on track:

Discovery & Strategy – We get to know your goals, users, and business model.

Design & UX – We craft sleek, intuitive interfaces your users will love.

Development in Flutterflow – Rapid prototyping, real-time testing, backend connections.

Custom Code Integration – Where Flutterflow ends, we take over with code.

QA & Launch – Every screen is tested. Every feature refined. Then—we launch.

And we don’t disappear after launch. We offer maintenance, iteration, and feature expansion services to keep your product ahead of the curve.

Flutterflowdevs Works With:

Startups needing an MVP or a pitch-perfect demo

Founders who want to turn an idea into a product—fast

Enterprises looking to prototype, scale, or digitize internal tools

Agencies seeking white-label Flutterflow development support

No-code entrepreneurs who need pro-level execution

Wherever you are in your journey, Flutterflowdevs helps you move faster, smarter, and with confidence.

Make the Smart Switch Today

The days of bloated teams, endless bug fixes, and missed deadlines are over. If you want a beautiful, cross-platform app that’s functional, fast, and future-ready, you need a Flutterflow development company that’s already living in tomorrow.

You need Flutterflowdevs.

Our calendar fills up fast—because speed like this is in demand. Don’t get left behind with devs who overpromise and underdeliver.

Let’s build your app. Let’s build your business. Let’s build the future—together.

Get Started Now

Ready to accelerate your app idea into reality? Visit Flutterflowdevs.com to schedule a free strategy call or request a quote. The sooner you start, the faster you launch.

Because in this game, speed wins.

Flutterflowdevs: The Flutterflow development company built for bold ideas and ambitious timelines. Let’s make your next big move—now.

For more details, you can visit us:

Enterprise Flutterflow Training

Flutterflow App Development

Flutterflow App Developer

[nikhilvaidyahrc]

10 Tech Jobs You Can Get Without a Degree (That Actually Pay Well)

Published By Prism HRC – Leading IT Recruitment Agency in Mumbai

Let’s get one thing straight: the idea that you need a degree to work in tech is outdated.

Sure, there are still companies stuck in the “must have BTech or nothing” mindset, but the smarter ones? They care about your skills, not your paperwork.

We work with tech recruiters every day, and trust us, if you can do the job well, nobody’s asking what your college attendance sheet looked like.

So, if you’re self-taught, bootcamp-trained, or just switching lanes, here are 10 legit tech jobs that don’t need a degree but absolutely pay like they do.

1. Web Developer (Frontend / Backend)

Build stuff people actually use websites, dashboards, internal tools, you name it. Most devs we see started with small projects, not classrooms.

Skills you’ll need: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node.js Salary Range: ₹4–18 LPA Reality check: If you have a decent GitHub and can explain your code, you’re already ahead of most applicants.

2. UI/UX Designer

Good design is invisible, but bad design gets people to uninstall your app in 10 seconds. UX folks make sure that doesn’t happen.

Skills: Figma, design thinking, user flows, wireframes Salary: ₹4–12 LPA Insider tip: Your portfolio is your resume here; don’t skip it.

3. Digital Marketing Specialist

No code. No problem. If you can sell products, grow audiences, or manage ads that convert, you’re already in demand.

Skills: SEO, paid ads, email funnels, analytics Salary: ₹3–10 LPA Bonus: Freelancers who know what they’re doing can scale up even faster than full-timers.

4. Tech Support Executive

If you've ever been the go-to “tech person” in your friend circle, this might be your entry point. It’s the frontline of IT.

Skills: OS basics, troubleshooting, soft skills Salary: ₹3–7 LPA Growth path: System admin → Cloud support → DevOps. It happens more often than you’d think.

5. Data Analyst

Think Excel meets storytelling. You’re not just reading spreadsheets; you’re explaining what they mean in plain English.

Skills: Excel, SQL, Tableau, Python (basic) Salary: ₹5–14 LPA Reality: You don’t need to be a math wizard, just data curious and consistent.

6. Cybersecurity Analyst

While companies go digital, someone needs to protect their digital doors. That’s  where you come in.

Skills: Network security, threat detection, firewalls Salary: ₹6–20 LPA Tip: Certifications matter here, but hands-on labs and projects carry weight too.

7. Cloud Support Engineer

The cloud isn’t just someone else’s computer; it’s a massive job market. You help keep those services alive and efficient.

Skills: AWS or Azure basics, Linux, networking Salary: ₹6–15 LPA Heads-up: Cloud certifications like AWS CCP are way cheaper than a college degree and more useful.

8. Graphic Designer/Motion Designer

Brands need to look good, and you make that happen. From logos to explainer videos, visual creatives are in constant demand.

Skills: Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects Salary: ₹3–10 LPA Real talk: Your work should speak louder than your resume.

9. QA Tester / Automation Tester

Before an app or website goes live, someone needs to make sure it doesn’t crash and burn. That’s your job.

Skills: Manual testing, Selenium, test cases Salary: ₹4–12 LPA Note: Many QA testers get promoted into product, dev, or DevOps roles later.

10. Product Support/Customer Success

Not everyone in tech has to code. If you’re good with people and understand how software works, you can bridge the gap between users and devs.

Skills: Communication, product knowledge, CRM tools Salary: ₹3–9 LPA You’re perfect for this if you love helping people and you hate bad user experiences.

What’s the catch?

There isn’t one. But here's what does matter:

Your willingness to learn (and unlearn)

Real projects, even small ones

A portfolio, GitHub, or something that shows proof of work

The ability to talk about what you’ve done without sounding like ChatGPT

At Prism HRC, we’ve seen non-degree candidates land jobs at great companies simply because they knew their stuff. You don’t need a paper to prove you belong in tech. You just need skills, proof, and a bit of boldness.

- Based in Gorai-2, Borivali West, Mumbai - www.prismhrc.com - Instagram: @jobssimplified - LinkedIn: Prism HRC

[hummnaaa]

Top 11 ColdFusion Services companies in the World

Introduction:

However, ColdFusion has been an application on top of which web development applications have been reliably created by experienced software developers and hardware companies using quality tools for over a decade, such as an enterprise-from-simple applications, secure e-commerce solutions, rapid development, built-in security, and performance. As businesses want to scale up their efficient systems, the demand for the best ColdFusion services companies in the world keeps increasing steadily.

1. iCreativez

When it comes to innovation in ColdFusion development, iCreativez stands first. The company is well-known for producing first-rate ColdFusion web applications, mobile integrations, and database-driven solutions.

Key Services:

Custom ColdFusion web applications

Modernization of legacy applications

Safe e-commerce platforms

Third-party API integration

Enhancing performance

This and more make it the best ColdFusion development company to the world's businesses with transparent communication and experienced developers.

Contact Information:

website: https://www.icreativez.com

Email:  client.contact@icreativez.info

2. Congruent Software

Congruent Software is a US company that features some of the best enterprise-grade ColdFusion development solutions with a dimension for scalability and customization. It serves global clients from healthcare, finance, and government sectors, and it has lived on for decades.

Key Services:

Migration of the application to the cloud using ColdFusion

ERP integration

Development of application back-end

Maintenance and support for applications

Quality delivery consistently puts them among the leading ColdFusion consultants around the world.

3. Silicon Design Studio

Full-cycle ColdFusion software development services with an emphasis on UI/UX from Europe are what Silicon Design Studio is about. It could be defined as an appealing agency for early stage companies and digital marketing agencies for great ColdFusion applications.

