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I spent a lot of yesterday deep in the Rails source, trying to figure out why some tests weren’t passing. No final conclusion but I think I’m on the right track.
Last one of these before my tiny Christmas break.
Lots of links piled up over the weekend. I’ll try to get something more substantive posted later.
Yesterday saw my first posting to the official Rails weblog. A nice step on the way to world domination, I guess.
Looks like I’ve got another bit of new business spinning up. This is good, though I’ve still got hours free.
Braid 0.5 - This tool for vendoring git and svn repos is moving along. (via RubyFlow)
It was a fairly productive weekend for me: a new version of db_populate, a minor update to from_param, the first complete draft of The Rails Initialization Process, and a big chunk of work on Getting Started with Rails.
I seem to be hanging out in #rubyonrails on IRC these days…mikeg1a if you’re hunting for me there.
- Rails Rumble 2008 - If you’ve got October 18-19 free, there’s another “build an application in a weekend” contest coming up.
- Using hoptoad in open source project deployments - A general approach to keeping a separate deploy branch in git to hold confidential information.
- Rails Take Five - Five Questions with Karmen Blake - Another in the Five Runs series of Rails interviews.
- RubyGems 1.3.0 - You might want to go slower than me on installing this version; it deprecates some code that Rails uses, resulting in annoying warnings on script/generate operations.
- Replacing Braid or Piston (for Git) with 40 Lines of Rake - An approach to doing subtree merge control for Rails plugins. If you use this, make sure to include a trailing slash on the destination when doing a git:subtree:merge operation. Took me forever to figure that out.
- Status Update: Merb 1.0 - Coming October 11.
- Creating Valid Records with Populator and Faker - For filling up your test database with stuff.
- RR - Test double framework for ruby code. If your current method of writing mocks and stubs is too verbose, this will help. (It has other good features too).
- TankEngine - Plugin to build iPhone-optimized Rails user interfaces.
- Gash - Access a git repository as a ruby hash. Wacky. (via RubyFlow)
Looks like I may actually have enough work for the end of the year. But don’t let that stop you asking for more.
- Merb Beginner’s Tutorial - Notes on how to instal the latest edge bits.
- Bort - A Base Rails Application - A shot at packaging all the “I always do this stuff” bits into a fresh Rails application. I’ve seen some of these before; the general issues are that my stuff doesn’t match your stuff, and they haven’t tracked Rails versions. But this one got enough immediate traction it might do better.
- Ruby Wrapper for Twitter Search API - Just in case you need such a thing.
It’s hard to be witty when your throat is on fire. Kids = colds.
- IE Death March - Another doomed attempt to kill off IE6. Heck, I’ve got clients who still need to support IE5 in some vertical markets.
- Why we bill by the hour - Doesn’t everyone work this way by now?
- Rails 2.x Configuration Cheat Sheet - Collected notes on a bunch of stuff that RDoc doesn’t pick up.
- Radiant CMS Sprint Weekend - A chance to spend a weekend hacking on open source code. October 25.
- Mysqlplus a new thread aware MySQL driver - Designed to make Active Record faster.
- MerbCamp - Merb is grown up enough to have a conference now. October 11-12 in San Diego.
- Phusion Passenger - The latest PeepCode screencast covers this new alternative for Rails deployment.
- singleton_validations - Rails plugin to do validations on individual ActiveRecord instances.
- Getting Started with Merb and DataMapper - Ben Smith navigates through the currently-tricky morass of gems, source, and dependencies.
- Living on the Edge (or What’s New in Edge Rails) #3 - Not much visible right now, but still worth tracking.
- Installing Git man Pages - How to get the docs locally.
- jGrowl - jQuery plugin similar to Growl in its effects.
Finally got the multi-file upload feature I’ve been wrassling with working. Hopefully this means I can move on to something else soon.
- Widgetfinger - CMS that is designed to automate as much as possible of very small sites.
- LiveHTTPHeaders - Header-monitoring add-in for Firefox. I honestly like ieHTTPHeaders better from a UI point of view - but not enough better to use IE.
- Living on the Edge (of Rails) #20 - Things are moving slowly in edge Rails at the moment.
- Huba Huba - Tidbits for advanced GitHub use. Man, I just can’t keep up with the kids these days.
