Archives for 2006 - John Topley’s Weblog

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2006

Introducing AssetsGraphed • Tuesday, 12 December 2006

I’ve just put my first Ruby on Rails application online. It’s called AssetsGraphed. It’s a free asset tracking application that also graphs your data.

Rails Tip #10: Listing Model Associations • Friday, 08 December 2006

You can use the built-in Rails console script to ask any model class for its associations.

Rails Tip #9: Don’t Load What You Don’t Need • Wednesday, 29 November 2006

If you’ve frozen a version of Rails into the vendor/rails directory then you can configure your application so that it doesn’t load frameworks that you aren’t using.

Joel On Power • Tuesday, 21 November 2006

Joel Spolsky is bang on the money when he writes about the confusing new Windows Vista Start menu controls for controlling your login session. The Power icon is particularly problematic.

Welcome To The Social • Tuesday, 14 November 2006

I’ve just been reading a hilarious review over at Engadget of the installation process for the software that comes with Microsoft’s new Zune device. Apart from the fact that the software clearly isn’t finished and has a high stinkage factor, what caught my eye was some of the language used in the screens.

The Best Way • Thursday, 02 November 2006

One of the difficulties of learning a new programming language, framework or technology is that of knowing whether you’re doing things in the best way. Tutorials and books can only take you so far, then after that you’re flying solo staring at a terrifying blank screen in your editor or IDE.

Now That’s What I Call Broadband! • Wednesday, 25 October 2006

I’ve just run my ISP’s speed test tool which is something that I occasionally like to do to see how fast my broadband Internet connection is, and to see whether I’m getting anywhere near the 8 Mbps that I’m supposed to.

Divine Encouragement • Monday, 23 October 2006

I just had a nice e-mail from Jesus. It’s cool that he’s a reader. Maybe he’s here for the Ruby on Rails tips?

Goodbye George • Saturday, 30 September 2006

I never had any pets whilst I was growing up, we just weren’t that kind of family. So I found myself reaching my thirties before getting my first pet. We met George in an RSPCA rescue and were attracted to him with his beautiful all-black coat and inscrutable expression.

Rails Tip #8: Learn From Existing Code • Sunday, 03 September 2006

Not really a Rails-specific tip this one, but worth mentioning because high quality open-source Ruby on Rails projects are starting to appear that you can learn from by studying their code.

A Battery Of Problems • Tuesday, 29 August 2006

You may have read recently that Dell have had to recall four million laptop batteries made by Sony because a few of them exploded. Well it turns out that Apple have been affected too and have initiated their own recall programme. As soon as a heard this news I knew straight away that my PowerBook would have the problem.

Rails Tip #7: Listing Rake Tasks • Tuesday, 15 August 2006

Rake is Ruby’s equivalent of the UNIX make build tool.

How To Lose Friends And Piss People Off • Wednesday, 09 August 2006

I was reading about the winners of the Apple Design Awards on Daring Fireball today. Impressed by the sound of iClip Lite from Inventive, I clicked on the link to investigate.

World Wide What? • Tuesday, 08 August 2006

It’s hard to believe, but the World Wide Web turned fifteen on the 6th of August. Hard to believe because the Web has more or less gone away. Before you think I’ve gone completely mad in the face of its ubiquity and pervasiveness, allow me to explain.

Good Luck To The Happy Couple! • Thursday, 27 July 2006

In a break from our scheduled programme, I’d just like to wish my good friend John Conners and his long-suffering girlfriend (John’s words, not mine) and very-soon-to-be wife all the best for their wedding tomorrow.

How I Learned To Love Web Apps • Monday, 24 July 2006

I’ve been thinking about Web applications lately and in a U-turn worthy of an unpopular politician have revised my opinion of them. Regular readers may recall that previously I’ve bemoaned the poor user experience offered by Web apps in comparison to their desktop cousins.