Key Services:

CMS based solutions

Custom dashboard development

API services

Websites revamp in ColdFusion

Their user-oriented design makes them one of the top claims in ColdFusion solution providers.

4. Xpertech Solutions Group

Xpertech Solutions Group serves worldwide customers with the popular delivered solutions for ColdFusion, especially in the real estate and logistics sectors.

Key Services:

ColdFusion Server setups and support

Portal development

CRMs

Cloud applications

So flexible, which are priced, small and medium-sized, would love partners with x-pertech solutions.

5. MoogleLabs

Known for how well they combine AI with legacy technology, MoogleLabs has changed the face of ColdFusion. They develop intelligent web applications using ColdFusion integrated with a modern tech stack.

Key Services:

AI + ColdFusion integration

Revamping legacy systems

Analytics dashboards

Mobile Apps, cross-platform

By such advantage, innovative services boost them as the watch list steers current top ColdFusion web development companies.

6. Startups Realm Technology

Startups Realm Technology offers Lean and cost-effective ColdFusion development services exclusively for startups. They enable faster time-to-market for MVPs with efficient codebases and high-performing backend systems.

Key Services:

MVP Development

API Integrations

Speed Optimization

Maintenance Contracts

They have carved quite a name for themselves in ColdFusion application development services for truly grassroots startups.

7. Telsa Media

Telsa Media offers one of the largest ColdFusion development services in the UK. They specialize in every aspect, from mobile-responsive websites to enterprise applications.

Key Services:

Business websites

eCommerce stores

Maintenance and upgrades

SEO-friendly ColdFusion sites

They shine with a comprehensive offering among ColdFusion consulting companies.

8. Techleadz

Techleadz, a great power in Pakistan, is a rising name in ColdFusion development across Asia. They provide a blend of affordability and superior code quality.

Key Services:

B2B platforms

Admin panel creation

ColdFusion security fixes

Custom business applications

A trusted name in the global ColdFusion services market, it is quickly capturing a respectable portion of the client pie across the globe.

9. webamboos

webamboos builds niche market clientele in smart ColdFusion solutions and cloud-based deployments. An agile team, delivering fast and reliable work.

Major services:

Single-tenant software services

Cross-platform tooling

DevOps with ColdFusion

Secure coding practices

Tech-savvy scopes for emerging companies are among the leading ColdFusion software development firms.

10. SimbirSoft

A tech company based in Russia, SimbirSoft carries out enterprise-level ColdFusion implementation. Hence, they are suited for enterprises looking to integrate large systems and continue support.

Key Services:

Scalable app architecture

ColdFusion performance auditing

Healthcare & fintech apps support

Multilingual platform development

Indeed, they are recognized among the best ColdFusion consulting companies and are most trusted in regulated industries.

11. Creation Next

Creation Next is a band of tech dwellers providing ColdFusion services that are customized to specific requirements within the United States, Canada, and Australia. All falsehoods are removed in communication, and they have an open ear for bilingualism.

Key Services:

Custom CRMs/ERPs

Bug fixing and refactoring code

Hiring developers on demand

Support in real-time

With such a name in the industry in ColdFusion development companies, we can partner with you for the long haul.

Conclusion

ColdFusion is still useful in 2025, providing speed, scalability, and security. Selecting a suitable ColdFusion partner is very important for the success of your digital work. The aforementioned ColdFusion services companies in the world demonstrate an innovative, reliable, and cost-effective combination catering to all sorts of business requirements.

With all these improvements, whether a startup or an enterprise, these service providers in ColdFusion application development are bound to deliver powerful solutions throughout the globe.

FAQs on ColdFusion Services Companies

Q1: Why should ColdFusion be chosen in 2025?

ColdFusion allows rapid development and has enhanced security through database and third-party tool integration. These validations really come into play while developing enterprise applications.

Q2: What type of application can be developed using ColdFusion?

ColdFusion can be used to develop portals, CRMs, eCommerce stores, dashboards, APIs, or with AI tool integration.

Q3: Do ColdFusion services still have demand?

Yes. Many legacy systems and large-scale applications are still built with ColdFusion, and businesses continue to seek expert maintenance and modernization services.

Whether you are searching for a ColdFusion web development company or are looking for specialized ColdFusion website application development services, the top companies in the category for 2025 are included in the list below.

[this-week-in-rust]

This Week in Rust 508

Hello and welcome to another issue of This Week in Rust! Rust is a programming language empowering everyone to build reliable and efficient software. This is a weekly summary of its progress and community. Want something mentioned? Tag us at @ThisWeekInRust on Twitter or @ThisWeekinRust on mastodon.social, or send us a pull request. Want to get involved? We love contributions.

This Week in Rust is openly developed on GitHub and archives can be viewed at this-week-in-rust.org. If you find any errors in this week's issue, please submit a PR.

Updates from Rust Community

Foundation

Announcing the Rust Foundation’s 2023 Fellows

Newsletters

This Week in Ars Militaris VI

Project/Tooling Updates

rust-analyzer changelog #194

cargo-binstall v1.2.0

Announcing SeaORM 0.12

Observations/Thoughts

I built a garbage collector for a language that doesn’t need one

The Case for Rust on the Web

Learning Async Rust With Entirely Too Many Web Servers

fn main( ) - Rust Type System: P2

Our latest adventures with bindgen

Autogenerating Rust-JS bindings with UniFFI

Corrode Rust Consulting

Why you should consider Rust for your Lambdas

Explaining Rust’s Deref trait

Miscellaneous

[DE] Programmiersprache Rust gewinnt im Arbeitsumfeld an Bedeutung

[audio] Adopting Rust: present and future of the Rust web ecosystem, with Luca Palmieri

[video] Physics in Bevy: How to get Rapier in your games

[video] Open the Rust compiler's puzzle book - weird-exprs.rs

[video] Causal inference in Rust - deep_causality | Crate of the Week 507

[video] Dioxus 0.4: Server Functions

[video] history.txt vs sqlite with Atuin

[video] The Database of Four Dimensional Reality - SpacetimeDB

[video] noisy material shaders in bevy

[video] I spent six months rewriting everything in Rust

[video] Game Dev Log 4 - Schedules (Entire Series)

[audio] Episode 092 - Moving to Rust in the Age of AI with Noah Gift

Crate of the Week

This week's crate is agree, a command-line tool implementing Shamir's Secret Sharing.

Thanks to Alexander Weber for the self-suggestion!

Please submit your suggestions and votes for next week!

Call for Participation

Always wanted to contribute to open-source projects but did not know where to start? Every week we highlight some tasks from the Rust community for you to pick and get started!

Some of these tasks may also have mentors available, visit the task page for more information.

* Hyperswitch - add domain type for client secret * Hyperswitch - deserialization error exposes sensitive values in the logs * Hyperswitch - move redis key creation to a common module * Ockam - Check key/secret size before casting as a fixed-length array * Ockam - Ockam CLI should gracefully handle invalid state when initializing * Ockam - Use TCP Outlets' "worker address" as identifiers in the Ockam App's tray menu items

If you are a Rust project owner and are looking for contributors, please submit tasks here.