- Rails 2.1 RC1 - Beans spilled via Twitter.
- Prototype 1.6 PDF - Printable documentation for this javascript library.
- Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1 Code Complete - I’ve been using the nightly builds. They’ve stabilized vastly in the last couple of weeks.
- Merbunity - Community site for merb news and tutorials.
- TextMate Bundles for Merb - News from Dr. Nic.
Next I need to dig into multiple file uploads for a Rails app. This may or may not be fun.
- HoboFields - Rails migration generator that lets you annotate models instead of writing your own migratios. (via Ruby Inside)
- Announcing: Feather - Merb-based blogging software.
- Introducing the uses_connection plugin: Intended to let multiple Rails apps use the same database.
- Rails development for iPhone with rails-iui - Plugin to make some of the required styling and plumbing simpler.
It was a productive weekend; I got a major feature shipped for one of the sites I work on. Now back to the regular workweek.
- Pitfalls in RESTful “wizards” - dealing with page-caching fun in Rails.
- Nightly Tester Tools 2.01 - I don’t think I could live on edge Firefox without this. The ability to selectively recover tabs from the previous session is a winner.
- Stage 0.3.1 - Code generator for Rails and Merb using the presenter pattern.
- Prototip - Flexible tooltips for Prototype/Scriptaculous.
- Scripteka - Library of extensions for Prototype.
- Living on the edge (of Rails) #18 - It’s been a quiet week.
- Making Compact Forms More Accessible - Easiest way I found to get hints in textareas that vanish when users start typing.
- The Apple “i” - Nice sendup of the prototypical Apple keynote.
- Promise and Peril for Alternative Ruby Impls - Probably more Ruby VM gossip than you really need.
The latest nightly of Firefox 3 is working much better for me than Beta 5 - at the cost of losing Firebug. That’s a mixed blessing at best.
- Rapid Rails Part 3 - Desktop Mastery - A medley of useful tips.
- Slapp: A simple wall chat Merb tutorial - Get up and running with the Merb framework. (via Ruby Inside)
- Active Shipping: Plugin that gives a unified API for retrieving ship costs.
Making code while the sun shines.
- RDoc 2.0.0 - It’s out.
- Avoid Variable Collisions in Rails Controllers - Just a reminder that using some magic words for instance variables can cause you grief.
- Rails or Merb, What’s Best for You? - Discussion, with some quick benchmarks.
- Absolute Moron’s Guide to Forms in Rails, Part 5 - In this installment, listboxes.
Another day, another site deployed.
- Setting up CruiseControl.rb with/for Git Based Projects - The git mania continues to wash over the Rails world.
- Pastie Packer - Tool to transmit entire groups of files via Pasties.
- Git for RubyForge Accounts - Dr. Nic explores.
- Merb Tips II - More pointers from Matt Aimonetti.
After writing about it most of the weekend, I may actually understand how Liquid templates work now.
- Fleximage - Another rails image uploading and management plugin.
- RailsBrain - AJAXified version of the Rails help, including Edge Rails. You can download a prebuilt Fluid app to use it on your Mac from Rails Jedi.
- Merb Tips I - A medley.
- Rails Diagramming Stencil for Omnigraffle - In case you’d like to draw your own pretty ERDs.
- Living on the Edge (of Rails) #14 and #15 - More news from the front.
Sick kids at least mean I can get to work a bit early. Because, of course, they got me up in the middle of the night.
- Merb-0.9.1 Developer release - The API is stabilizing, they say.
- RVG and SVuGy: create vector graphic with Ruby - Not that I actually know anything about SVG, but this looks potentially useful.
- Living on the edge (of Rails) #10 - Looks like it’s been another quiet week out at the edge.
- Mac GNU Privacy Guard - I just needed to install GPG. This turned out to be the easy way. And GPGMail was also very useful.
- rscribd gem - Library for the Scribd API.
Moving back to more Rails work for the rest of the week, it looks like.
- git’ing started with RSpec - Pat Maddox shows how to use RSpec directly from the git repository.
- Default Routes Considered Harmful, and Other Rails SEO Tips - Rails for the URL structure obsessed. Personally, I’m not one of them, but I know that a lot of folks are.
