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2
JUL
2009Getting Ready for Ruby 1.9
We've all been waiting for Ruby 1.9 to reach maturity for some time now. We've complained about things like Ruby's speed and weak character encoding support. We knew 1.9 could improve things, but it brings pretty big changes and a lot of Ruby 1.8 code needs updating before it can really be used there. For these and other reasons, the official production release came and went while most of us have stuck with 1.8 for our day to day needs.
I think we're reaching the tipping point though. Rails runs on 1.9 now and many other libraries are beginning to become compatible. We may not yet have the full range of 1.8 goodies available on the new platform, but many of the staples are moving over and it's looking like we can now do some serious work there.
Which means it's finally time for us to learn this 1.9 stuff.
There are several good sources of Ruby 1.9 information now, so you have choices. I'm going to tell you about three I like. Be warned, this is a super biased list, but I really hope it will be helpful to others.
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9
DEC
2008XMPP and Metaprogramming Screencasts
I've mentioned some nice screencasts I've found in the past. Well, I've been watching quite a few more lately and I've uncovered some more hits.
First, PeepCode has another excellent screencast on using XMPP with Ruby. This video explains what XMPP is and isn't, why it's important, and shows a good deal of information about how you can work with the protocol to accomplish some real world server to server or human communication tasks. You don't need any prior XMPP knowledge going into this one.
It's hard to overstate exactly how much PeepCode got right with this video. For example, I've seen quite a few screencasts now that byte off more than they can chew for a short video. That's not the case here. XMPP turns out to be perfectly bite sized in that a one hour video can serve as a strong introduction to pretty much all you need to know when using it. This has other advantages too. Since the creator isn't trying to squeeze too much content into too short of time, he can afford to drop some truly stellar related tips. In the case of the XMPP video these are what IM client to use when debugging, because it allows you to see the underlying protocol, and how to easily combine XMPP with DRb for fire-and-forget messaging. These extras really push this screencast over the top.
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8
JUN
2008Getting Git Thanks to PeepCode
It's pretty clear that Git has landed. More and more projects are migrating to Git for their version control needs and developers have another system we need to get up to speed on.
I'm usually a traditional dead-tree book learner, but this time I decided to try the PeepCode approach. I had heard good things about them and I can now tell you that reputation is well deserved.
PeepCode has two resources available for those wanting to learn more about Git. First, there is a one hour screencast called Git covering everything from installing through basic usage. There's also a newer 120 page PDF book called Git Internals, that ships with some different screencast material. You can purchase either product for $9, which really is a steal in my opinion. Both are well done, but let me break down their strengths for you below.
The original screencast is a great resource for the developer who wants to get up to speed on Git in a hurry. You just watch for an hour, perhaps try a few examples as you go, and you should come out the other side with basic Git usage skills. An added bonus is that the screencast covers Git's Subversion integration which is a topic you don't want to miss, but it's sadly missing in the PDF book. It also has some good tips on configuring the gitk browser under Mac OS X.