Updates from the Rust Project

344 pull requests were merged in the last week

add csky-unknown-linux-gnuabiv2 target

add aarch64-unknown-teeos target

riscv-interrupt-{m,s} calling conventions

set max_atomic_width for AVR to 16

set max_atomic_width for sparc-unknown-linux-gnu to 32

CFI: fix error compiling core with LLVM CFI enabled

std: Replace condv while loop with cvar.wait_while

Expr::can_have_side_effects() is incorrect for struct/enum/array/tuple literals

rustc_data_structures: base_n perf: remove unnecessary utf8 check

offset_of: guard against invalid use (with unsized fields)

add hotness data to LLVM remarks

add suggestion to quote inlined format argument as string literal

allow using external builds of the compiler-rt profile lib

allowing re-implementation of mir_drops_elaborated query

also consider mem::transmute with the invalid_reference_casting lint

avoid exporting __rust_alloc_error_handler_should_panic more than once

better error handling for rust.codegen-backends on deserialization

bubble up nested goals from equation in predicates_for_object_candidate

check for non-defining uses of RPIT

convert Const to Allocation in smir

core/any: remove Provider trait, rename Demand to Request

correctly lower impl const to bind to host effect param

cover ParamConst in smir

coverage: don't convert filename/symbol strings to CString for FFI

coverage: store BCB counter info externally, not directly in the BCB graph

detect method not found on arbitrary self type with different mutability

detect missing ; that parses as function call

don't use type_of to determine if item has intrinsic shim

downgrade internal_features to warn

fixed *const [type error] does not implement the Copy trait

generate better function argument names in global_allocator expansion

interpret: remove incomplete protection against invalid where clauses

interpret: use ConstPropNonsense for more const-prop induced issues

issue numbers are enforced on active features; remove FIXME

llvm-wrapper: adapt for LLVM API changes

make Const more useful in smir

make unconditional_recursion warning detect recursive drops

make the provisional cache slightly less broken

map RPIT duplicated lifetimes back to fn captured lifetimes

migrate a trait selection error to use diagnostic translation

normalize in trait_ref_is_knowable in new solver

only check outlives goals on impl compared to trait

only resolve target type in try_coerce in new solver

open pidfd in child process and send to the parent via SOCK_SEQPACKET+CMSG

record binder for bare trait object in LifetimeCollectVisitor

remove constness from ImplSource::Param

remove redundant calls to resolve_vars_with_obligations

rename method in opt-dist

respect #[expect] the same way #[allow] is with the dead_code lint

restrict linker version script of proc-macro crates to just its two symbols

select obligations before processing wf obligation in compare_method_predicate_entailment

simplify handling of valtrees for unsized types

store the laziness of type aliases in their DefKind

structurally normalize weak and inherent in new solver

style fix and refactor on resolve diagnostics

suggest using Arc on !Send/!Sync types

TAITs do not constrain generic params

tests: uncomment now valid GAT code behind FIXME

unlock trailing where-clauses for lazy type aliases

use the correct llvm-profdata binary in opt-dist

warn when #[macro_export] is applied on decl macros

push DiscriminantKind implementation fact unconditionally

add trait decls to SMIR

add impl trait declarations to SMIR

stabilize abi_thiscall

miri: add checked float-to-int helper function

miri: add gamma function shims

miri: llvm.prefetch is not a math function

miri: replace AsAny hack by trait upcasting :)

tell LLVM that the negation in <*const T>::sub cannot overflow

implement Option::take_if

avoid using ptr::Unique in LinkedList code

rename copying ascii::Char methods from as_ to to_

better Debug for Vars and VarsOs

make ExitStatus implement Default

partially stabilize int_roundings

add Iterator::map_windows

add a new compare_bytes intrinsic instead of calling memcmp directly

add gamma function to f32 and f64

cargo-credential: reset stdin & stdout to the Console

cargo: Make --help easier to browse

cargo: enable ansi color only in terminal

cargo: bail out an error when using cargo: in custom build script

cargo: fix cargo remove incorrectly removing used patches

cargo: fix panic when enabling http.debug for certain strings

cargo: fix: preserve jobserver file descriptors on rustc invocation to get TargetInfo

cargo: prompt the use of --nocapture flag if cargo test process is terminated via a signal

rustfmt: don't flatten blocks that have labels

rustfmt: enable rustfmt to compile when using the generic-simd feature

rustfmt: improve formatting of empty macro_rules! definitions

rustfmt: improve the --file-lines help

rustfmt: refactor ABI formatting

clippy: iter_overeager_cloned: detect .cloned().filter() and .cloned().find()

clippy: filter_map_bool_then: Don't ICE on late bound regions

clippy: manual_retain: add lint case for binary_heap

clippy: redundant_guards: don't lint on float literals

clippy: redundant_locals: fix FPs on mutated shadows

rust-analyzer: add check.ignore to list cargo check diagnostics to ignore (dead_code, unused_imports, ...)

rust-analyzer: add mir lower support for tuple destructing assignment

rust-analyzer: display fully qualified associated types correctly

rust-analyzer: don't use control flow when extracted fn contains tail expr of original fn

rust-analyzer: fix pinned version of lsp-types

rust-analyzer: fix only_types config filtering out traits from world symbols

rust-analyzer: fix float parser hack creating empty NameRef tokens

rust-analyzer: fix parser being stuck in eager macro inputs

rust-analyzer: handle #[cfg]s on generic parameters

rust-analyzer: internal : Deunwrap convert_named_struct_to_tuple_struct

rust-analyzer: support doc links that resolve to fields

Rust Compiler Performance Triage

A light week. Main thing to report is we got some improvements from telling LLVM that the negation in <*const T>::sub cannot overflow.

Triage done by @pnkfelix. Revision range: 443c3161..e8459109

0 Regressions, 1 Improvements, 4 Mixed; 1 of them in rollups 49 artifact comparisons made in total

Full report here

Approved RFCs

Changes to Rust follow the Rust RFC (request for comments) process. These are the RFCs that were approved for implementation this week:

No RFCs were approved this week.

Final Comment Period

Every week, the team announces the 'final comment period' for RFCs and key PRs which are reaching a decision. Express your opinions now.

RFCs

Create a Testing sub-team

Allow cfg-attributes in where clauses

Tracking Issues & PRs

[disposition: merge] Cleaner assert_eq! & assert_ne! panic messages

[disposition: merge] Report monomorphization time errors in dead code, too

[disposition: merge] Allow explicit #[repr(Rust)]

[disposition: merge] style-guide: Add section on bugs, and resolving bugs

[disposition: merge] Lower Or pattern without allocating place

New and Updated RFCs

[new] Unified String Literals

[new] RFC: scheduled_removal Parameter for deprecated Attribute

[new] crABI v1

Call for Testing

An important step for RFC implementation is for people to experiment with the implementation and give feedback, especially before stabilization. The following RFCs would benefit from user testing before moving forward:

No RFCs issued a call for testing this week.

If you are a feature implementer and would like your RFC to appear on the above list, add the new call-for-testing label to your RFC along with a comment providing testing instructions and/or guidance on which aspect(s) of the feature need testing.