- count vs length vs size - Josh Susser explains the difference in terms of Active Record.
- Testing in Rails: Part 11 - Running Unit Tests - More testing for fun and profit.
- Merbful Authentication Initial Merb 0.9 Support - Ready for use, apparently.
I actually have a working Cocoa app that implements all the “must have” features. Moving on to the “nice to have” features now.
- Cocoa JSON Framework - I’m going to have to swap some data between the Cocoa app and a merb site. Looks like this makes it easy, since merb can do native JSON output of anything. I looked into using YAML, but the only existing Cocoa YAML code doesn’t seem to have been revised in several years. I could use a ruby class to do the import, but why not stick to all native Objective C?
- Mac Help Writer - The help authoring scene on OS X is much bleaker than on Windows. This is the best one I’ve found; it builds nice-looking standard help files for the Mac, but I can tell I’m going to be hand-editing HTML files to do anything tricky, as it hits its limits quickly. I looked at several other applications that run on OS X, but they’re all cross-platform, building help files that look like WinHelp in an OS X container. That’s a fail.
- Capistrano 2.2.0 Preview - Eek, I’m not done grokking 2.0 yet. Fortunately the changes are minimal, mainly better git support.
- scope-out-rails - Plugin for adding easy scopes to your models.
Having fun working with QuickTime now. For some value of “fun.”
- Git Bundle - TextMate bindings for the new sexy source control system. With prominent projects moving to Git, I probably should figure this stuff out.
- Testing in Rails: Part 10 - Assertions - More in the continuing testing series from Null is Love.
- Peepcode Unlimited - New annual all-you-can-eat subscription from the premiere source of Rails & related podcasts. Tempting.
- Merborial: Up and Running with Merb 0.9.0 (dev): How to install all the pieces from the git repositories.
Looks like a little Cocoa is next on the agenda, with potential Merb/DataMapper and Second Life stints coming soon as well. Do I have the best luck with clients or what?
- Merborial: Getting Started with Merb and DataMapper: A tutorial on the very basics, starting with “what to install.” (via Rob Bazinet)
- OpenID-2.0.2 with Rails-2.0.2 - Getting these bits to play nicely together.
- sudo gem install password - A new gem and a rant all in one.
I wasn’t able to post this yesterday because our T1 line went down for 16 hours. It was almost like living in the boondocks again!
- 21 Merb Links, Tutorials and Other Resources - A roadpmap of merb goodness collected by Peter Cooper.
- RSpec-1.1.3 and ZenTest-3.9.1 - How to match up your RSpec and ZenTest versions.
- Scout - Ruby-based web monitoring and reporting software. Doesn’t appear to be shipping yet.
I’m hoping some renewed energy and inspiration comes out of somewhere today, because I sure didn’t have any this weekend.
- Merb Supports rSpec Text Stories - Merb is reaching a tipping point very quickly, I think.
- The Maria engine is released - A new plug-in storage engine for MySQL.
- MultiRails 0.0.5 - A way to test your Rails code in multiple versions of Rails. Most useful to plugin authors, I think.
- Simpler than dirt: RESTful Dynamic CSS - Technique for having CSS that depends on the details of the current model instance. Check out the comments for some other alternatives.
- Write Only Ruby - Jay Fields takes DRY to its logical and absurd conclusion.
I wrote a whole 39 lines of code yesterday. I was proud of myself, till I realized about half of them weren’t the right lines of code. At least I didn’t ship them.
- Living on the Edge (of Rails) #3 - X-Sendfile and many other sexy enhancements - More news of what’s coming in Rails 2.1.
- chartpart - Type in data, caption, and so on, and get back the Google Chart API chart and URL.
- Bridging Rails to Amazon SimpleDB using ActiveResource - As I expected, folks are working on hooking up the latest Amazon offering to Rails.
- Merb Routing in 0.5 - Toolman Tim adds some documentation.
Well, I was charging along on implementing the next feature, and then discovered that I may need to patch ActiveRecord. More fun looms.
- Merbful Authentication Update - More Merb activity to keep an eye on.
- Datebalks: a slimmer datebocks - JavaScript/DHTML code for nice date entry.
