Important Lesson
DO NOT run tests and experiment on production servers. What was I thinking?
This is a great reason why you should not work when you’re heavily medicated, especially prescribed medicine.
Simply Amazing!
Take a look at this.
The line between a web app and a desktop app is beginning to blur.
Respiratory Infection
Just wanted to let everyone know that I recorded two screencasts on Net::SSH and Google API. However, due to respiratory infection, I couldn’t record the voice over for past week+.
I’ll release them as soon as I feel better.
On a positive note, Justin Lilly just posted a comment that he does have his Vim screencasts. You can get them at http://justinlilly.com/blog/tags/vim/
Search Is Over! – TextMate Equivalent and More for Linux & Windows
** UPDATE **
Check out the screencast here: http://www.rubyhead.com/2009/04/24/komodo-edit-textmate-alternative/
*****
Ok, I tried just about every editor in the world to get the same comfort and productivity I get from TextMate on my Mac. Although Geany comes close, I always went back to Vim. My Mac at work gave up on me and I am forced to work exclusively in Linux. So I went looking again.
I remember Becker telling me at the last RailsConf about his IDE, Komodo. So after trying out both Netbeans and Eclipse, I decided to give Komodo Edit a try. On a side note, it’s a real shame what Aptana did with RadRails.
I’m here to say that my search is OVER!
Komodo Edit is ActiveState’s stripped down editor that is the foundation of Komodo IDE. Even at its free price point, it does basically everything TextMate does. You can even change the scheme(theme) to make it visually identical to TextMate.
I just love how I can create a project and bring my Rails project as Live Folders, not adding any stupid files to the directory. This used to be one of my beef with Netbeans, the other being lack of word wrap.
With Komodo Edit, I now have IntelliSense back. It’s not as comprehensive as Microsoft Visual Studio, but it’s much more than acceptable. I never thought that I’d get it back when I left MS world.
There’s one giant catch and it’s a big one. Komodo IDE is ActiveState’s paid version with a bundle of extra features. Priced at $295, it’s really had for me to swallow. So what’s the problem? Once you start using Komodo Edit, you’ll start saying “gee, it would be great if this thing can…” and before you know it, IDE has it.
I almost bought the IDE version at least four times today. Since the company I work for won’t pay, I’ll have to pay this for myself. This is killing me right now. However, I’m very happy that I finally found the tool that I can work with.
Inaugural Meeting of NJRUG
It was wonderful attending last night’s inaugural meeting of New Jersey Ruby Users Group at Skaven. I would like to personally thank Skarven for providing the venue and food. I’m just happy that New Jersey is finally getting some Ruby love.
David Black presented what’s new in Ruby 1.9.1. Yes, that’s David Black of Ruby for Rails and upcoming Well Grounded Rubyist. He also answered my question of why I should buy his upcoming book even though I already have his old one. By the way, if you don’t have it, get it now – you can read my rant about it here.
I’m so happy that I got to meet other Rubyists as I’m surrounded by Ruby haters. It’s also a great platform to exchange ideas, learn from others, and get free training (think about the value of David’s presentation in terms of dollars).
I highly recommend that if you’re in NJ area, attend and participate in next meeting. I’ll see you there.
OMG, What’s Going On?
Screenshot of my netbook… ;)
Vim Screencast
Well worth the look.
“How I Work: Rails with Vim”
Debian 5.0 Released!
It’s no secret that I prefer Debian for my servers and they just released 5.0 (Lenny). This release does not have any impact on me since my Rails stack remains unaffected.
Peepcode Releases Screencast on Objective-C
Peepcode just released a screencast titled “Objective-C for Rubyists”. Thanks to the popularity of iPhone, it appears that everyone’s now jumping to Obj-C.
According to my old college roommate, every modern programming language can trace their roots to Smalltalk. That includes Ruby and yes, Obj-C! And you thought that Obj-C was like C++. By the way, you can check out Don’s essay at http://antigreen.org/vadim/ProgLanguageComparison/Donald_Raabs_Smalltalk_vs_Java_Comparisons.html. The original link to the article from smalltalk.org does not appear to be live.
I hope everyone checks out this episode because you can learn a lot from Obj-C, and as an old lonely (lonely because there weren’t many people) Obj-C programmer, nothing would make me happy than to see this language take off, especially outside NeXT/Mac realm.
Kindle Version 2 Released!
Amazon announced a new version of its Kindle. Kindle is the eBook reader that is hailed as the favorite tech device by Oprah.
Here are some interesting facts I gathered:
- eInk technology is the real thing. As an owner of Sony eReader, I can testify that I much prefer reading on eInk device that paper.
- New York Times can distribute Kindles to every subscriber and push the news wirelessly instead of paper. Doing this, they can save more than half of their printing cost, even if they give away Kindle for free! If you think paper is cheaper, think again.
Here’s what Amazon has to say about it:
Dear Customers,
Today, we are excited to introduce Kindle 2the next generation of our wireless reading device.Since launching the original Kindle a little over a year ago, the customer response has far surpassed our highest hopes — and we’re grateful and appreciative for that. More people are reading more books, newspapers, and blogs on Kindle sooner than we ever imagined.
We kept everything readers love about the original Kindle — the convenience of reading what you want, when you want it, the immediacy of getting books wirelessly delivered in less than 60 seconds, and Kindle’s ability to “disappear” in your hands so you can get lost in the author’s words.
We chose the same 3G wireless technology used in advanced cell phones, so you never need to locate a Wi-Fi hotspot. But unlike cell phones, there are no monthly wireless bills, no service or data plans, and no yearly contracts. There is no software to install and no syncing required.
Improved battery life means you can read up to four days on a single charge. Its new, streamlined design makes Kindle 2 as thin as a typical magazine and lighter than a paperback. We added more storage, allowing you to carry over 1,500 titles. An advanced display provides even crisper images and clear text for an improved book-like reading experience. Our favorite new Text-to-Speech feature means Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud to you.
At Amazon, we’ve always been obsessed with selection, and we know that even the best reading device would be useless without the books you want to read. Today, the Kindle Store has more than 230,000 books, including 103 of the 112 New York Times Best Sellers, plus top newspapers, magazines, and blogs. We added over 40,000 new titles in just the last three months. Our vision is to have every book ever printed, in any language, all in under 60 seconds on Kindle.
We hope you enjoy Kindle 2.
Jeff Bezos, Founder, Amazon.com
P.S. If you’d like to have Kindle 2 ship to you the day it becomes available, we recommend preordering today to reserve your place in line.
