Ruby Metaprogramming Screencast
I’ve always said that watching is much better than reading when it comes to learning. With the use of technologies around us these days, it’s a crime to learn using old outdated medium like the paper. We should be utilizing both hearing and seeing.
When I found out that Pragmatic Bookshelf produced screencasts, I immediately jumped. I got both Erlang and Dave Thomas’ Ruby Metaprogramming screencasts. I’m extremely impressed with the quality of the video as well as the contents. All I can say is that you should try them out for yourself, especially at $5 per episode, there’s really nothing to think about.
I just can’t wait until they produce more of these. In fact, I hope they ditch the book publishing and go all video. Yes, it’s that good.
Advanced Rails
The one thing I really love about being a subscriber of Oreilly’s Safari is that I get to read the latest books without going broke. Naturally, I was delighted when Advance Rails by Brad Ediger.
As the title suggests, it covers the “advanced” topics. I never really understood what made a topic advanced, but as far as I’m concerned, it just means that topics haven’t been covered in other books. By my definition, this book isn’t so advanced. If you’re a regular subscriber to the forums and the mailing lists, then you’d be aware of all the topics covered by this book.
Rather than being a tutorial that spoon feeds, this book is more like a guide that gives high-level overview and directs to where you need to look. I almost forgot that I was reading a book, not a blog. It’s also not shy about assuming the fact that the readers already know Rails.
I’m not sure if I’d recommend this book if you had to pay money for it. I got this feeling that the book was rushed, but then again, that’s usually the case for computer books these days.
PayPerPost - Rails App
I found PerPerPost.com while surfing the web and reading fellow Microsoft refugee Peter Wright’s blog. He mentioned the company he works for and creating a system using Ruby on Rails. I immediately wanted to find out what it is.
It’s a website that pays bloggers for writing about a products and services. It’s a nice way to monetize the blog and serves as a great advertising vehicle. I really like the idea, but at the same time, little spooked by the fact that blogs may become something of late-night infomercials. In fact, I will be paid for this post (fingers crossed).
Things That Suck
I found the performance of the website to be incredibly poor. The pages load so slow that it reminds me of the days when I used telephone to connect to the Internet. I pay extra for increase in bandwidth for my FiOS and it angers me to think that my money is wasted. It really doesn’t boast well for Ruby on Rails.
The site is also very buggy. I can’t even change my password. Take a look at the error message I get when I submit the change password form.
I’m now stuck with a weird password, yet the developers call themselves “Code Ninja” according to their video blog at http://www.rockstartup.com.
I guess things will change as they get more advertisers, but I really couldn’t find anything that I can post here. Their products and services are similar to what you’d find in your spam filter inbox. On top of that, in order for my account to be active, it had to go through a manual review process. I don’t mind the wait as long as it’s quick, but it took over a week before I heard anything back.
Good Stuff
I like the concept of allowing casual bloggers to monetize their efforts.
Conclusion
I hope Peter and his company can improve the performance and eliminate the bugs. I also hope that this company does well and become a poster child for Ruby on Rails, not an example of why RoR sucks. Unless they add more products and services that are relevant to the subject of this blog, it will most likely be the last post for me.
Book By Its Cover
I stopped by B&N while Christmas shopping with my family to see what’s on shelf for Ruby and Rails. It appears that every books are there except for one that I think is the best and the most important book, Ruby for Rails by David Black. I was somewhat stunned and saddened by this because I think it is the most definitive guide to Ruby and Rails.
Here are some of my initial thoughts as why this book wasn’t on the shelf:
- It’s all sold out and they can’t keep it in stock. Although I highly doubt this since I saw a post where David is explaining the book is titled “Ruby for Rails” and not AWDR.
- People don’t understand that you need to learn Ruby to be effective Rails programmer.
- It has the ugliest cover I’ve ever seen.
- David Black is not loved. Considering how he’s contributing to Ruby community, I just don’t see how this is possible.
The conclusion I came to is that even though the book has the best content, it’s the cover that sells the book. I’m not sure what Manning is thinking, but they should really consider revising the cover. If you ever come across this book, buy it. I can’t think of any other book that covers Rails in details like this one.
Lynda.com - Ruby on Rails Beyond the Basics
Kevin Skoglund delivered on his promise to release more advanced video tutorials on Ruby on Rails. You can find his course at Lynda.com.
The videos are laid out nicely and the content is first-class as you’d expect from Kevin and Lynda. I also love the fact that it’s “Beyond the Basics” and not the “Advanced” since the topics are not that advanced. I just don’t think you can cover advanced topics in a $99 course. Besides, it’s always hard to chase a moving target, especially one that moves as fast as the Rails.
This course resumes where the “Essential Training” left off. It covers more Ruby topics such as code blocks, code flow, modules, and exception. I highly recommend this for anyone getting into Rails and Ruby.
Just one quick reminder, I have not gone through the entire thing (I’m hoping for some cooperations from Ellen and Sydney).
Review: Integrating the PayPal API with Ruby on Rails
My sensei Ben Curtis has published another guide, Integrating the PayPal API with Ruby on Rails. It’s available online at http://agilewebdevelopment.com/guides/rails-paypal-api-integration for $12.
It’s a fact that a book shouldn’t be judged by its cover. I’m also adding that a book shouldn’t also be judged by the number of pages. I may be somewhat biased, but this 5-page “guide” contains straight to the point instruction on using PayPal API to create the e-commerce feature in your app. It’s a step-by-step guide with the “real world” information. By the way, it also contains a sample application code that illustrates all points, but I’m not counting that.
Just a few caveats though. This guide assumes that you have a reasonable working knowledge of Ruby on Rails. It also assumes that you have the ability to get the necessary details on plugins (perhaps http://agilewebdevelopment.com). However, it’s not so advanced that someone with adequate intelligence can’t figure it out.
I highly recommend this guide along with Ben’s other book, Money Train. I know some of you will bitch and moan about the price tag, but the information you get is worth whole lot more than the price tag. The amount of time you’ll save alone will pay for this guide and whole lot more.
Now that I know how to use PayPal to sell something, I just have to come with something to sell. Any ideas?
SQL on Rails
This has to be the one of the funniest site I’ve seen. Their screencast is also hilarious. I especially loved their MS-DOS reference. Take a look, it’s great!
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