Ruby/Rails update

I've been playing around with Ruby, and the web framework for Ruby called Rails. I'm finding that Rails has some nice benefits. Using rails I've set up a couple database backed web apps from tutorials found online. I also quickly created an AJAX web app which uses Flickr's API to download thumbnails and display them. I've done this and more in two days....and I didn't have more than a couple hours previous experience with Ruby or Rails.

If you are a Perl/PHP/Python programmer and haven't tried Ruby on Rails check it out.

If you are a C/C++/Java/.NET/etc. programmer and haven't tried Ruby on Rails check it out.

Go to the Rails site and get Rails.

You will find directions on getting Ruby, and Rails up and running on your machine. I am working on a MacBook, but I've also installed Ruby and Rails on a Windows machine. It works great on both.

Once you have Ruby & Rails I recommend downloading Mongrel. Find it here.

Mongrel is a lightweight server that will make developing your initial Rails apps easy. I have not had time to investigate but it seems Mongrel is also being used for hosting on the net. Why? I think it has something to do with it being fast, and working well with other technologies. I'll post back with more information when I get it.

Once you get Ruby, Rails, and Mongrel here are some links to tutorials that you should definitely work through:

Do these 'screencasts', they are very informative: link

From the same Rails site check out the 'Rolling with Ruby on Rails' series: link

Find some very interesting articles on using FLEX and Rails: link

And another FLEX/Rails tut: link

There are a lot of good articles out there so if you get hooked on Rails it should not be hard to find more information.

Oh and here is a pretty good online book I found on Ruby itself: link

Ruby and Rails

I'm installing the Ruby platform for doing web work, called "Rails". I've already done this on an old CentOS box at home, but I never spent much time working with it... Now that I have Ruby installing on my MacBook (which I spend all my time on) I will soon be playing with it. Ruby sure has garnered a lot of praise from people. It seems to have really developed a cult following. I don't think 'cult' is proper, as it's more like a group who is busily evangelizing their love of Ruby.

The group seems to be a more arty type. By this I mean not so black and white joe programmer. They appear to have lotsa time to be teaching Ruby, which is a good thing. It definitely helps out the language that people are excited about it. There are some real good tutorials too. One in particular is totally original:

Why's (Poignant) guide to ruby

Check this out, believe me it is interesting. I'll post soon on how the Ruby is going.

Stuck on Java?

So I am knee deep in Java. That is the Java programming language. Mostly this would be due to my work with Java dating back to highschool. It was reinforced when in college Java was used in my introductory courses. I ended up being familiar with Java, and therefore using it more and more.

It helps that when I entered college IDE's for languages such as C/C++ cost money while a half-decent Java IDE would be free. This just added to the ease of use, making Java my pick to write most course related code.

(Sidenote: had I been properly trained in Make I probably would have been a C programmer)

Now I feel pressure as I become more involved in the various Java technologies...

Can any one language do everything? Maybe. But do it well? I would say no. I could be wrong, please prove me so :)

So this pressure I feel is probably due to the fact that there may be a better solution to some of my problems. I don't know if Perl, Ruby, Haskell, C/C++, Basic etc. etc. could provide a cleaner, faster and/or more optimized product.

I guess I should start looking into other languages. Being bilingual in the programming sense could likely bring great benefits. Especially in this age of interoperability between languages.

This seems to strikingly resonate through the current world, where globalization, offshoring etc. are crippeling the dominance of any one force.