PayPerPost – Rails App
I found PerPerPost.com while surfing the web and reading fellow Microsoft refugee Peter Wright’s blog. He mentioned the company he works for and creating a system using Ruby on Rails. I immediately wanted to find out what it is.
It’s a website that pays bloggers for writing about a products and services. It’s a nice way to monetize the blog and serves as a great advertising vehicle. I really like the idea, but at the same time, little spooked by the fact that blogs may become something of late-night infomercials. In fact, I will be paid for this post (fingers crossed).
Things That Suck
I found the performance of the website to be incredibly poor. The pages load so slow that it reminds me of the days when I used telephone to connect to the Internet. I pay extra for increase in bandwidth for my FiOS and it angers me to think that my money is wasted. It really doesn’t boast well for Ruby on Rails.
The site is also very buggy. I can’t even change my password. Take a look at the error message I get when I submit the change password form.
I’m now stuck with a weird password, yet the developers call themselves “Code Ninja” according to their video blog at http://www.rockstartup.com.
I guess things will change as they get more advertisers, but I really couldn’t find anything that I can post here. Their products and services are similar to what you’d find in your spam filter inbox. On top of that, in order for my account to be active, it had to go through a manual review process. I don’t mind the wait as long as it’s quick, but it took over a week before I heard anything back.
Good Stuff
I like the concept of allowing casual bloggers to monetize their efforts.
Conclusion
I hope Peter and his company can improve the performance and eliminate the bugs. I also hope that this company does well and become a poster child for Ruby on Rails, not an example of why RoR sucks. Unless they add more products and services that are relevant to the subject of this blog, it will most likely be the last post for me.
Book By Its Cover
I stopped by B&N while Christmas shopping with my family to see what’s on shelf for Ruby and Rails. It appears that every books are there except for one that I think is the best and the most important book, Ruby for Rails by David Black. I was somewhat stunned and saddened by this because I think it is the most definitive guide to Ruby and Rails.
Here are some of my initial thoughts as why this book wasn’t on the shelf:
- It’s all sold out and they can’t keep it in stock. Although I highly doubt this since I saw a post where David is explaining the book is titled “Ruby for Rails” and not AWDR.
- People don’t understand that you need to learn Ruby to be effective Rails programmer.
- It has the ugliest cover I’ve ever seen.
- David Black is not loved. Considering how he’s contributing to Ruby community, I just don’t see how this is possible.
The conclusion I came to is that even though the book has the best content, it’s the cover that sells the book. I’m not sure what Manning is thinking, but they should really consider revising the cover. If you ever come across this book, buy it. I can’t think of any other book that covers Rails in details like this one.
Lynda.com – Ruby on Rails Beyond the Basics
Kevin Skoglund delivered on his promise to release more advanced video tutorials on Ruby on Rails. You can find his course at Lynda.com.
The videos are laid out nicely and the content is first-class as you’d expect from Kevin and Lynda. I also love the fact that it’s “Beyond the Basics” and not the “Advanced” since the topics are not that advanced. I just don’t think you can cover advanced topics in a $99 course. Besides, it’s always hard to chase a moving target, especially one that moves as fast as the Rails.
This course resumes where the “Essential Training” left off. It covers more Ruby topics such as code blocks, code flow, modules, and exception. I highly recommend this for anyone getting into Rails and Ruby.
Just one quick reminder, I have not gone through the entire thing (I’m hoping for some cooperations from Ellen and Sydney).
Review: Integrating the PayPal API with Ruby on Rails
My sensei Ben Curtis has published another guide, Integrating the PayPal API with Ruby on Rails. It’s available online at http://agilewebdevelopment.com/guides/rails-paypal-api-integration for $12.
It’s a fact that a book shouldn’t be judged by its cover. I’m also adding that a book shouldn’t also be judged by the number of pages. I may be somewhat biased, but this 5-page “guide” contains straight to the point instruction on using PayPal API to create the e-commerce feature in your app. It’s a step-by-step guide with the “real world” information. By the way, it also contains a sample application code that illustrates all points, but I’m not counting that.
Just a few caveats though. This guide assumes that you have a reasonable working knowledge of Ruby on Rails. It also assumes that you have the ability to get the necessary details on plugins (perhaps http://agilewebdevelopment.com). However, it’s not so advanced that someone with adequate intelligence can’t figure it out.
I highly recommend this guide along with Ben’s other book, Money Train. I know some of you will bitch and moan about the price tag, but the information you get is worth whole lot more than the price tag. The amount of time you’ll save alone will pay for this guide and whole lot more.
