Comments on: Crashing the Train http://www.brianmcquay.com/crashing-the-train/2 My Ruby on Rails experience, web development tips including SEO, and contributions to open source projects Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:45:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Craig Buchek http://www.brianmcquay.com/crashing-the-train/2#comment-7 Craig Buchek Tue, 01 Nov 2005 22:48:12 +0000 http://www.brianmcquay.com/crashing-the-train/2#comment-7 Oddly, I found that I was able to learn Rails without having to learn Ruby. Or at least not very much Ruby at first. I was quite productive, and only had to look up how to do a few things in Ruby. Perhaps it's because it's so close to Python and PHP/Perl, and I know a lot of different programming languages. But my recommendation for anyone wanting to learn Rails is to NOT bother to learn Ruby first. You'll pick up enough of it as you go. For me, reading the appendix of the Agile Programming with Rails book was enough for 95% of what I wanted to do. Oddly, I found that I was able to learn Rails without having to learn Ruby. Or at least not very much Ruby at first. I was quite productive, and only had to look up how to do a few things in Ruby. Perhaps it’s because it’s so close to Python and PHP/Perl, and I know a lot of different programming languages.

But my recommendation for anyone wanting to learn Rails is to NOT bother to learn Ruby first. You’ll pick up enough of it as you go. For me, reading the appendix of the Agile Programming with Rails book was enough for 95% of what I wanted to do.

]]> By: admin http://www.brianmcquay.com/crashing-the-train/2#comment-3 admin Wed, 14 Sep 2005 11:30:46 +0000 http://www.brianmcquay.com/crashing-the-train/2#comment-3 The ball is pretty much moving along the Java track I outlined in this entry. Mostly due to the blog entires integrating it with Jython. That makes me think that Python was the more important deciding factor which means Django may float. I'll mention Django to the boss man but there's some issues I see right away that are going to be sticky. I've noticed that industry folks seem to point out version numbers frequently as if it's a sign of maturity or stability. I routinely point out the fact that Mozilla Firefox was on release 0.7 or 0.8 and was pretty much 100% functional and stable. The point remains though that the Django project acknowledges that they aren't officially released and it's going to raise flags for some folks. I should also point out also that Windows was at version 95 and was a pile of unreliable crap. The second thing that concerns some people on the project is that we have a very long contract, 12 years. They want to know that the community behind a framework isn't going to disappear in a year or two. For me, I think that arguement is worthless. I don't think we should build this thing once and forget about it for another 10 years. It should be rewritten many times over the course of the project and we're undoubtedly going to switch frameworks along the way. However, there are those among the team who feel that simply having the name Java behind the framework makes it long lived and industrial strength. Thanks for the link though. I'll take a better look at it and pass it around the team. The ball is pretty much moving along the Java track I outlined in this entry. Mostly due to the blog entires integrating it with Jython. That makes me think that Python was the more important deciding factor which means Django may float. I’ll mention Django to the boss man but there’s some issues I see right away that are going to be sticky.

I’ve noticed that industry folks seem to point out version numbers frequently as if it’s a sign of maturity or stability. I routinely point out the fact that Mozilla Firefox was on release 0.7 or 0.8 and was pretty much 100% functional and stable. The point remains though that the Django project acknowledges that they aren’t officially released and it’s going to raise flags for some folks. I should also point out also that Windows was at version 95 and was a pile of unreliable crap.

The second thing that concerns some people on the project is that we have a very long contract, 12 years. They want to know that the community behind a framework isn’t going to disappear in a year or two. For me, I think that arguement is worthless. I don’t think we should build this thing once and forget about it for another 10 years. It should be rewritten many times over the course of the project and we’re undoubtedly going to switch frameworks along the way. However, there are those among the team who feel that simply having the name Java behind the framework makes it long lived and industrial strength.

Thanks for the link though. I’ll take a better look at it and pass it around the team.

]]> By: Jason R Briggs http://www.brianmcquay.com/crashing-the-train/2#comment-2 Jason R Briggs Wed, 14 Sep 2005 10:32:48 +0000 http://www.brianmcquay.com/crashing-the-train/2#comment-2 A bit late now, but have you come across django? http://www.djangoproject.com/ Worth looking at if you've gone down the Python track. A bit late now, but have you come across django?

http://www.djangoproject.com/

Worth looking at if you’ve gone down the Python track.

]]>