Upcoming Events

Rusty Events between 2023-08-16 - 2023-09-13 🦀

Virtual

2023-08-16 | Virtual (Vancouver, BC, CA) | Vancouver Rust

Rust Study/Hack/Hang-out

2023-08-17 | Virtual (Stuttgart, DE) | Rust Community Stuttgart

Rust Hack and Learn

2023-08-22 | Virtual (Dublin, IE) | Rust Dublin

Rust, Serverless and AWS

2023-08-23 | Virtual (Linz, AT) | Rust Linz

Rust Meetup Linz - 32nd Edition

2023-08-24 | Virtual (Charlottesville, NC, US) | Charlottesville Rust Meetup

Crafting Interpreters in Rust Collaboratively

2023-09-05 | Virtual (Buffalo, NY, US) | Buffalo Rust Meetup

Buffalo Rust User Group, First Tuesdays

2023-09-05 | Virtual (Munich, DE) | Rust Munich

Rust Munich 2023 / 4 - hybrid

2023-09-06 | Virtual (Indianapolis, IN, US) | Indy Rust

Indy.rs - with Social Distancing

2023-09-07 | Virtual (Charlottesville, NC, US) | Charlottesville Rust Meetup

Crafting Interpreters in Rust Collaboratively

2023-09-12 - 2023-09-15 | Virtual (Albuquerque, NM, US) | RustConf

RustConf 2023

2023-09-12 | Virtual (Dallas, TX, US) | Dallas Rust

Second Tuesday

2023-09-13 | Virtual (Cardiff, UK)| Rust and C++ Cardiff

The unreasonable power of combinator APIs

2023-09-14 | Virtual (Nuremberg, DE) | Rust Nuremberg

Rust Nürnberg online

Asia

2023-09-06 | Tel Aviv, IL | Rust TLV

RustTLV @ Final - September Edition

Europe

2023-08-16 | Augsburg, DE | Rust - Modern Systems Programming in Leipzig

Native Graph Algorithms in Rust

2023-08-17 | Reading, UK | Reading Rust Workshop

Reading Rust Meetup at Browns

2023-08-19 | Augsburg, DE | Rust Rhein-Main

Rust Frontend Workshop (Yew + WebAssembly + Axum)

2023-08-22 | Helsinki, FI | Finland Rust Meetup

Helsink Rustaceans First Gathering

2023-08-23 | London, UK | Rust London User Group

LDN Talks Aug 2023: Rust London x RNL (The next Frontier in App Development)

2023-08-24 | Aarhus, DK | Rust Aarhus

Rust Aarhus Hack and Learn at Trifork

2023-08-31 | Augsburg, DE | Rust Meetup Augsburg

Augsburg Rust Meetup #2

2023-09-05 | Munich, DE + Virtual | Rust Munich

Rust Munich 2023 / 4 - hybrid

North America

2023-08-16 | Cambridge, MA, US | Boston Rust Meetup

Alewife Rust Lunch

2023-08-17 | Nashville, TN, US | Seattle Rust User Group Meetup

Rust goes where it pleases. Rust on the web and embedded

2023-08-23 | Austin, TX, US | Rust ATX

Rust Lunch - Fareground

2023-08-24 | Mountain View, CA, US | Mountain View Rust Meetup

Rust Meetup at Hacker Dojo

2023-08-30 | Copenhagen, DK | Copenhagen Rust Community

Rust metup #39 sponsored by Fermyon

2023-09-06 | Bellevue, WA, US | The Linux Foundation

Rust Global

2023-09-12 - 2023-09-15 | Albuquerque, NM, US + Virtual | RustConf

RustConf 2023

Oceania

2023-08-24 | Brisbane, QLD, AU | Rust Brisbane

August Meetup

If you are running a Rust event please add it to the calendar to get it mentioned here. Please remember to add a link to the event too. Email the Rust Community Team for access.

Jobs

Please see the latest Who's Hiring thread on r/rust

Quote of the Week

It has been

0

days since someone tried and failed to use unsafe to circumvent the lifetime system.

– H2CO3 on rust-users

Thanks to mdHMUpeyf8yluPfXI for the suggestion!

Please submit quotes and vote for next week!

This Week in Rust is edited by: nellshamrell, llogiq, cdmistman, ericseppanen, extrawurst, andrewpollack, U007D, kolharsam, joelmarcey, mariannegoldin, bennyvasquez.

Email list hosting is sponsored by The Rust Foundation

Discuss on r/rust

[foxfirexo]

oh woahhh that sounds super cool!!! i may have had to look up a handful of things u said bc i am not well versed in the hardware side of things x3 but i love that, it sounds so incredibly awesome to be able to create a whole lil functional *thing* from hardware to software and i definitely would love to get into that some day (when i can afford to heheh)

makes sense that you're using a lot of C since you're doing embedded programming; out of curiosity, have you looked into Zig at all? i've heard some great things about it and its still low level enough to be great for embedded usecases

my own experience is more on the web dev side of things :3 fullstack but i prefer backend stuff more, and i love reverse engineering APIs to automate things that i shouldnt officially be able to automate heheh. so lots of HTML/CSS/JS/TS but i also used to do a lot of Java and ive been tinkering around with learning Go & Rust! Rust seems good but lifetimes are scary

im also a Linux user so lots of shell scripting lmaoooo

hi hi hi!!! first off ur super pretty~

i always get so excited whenever i see other transfem coders ^^ what kind of coding do u do?? what is your favorite language?? do u have any particular projects youre especially fond/proud of?

We're soooo rare, i know =P My hobby code is mostly stuff on ESP32's for little devices and offline IoT devices I make myself. My go to language right now is C as a result of the ESP32's, but I'll use python/cpp/C#/Whatever for other things, though if it's something hobby I've been going with Python lately. My favorite project right now is something that's a WiP, i'm trying to make a persistence vision item that uses a phone app to use the stronger processing power of the phone to convert an downscale the image/gif then convert to an array of RGB values, then uses BT to send that image to the ESP32 controller, then roll that through the ram to hopefully animate a gif 3-4 frames at a time (RAM limited, can't fit them all in there), the device itself has a absolute orientation thing that just arrived that I'll have to code, and i've been working on the body itself in cad. My slip ring for the wires just arrived, but I have other projects so I haven't made a ton of progress on it, but it's the one I'm probably the most excited about right now! =] How about you??

[izicodes]

Hiya! I've compiled a list of some of the currently active Tumblr blogs that are dedicated to all things coding and programming - this includes frontend dev, backend dev, web dev, game dev, etc. These are blogs I also follow (I try to follow as many as I can) and I like what they post, and I just wanted to share it with more people!

I will keep updating this post whenever a new blogger pops up or if some blogs deactivate - some of my fav blogs deactivated which is super sad since I loved seeing their coding posts on my dashboard! Anyways, onto the blogs!

━━━ ⋆⋅☆

@code-es ☆ @web-dev-with-bea ☆ @mileotero ☆ @sunlearnscoding ☆ @anndcodes ☆ @kirjh ☆ @zoeythebee ☆ @psychoticdesigns ☆ @yyshenblog ☆ @shivanitanwarsblog ☆ @cloudylogs ☆ @aleksey-kivaiko ☆ @simplywebstuff ☆ @codingflicks ☆ @checks ☆ @podokonnik ☆ @adventuresincodeandcoffee ☆ @knitjumpergames ☆ @pizzatriestostudy ☆ @codeparttime ☆ @programmerhumour ☆ @avkera ☆ @datavids ☆ @womaneng ☆ @shahednasser ☆ @cssengineer ☆ @soybananamilkcodes ☆ @frithams ☆ @primarykousu

━━━ ⋆⋅☆

Again, if there are more out there, let me know so I can update the list! If you want your @ taken off the list, let me know too! Thank you and I hope more people follow these super cool blogs and enjoy their posts the way I have! 💻💗💗

[liarboo]

I legit have nothing to do coz I can't see but I can type because I learned how to type good once upon a time so I don't actually need to see the keyboard. but my a key sometimes sticks so please don't laugh at me. so out of sheer boredom, I will ramble updates about me from the past however many years. - I was laid off during the start of the pandemic so went back to school for 2 years to try to pivot from a web designer and dev career to general design because fuck javascript and jobs expecting FED's to know a backend language - my job search post-school is on hold due to my cataract surgeries but I like my current job a lot so it doesn't really matter, and in fact I would love to just keep this job - I work in a goth and esoterica store targeted for older adults, it's fuckin sweet - I got cataracts at a super young age thanks to steroids but not the fun kind where i get muscles and tiny nipples, just to help my allergies (and get cataracts, apparently) - I have become obsessed with photographing graffiti, graffiti is awesome, weird and has a fascinating social network going on sometimes. I made an instagram for it, despite my shit photography skills and how bad IG sucks

- I also got married a year ago and I don't understand how my husband puts up with me but he does, so he's all right I guess

[april]

when tumblr hires me one of the first things i'll do is push for an image block subtype of "sprite" that tells clients to

not stretch the image to the full post width, even if it otherwise would be

disable antialiasing

i would almost definitely be able to implement such a thing on the web client as soon as or before the backend started supporting it.

