December 2009
8 posts
2009 Ruby survey results
Thanks to the 1000+ developers who participated in our ruby community survey a few weeks back.
Here are the results as we head into 2010.
There are result reports linked to from within each section, and this post does not comprehensively list all the results, so click through if you’re interested.
Apologies
I’d like to apologize to the dozens of people who felt personally...
history: ruby integration testing
Productivity and happiness. That’s why Ruby and Rails were written, why developers were drawn to them, and why we keeping using them. They continue to be the stated goals on ruby-lang.org and rubyonrails.org.
Over time, both cultures have developed a very strong testing culture, and more recently a strong integration testing culture, but the search is still on for more productive, happier...
redesign: project blue book
My brother’s the bassist in a band named Project Blue Book. They recently recorded an EP so it was time to redesign http://projectbluebook.fm.
first draft
The main goal of the new site is for fans to hear the band’s new work. So, I reached for SoundManager2 to handle the audio player, modifying the Muxtape style. Our Rails Rumble team previously used SoundManager2 for Pockets...
gimme three steps
Did you know… Factory Girl includes some steps for your integration testing pleasure? They are currently available but remain relatively unknown.
Read the source at lib/factory_girl/step_definitions.rb. They make Direct Model Access a little easier from your Cucumber features.
example usage
Define your factories normally in test/factories.rb or spec/factories.rb:
Factory.define...
Open Massachusetts transportation data
thoughtbot is hosting the Great American Hackathon at our Boston office today and tomorrow. The focus of our group is on transportation data from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).
Like many other government agencies, the public loves to trash the MBTA for its actual and perceived failures while simultaneously taking advantage of its services at levels of about 400 million...
2 tags
Getting a Job as a Web Designer
So you’re a designer, let’s say a web designer, and you want to get a job with a sweet company somewhere. How do you do this? Hopefully some tips I’ve picked up along the way can help. Let’s skip all of the typical, boring stuff (be early, firm handshake, eye contact, references, business cards, etc.) and get right to the point.
First and foremost, you definitely need...
Ruby community survey
From the practical to the less-practical, we want to know how you’re banging out lines of code! Let us know in the End-of-2009 Ruby Community Survey.
Take the survey
We’ll reveal the results as a wintery treat in a few weeks!!
3 tags
Umbrella Today? on the iPhone
A few weeks ago the Umbrella Today? iPhone app went live on the iPhone App Store. The iPhone app contains all the simplicity of the website and uses push notifications to deliver on-time and reliable alerts about whether you need an umbrella for the day. The Umbrella Today? website is great, but the iPhone app works so well that in some ways its the most useful incarnation of Umbrella Today?...