The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

xbar puts anything in your macOS menu bar (Interview)


Listen Later

On this episode we’re talking with our good friend Mat Ryer whom you may know from the Go Time podcast. Mat created an awesome open source tool for putting just about anything in your Mac’s toolbar. It was originally written in Objective-C, but it just got a big rewrite in Go and abig rename from BitBar to xbar.

If you don’t use a Mac don’t hit skip on this episode quite yet! There are lessons to be learned for anyone interested in hacking on tools to make your life better. Plus, with this rewrite Mat has positioned xbar to go cross-platform, which we talk about as well.

Join the discussion

Changelog++ members save 3 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today!

Sponsors:

  • InfluxDB – InfluxDB empowers developers to build IoT, analytics, and monitoring software. It’s purpose-built to handle massive volumes and countless sources of time-stamped data produced by sensors, applications, and infrastructure. Learn about the wide range of use cases of InfluxDB at influxdata.com/changelog
  • LaunchDarklyShip fast. Rest easy. Deploy code at any time, even if a feature isn’t ready to be released to your users. Wrap code in feature flags to get the safety to test new features and infrastructure in prod without impacting the wrong end users.
  • Square – Develop on the platform that sellers trust! Use API Explorer to interact with, test, or play with your applications in Square. You can build, view, and send HTTP requests that call Square APIs with API Explorer. Get started with Square, check out the API Explorer, or the API Explorer docs.
  • Featuring:

    • Mat Ryer – GitHub, LinkedIn, Bluesky, X
    • Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
    • Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

    Show Notes:

    • The Changelog #3 - Rob Pike
    • xbar’s website
    • What happens when your old open-source project unexpectedly gets to the top of Hacker News?
    • Go Time #154 - Where Jerod shares his unpopular opinion
    • Go Time #144 - Building desktop apps with Go + web tech
    • Wails.app
    • Become a sponsor to Mat Ryer
    • xbar on GitHub
    • Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

      ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store

      The Changelog: Software Development, Open SourceBy Changelog Media

      • 4.7
      • 4.7
      • 4.7
      • 4.7
      • 4.7

      4.7

      286 ratings


      More shows like The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

      View all
      Software Engineering Radio by se-radio@computer.org

      Software Engineering Radio

      271 Listeners

      Software Engineering Daily by Software Engineering Daily

      Software Engineering Daily

      623 Listeners

      LINUX Unplugged by Jupiter Broadcasting

      LINUX Unplugged

      268 Listeners

      Talk Python To Me by Michael Kennedy

      Talk Python To Me

      585 Listeners

      Soft Skills Engineering by Jamison Dance and Dave Smith

      Soft Skills Engineering

      289 Listeners

      Data Engineering Podcast by Tobias Macey

      Data Engineering Podcast

      146 Listeners

      Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats by Wes Bos & Scott Tolinski - Full Stack JavaScript Web Developers

      Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

      987 Listeners

      REWORK by 37signals

      REWORK

      210 Listeners

      Practical AI by Practical AI LLC

      Practical AI

      207 Listeners

      AWS Podcast by Amazon Web Services

      AWS Podcast

      203 Listeners

      The Stack Overflow Podcast by The Stack Overflow Podcast

      The Stack Overflow Podcast

      63 Listeners

      The Real Python Podcast by Real Python

      The Real Python Podcast

      142 Listeners

      Big Technology Podcast by Alex Kantrowitz

      Big Technology Podcast

      494 Listeners

      Training Data by Sequoia Capital

      Training Data

      40 Listeners

      The Pragmatic Engineer by Gergely Orosz

      The Pragmatic Engineer

      64 Listeners