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!
Screencasts
If a picture is worth thousand words and a video is worth thousands of pictures, then why wouldn’t you use the most effective form of communication? If someone can demonstrate something for me rather than hand me his notes, wouldn’t I learn lot faster and better?
This is why I prefer screencasts and live seminar over reading a magazine or a book.
Railscasts is a screencast by Ryan Bates and released three times a week. Unlike anyone else, he releases episodes on regular timely basis. They’re all interesting, fun and extremely informative for anyone regardless of their level. They’re all also FREE!
For more in-depth learning, there’s Peepcode. Peepcode is not free, but you get lot more than what you pay for. Each episode is $9 but you get a rather substantial discount when you buy in bulk. I know it’s cheap, but don’t let the price fool you, you really do get lot more.
Both Railscasts and Peepcode are about Rails, but if you’re focused more on Ruby like me, there’s Rubyology.com by Chris Matthieu. His screencasts cover basic fundamentals in Ruby. They’re great for beginning Ruby and I highly recommend it although the quality of the video and the audio can at times be very rough.
Have fun learning!
Editor for Windows
No, it’s not TextMate, but I found RoRED to be the best text editor for Ruby on Rails if you’re using a Windows machine (why?). It’s clean, straight-forward and does provide a good set of functionalities without too much clutter.
It can be downloaded at www.plasmacode.com for free. You know, it’s true that everything good in life are free.
Check it out for yourself.
Rails Studio - Pragmatic Studio
I’ve been asked by many many people as why I’m attending an introductory class to Ruby on Rails. Besides the fact that this was my vacation from everything and everyone, including my family, I wanted to attend the training provided by the superstars in the field. As expected, I’m extremely pleased with the results.
Unlike the Carson Workshop I attended while back, this was three days of Ruby on Rails, not one day of half-assed training. I also learned something new and dismissed some old outdated thoughts on development. Best of all, I learned the latest features of Rails I didn’t know about — I’ll be restarting the server lot less now for one thing. Even though it’s three days, the time was lot tighter than I expected.
As for the instructors, Dave Thomas and Mike Clark, they dismiss the popular thought of “those who can’t do, they teach.” They really know what they’re talking about and I love the fact that if they didn’t know the answer, they were honest about it. If you look at Dave’s blog, you’ll see a post where he got the answer to a question from the class by trying it right there in the class. They were both very articulate and presents themselves extremely well.
I’m now glad that I attended Rails Studio. I feel that I’m now more fundamentally sound, and that’s always a good thing.
Book Review: Beginning Ruby
I was extremely impressed with recent books from Apress, especially “Beginning eCommerce with Ruby on Rails”. So, I decided to purchase just released “Beginning Ruby” to recover from recent drowning in .NET development, and to prepare for the Pragmatic Studio. 
Another reason is that my pick axe book was destroyed when my basement flooded, and I really didn’t enjoy reading that book all that much.
First of all, this book is very well organized and flaws extremely well. Just as the title says, it’s geared towards the beginners and serves its audience well. Explanations are kept to mininum, or I should say the BS are kept to minimum, resulting in clearity with efficiency. I really appreciated this since this was more of a review for me.
No book is immune from erratas and this book is no exception. I’ve noticed few errors, but the errors are not significant enough to confuse the readers, just minor annoyance. I’m sure someone will strongly disagree with me, but I really could care less.
To be quite frank, I see this book as the third version of the pick axe book. I like the organization and the concise nature of this book. It doesn’t try to explain everything under the sun about Ruby, but just enough to get you going. It’s a good starting point and I highly recommend it to anyone.
Are You A Rubyhead Looking For Work?
My previous dealings with headhunters haven’t been good. They’re very pushy and don’t care much about the candidates or even their clients. Just about all of them don’t even bother reading your resume or they’re illiterate. Having said that, I found someone that is just the opposite of what I’ve been dealt with. Funny thing is, I wasn’t even looking that aggressively.
Brian Mariani of mirRorPlacement.com is a pleasant surprise in a field that is filled with scums. He actually read my resume, saw my websites, and took his time to discuss potential opportunities with both his clients and me. He also listened, a rare trait in modern day recruiters.
I highly recommend mirRorPlacement.com if you’re a Rubyhead/Railshead and want to venture out. You’ll be pleasantly surprised. If you’re interested in hiring a Rubyhead, contact Brian.
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