Yesterday one client sent the “final” list of items for a lookup table. This morning I woke up to find the “final and definitive” list in my email. I wonder what’s next?
- BuildingWebApps - New information portal largely focused on Rails development, with links from all over.
- On the Road to Merb 1.0 - Notes on the plans for a full release of Merb, with refactoring and documentation and stuff. More details here.
- 10 Alternative Ruby Web Frameworks - Rob Bazinert rounds up the suspects. Rails is not the only game in town.
Yesterday’s fun included fixing bugs on the fly on a live server. I’m ready for a quieter day today.
- Merb-0.5.0 is out. - And high on the list of things I need to take a look at soon - probably as soon as I get a paying project using it.
- List open ports on your machine (Mac OS X) - I’ve needed this more than once so it’s time to set a marker to it.
- Bento - There was a time I’d have snapped this up immediately; now I seem to be subsisting on the Mac quite well without a desktop database. Anyhow, it’s shipped.
I spent most of yesterday learning about RSpec. Fun stuff, even if I can’t get the TextMate integration to work yet.
- A Meme I’d Like To Crush - Greg Wilson, who actually knows a thing or two on the subject, discusses the current swooning over Erlang ’cause it’s so parallelizable.
- Merb 0.4.2 released. - Just as I get interested, they push out a new version. The difference between open source software and a red queen’s race would be? (That’s a trick question.)
- RSpec 1.1 - A significant release of the latest piece of software that I’m trying to spend quality time with.
- Campfire Notifier for Cruise Control - I’m not actually using either Campfire or Cruise Control anywhere at the moment, but if I was, this would be cool.
- Using Git with SVN - All of a sudden I’m seeing a lot of references to using git for source code control instead of svn. Looks like it’s reasonably possible to bridge the two.
- Updating RubyGems and Rails in Leopard - I wonder if this would cure some of the versionitis I’m having on one of my dev boxes. Probably not, because I think I compiled everything from source on that box in the first place.
- GoogleCharts - I figured someone would wrap up the new Google Charting API in a nice gem for Ruby & Rails. I wasn’t disappointed.
- Using SSH Agent With Mac OS X Leopard - Came in handy for me as I switched over to letting Leopard be my ssh agent.
- Google Maps API Icon Shadowmaker - This is going to come in handy on the site where I’m using Google Maps for a client.
- BitNami - Pre-packaged install stacks for a lot of open source apps across a variety of operating systems. They have a Ruby and Rails package that provides an alternative to Instant Rails. (via Anthony Eden)
- jrubyhub.com - More JRuby resources than you can shake a stick at.
I sent out pretty much the last round of advertising invoices for the Larkware site yesterday. That site is winding down fast.
- Heroku - Create a Rails site online, edit it in the browser, in fact go through the whole development cycle without touching anything other than a browser. In limited beta. Looks interesting.
- BackgrounDRb - Ruby job server and scheduler, intended for running long-running tasks in Rails without bollixing up your application’s responsiveness. Now at the 1.0-pre-release stage.
- Merb - Bookmarking the Merb framework site for my own use, since it looks like I may end up involved in a Merb-backed project soon enough.
- DataMapper - Ruby-based ORM which, among other things, works with Merb.
- Engines Plugin - Now updated for Rails 2.0.
- Safari AdBlock - Simple new ad-blocker for Safari. I looked at switching from Firefox to Safari on my Mac the other day, but for the number of tabs I run with (typically 40-50) Safari gobbles up just as much RAM, takes nearly as much CPU, and loses out completely on customizability. So poo on it.
- Rails 2.0 - a feature a day - Chu Yeow promises to dig into some of the more obscure changes in the new version.
- Free Online Ruby Programming Course - Online, instructor-led course starting in January. If you’re new to Ruby and learn better with company, this looks like a good bet.
I’m starting to have flashes of occasionally thinking in Ruby, which is good. At least I can tell when there’s a better way to do things, even if I can’t always figure it out before I give up and resort to brute force in order to get things done for the client.
- Perl On Rails; everything on Rails? - Phil Crissman lists and links to a batch of Rails-like frameworks floating around these days.
- A Quick Jaunt Through Merb’s Framework Code - Tutorial for folks who want to poke at the internals of Merb. One of these days I need to at least look at its public face.
