Why I'm Pining for PDF Support in Firefox/Gecko
What I'd like to do is run Firefox/Gecko on the server. It would load up the report, render it with the print stylesheet and then output the PDF. The concept is not unlike khtml2png or webkit2png but instead of outputting a raster image, it would output a PDF: gecko2pdf, if you will.
Simplifying Web Framework Deployment on Shared Hosting
On Dreamhost freaking out because they can’t get Rails deployed reliably.
Rails and Scaling with Multiple Databases
It’s not Rails’s problem.
JRuby w/ Full Rails Support in February... Of 2007?
Charles Nutter on the possibility of a Rails support announcement in February 2007.
Advanced Squid Caching for Rails Applications
So, I got an email yesterday disagreeing with my remark about HTTP caching being wildly under-appreciated in the Ruby web community. I felt bad, a little. Then I read this article (posted the day after my remark), which talks about Scribd moving to a Squid reverse proxy setup to front their Rails deployments:
“But there was a problem – no one uses caching proxies in 2008 :–) So, we’ve got an idea – why can’t we place such a server in front of our application and make it cache content for all users in the world?”
The fact that Scribd had to “have this idea” on their own and had not previously been exposed to a ton of literature/tools on reverse proxy / gateway caching is completely fucking unacceptable. I'm back to agreeing with myself.
What's New in Edge Rails: Even Better Conditional GET Support
Much nicer, IMO. I'm interested to see if someone can get Rails + Rack::Cache working together so that you can maximize the benefits of generating these validators.
Introducing ActsAsMarkup: A Markdown, Textile, Wikitext, and RDoc Plugin for ActiveRecord
Interesting Rails plugin from Viget Labs that adds ActiveRecord attribute helpers for various humane markup languages. The markdown variation supports both rdiscount and rpegmarkdown. Cool. Not sure how I missed it when it was released in August.
Ezra's "Merb, Rubinius and the Engine Yard Stack" Google Tech Talk
So I've been skeptical about Merb but I really like the world-view Ezra puts forth here: core framework code should be simple (no/little meta-programming), fast is good, Rack is awesome, etc.
"Air Budd Form Builder" meets "/admin Considered Harmful"
Bill Burcham applies the technique of making form controls inherit style from their container in the Air Budd Form Builder Rails plugin. Cool.
Don't Fear the URLs
Adam Wiggins on Sinatra’s blasphemous approach to controllers and routing. AKA: the thing that makes Sinatra my web layer of choice (well, that and throw :halt).
What's New in Edge Rails: Simpler Conditional Get Support
Still too much work but it’s nice to see some support for conditional GET making its way into the framework.
Ruby on Rails: scaling to 1 billion page views per month
“Jim Meyer, manager of LED says that Rails scales like any other web application: ‘That is to say you need to take into account all the components from the moment the request is received at the load balancer all the way down and all the way back again.’”
Scott Chacon's Git Talk at RailsConf (slides)
If you move the slides quickly, it feels a bit like playing Desktop Tower Defense.
HAML 2.0 Release Notes
Support for HTML4/HTML5 output, more control over whitespace, option for implicit HTML encoding, and now faster than ERB.
Just add scaling!
“I still haven’t found anyone who knows how you implement Scaling in a language, so I guess that LRM will never have it… Anyone who care to enlighten me, please send me a detailed email with an implementation of Scaling.”
Process title support for Mongrel
Constantly updates the the process title ($0) with something like: “mongrel_rails [10010/2/358]: handling 127.0.0.1: HEAD /feed/calendar/global/91/6de4”. Let’s you monitor backends with ps and top.
Single file Rails Application
A “Hello World” Rails webapp in fewer LOC than a Java console app that System.out.println(“Hello World”). The routes and controller DSLs look pretty interesting as well.
assert{ 2.0 }
Nice Ruby assertion library that’s block based. Shows block contents when the assertion fails. Much cleaner than Test::Unit assertions and without the retarded RSpec non-sense. This really ought to be rolled into the stdlib Test::Unit, IMO.
valgrind and ruby
Evan Weaver: “These leaks tend to grow slowly. Your Rails app definitely has this kind of leak, especially if it uses the ActiveRecord session store.”
SwitchPipe - Process Manager and Proxy for Rapid Web App Deployment
Peter Cooper scratches the deployment problem itch.
Interview with Steve Yegge on Rhino on Rails
Dion Almaer sits down with Yegge to talk about his JavaScript/Rails port. Nice one-on-one video, candid, and thick in technical detail.