Best Of Breed Web 2.0 App • Wednesday, 12 July 2006

I dislike using the term “Web 2.0″ because no-one really knows what it means, but nonetheless it has come to represent a certain type of Web application.

Rails Tip #6: Resetting The Session • Tuesday, 04 July 2006

Rails makes it dead easy to clean up objects in the HTTP session.

Learning Lisp • Sunday, 02 July 2006

The title of this post is misleading because I’m not actually learning the programming language Lisp. Not directly, anyway. I have come across some of the more exotic and esoteric aspects of programming during the past year or so, some of which originated in Lisp.

Rails Tip #5: Clean Up Using Rake • Sunday, 25 June 2006

Rails comes with a number of Rake tasks for cleaning up various temporary files that get generated when you run your application.

Still Learning • Wednesday, 21 June 2006

I learned something new about Windows today. “So what?” you may ask, but I thought it was slightly interesting because if I had to categorise what sort of Windows user I was then I’d probably plump for the expert category. And that means that learning something I didn’t know about using Windows is noteworthy for me.

Rails Tip #4: Listing Model Column Names • Sunday, 11 June 2006

You can use the built-in Rails console script to ask any model class for its column names.

Going On The Rails • Thursday, 08 June 2006

Regular readers of my blog may be aware that I started out programming using Borland Delphi. Actually, that’s not really true—I started out programming on the PC using Delphi.

Rails Tip #3: Read The README • Monday, 05 June 2006

I just noticed this one myself. Whenever you create a new Rails application, it generates a README file in the application directory.

La Dolce Vita • Saturday, 03 June 2006

The first hot day of the summer, a garden, an Apple laptop and Ruby on Rails.

Rails Tip #2: Generator Help • Saturday, 03 June 2006

There’s built-in help available for the Rails (code) generators.

Rails Tips #1: Local Documentation • Tuesday, 30 May 2006

This is the first in a series of occasional bite-size Ruby on Rails tips that’s as much for the benefit of my memory as anything else.

Three Gigs/One Week • Wednesday, 24 May 2006

Click below to view pictures and video clips.

Workshop Review: Professional CSS XHTML Techniques • Sunday, 14 May 2006

On Friday I attended a Professional CSS XHTML Techniques workshop given by Eric Meyer and organised by Carson Workshops. The event was superb; it’s clear that Eric has probably forgotten more about CSS than most of us will ever know, yet he was able to impart some of his vast knowledge and experience in a digestible and accessible manner.

Pimping Carson Systems: Bare Naked App • Wednesday, 10 May 2006

Sorry to pimp Carson Systems again, but they’ve just launched a new site that details the entire process of bringing their second Web application—Amigo—to market.

Preventing SVN Exposure • Tuesday, 02 May 2006

Dan Benjamin over at Hivelogic writes about not exposing information about your Subversion repository if using Capistrano to deploy a Ruby on Rails application. Looks like required reading if you’re using these tools.

Qjump Train Wreck UI • Thursday, 27 April 2006

I booked some train tickets the other day using Qjump and was shocked by the colour choices in their user interface.

Get Your Vits • Tuesday, 18 April 2006

Carson Systems have just launched Vitamin, which is billed as “a resource for Web designers, developers and entrepreneurs”. I’ve just had a quick look around the site and it looks like it’s going to be essential reading if you’re at all interested in Web design or the whole Web 2.0 thing (whatever that is!)

Keychain Access From Shell • Monday, 17 April 2006

Allan Odgaard over on the TextMate blog writes about a neat shell script that can be used to extract passwords from the OS X keychain. I only wish I had time to learn the shell properly.

Back In Business! • Thursday, 13 April 2006

As you can see I’m finally back in the blogging business, after ten months on sabbatical! What an earth have I been up to in all that time? On the positive side, I’ve moved house, gone on holiday to Cuba, acquired a lovely cat named George, bought lifetime Web-hosting and fallen in love with Ruby on Rails.

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