0x2d - Thank you, 2009!
2009 had been an exciting year! I discovered tons of new projects to help me improve productivity. The following is just a (incomplete) list. If you feel left out: just drop a comment below.
CouchDB Thank you, couchies, for promoting the idea of schema free databases. Now I don't think that non-SQL solutions are fit for all database problems. I think every developer should know SQL and non-SQLish products the same. Still, it is good to have something that complete, promising, and open sourcish. A lucky 2010 to you, guys!
jQuery Tools: If you do like jQuery (like I do), and have to hack together a minor web application, with a minor user interface, "jQuery Tools" is just the toolset you need. No longer surfing the web for all those missing bits and pieces: tabs, tooltips, obverlays… all in one neat package.
merb: "Looking for a hacker's framework?" The merb team should really change the their website's title into something more, well, down-to-earth. "Web development finally done (nearly) right." – 'nearly' being my addition, of course. I hope all the good things don't just disappear after the Rails merger.
rack: and then rack: finally we all can do all the lowlevelly things we always wanted - in a server and framework independent way. Thank you!
heroku: Now, this is phoenix from the ashes! I did a test run of heroku in 2008, and was not really impressed. My then impression was: "hey, nice idea. But a long way to go for something really usable." Well, it seems, the heroku guys went a long way pretty fast. The new heroku is just... awesome!
gemcutter: Well, of course there is github. However, for hosting gems github has already been suboptimal. Luckily, gemcutter took over: instant gem publishing allows you to shift parts of your applications in gems, without being hindered by publishing turnarounds.
Integrity "The easy and fun automated continuous integration server" acts as Integrity's catch phrase. And yes. While I don't consider testing being exactly "fun" – for me reading a book, partying, watching a movie might be fun, but testing certainly not – integrity sooths the pain. Quite a bit.
And this is what I expect from 2010
An ongoing battle between search engines, especially "google" vs "bing!"
A heavy battle between Apple, RIMM, Palm, and Google Android on the Smartphone market. That who wins will set standards for the years to come… unless, of course, there is some success from an Open Source perspective.
A quadcore iMac on my desk :)
And finally the successful launch of our own stealth project... Stay tuned!