August 2021
75 posts: 6 entries, 20 links, 8 quotes, 41 beats
Tuesday, 24th August 2021
Wednesday, 25th August 2021
API Tokens: A Tedious Survey. Thomas Ptacek reviews different approaches to implementing secure API tokens, from simple random strings stored in a database through various categories of signed token to exotic formats like Macaroons and Biscuits, both new to me.
Macaroons carry a signed list of restrictions with them, but combine it with a mechanism where a client can add their own additional restrictions, sign the combination and pass the token on to someone else.
Biscuits are similar, but “embed Datalog programs to evaluate whether a token allows an operation”.
Allo shows the ultimate failure of Google's Minimum Viable Product strategy. MVP works when you have almost no competition, or if you are taking a radically different approach to what's on the market, but it completely falls on its face when you are just straight-up cloning an established competitor. There's no reason to use a half-baked WhatsApp clone when regular WhatsApp exists.
Thursday, 26th August 2021
Saturday, 28th August 2021
Dynamic content for GitHub repository templates using cookiecutter and GitHub Actions
GitHub repository templates were introduced a couple of years ago to provide a mechanism for creating a brand new GitHub repository starting with an initial set of files.
[... 1,413 words]Monday, 30th August 2021
Building a desktop application for Datasette (and weeknotes)
This week I started experimenting with a desktop application version of Datasette—with the goal of providing people who aren’t comfortable with the command-line the ability to get Datasette up and running on their own personal computers.
[... 1,423 words]Unshipped work is inventory and it costs you money as it spoils
Tuesday, 31st August 2021
