I'm a Helper

Today was the first time I've been able to help anyone with Rails. My friend had a config/database.yml with his installation of Rails.

I feel so good now!

Strip

I like simplicity, which is one of the many reason I love Ruby. And it doesn't get much simpler than the strip method:

"spaces ".strip #=> "spaces"

It's the little things in life that make me happy.

Ruby Challenge

OK, I'm giving the Ruby Challenge a go. Fabio Akita has thrown down the gauntlet for the first challenge, and it is a bit, well, for lack of a better word - challenging:

"The goal is to create a small command line script in Ruby that will read an SRT file, and output another one with the new calculated times."

Well...I think I can do this. I've already written a utility script to strip out emails form one file and write them to another, so I'm sure I can do this, I just don't know if I can do it in time.

All that Twitter-mania crap

Ruby takes a dip on the TIOBE Index.

Does it scale? I think it can and does, if you keep working at it.

I mean, really, what application is going to blow-up like Twitter did? And be like Twitter with all of those database queries for each transaction? I don't even use it that often and I've been greeted by the Fail Whale many times.

TIOBE Software: The Coding Standards Company

What happened to Why?

“Why The Lucky Stiff” Is Missing

Method Arguments in Ruby

A nicely done explanation of Method Arguments in Ruby by Skorks.

He breaks them down into three sections, which I find makes sense:

• required arguments
• arguments with default values
• optional arguments

Nice.

Why I Love Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby

One of my favorite parts of Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby is when Why is discussing Ranges:

"When you see that third dot, imagine opening the accordion slightly. Just enough to let one note from its chamber. The note is that end value. We'll let the sky eat it."

Is it strange of me to enjoy reading a programming book for fun and poetry?