Posted by Curt Hibbs
Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:23:00 GMT
I just read through Scott Raymond’s
list of new features
that will be in Rails 1.1. It is both impressive and extensive. This really feels more like a 2.0 to me.
In fact, the core team (and over 120 other contributors) haven’t slowed down one bit, and the next major release of Rails is imminent. If you’re running Edge Rails, you already have access to all the latest features, but perhaps a few have missed your radar. So I’d like to round-up what’s new since 1.0 (or at least, everything that’s interesting to me—I’ve skipped a ton of bug fixes and smaller changes.) Let’s start with the easier parts.
Posted in rails | no comments
Posted by Curt Hibbs
Fri, 24 Feb 2006 06:11:00 GMT
DHH just posted that his (and Dave Thomas’) book Agile Development with Rails has been translated into French, Japanese, and German.
Coincidentally, just today I receivced word that the Rolling with Ruby on Rails tutorials have been translated into Spanish (part 1 and part 2). They had previously been previously translated into French and Japanese.
Its really nice to see this level of interest in non-English languages.
Posted in rails | 1 comment
Posted by Curt Hibbs
Wed, 22 Feb 2006 20:03:00 GMT
I just got my blog upgraded to the latest version of Typo. I desparately needed to do this just because the old version I had been running had no builtin spam protection and I was drowning in comment spam.
In order to do this with a reasonable amount of effort, I was only able to transfer over the articles I had posted, so all of the comments have been lost.
Hopefull the anti-spam features of Typo will help keep the spammers at bay.
Posted in other | no comments
Encapsulation is about hiding design decisions
Posted by Curt Hibbs
Wed, 22 Feb 2006 17:14:00 GMT
Yes, yes, yes! That’s all I’ve got to say about Martin Fowler’s
post about encapsulation.
For me, the point of encapsulation isn’t really about hiding the data, but in hiding design decisions, particularly in areas where those decisions may have to change.
Posted in software development | no comments
Posted by Curt Hibbs
Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:56:00 GMT
I have often wondered what’s its like to take the
Pragmatic Rails Studio,
how
Dave
and
Mike
approach the teaching of Ruby and Rails. If you have wondered the same thing, then you’re in luck—John Nunemaker just posted an excellent
three-part series
detailing his three day experience at the recent Studio in Chicago.
Posted in rails | 2 comments
PHP is a point & shoot; Rails is an SLR
Posted by Curt Hibbs
Mon, 20 Feb 2006 19:51:00 GMT
I declare this to officially be Metaphor Day. After reading this post, I realized that:
(via Obie)
Posted in rails, other | 5 comments
Posted by Curt Hibbs
Fri, 17 Feb 2006 23:56:00 GMT
It feels good to be part of an innovative community.
Dave Thomas
and
Andy Hunt,
the venerable Pragmatic Programmers seem to have a knack for finding and/or creating the concepts and products that fuel many innovative trends.
The print industry, be it magazines or books, is at a crossroads trying to figure out how to transition into the digital age. When Dave and Andy decided to create their own publishing company, the
Pragmatic Bookshelf,
they created the industry’s best tool-chain for authoring and publishing books.
Their most recent innovation in this traditionally stodgey industry was the Beta Book.
This is a book that is sold in electronic form (PDF in their case) before it is finished. This is great for technical books because it gives the readers early access and allows them to provide feedback and corrections before the book is cast into stone.
All-in-all, it is a win-win situation for everyone. They deserve your thanks (and your
business).
It looks like other publishers are following the Pragmatic Bookshelf lead. First, it was O’Reilly with their
Rough Cuts,
followed closely by Manning with their
Manning Early Access Program.
I expect we will see the other technical book publishers follow along in due time.
UPDATE: Several readers have informed me that Manning has been doing this for years, even before the Pragmatic Bookshelf (at least as early as 2003, possibly earlier). Thanks for the correction.
Posted in other | 1 comment
Posted by Curt Hibbs
Fri, 17 Feb 2006 17:01:00 GMT
Planning a conference is really tough. You have to guess how many people will sign up, and guessing accurately is really important.
On one hand, you can’t rent a 900 person facility if only 300 people are going to show up (unless you like losing money). On the other hand, you really want to be able to accomodate everyone who is interested.
RailsConf 2006
initially opened registration with a capacity of 400. That sold out in about a week, which shows that their original guess was way too low. But who would have known?
It appears that they renegotiated with the hotel and were able to secure an additional 150 seats. When they reopened registration those
seats sold
out in less than 24 hours! This really makes me wonder how many people would have signed up if the capacity had been there.
All is not lost, however. They still have openings left at the
Canada on Rails
conference. Many of the top Rails developers and authors are going to be there (including DHH himself). Go check it out!
Posted in rails | no comments
Posted by Curt Hibbs
Wed, 15 Feb 2006 20:33:00 GMT
Cory Doctorow has just posted one of the best (and most comprehensive)
essays
I’ve yet to read on the publishing industry’s objections to Google Book Search. If you are interested in this topic, or Fair Use rights in general, then this is a
must-read.
Finally, it’s no foregone conclusion that free electronic copies of a book will substitute for sales of physical copies of that book. My first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, was released as a free, open download on the same day that it appeared in stores. Three years later, it’s in its sixth printing and more than 650,000 copies of it have been distributed from my website (an untold and unknowable number of copies have been distributed by others, as well). That’s because my biggest threat as an author isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity. The majority of ideal readers who fail to buy my book will do so because they never heard of it, not because someone gave them a free electronic copy.
Posted in other | no comments
Posted by Curt Hibbs
Tue, 14 Feb 2006 16:07:00 GMT
Just for fun, I entered this blog’s URL into this
calculator
to see how much it is worth. The answer was $0.00 – so I’ve got nowhere to go but up!
Posted in other | no comments