(also, i would use a more generic name like "pixel" but i know the tumblr devs love naming stuff after soft drinks, so "sprite" would probably get me more support.)

[codelance]

What's the best way to start for a programming newbie? Are Python/Django the best?

Although I think Python is a better overall language, if you just want to slap a utilitarian web interface on some backend code for internal use then PHP might be a better language to learn. It's easier to setup on the server, will run on virtually any host, and is a more out of the box solution.

As for Python/Django:

If you have never programmed before, it's definitely worth learning Python before you get to Django. Someone with experience could skip to a Django book/tutorial and pickup Python on the way - it's a simple language with very clear, easy to read and understand code.

How long it takes you to learn what you need to know is highly variable. If you are just trying to write some automation scripts to help cut down some manual labor, then you can probably go from zero to this point in a few weeks (maybe 20-30 hours). If you want to write production quality web apps using Python/Django, it's going to take longer.

Setup The Environment

First download Python if you don't have it. http://www.python.org/getit/ I prefer Linux, but your MacBook will be more than sufficient as a dev machine.

Python is in a state of limbo between the 2.7 release version and 3. While 3 is the future, it introduces some intrinsic changes which many of the popular libraries do not yet support, Django included. Your best bet is to start with 2.7 and switch to Python 3 later. Also, most of the learning material available is still written for Python 2.

You can write code in any text editor. My favorite, and an up-and-coming basic code editor is Sublime Text. It is simple, elegant, and very functional. http://www.sublimetext.com/ It costs $59, but you can use it free for an unlimited amount of time (as of right now). Well worth buying though.

Many Mac developers love and swear by TextMate. It's more developed and further along than Sublime, I think. Costs $54, and has a 30-day trial.

If you get deeper into programming and want a full featured integrated development environment (IDE), then PyCharm is top notch. http://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/ It costs $99 and has a yearly renewal fee for updates, but is worth it. Something like this has a much steeper learning curve than Sublime Text or TextMate, but they can save you time and keystrokes in the long run.

I'm going to assume you are familiar with working in the terminal, since you have IT experience. If not, this might be a good starting point: http://smokingapples.com/software/tutorials/mac-terminal-tips/

Django apps can be run entirely on your own dev machine, but if you want to put it on the web to be accessed by others on your team, or from other machines you will need a host. There are some good questions on Quora about hosts, but ensure you choose one that allows Python and SSH access. I recommend finding a cheap Virtual Private Server (VPS), although this might be too steep a learning curve for someone without experience. (You say you've done a lot in the IT field, so some of this might be too basic for you, sorry).

I recommend learning and using Source Control. This helps manage your code revisions, and is particularly useful if you have more than one person working on it. I personally use Mercurial, but Git is more popular.

http://hginit.com/ is a good intro guide for Mercurial. http://learn.github.com/p/intro.html looks to be good for Git, but I haven't worked through it yet.

In addition to using Source Control, you'll need a source code repository (you'll learn what this means in one of those tutorials. GitHub (http://www.github.com) is the most popular, with BitBucket (http://www.bitbucket.org) coming in second. You can use Git on either, but GitHub does not support Mercurial. Also, BB has better options for free accounts - unlimited free repos, whereas GitHub limits you.

You might feel overwhelmed trying to learn how to program Python, learning Django, and trying to figure out source control and a myriad of tools all at once. In my opinion it's best to get down a version control workflow early on, rather than putting it off. You'll develop good habits early on that will help you down the stretch.

Where to Learn There are a ton of resources for learning Python, and quite a few for Django. Be sure that whatever you choose, you go with resources that consistently use either Python 2 or 3. Also, stay away from small tutorials and stick with complete references. Learning from piecemeal tutorials will leave you with fragmented knowledge, and they are usually lower quality.

Here is a list of references taken from another Quora question. The key to learning how to program, in my opinion, is to practice a lot. So do the exercises these books contain, and do more programming on your own.

Online Tutorials & Ebooks All free

Recommended: http://www.diveintopython.net/ http://docs.python.org/tutorial/ http://swaroopch.com/notes/Python http://homepage.mac.com/s_lott/books/python/html/index.html Recommended: http://greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkpython.html (A higher level look at programming with Python as the tool; highly recommended if you want to be a good programmer) http://python.net/~goodger/projects/pycon/2007/idiomatic/handout.html http://learnpythonthehardway.com/

Videos

http://code.google.com/edu/languages/google-python-class/ http://www.youtube.com/user/thenewboston#g/c/EA1FEF17E1E5C0DA Recommended: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-fall-2008/video-lectures (A higher level look at programming with Python as the tool; highly recommended if you want to be a good programmer)

Books Sometimes having a physical book makes it easier for some people to learn. Many of the above ebooks are available in hard copy.

Dive Into Python Think Python Learn Python the Hard Way A Byte of Python

How do I learn Python?

All of those are Python references. The online material available for Django is more sparse, but there are some good resources.

The Django Book is the starting point for most people: http://www.djangobook.com/

There is, of course, the official tutorial: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/intro/tutorial01/ I found Django Book more useful. However, get very familiar with the Django docs. They are very good, and you will be spending a lot of time digging into them.

This is a highly recommended hardcopy book for learning, but I've not used it: https://www.packtpub.com/django-1-0-website-development-2nd-edition/book

Prefer video? This series ought to be very good: http://teamtreehouse.com/library/archive/django I have not tried it yet either. There is a $25/mo fee for their service

Getting Assistance Inevitably, when you are learning or attempting to build something, you're going to run into a brick wall at some point.

This is my workflow if I get stuck on a concept, or while programming: Check the Documentation -> Check the Source Code -> Search Google -> Ask on StackOverflow

Asking is always a last resort, quite simply because figuring it out on my own gives more of a sense of pride and accomplishment, and I'm more likely to remember the solution.

Python Docs: http://docs.python.org/ Django Docs: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.3/

[programmerhumor-io]

How to make your users love you 101⠀ ----------------------------- ⠀ ⠀ #software #like #web #ProgrammerHumor #Programmer #Developer #coding #ProgrammerLife #dev #development #ProgrammingFun #ProgrammingJokes #backend #frontend #software #ComputerScience #github #android #Linux #Ubuntu #WebDevelopment #Java #MachineLearning #JavaScript #Server #code #coding #Python #StackOverflow ⠀ -----------------------------⠀ Only some can understand the humor of programmers: https://www.terminalbytes.com/humor/⠀ ----------------------------- — view on Instagram https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/vp/48796df88450fe91cedf7269e6cc65c7/5E007FAB/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/p640x640/70557839_450572339002416_5811943201867009183_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent.cdninstagram.com

[sheeping-around]

Sheeping Around Retrospective: By The Numbers

tl;dr: Scroll all the way down for the numbers.

