ruby_roo

I can't believe I was downmodded for that. :(

Say hello to the LAP stack. Linux, Apache, Perl/Python/PHP/PostgreSQL.

Update your MacPorts. It was just added:

http://trac.macports.org/changeset/46335

How does one accept themselves for what they are? How does that work exactly? And what does it mean to have accepted yourself for who you are?

Serious question. I just get the impression that we have different ideas of what this means, and if we could be more definitive, the 'how to' should become obvious.

This is something I struggle with personally, so I'm very interested to see what others say.

I am curious about the implications of Rails migrations here. It seems that migrations give you a pretty good level of softness in your data models when you need it. Of course, I think a lot of Rails apps do end up with much of their logic in the M part of MVC. And understandably, some folks are not very comfortable with that.

Can anyone speak from experience on this? Talking about mature Rails apps now. Are Rails migrations a help or hindrance in terms of 'app aging'?

I'm very interested in book recommendations for scaling websites from hundreds of users to millions of users. I'm interested in both database and web server configurations as well as hardware details, and war stories from the trenches. Also, I'd like to know if there bits of wisdom I can incorporate into my 1.0 codebase to make scaling easier should I be fortunate enough to have that problem.

Ideas from the HN crowd?

Wha..? Where would one go to read or hear these speeches?

Can't wait for Zed to weigh in!

I'm still tripping on this. Not sure what to think of it yet. It sounds like it could be quite awesome.

Thanks! This is nice. Can we get a nice icon for it though? :)

Hate to sound cynical, but I have to ask: why would technology like this be made accessible to the average person? What would be the economic payoff? Seems to me that this will be a technology for elitists, first and foremost. Or you would have to 'earn' it in some way. Would the 'unproductive' among us be allowed to have access to technology that increases their lifespans?

I'm pretty sure Larry Ellison is reading this story from his volcano lair about now, just barely holding back his maniacal laughter. :)

I'd let them do the snippity-snip in exchange for living to 150. Seriously, I want to see what happens, and I'm not interested in kids. Would rather adopt one if that bug ever bites, but I doubt it will.

You know what else sucks about Python eggs?

They're called 'eggs'. :(

Sure I can!

  >> Kernel.rand 
  => 0.639396625161958
  >> Kernel.rand 
  => 0.492774449558796
  >> Kernel.rand 
  => 0.510863071464651

Your results may vary.

Heh. Oddly, the solution to convoluted monkeypatching might be monkeypatching itself. Any reason why you couldn't extend the Object class to have this self-knowledge? Or couldn't a library be required at program start that works like Perl's 'use strict;', keeping you on the straight and narrow and not falling into the tempting trap of extending classes when you shouldn't be?

So there's this Ruby tool called RDoc that will introspect your project and tell you all about what's inside. Problem solved?

Here, look at RDoc's features (from the RDoc website):

--Generates structured HTML documentation from Ruby source. --Authomatically extracts class, module, method, and attribute definitions. These can be annonated using inline comments. --Analyzes method visibility. --Handles aliasing. --Uses non-intrusive and implicit markup in the comments. --Readers of the original source needn't know that it is marked up at all.

Or to come at this from a slightly different angle, don't Ruby's introspection powers provide a release valve for the problems the author is talking about?

Anyway, this is just another occasion to state the old adage, "With great power comes great responsibility." You don't have to crapify your Ruby projects if you don't want to. If you need to enforce clarity at all times, I see no better alternative than Python (which I think makes it a better candidate for scientific or math-intensive projects, MRI slowness aside [although I am curious about the implications of genetic algorithms + Ruby introspection]).

I do speculate that if you take two programmers of equal skill levels and give one Python and the other Ruby, the Rubyist can gain a productivity advantage over the Pythonista via judicious use of Ruby hackery. But this comes at a cost: it does require more thoughtfulness before execution. Maybe you don't want to think that hard, and that's a totally legitimate and respectable position. In the end, which of the two languages you choose will probably have more to do with personal workflow preferences or project management ideologies.

In the case of Rails, yes, it hacks in a DSL and extends Ruby classes, but Rails relies heavily on conventions and things being put in designated areas. It's therefore hard to get lost in a Rails project unless you really have no respect for the conventions (in which case, it doesn't matter what language or framework you're using).

Heh, so this has piqued my interest. I have absolutely no experience in online investing/day trading, although I'm pretty sure a lot of you are veterans.

Any books you'd recommend to a programmer with day trading aspirations?

How does Debian handle CPAN? Must you rely on apt-get for your Perl modules as well?

And their support and sponsorship page is down.

This is the crap I'm talking about. It has to be easy, it has to be well executed, it has to inspire confidence. Fail, fail, and fail. I wouldn't entrust my $$$ to this group at this point.