2008 was an eventful year for hackerific, I entered my second year of blogging in October (and nearly didn’t notice), started posting more on TextMate and Python, and discovered and got involved with loads of cool projects.

I had originally intended to write a ‘year in review’ type of post, but instead of something retrospective, I’ve decided to talk about things I’d like to accomplish this year. Here the list:

• Lots more work and posting on the IPython TextMate Bundle. A quick google reveal an entire page of links related to this project, and it’s only just started! I’m hoping that this year we’ll get all of the bits I listed in my future directions post sorted, and lots more besides. In particular, the twisted based server should allow lots more functionality. You can find lots more info about this bundle in the announcement post. I’d encourage you to fork the project on github and join the mailing list to get involved.
• More features in the Plain Text Wiki TextMate bundle. I’m still trying to change my habits to use this bundle more effectively, and I’m beginning to get there. It’s also been noticed by some other people, notably Marcelo Alvim who’s hacked in support for absolute links and subdirectories.
• tm-terminal looks like a cool idea. It’s a command that injects TextMate’s environment into a terminal to help you code commands. I’m planning on extending it to work with my shell of choice, zsh.
• Fix the online help commands in the Gnuplot bundle. This is still on my todo list.
• Screencasts! Based on the success of my previous screencasts, I plan to make more! At the moment, I have ideas on screencasts for the gnuplot and IPython bundles. It’s unbelievably fun, and takes ages though, so it may be a while before I get around to it.
• Other fun, useful or interesting things as I find them – this goes without saying!
• Finish my PhD thesis. I know this is not particularly related to this blog (apart from that it’s eating all of my time), but this is a fairly large chunk of my life. Once I’m done I should have plenty more free time to hack and blog to my hearts content… once I’ve got a job that is. If you know of any work in the South West of England that you think I might be particularly suitable for, drop me an email, I’d really appreciate it!

Feel free to leave comments below, and here’s to a great 2009.