Sheeping Around has been live on the App Store for a little over ten days now. I think it is about time I look back at the development cycle, the good parts, the bad parts and also share some sales figures while I’m at it. I’m following the trend of transparency to help other indie game developers know and understand the market of premium games, for which I gained inspiration from Eric @ Slothwerks and Arnold @ Tiny Touch Tales. I’m also inspired by the way they work: solo devs working with talented people across the world on a contract basis, and I follow the same pattern.

While I’ve worked on games in the past, this is my first official release on the App Store, and I’m really glad to have been able to reach that goal. My previous games got stuck in infinite iteration loops and never got to see the light of the day. 

Inception

I have written in one of my previous posts how the idea of Sheeping Around was born. The idea began as a turn based (asymmetric) strategy game, and eventually turned into a card game that it is today. You can read more about it in the below two posts:

Sheeping Around Inception

Inspired by Card Thief and More

Inspirations of Sheeping Around and its inception as a physical card game

Development

I have around 8 years of experience as a Javascript developer. While I am familiar with other languages like Java and Objective-C/C++, my core expertise and speed of development is still in Javascript. Also, I had begun using TypeScript at work since mid 2017 and had loved it. Reminded me of the good ol’ Flash and Actionscript days.

When the physical version of Sheeping Around card game was proven to be fun enough, I began working on a web-based prototype version of it using Angular.js on the front-end and Node.js on the backend in the first week of November 2017. I deployed the system on Heroku on its free plan, and used Heroku Postgres as database of choice. (It was free upto 9000 rows, more than sufficient for a prototype.)

Initial prototype version of Sheeping Around

For the native mobile version of the game, I used cocos2d-x JS with TypeScript.

I pushed the code to GitHub as private repositories. I maintained separate repos for client and the server.

Multiplayer

Initially I had planned on Sheeping Around to be a solitaire card game, but it ended up being too similar to Card Thief. It wasn’t much fun anyway either. I decided to prototype a two player dueling game on paper, and it proved to be a lot of fun. I figured it would be much more challenging to handle a multiplayer game, but given my full-stack experience, I was confident I’d be able to do it anyway.

Architecture of Sheeping Around

Sketch, GraphicRiver and GUI

Around March 2018, I began working on the GUI of the game. I had recently switched my role to Product Design at my company Sumo Logic and had begun learning Sketch and loved it. I bought some assets off GraphicRiver and heavily modified a lot of them and put them together in Sketch.

All screen designs in Sketch

I wasn’t very happy with the initial designs, but towards the end of April things had started looking much better and professional.

Initial designs

Final designs

Google Indie Games Accelerator

The progress in the initial few months was somewhat slow. I spent time refining the balance of the game and tweaking the progression. Meanwhile I was also designing some UI for the native mobile version of the game.

By the end of June 2018, Google announced the first ever Indie Games Accelerator for games made in South East Asia. The submission deadline was July, so I started rapidly working on the mobile version for Android and iterating it really fast. By mid of July, I had the gameplay fully functional. By the end of it, I had the entire progression system and marketplace fully set up. 

Some charts from the progression and reward system of the game inspired mainly by Pokemon

While I was not selected for the accelerator program, it did help me accelerate the game development process anyway and I am thankful to the accelerator program for that.

Art and Animation

I discuss a lot about art style with Rashi, and we had finalized that the characters would be anthro. Check out some concept art and final artwork for some of the characters below:

I really loved the idea of in-card animations in Card Thief, and wanted to have something similar in my game as well. I was fortunate enough to run into Robinson Millaguin in the Indie Game Developers Facebook group. He began his work on animating some of the initial cards in Spine and my mind was blown already. Check out the video below:

You can see more of the animation GIFs on the official website for Sheeping Around.

Tragicomic Theme and Music

I had contracted someone for music, but it did not sound so fitting. It was very difficult to decide what kind of music would fit this game because it was such a unique premise. I started scouting out for tracks on AudioJungle. Farms are usually associated with country music, but I had ruled it out completely. Western style music with gut guitars and ukuleles are a close second choice associated with farm themes. Somehow that style didn’t fit either, and sounded rather cowboy-ish. 

I explored all kinds of genres of music and tried to see if they fit in the game. Finally, I found that the music in Comedy genre seemed to be the most fitting. I stumbled upon the profile of AudioAgent, who had an amazing portfolio of comedy tracks. His tracks are tragicomic themed, and coincidentally, he kept adding more tracks in the genre as the game progressed.

The game now features a total of 9 comedy audio tracks by AudioAgent. (The tracks change every 10 levels.)

You can check out the tracks in the below Youtube playlists:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Ajh9Cn23k&list=PLnTakDx63B8L0pBpjPD10VB3NJEcXj2l4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXeq713R444&list=PLnTakDx63B8IS3hr4Sd-tnZXgu5vCIoi6

Sound

I had already made a list of suitable sounds from AudioJungle, but it was from a variety of artists and didn’t seem to fit together. I was not sure if I should hire a sound designer for the project. I figured it would be a good idea to ask around anyway.

I am active on Twitter in the gamedev community, and I found Elise Kates’ profile there. She had done some amazing work in the past for games like Moss, and I thought she’d be a good candidate to help me out with the sound. And it was a great decision afterall. The sound effects added the finishing touches to the polish in the game and really brought the characters to life!

Putting It All Together

I’m glad I’ve been able to put all of this together in a single package. The pun in the name, gameplay mechanics, art, animation, sound and music all come together really well. It would be perhaps be one of my proudest achievement since it is an important skillset to have.

Translation, Screenshots, Trailer and Preview Videos

In December, I took help from the Indie Game Localization community to get the game translated in 12 languages. It was an overwhelming amount of work, about 5000 words. I maintained separate Google Sheets for each language.

But what was harder was designing screenshots and preview videos and localizing them into all languages. But it did pay off eventually because it got the game featured in most of the regions that I had localized for.

Check out the preview video below:

Robinson helped in creating a landscape trailer for the game as well, since Android needs a landscape video regardless of whether the game is landscape or not. it was more of a theatrical trailer that served as an introduction to the premise of Sheeping Around and dab a little bit into its gameplay:

Freemium, Premium or Paymium?

The hardest decision for me to take was whether to go premium or freemium (or paymium), and if premium, what would be the price point of the game. Early on I had decided that the game would be premium on iOS and free-to-play on Android, given how easy piracy is on Android (more on piracy in the Piracy section below). I had thought of keeping the game’s price to $4.99, as I had read that Card Crawl had recently upped its price to $4.99 from $2.99 and it increased their month-on-month sales by more than 2x. Turns out, it won’t work very well during release when both developer and the game are new to the market and there are no ratings and reviews. This is also why my day 2 sales were more than day 1 sales, when I dropped the price to $2.99.

My game also has in-app purchases, and most people object to the idea of IAPs in a premium game. But if you look at the top paid charts in the card game category (or even any other category for that matter), you will find that more than 70% of the games have IAPs. This model is called paymium on mobile platforms, and has only recently entered the debate alongside freemium and premium. In the PC world, most games are paid, and the concept of DLCs is fairly normal and accepted, so I don’t understand what the issue with IAPs in premium mobile games is about.

