You definitely aren't tied to XML, it is just one possible format for delivering hypermedia. I'm nothing close to an expert, but enjoy the concept. Github is doing cool things with hypermedia in their API.
Rails and Django both are vehicles for consistent design patterns and have "testing culture" surrounding them. Frameworks, good ones with solid community, can be an excellent vehicle for learning patterns and practices.
I chose an autodidactic approach to learning software development (via Flash/AS3) and 1 and 3 where (still are) primary areas of study. I'll admit to being fuzzy on 2, not unaware, just hasn't come up yet.
We use an autodidactic approach for our kids' home education. Working out really well so far with one at high school age on down to our 4th that is kindergarten aged.
I think this is great, outside of plastering Buffer's name all over the thing. Seems kinda shitty to do. Open source tweet scheduler? Awesome. Slapping Buffer all over the thing to shimmy into their Google juice (or whatever) to promote it? Not as awesome.
They have several products. Sure, TweetBot has them more flush with cash than they would have been otherwise, but they are crafty and intelligent. So Twitter is strong arming one aspect of their business. I suspect TapBots will be OK.
The difficulty is that anything more complex is TOO complex as an example. This is meant to demonstrate the MVC of a thing. With this example, I can quickly examine the structure and feel of a given tool, an hold the entire example in my head. When you start stacking all of the other bits on too, this starts to become more difficult. What TodoMVC allows is a quick survey to narrow down contenders. At that point I can examine the other crucial aspects and understand if they work for my project.
I've got 4 kids, from 14 to 5, and have always treated it as a "grand experiment". We've made some decisions that are a bit "outside the norm" - mostly the choice to home educate. It's been scary, but seeing the results as the oldest enters adulthood is fascinating, awesome, and rewarding.
Yes. His approach presents a proper critique with a path forward. I love what KA is doing, but it is going to be iterative (I presume), and I'd hope they are listening to well thought out ideas like this.
I've been using the maps and find them MUCH improved in the car. I wish I could turn off the voice prompts, but it is very usable and has got me where I'm going reliably.
His approach to dealing with "Why is X better than Y?" conversations is spot on. I spent some time as a "open-source MVC framework evangelist" (heh), and always made a point to ignore the trolls and focus on delivering the benefits (and costs) of using the framework.
It is genuinely hard to ignore the trolls. If a thing is useful, lets talk about that.