The Sound of One Blog Clapping

I visited one of my favorite sites today — A List Apart. I was excited to see an article entitled “Getting Started with Ruby on Rails.” Like the name suggests, it is a solid introduction to Ruby on Rails and programming with the framework. Through Rails has already won many converts, it is still just being picked up by scads of developers… those who thought it best to wait until it was more supported or more mature.

I began experimenting with Rails fairly early due to a coworker’s suggestion. Then I dove in head-first when I started working for a firm specializing in Ruby on Rails development. And I’ve loved every minute of this wild ride. It is more fulfilling than previous frameworks I’ve used — ASP.NET, in particular. This feeling is due in heavy measure to the eloquence of Ruby the language, it’s natural feel, but also to the design considerations of the Rails framework. It is true that constraint can spawn creativity… ask anyone who has written a Sonnet and followed the appropriate conventions including Iambic Pentameter and the rhyme scheme. In this way, Rails allows me greater creativity and flexibility through its constraints. Continue reading →

I wrote about the ASP.NET MVC Framework previously — and since then, had a chance to take a look at the source code and provide some feedback of my own. In my opinion, it has a long way to go, but it is a great step in the right direction from Microsoft. Not only are they moving toward public involvement in releases and a more acceptable release schedule, but a better overall philosophy of community involvement and adherence to de facto web application code design standards. It seems MS got the hint from the success of Open-source frameworks and felt the need to compete. Who says Open-source competition for developers hearts and minds is not a good thing? Continue reading →

I recently created a plug-in for TinyMCE, the rich text editor, to handle image uploads, creation of thumbnails, and a gallery for insertion into the TinyMCE editor.  I am super-busy — working full-time, writing a book (due out soon!), and juggling life, family, and everything-else-under-the-sun — but I am committed to writing a tutorial on how I accomplished this magical feat.  (At least I’m impressed. :-))  Anyway, check back for updates.  If I’m feeling especially magnanimous, I might even package it up for release…

I encountered an error today with a Rails Ajax drag ‘n drop and sortable list I developed for a client. Scouring the production logs, I saw:

/!\ FAILSAFE /!\  Wed Apr 16 14:19:18 -0500 2008
Status: 500 Internal Server Error
can't modify frozen string

After some Googling, I saw a couple posts in the Ruby on Rails talk Google Group. Sure enough, others were experiencing the problem, but there was no reported solution. Apparently there is even a patch in the Rails core — or at least a ticket in for the problem. But, I don’t think that is necessary, because I came up with a solution without having to patch the core.

Turns out it was a configuration problem, specifically the error was due to the .htaccess file in the /public directory of my application.

Here are the steps I took to resolve the issue:

1. I changed the line that read

   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.cgi [QSA,L]

   to the following:

   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ dispatch.fcgi [QSA,L]

2. Then I commented out the fastcgi-script handler line, as such:

   # General Apache options
   
   # AddHandler fastcgi-script .fcgi

3. And, voila!, there is no step three.

Now my spiffy management tool works the way it was intended. Hope this helps someone looking for an answer to this issue.

Thanks, Seth.

Well, it looks like the boys and girls in Redmond finally saw the proverbial light.  And, even though it was a train speeding down the ruby-hued rails, could this new Model-View-Controller framework release be what ASP.net programmers need to free themselves from their repetitive spaghetti-coded nightmares?

I hope so.  Better late than never, I suppose.  I’d still like to see ORM and the other wowie-wows that Rails offers.

Continue reading →

I discovered a pretty cool technique for you image-manipulators. You, too, can make some of your favorite photos look like they were actually photographs of miniatures… Why, you might ask?

That, I don’t know, but it sure is fun.

Continue reading →