Besides, the IAPs in Sheeping Around aren’t your typical in-your-face popups that appear at the end of every game to give you a reward or to increase your life. They are subtle, just two coin packs that you can buy if need be. You probably won’t need to though.

Pre-orders and the Coming Soon Feature

I set the game to be available for preorder on 31st December 2018. That would make my first new years’ resolution to be to release this game. I set Thursday, 17th Jan as the release date. That is because App Store refreshes every Thursday and it would get greater number of days in visibility if it gets featured then. (Most features last at least a week.)

That is also when I also submitted my game and my story to Apple via App Store’s promote link, hoping to get featured.

On January 5, the game got featured in the Coming Soon section, and it started getting a little spike in pre-orders. From 1-2 per day to around 25-30 per day. On January 20, the game got featured in a lot more territories, including US, UK, South Africa, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. I netted about 250 pre-orders from this feature. But it turns out that in some places, since Apple lets you preorder without having a linked credit card, they would fail to be billed on release of the game. Because of this, only about 200 pre-orders went through successfully. App store still shows -1/-2 net preorders days after the game’s release.

New Games We Love & Top Charts

Upon release, the game was featured in “New Games We Love” in US, China and the Greater China Area (HK, Macau, Taiwan), South-East Asia, India, UK, Europe, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. It also went on to become #3 card game in US (iPhone) during launch and stayed between #3-#5 during the first week. In China, which is the second biggest market for me, the highest it went was #9 in card games. (Competition is quite high in that category there, with most paid games priced at ¥1 ($0.15).)

I especially love the words UK editorial team used to describe the game in Games We Love.

Reception

The reviews so far have been positive, with occasional negative reviews talking about some bugs, most of which I have fixed in the week after release. Here are the current reviews and ratings stats for the game so far:

US: 4.6 / 5 (56 ratings, 32 reviews) China: 4.3 / 5 (41 ratings, 23 reviews) Thailand: 4.7 / 5 (15 ratings, 11 reviews) Germany: 4.0 / 5 (11 ratings, 6 reviews) Russia: 4.6 / 5 (8 ratings, 7 reviews) UK: 3.7 / 5 (6 ratings, 4 reviews)

Some encouraging reviews:

“I’ve only played this game for 20 minutes, and I love it already. The creativity, the idea, everything about this game is just beyond my expectations, and I can only assume how addicting this game will be.”

“It a really good game. You should make a physical card game for this game. I really like it and it’s definitely worth buying it.”

“Don’t really review apps, let alone end up playing one a day or two after I started. But this one... this one got me hooked! It’s fairly simple gameplay but sometimes it gets pretty exciting.”

“Pre-ordered it, I've played Card Monsters since release & Hearthstone for 4 years & this game is very solid & entertaining.”

“I think this game is another new twist to a card game, I can definitely see potential for this game. I can’t wait for the next update, hopefully with some new cards to use.”

“This game is family oriented and so easy to play. It has the simplicity of UNO yet with enough strategy to keep you engage but not overwhelmed. This is highly addictive and fun to play. The element of luck is always a factor but how to use the cards given is the key. The games are short but competitive. Those who love card/card battle games should download this without hesitation! Kudos! Look forward to updates to see what you guys come up with next!”

DAUs, Screen Time and Retention Rate

I use Tableau for my data visualization needs, and have custom graphs and dashboards created for all kinds of metrics. 27% of the players have played the game for at least one hour, which is quite encouraging. 4.5% of the players have been addicted and have played for more than 5 hours. I’ve been seeing an average DAU of around 750 and average total session time of over 450 hours. Not that it matters much for a premium game, but I’m tracking it anyway. In terms of retention, my day 7 retention is about 10%, which isn’t so bad. I will give it more time to see what my day 30 retention is.

Press Coverage and Critic Reviews

I had mailed a lot of media sites and YouTubers to review the game. A lot of them covered the game. Thanks to the localization effort, the game was featured in a lot of foreign language blogs. 

Specifically Pocket Gamer and Pocket Tactics wrote about the game. The review from Pocket Tactics was negative with a 2.0 / 5 rating, and from Pocket Gamer was somewhat above average at 3.5 / 5 rating. Pocket Tactics review, though negative, gave me a chuckle because of their words of choice.

You can check them out here:

Pocket Gamer: A surprisingly tense, exciting and fun card battler that doesn’t quite have the tactical depth for the long haul.

Pocket Tactics: Sheeping Around looks the part, but sadly the game turns out to be as dull as you would expect for a game based on an animal that stands around in a field all day chewing grass.

The criticism though has been pretty good in these reviews, and I will add more content and depth in the future updates to address the weaknesses they have mentioned.

Piracy

One thing I wanted to point out was that about 25% of the users of Sheeping Around are using a pirated version. I was under the impression that it would be very hard to pirate an iOS game, because it would need jailbreaking and it isn’t very easy to jailbreak your iOS device. Turns out I was very wrong. There are pirated App Stores like AppEven that you can install on your device, and you can install premium iOS games for free using those stores. You don’t need to jailbreak your phone and the whole process is dead simple. Turns out these folks are abusing Enterprise App certificates for ad-hoc app distribution, and Apple hasn’t been paying much attention to them. 

Within about two minutes, I was able to download a pirated version of my own game from AppEven. It even added its own ads that pop up once every few minutes that bring revenue to the owners of the pirated app store. It made me a little sad, but that’s the way it is. No matter how many attempts you make to prevent piracy in your app, the hackers will have a workaround to bypass it. They can remove the code in your app that prevents piracy, replace your ads with their own. It is their daily business.

Promotional Artwork

For games that Apple finds worthy of promotion using a banner feature or on the Today page, Apple requests developers for promotional artwork. I got this request last Monday and I submitted the artwork by Wednesday. The game hasn’t gotten a banner feature or Game of the Day yet, so I can only hope it will happen one day in the future.

By The Numbers

And finally, the moment you’d been waiting for. Sales. Sheeping Around was able to break even about 50% of its outsourcing costs (art, animation and sfx) in 10 days since launch. 

The top 2 territories where the game made some decent revenue are US and China, followed by Germany and UK.

What’s next?

I’m already working on some new cards that add more variety to the gameplay. These include:

Bonus cards

Peek - Look at the opponent’s hand. 

Undo - Undo the opponent’s last move. It can also potentially undo a stolen or whistled sheep.

Lucky Pendant - Draw half the number of cards in your hand (rounded off).

Shepherd cards

Fence N (N = 2, 3, 4) - Build a fence around all sheep preventing any of them from being stolen for N turns.

Electric Fence N (N = 2, 3) - Build an electric fence around all sheep preventing any of them from being lured or stolen for N turns.

Quarantine N (N = 1, 2, 3) - Cure all sheep of Infestation or Intoxication by N turns.

Vaccinate N (N = 3, 4) - Prevent Infestation or Intoxication on all sheep for the next N turns.

Thief cards

Infest N (N = 2, 3, 4) - Infest all sheep with pests to prevent them from being whistled for N turns.

Intoxicate N (N = 2, 3) - Intoxicate sheep to prevent them from being grazed or whistled for N turns.

Thrash N (N = 1, 2, 3) - Damage a Fence or an Electric Fence and reduce its value by N turns.

