Starry Hope » Ruby on Rails

Find, Share and Install Ubuntu Apps on Facebook

Jim — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:48:46 +0000

Recently, I wanted to learn how to make Facebook applications using Ruby on Rails. For my first project, I decided to build a small application to let people find, share, install and promote Ubuntu software right from within Facebook. Determining which software we use can be a very social experience, often we’ll ask our friends what they recommend, so why not take this social aspect to the (currently) most popular social networking site?

Here is a quick video that I put together to show off some of the features of the Facebook app.

Give Apps for Ubuntu a try by visiting http://apps.facebook.com/ubuntuapps.

Youtube Link: Find, Share, and Install Ubuntu Apps on Facebook

Yaml Cookbook for Ruby

Jim — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:38:13 +0000

I wanted to learn some about YAML so I could use it in one of my current Ruby on Rails projects. A quick google search turned up a lot of information, but nothing quite as useful as the Yaml Cookbook for Ruby. The cookbook is full of examples of YAML and the corresponding Ruby code. If you learn well by example, browsing this one page should help you get up to speed with YAML.

‘Tis The Season For … Ruby!

Jim — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 09:04:04 +0000

The guys over at Ruby Inside are putting together a
Ruby Advent Calendar. The Calendar features a new article about Ruby for each day of Advent.

Following the trend, Err the Blog has put together their own Advent Calendar that’s packed full of useful Rails tips (focusing mostly on ActiveSupport). There are some great gems in there!

37Signals Releases Free Version of "Getting Real”

Jim — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 21:57:34 +0000

I picked up “Getting Real” from 37Signals back when it was first released as a PDF book. It was well worth the $19 price tag. The book is packed full of useful insights into starting and running your own web business.

I’ve recommended the book to several people (you know who you are), but the price kept them from picking it up. Today, 37Signals has released a free version of the book as well as a paper version (for those who hate reading books on a screen). The paper version, available through LuLu.com, is $29 and the PDF version is still available for $19.

Find more details at http://gettingreal.37signals.com/

technorati tags:37Signals, ebook, book

Very Nice Tutorial for Rails Beginners

Jim — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 20:59:10 +0000

Robert Evans has written a very good tutorial for people who’d like to get their feet wet with Rails. The tutorial walks you through creating a very simple application, while touching on some basic Rails concepts. If you’re new to Ruby on Rails, I would recommend this tutorial. If you like what you see in the tutorial, I suggest reading Agile Web Development with Rails: A Pragmatic Guide, Why�??s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby, and Rails Recipes.

Mac OS X Installation Instructions That Don’t Suck! (Rails, Lighttpd, MySQL, Apache2, PHP5)

Jim — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 09:17:21 +0000

I had to reinstall my computer the other day, it’s needed it for a while (mostly because I’ve installed every stupid program I could get my hands on for the last 6 months). I haven’t wanted to reinstall because I had a “working” install of Rails and I remembered how hard it was to install last time.

After reinstalling OS X 10.4.5, I started looking for some good instructions on installing Rails. A google search will quickly find about 15 different “suggestions”. Many people suggest using Fink or Darwinports … others have different ways of doing.

Then, I found somewhere on the Rails site, a link to these instructions by Dan Benjamin. Finally, instructions for installing Rails on OS X that don’t suck! Sure, you have to compile most of the apps yourself, but in the end, you get a solid Rails, Lighttpd, MySQL install that should be safe from OS upgrades and the likes. Besides that, you get to learn something along the way.

Following Dan’s suggestion, I also wanted to find a way to install Apache 2 and PHP 5 into /usr/local/. I searched around a bit and found a tutorial by James Pelow over at phpmac.com. I used his instructions as a base for installing Apache 2 and PHP 5. I made sure to download the newest versions of software (the ones he listed are a bit old) and also make sure to install everything in /usr/local/ — works like a charm!

So, now I have a working Apache2/PHP5/MySQL/SQLite setup and also a working Rails/Lighttpd/MySQL setup on the same mac (mini) … and for once, I actually have the feeling that I understand what I’ve done and why it works.

RadRails 0.5.3 Is Out!

Jim — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 05:41:55 +0000

RadRails 0.5.3 has been released! It seems like forever since we’ve seen a release from the RadRails team (but, it really hasn’t been that long, they were just spoiling us with such a fast release schedule). The biggest change in this release is the reintegration of the RDT Ruby IDE.

I haven’t had time to try the new version out, but I’m looking forward to it. I have a new project to start soon, and I’m gonna try to do all the Rails work in RadRails. It should be interesting, because our team will need to use the Mac, Linux and Windows versions on this project.

RadRails 0.5.1

Jim — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 23:36:06 +0000

The RadRails team has released version 0.5.1 of their Ruby on Rails IDE. I downloaded this release and gave it a good workout. There are lots of great features, but I think it’s still a bit buggy for daily use. With every release, RadRails looks even better, and these guys are on the right track, I’m just waiting a bit more before I move all my work to RadRails.

The guys also announced in their podcast that they’ll be re-integrating RDT into RadRails. They’ll also be working more closely with the RDT guys and even committing code to RDT in the future. I think this is a great move for the future of Ruby editing on Eclipse.

Textdrive and Joyent Merge

Jim — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 01:07:32 +0000

My favorite web hosting company, TextDrive, has merged with Joyent. I’ve had my eye on Joyent for a while now, thinking how cool it’d be to have their software in our office. They make what appears to be a great Ruby on Rails based suite of software to help keep your office organized. I’ve been wondering when the promise of “… hosted plans starting at just $15/month for your entire team” would come true. Looks like with TextDrive is gonna be part of that plan. Can’t wait to sign up!

New Rails App Revealed – Fluxiom

Jim — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 02:18:35 +0000

Thomas Fuchs (of script.aculo.us fame) and friends have revealed their new project called fluxiom. It’s a Ruby on Rails and AJAX based application to “capture, manage, access and deliver content across your enterprise”. Looks and sounds cool. I wonder how much it’ll cost. Definitely worth checking out. Read more at mir.aculo.us