Ryan's Scraps

Like most people that have recently jumped on the Ruby on Rails bandwagon (or at least given it a try), one of the first things I did was read the Ruby on Rails book and jump into developing my own web app. Well, here I am a few months later looking at my initial version of the app – and I am completely disappointed. The code is crap – it’s inelegant, somewhat procedural and completely un Ruby-like. And I blame it all on Ruby on Rails.

You see, in my rush to stay with the hype I’ve jumped into Ruby on Rails without spending due time learning Ruby. I suspect many people have done the same thing and what you will begin to see is a dilution of the talent in the Ruby community as more people come into the language the wrong way – through RoR.

It’s not a bad thing that Ruby on Rails has brought exposure to Ruby, but it’s obscuring the language itself which is unfortunate. In an attempt to rectify my mis-education I have taken a step back and am starting to explore the language before proceeding on with more RoR. Until developing with Ruby becomes intuitive to me I shouldn’t be working w/ RoR. I mean how many people successfully learn Java by learning Struts first?

My hope is that I am amongst the minority, but I suspect there are others who have made the same mistake as I have.

If you’ve ever bought a learning ruby book, there’s a good chance it was the “pickaxe book” – Dave Thomas’ “Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers’ Guide”. I’ve read it myself and it is as billed, an excellent book to learn Ruby from.

However, I’m actually finding that Hal Fulton’s book, The Ruby Way is a better read for me. I’m coming from Java and while the Pragmatic book will set you on your way to learning the ruby syntax and some idioms, it doesn’t do much more than that. I need to see how to use Ruby, concrete examples of common problems and how to solve them. I have no doubt that this need stems from my own ignorance and not on the lack of merit of the pragmatic book, but it has been my experience none-the-less. So, if you’re pining for more Ruby lovin’ after reading the pragmatic guide, give the Ruby Way a try, it may be the book that fills that void in your life.

If this had you running for the hills it appears that there’s now a better ruby-based option for continuous integration with your Rails project: CruiseControl.rb. (And it’s not just for Ruby/Rails projects either…)

Give it a go, eh?

tags: rubyonrails, rails, continuous integration

See here from some syntactical changes that occurred after this post was published

I gave a little chat last night at the Central Virginia Ruby Enthusiast’s Group – otherwise known as the Richmond Ruby Brigade – about REST, ActiveResource and how to build client services from the marriage of the two.

It was a really good group and I’d encourage anybody in the central virginia area to go check them out if they get the chance. It sounds like they’ve got some good speakers lined up in the next few meetings to make it worth your while (and they had free pizza last night – what a grade-A operation!)

For those that are interested, here’s the PDF version of my presentation. As you can imagine much of the value is lost without having the dialogue to accompany the presentation, but I think it somewhat stands on its own. Most of the examples are drawn from my ongoing work on ContactsAPI – a site meant to further the adoption and education of ActiveResource and REST in general. Check it out if you have the time, but again, it’s a work in progress.

tags: ruby, rubyonrails, cvreg

Everybody knows that here in the South all we do is sit on the porch in our rocking chairs, chew, and have hoedowns, right? In that spirit Ruby aficionados across the south now have their own such festivity – The 2007 Ruby Hoedown in Raleigh, NC from August 10th – 11th. SIgn up to be notified of further details…

tags: ruby, rubyhoedown

It’s official, the 2007 Ruby Hoedown is in full swing now. The venue and dates are set and we’ve already made our call for proposals. Now starts the heavy lifting – heavy lifting best shared amongst the community. If you’re the philanthropic type, or even if you’re not, we’d love for you to volunteer to review the proposals we’ll be getting for the conference. Besides contributing to a worthy cause, members of the program committee will get free registration to the event as well.

So, if you’re interested in helping us review the many worthy proposals that will begin filtering in shortly, drop me a line at proposals [at] rubyhoedown.com. Thanks in advance!

For all of you that were swamped with stuff prepping for RailsConf, it’s time to shift your focus to the 2007 Ruby Hoedown. Did you present at RailsConf and think it might be appropriate for a Ruby (not Rails) conference? If so, submit your proposal to us by June 2nd and we’ll take a look. Did RailsConf get your intellectual juices flowing? What better way to flex that new intellectual muscle than with a presentation at the Hoedown? You’ve got about a week left to make it happen!

Really want to set the mood? Then have a listen to our 2007 Ruby Hoedown Ad. (not my voice, by the way)

rubyonrails, rubyhoedown, railsconf2007

About four months ago I took a leap of faith and decided to join the rest of you who enjoy the flexibility of self-employment and the ability to work with the technology you actually enjoy and went out on my own. yFactorial, LLC was born after a lot of thought about where I was, where I wanted to go and what I want to do – and the answer was to create my own Ruby software development shop.

I definitely have very strong feelings about what yFactorial stands for, how it goes about its business and how it will manage its employees. Much of it is still a work in progress, but it’s my intent to be as painfully transparent about this maturation process as possible over on The Naked Company blog. I’m sure I’ll make a few mistakes, fall on my face a few times, and even anger some – but the hope is that, overall, it will be of some benefit.

So, take a peek, laugh at my naivety and maybe even drop me a line if you’re looking for development help.

Cheers.

tags: yFactorial, ruby, rubyonrails