Now that I know how to use PayPal to sell something, I just have to come with something to sell. Any ideas?
SQL on Rails
This has to be the one of the funniest site I’ve seen. Their screencast is also hilarious. I especially loved their MS-DOS reference. Take a look, it’s great!
Screencasts
If a picture is worth thousand words and a video is worth thousands of pictures, then why wouldn’t you use the most effective form of communication? If someone can demonstrate something for me rather than hand me his notes, wouldn’t I learn lot faster and better?
This is why I prefer screencasts and live seminar over reading a magazine or a book.
Railscasts is a screencast by Ryan Bates and released three times a week. Unlike anyone else, he releases episodes on regular timely basis. They’re all interesting, fun and extremely informative for anyone regardless of their level. They’re all also FREE!
For more in-depth learning, there’s Peepcode. Peepcode is not free, but you get lot more than what you pay for. Each episode is $9 but you get a rather substantial discount when you buy in bulk. I know it’s cheap, but don’t let the price fool you, you really do get lot more.
Both Railscasts and Peepcode are about Rails, but if you’re focused more on Ruby like me, there’s Rubyology.com by Chris Matthieu. His screencasts cover basic fundamentals in Ruby. They’re great for beginning Ruby and I highly recommend it although the quality of the video and the audio can at times be very rough.
Have fun learning!
Editor for Windows
No, it’s not TextMate, but I found RoRED to be the best text editor for Ruby on Rails if you’re using a Windows machine (why?). It’s clean, straight-forward and does provide a good set of functionalities without too much clutter.
It can be downloaded at www.plasmacode.com for free. You know, it’s true that everything good in life are free.
Check it out for yourself.
Rails Studio – Pragmatic Studio
I’ve been asked by many many people as why I’m attending an introductory class to Ruby on Rails. Besides the fact that this was my vacation from everything and everyone, including my family, I wanted to attend the training provided by the superstars in the field. As expected, I’m extremely pleased with the results.
Unlike the Carson Workshop I attended while back, this was three days of Ruby on Rails, not one day of half-assed training. I also learned something new and dismissed some old outdated thoughts on development. Best of all, I learned the latest features of Rails I didn’t know about — I’ll be restarting the server lot less now for one thing. Even though it’s three days, the time was lot tighter than I expected.
As for the instructors, Dave Thomas and Mike Clark, they dismiss the popular thought of “those who can’t do, they teach.” They really know what they’re talking about and I love the fact that if they didn’t know the answer, they were honest about it. If you look at Dave’s blog, you’ll see a post where he got the answer to a question from the class by trying it right there in the class. They were both very articulate and presents themselves extremely well.
I’m now glad that I attended Rails Studio. I feel that I’m now more fundamentally sound, and that’s always a good thing.
Book Review: Beginning Ruby
I was extremely impressed with recent books from Apress, especially “Beginning eCommerce with Ruby on Rails”. So, I decided to purchase just released “Beginning Ruby” to recover from recent drowning in .NET development, and to prepare for the Pragmatic Studio. 
Another reason is that my pick axe book was destroyed when my basement flooded, and I really didn’t enjoy reading that book all that much.
First of all, this book is very well organized and flaws extremely well. Just as the title says, it’s geared towards the beginners and serves its audience well. Explanations are kept to mininum, or I should say the BS are kept to minimum, resulting in clearity with efficiency. I really appreciated this since this was more of a review for me.
No book is immune from erratas and this book is no exception. I’ve noticed few errors, but the errors are not significant enough to confuse the readers, just minor annoyance. I’m sure someone will strongly disagree with me, but I really could care less.
To be quite frank, I see this book as the third version of the pick axe book. I like the organization and the concise nature of this book. It doesn’t try to explain everything under the sun about Ruby, but just enough to get you going. It’s a good starting point and I highly recommend it to anyone.
Are You A Rubyhead Looking For Work?
My previous dealings with headhunters haven’t been good. They’re very pushy and don’t care much about the candidates or even their clients. Just about all of them don’t even bother reading your resume or they’re illiterate. Having said that, I found someone that is just the opposite of what I’ve been dealt with. Funny thing is, I wasn’t even looking that aggressively.
Brian Mariani of mirRorPlacement.com is a pleasant surprise in a field that is filled with scums. He actually read my resume, saw my websites, and took his time to discuss potential opportunities with both his clients and me. He also listened, a rare trait in modern day recruiters.
I highly recommend mirRorPlacement.com if you’re a Rubyhead/Railshead and want to venture out. You’ll be pleasantly surprised. If you’re interested in hiring a Rubyhead, contact Brian.