What PHP Deployment Gets Right
Ian takes a look at some of the attributes of PHP’s deployment model, why they work so well (for PHP), and why other environments have such a hard time duplicating them.
Shared Hosting is a Ghetto
“The constraints, the instability, and the unpredictability of a shared hosting environment are a big part of the reason why the web hosting business is moving towards virtualization everywhere you look. Big kids need their own sandboxes to play in.”
Sinatra : Classy web-development dressed in a DSL
something to dig into during a 1 hour conference call or whatever …
Rails 2.0: Preview Release
“… Rails has picked a side in the SOAP vs REST debate. Unless you absolutely have to use SOAP for integration purposes, we strongly discourage you from doing so. As a naturally extension of that, we’ve pulled ActionWebService from the default bundle.”
sane_transactions.rb
Brings ActiveRecord’s transactions toward sanity and adds savepoints. The methods added to Object must go! — transaction, commit!, and rollback! will clash with existing libraries. e.g., PDF::Writer and Transaction::Simple.
Rails, the 15 minutes is Almost Up. Meet Erlang.
“Every time some Rails fanboy starts peddling their hype, the approved thing to do is to respond with Erlang.” – Brilliant idea! That will bring some real substance to the argument.
Immature developer attitudes revealed in flames regarding CDBaby at Pervasive Code
“What matters a lot more than choice of programming language is the ability to get the project done, meaning tested and correct and launched. Apparently for Derek, PHP is the way to get that done, and Rails ain’t.” — it really is that simple. Period.
7 reasons I switched back to PHP after 2 years on Rails
“But at every step, it seemed our needs clashed with Rails’ preferences. (Like trying to turn a train into a boat. It’s do-able with a lot of glue. But it’s damn hard. And certainly makes you ask why you’re really doing this.)”
Sun’s Ruby strategy - Engage and Contain?
“Maybe I’ll start to believe when they start promoting Ruby on Rails at JavaOne, as opposed to promoting JRuby on Rails at RailsConf.”
Ruby on Rails Security Guide
Comprehensive look at common Rails security concerns with links out to in-depth articles.
Obie Fernandez : Ruby on Rails and More...
“I'm not really much into evangelizing Ruby and Rails much nowadays. You know, since we won, I have to admit that it became boring and besides the point.” :)
Sun surprises at RailsConf Europe 2007 [loudthinking.com]
“‘Why are they doing all this?’, that’s a common concern with most Ruby folks … A Sun that’s heavily involved with Rails on the software side is a Sun that’s much better positioned to sell loads of hardware …”
The Rest of REST
Slides from the presentation Roy will be giving in about an hour at RailsConf Europe.
Less is more for Ruby on Rails, inventor says
“We're not trying to bend Ruby on Rails to fit the enterprise, we're encouraging enterprises to bend to Ruby on Rails,” he said. “Come if you like it, stay away if you don’t.”
David Heinemeier Hansson says No to Use of Rails Logo
I must say, I'm a bit bummed that we're having this conversation at all.
Translation From PR-Speak to English of Selected Portions of Rails Developer David Heinemeier Hansson’s Response to Alex Payne’s Interview [dive into mark]
Pppkkkeeeewwwww.. The happy universe explodes. This is turning into one hell of a discussion.
Block Helpers and DRY Views in Rails
I've been using this technique for some time with great success. Oh, and this site’s design is bordering on perfection.
Gyre - The open source, web-based IDE and debugger for Rails
Interesting concept. I'll have to check this out once it comes out of “pre-pre-pre alpha” (which doesn’t really make sense, btw. There’s nothing more alpha than alpha).
The End is Nigh: Help Squash Rails Bugs
The JRuby guys are real close to 100% passing Rails' unit tests. I think I'm going to sign up for PostgreSQL testing/hacking. What are you doing?
What Mongrel Isn't (Or, Write Your Own Damn Web Server)
“All you have to do is change the internal processing, add 200 more methods to the HTTP parser, serve Bittorrent over Ethernet, and have it save Korean orphans while eating a Mango in the back seat of an El Camino driven by twenty midget clowns.”
Is anything ready for the enterprise?
“I would rather take an easily modifiable, open platform that I can make do what I need in a specific environment.”
10 Reasons Why Django kicks Ruby on Rails’ collective ass.
Wherein the author lists 8 reasons (maybe 3 of which are approaching objective or even valid) and also spells Adrian’s name wrong: “Adrian Zolovaty”. Ruby/Python flame-bait is exactly what we need.