Rails - Oct 2005 - Re: Unabashed self-promotion (Rails article in SD--long, sorry!)

> Do you know if they will put the article online next month?

That''s the usual schedule. I''ll try to remember to post here
when it''s up;
you could always go to the site and subscribe to the SD Online Update...yes,
I''m shameless, so what else is new?

Overall I felt it to be a pretty good article but there were a
couple
> of nits I had with it. First was seeing "Asynchronous Java and
XML" as
> the expansion of AJAX; that should be javascript.

AAAAAARGH! And out in front of God and everybody! Oh, Lord, I knew that,
honest...

 There''s also a typo
> for "gems install rails", gem should be singular.

You know, I was having a lot of trouble getting that working... >:-)

I told Dave Thomas that my lofty goal for that article was "No obvious
howlers".
Sigh. But, no matter how it hurts, thanks for pointing it out. I''ll
notify
my editor.

In fact, Scott, if you have no objection, I''ll send her your note
verbatim.
OK, OK, I''ll intersperse a few "NO, NOT THE WHIP!" comments
here and there
(the edit team at SD does not take kindly to Obvious Howlers, lemme tell
ya).

My biggest gripe is probably subjective, but I''ll present it
here
> anyway. Throughout the introductory section I got the impression of
> the whole "Ruby programmers are rare" (which is actually listed
as
> being a con for Rails) line of FUD.

I personally consider myself to be a proponent of the lanugage, have been
since I tripped over it (and promptly wrote a review for SD, which they
titled "A Joyful Gem"). But...compared to Java, Perl, C#...competent
Ruby
programmers are going to be harder to find. Granted, your basic Ruby
programmer is going to be considerably more productive than someone working
in Java or C#, IMHO Perl as well.

I really take issue with Ruby
> being "a language many still consider to be an upstart Python
clone."
> If anyone seriously thinks that, well ... they''re pretty stupid.

I''ve heard some pretty cogent criticism along these lines from people I
consider anything but. Then again, probably the most cogent and least stupid
was Bruck Eckel ("Thinking In Java"), from whose more-recent writings
I
detect a certain mellowing on Ruby. It''s been quite awhile since I
talked to
him about the issue, certainly.

The intro to the article had a strong
> feel of "beware: turbo-geeks only, ''lightweights and
codgers'' need not
> apply" when I don''t think that''s the feel of Rails
at all.

OK, I admit to a sneaky rhetorical device (really: shameless). What reader
of SD thinks of him- or herself as lightweight or codger? So this makes the
reader feel like "Hey, it''s OK, I''m with the band",,
and are hopefully thus
predisposed to consider branching out.

SD, while hopefully containing cutting-edge info of interest to people on
the edge, primarily targets corporate developers, folks who (for very good
reasons) have to consider new-technology risks very carefully. Personally, I
work in a small, tight scientific group in a university setting, but even
there I''m the only one who can easily maintain what I do in Ruby. So I
have
to think twice before committing to technologies that only I know anything
about.

That said...we''re kicking off a new Ruby project tomorrow with the new
guy
who only knows C and Perl. He''s definitely game.

If they don''t pay attention, they''re
> liable to be left in the dust, living under a bridge

YEAH, bro!

Actually this is throbbingly relevant to developers of all stripes today.
<soapbox> Unless you happen to be the ONLY one who knows the unlearnable
details of an absolutely irreplaceable legacy system, you''ve got to
learn
and stay abreast or be left behind. Plenty of hungry bright people in India,
Ireland, and Russia are sniffing at the heels of those of us lucky enough to
be fat complacent American programmers.</soapbox>

(Of course, given that I write for SD, exhorting folks to "learn and stay
abreast" is transparently self-serving. [All right, who muttered
"Shameless"?] But if I didn''t think the rag gave good value,
I''d work for
somebody else.)

with the rest of the out of work ASP.NET <http://ASP.NET> crowd


Ow ow ow!

Don''t take me as being too negative or that I''m attacking you,
though.


Not a bit of it! IMHO your critcism is in the best tradition of the Ruby
community, my friend. Think of it as a bug report.

I make my living with Rails


Good on ya.

[...] very much worth reading [...] You did a good job [...]
demonstrating
> the ease of getting
> up and going with Rails/Ajax.

OK, those paragraphs definitely go to Mesdames Les Editeurs. :-)

I hope there are plans for you to write more of these
> in the future with some increasingly advanced topics and techniques.

They like to spread the coverage wealth, they''ll probably have me on
the
WinFS API next or something. But I''d certainly go for it if the chance
presented itself. Sadly, I don''t think the SD West conference accepted
my
Rails/AJAX class.

Scott, thanks so much for taking the time to write, and for doing so with
tons of tact. Especially the nits!

rw
--
"I swallowed a bug."
-- River Tam


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