Termites (N = 3, 4) - Spread termites to prevent building a Fence or an Electric Fence for the next N turns.

Changes to existing cards

Rescue N (N = 1, 2, 3) - Reduce the effect of Trap, Infestation or Intoxication by N turns on one sheep.

Distract N (N = 1, 2, 3) - Reduce the effect of Guard, Fence or Electric Fence by N turns on one sheep.

You can already add an ally that unlocks at Lv. 20 to the game. Future updates may include upto 5 allies in total:

Shepherd’s side

Beaver - Jack Kim (Lv. 10)

Llama - Fuzzy Wumpkins (Lv. 20)

Sheepdog - Casper Cloud (Lv. 30)

Emu - Emily McCoy (Lv. 40)

Donkey - Muriel Miller (Lv. 50)

Thief’s side

Raven - Merlin Kook (Lv. 10)

Eagle - Cradoc McClaw (Lv. 20)

Coyote - Roxy Fang (Lv. 30)

Badger - Agent Chaos (Lv. 40)

Bear - Boris Rockpaw (Lv. 50)

Additional Features I’ll also be working on some features like: - Expressions and dialogs - Offline mode vs AI - Pass and play multiplayer - Quests

Conclusion

Sheeping Around was a fun project, and unlike my other shelved projects, it saw the light of the day, and it is a proud achievement for me in that regard. For the past 14 months, I’ve worked part-time at a consistent pace on this project (and full time for a few months). Especially as a solo developer being able to develop a PvP multiplayer game where people in US can battle people in China with servers located in London, I think it is a great feat.

Look forward to more updates in the future on this blog. Follow the blog on Tumblr or me on Twitter to keep yourself up to date on the progress of the game.

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning y’all. The big news this week is I have COVID. I’m not proud of it. We had an on-site at work last week and I attended. It was really exciting to meet a lot of my team I’d never seen in person. I was masked on day one and day two (most of the time.)

On day two after lunch I forgot to mask. Went about my day and realized I was unmasked at some point so I put it back on.

On Wednesday and Thursday I didn’t mask at all. Don’t let your guard down like I did. It’s so easy to do since the world has seemingly moved on from COVID. Everything felt normal, but it wasn’t.

Don’t be a dummy, like me. Stay safe out there. Mask.

Becky Hansmeyer: “Here are a few things I’m hoping to see, in no particular order:”

It was WWDC week last week, which is basically Christmas for the Apple Development world.

I love reading Becky’s site because she’s usually very upbeat. This post didn’t let me down.

Cliff Harris: “You might think thats an embarrassing typo, so I’ll be clear. TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED FILEs and 237MB of executables and supporting crap, to copy some files from a client to a server. This is beyond bloatware, this is beyond over-engineering, this is absolutely totally and utterly, provably, obviously, demonstrably ridiculous and insane.”

I was talking with a co-worker this week about this very topic. I feel pretty lucky as an iOS dev. I install Xcode and can write a fully featured iOS application. No additional code from the outside required.

Do I use some packages. Yes. I do try to limit them and I’ve started removing them as I move forward because I don’t want to rely on them. There are a few exceptions but I can do the work to replace them and make them work 100% how I want them to work for my app.

I feel really bad for web client and backend devs. Their setup seems crazy difficult and fragile.

Hacker News: “Hello, I was hired as a remote full-stack engineer at Tesla during the pandemic. We were just told that remote employment agreements (mine was over email, not in my contract) are void, and we have to move to a Tesla office by August.”

I feel bad for this person, I really do. Life circumstances can make decisions extremely difficult, especially if you’re happy in your work.

I’d talk to Tesla HR, let them know my circumstance, and see if I could work out a short term deal so I could stay remote for the time being. This person mentions being able to move in early 2023.

I’d they won’t work with you, get that resume ready, and find another gig that works for you. There are so many wonderful places to work out there that don’t require you to be in the office.

CNN: “Del Bosque is one of the many Latino farmers and workers whose lives revolve around California’s agriculture industry and who have been forced to make difficult decisions due to the ongoing water crisis.”

This is going to bite us all. Much of the worlds fruits and vegetables are grown in the San Joaquin Valley of California. To lose a fraction of that production will show at the grocery store.

We are in a lot of trouble. It’s just starting. Climate change is real. Just ask Mr. Del Bosque.

Robert Sweeney: “I asked him what the on campus interviews were like and how I should prepare for them. He explained that they would ask a random programming question that I would need to solve on a sheet of paper. If you did well, then they would fly you out for a full day of interviews at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington. He had been asked to write a function that, when given an array of length n + 1 containing integers 1 through n, find the duplicate integer in an array.”

Bottom line. If you want to work at one of the BigCos you’d better know your stuff.

I tried to get on with Apple numerous times. Failed each time. It’s tough out there, especially if you’re working for a company making the underlying technology.

Study up! Don’t cheat if you can avoid it. 😄

David Smith: “This year, more than any I can remember, WWDC was the tangible manifestation of Apple’s genuine care for developers, and their desire to facilitate us to do our best work.”

I thought I’d end on a good note. David Smith is super upbeat about everything he does.

David’s post doesn’t disappoint. Go read it if you develop for Apple platforms.

[remotecareers]

React Developer (Remote)

This role is remote!

React Developer:

We’ve grown exponentially and are now financially backed by a Fortune 1000 company, we remain true to our founding values.

We are just as hungry and passionate as when we were 5 people in a garage.

Curious minds and execution experts will like our organizational maturity, love the entrepreneurial spirit, and stay for the inclusive culture.

Working here means revolutionizing how thousands of business owners, finance teams, accountants, and bookkeeping professionals across the globe handle everyday finance tasks like bill pay, expense management, and bookkeeping.

We save our customers valuable time by acting as an automated layer on top of their accounting software

About our team:

You’ll be joining our expanding engineering team consisting of a mix of highly skilled Frontend, Backend, DevOps, Quality Assurance and Product team members.

You’ll work closely with Product Program Managers, Customer Experience Managers and Developers.

We face challenges as a unit and pitch in whenever our help is needed.

Whether we suffer defeat or rise triumphantly we offer honest feedback to keep growing professionally.

While the organizational scale has changed, our agile way of working has not.

We’re looking to expand our team with experienced developers who likes to lead, take responsibility, and motivate fellow team members to keep a high bar for quality, speed and security.

You should be comfortable making decisions on the fly, as well as take the leading role in making sure the dev team is meeting deadlines and commitments.

You’ll play a large role in developing new features and leading by example.

Your educational background is less important as your previous professional experience, your drive, and your personality

React Developer Requirements: Write clean, scalable and testable code Interest in building robust UIs with modern tools like ES6, React, GraphQL Strong TypeScript skills Customer empathy and the ability to think through customer needs and come up with clever ways solve their problems Passionate about building production-ready features fast Have a high bar for the quality of code and automating repetitive development tasks as well as a high attention to detail 4+ years of experience shipping high-quality front-end code Comfortable working with an existing code base

React Developer Responsibilities: Develop new features and improve existing ones Review and refactor code Document development and operational procedures Analyze system requirements and prioritize own tasks In-depth knowledge of the modern front-end technologies

React Developer Technology Stack:

From a technical point of view, our back-end is built on .NET with C#.

On the front-end we work in TypeScript on the React framework, enabling us to build reliable web experiences that can handle high usage volumes.

The product consists, among others, of a web application and a mobile application.

It’ll be the front-end that will have your main focus.

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