Code For Web

My company, Technability is hiring.

we are hiring the following positions:

Web Developer (Mid Level)

Network Administrator (Jr to Mid Level)

Know anybody?

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Yes, I have been out of the ASP.NET realm for a while. Why, this little thing called Ruby on Rails has really grabbed my attention on how elegant it is to work with, and plus it really blends well with my work flow and processes at this point in my career. But anyways enough about that… ASP.NET MVC 1.0 has been released!

From the previous versions of MVC that I have used the integration between Visual Studio and MVC was lacking but it looks like have fixed that, which is great and should be a productivity boost for developers. It also looks like a lot of the features of the application framework have been finalized which is great. I may have to upgrade the several sites I built in ASP.NET MVC to version 1.0. That should be fun!

Well for now that is all I have to say until I really dive into this release and give my opinion.

Asp.net MVC, Microsoft Asp.net MVC, Microsoft

Here in the states there are not a lot of choices for web design and development magazines. There are a few, but they really suffer from lack of proper content or even staying on a topic anybody that works in the industry cares about. Mainly the content is what their advertisers what to see.

In the UK there are a few really outstanding publications from Future, which really hit the mark. .NET Magazine (Web Design in the USA) is an excellent resources for budding web designers and even seasoned pros. The topics covered in this magazine are relevant to the industry’s trends of today. Only down side to this whole publication is the USA shelf price, right around $15.00 per issue (I get the subscription). Which isn’t bad if you really read and use the content from the magazine.

For the developers, it really depends on what language you program in. There is a nice PHP publication, of course Microsoft has the MSDN Magazine, and there are a few Java publications out there. If you do not participate in the “core” languages, the publications are few and far between. There is a Ruby on Rails (ROR) publication available online via PDF or purchase.

Sure, there are ton of web resources, sites and e-magazines on the market. Which does have relevant content and is up to date with the current trends of the web. But, its good to have a solid publication at times so you can just sit and read, flip through some pages and just enjoy.

I hope a magazine publisher in the computer technical field steps up to the plate and creates an excellent magazine for us States side to enjoy!

Media magazine, Media, publications

Inching closer to Rails/Merb 3.0 release. Rails 2.3.2 brings some new additions:

Check out Ryan’s Rails Cast

Read about it on RubyOnRails

Basically, there is a lot of new additions, but there are a few to note:

1. Render can be reduced was render :action => ‘edit’ —–> render ‘edit’

2. Nested Forms - even easier than before! WOOT! This is very good!

3. Rails runs on Rack! Access rack from rails now.

These are some nice additions to rails, and its easy upgrade from 2.2.2 to 2.3.2.

rake rails:update

rake rails:update:application_controller

done…

If you running passenger update to the latest version

gem update passenger

passenger-install-apache2-module

And update your configuration based on the out put.

Ruby, Ruby On Rails Rails, Ruby on Rails

It has been a busy 2009 so far. I haven’t even had a chance to breathe or really get any sleep at all. But that’s a good thing with this economy being down.

Overall we have ventured into the world of Rails and Ruby. Which so far has been rewarding since it has brought back some fire to my passion for web development. Yes, you may have heard this story again and again, but its just what really happened. I find Rails development to be a fresh breath of air and it definalty gives me some ideas for ASP.NET (MVC or not) development.

A few things that Rails really makes enjoyable is that is follows the MVC pattern, and really seperates the items of concerns. ASP.NET team is currently implementing a similar framework and has “borrowed” a lot of the ideas from Rails and a few other frameworks.

One thing I like about Ruby on Rails development is that I am not tied to a particular operating system. I am able to use MS Windows, Mac OSX or a flavor of Linux. Since this is an open source framework and technology, this allows myself the flexibility and freedom to choose. Something we do not really see from the MS crowd.

Well, I better get back to work, just wanted to post some “blah!”

Asp.net MVC, MacOS, Microsoft, Ruby, Ruby On Rails Asp.net MVC, Microsoft, Ruby on Rails

At Technability, currently we are facing the age old issue of multi-code environment, which does make for an exciting and robust workplace. One of the main reasons for this is we inherit projects from clients where they had a terrible experience with the previous webmaster, web developer or designer and the current code base is either in ASP, PHP, Perl, or something else. In many cases the client does not want to pay for the conversion of their existing site to another platform, so we have to bite the bullet and refresh our minds of some PHP or ASP (worst case). This does make for some challenges, since we mainly code in ASP.NET (C# flavor) and Ruby now days. Having to take a “step-back” and refresh our minds for PHP syntax or some other langauge can be a bit rough at times if we are currently slammed with work or just in the middle of a new site deployment.

What I have found that works best for jumping over this hurdle is to focus on the core languages that your firm supports. Now, with the other languages that you will have to come in contact with, don’t run away, but develop a team that can adapt quickly to the syntax changes or, better yet, network with a few individuals who have backgrounds in those languages and that your team can work together with. One, this lessens the requirement that your team needs to know or have limited knowledge of the language and secondly allows your team to continue to focus on what they know best.

With the current state of the economy in the United States, small businesses need to find ways to leverage and work with other small businesses in order to keep in business and network building business relationships.

business business

So, 2009 is right around the corner, and the development world is looking pretty exciting. Many new technologies coming out and some that look and sound great, while others, we are not sure about.

Development Frameworks

ASP.NET MVC - new framework from Microsoft that is in Beta right now, very promising. Looks like it has taken some of the features and processes from MonoRails and Ruby on Rails ideas. Microsoft is a little late to the party, but I guess better late than never. This does give developers a different approach to development in the web space.

Ruby on Rails + Merb = Wow! This is a great step forward for developers in the Ruby community. Instead of having two competing frameworks, we have one top notch team working at creating a killer framework. This is an amazing step forward, and definitely something developers of other flavors should check out.

Django, this python based web framework surely does show some amazing promise. I have to admit that I have not had the time to really dive into the core of the framework or create any projects, but I did go through the tutorial and was amazed.

Economy

With the current state of the economy, web development firms are needing ways to stay on budget and in business. I could see a movement towards open source development due to the cost reduction in server operating systems licensing cost. I am afriad of firms scambling to make ends meet, and cutting corners where they really shouldn’t be cut. Everyone has to make a living, but the question is at what cost to the firm and the client?

2009 will be an interesting year, over at Technability we will be looking to expand and grow in the web design/development department, so at least there is some promise.

Uncategorized Asp.net MVC, business, Django, Ruby on Rails, web design, web development

This is just huge, big news in the Rails community! Who could of asked for a better holiday gift this year! Or at least something to look forward to in the development world with is slipping, stand still economy. I had a feeling that this might happen, just an itch!

But seriously, this is a huge step forward for the Ruby, Rails and Merb communities. I have talked to many developers who are on the fence about jumping on the train, only afraid to do so, cause of a few ranking post about how “terrible” and how “it can’t scale” for Rails. Now with Rails and Merb merging and forming one team, this will squash a lot of the doubters out there and hopefully be the final push down the path of happy coders!

The Rails team is stating a potential pre-release around mid-year next year, maybe before Rails Conference in Las Vegas. Great timing :). This could lead to a wider acceptance of Rails and open source projects in the enterprise world.

More to come! This is a huge step forward for Rails and Ruby and Merb!

Microsoft, Random, Ruby, Ruby On Rails merb, Ruby, Ruby on Rails

I was at the book store last night and this dude actually picked up a book on Django, I thought I was the only person around my hood that knew what Django was. Talked to the guy for a bit, a very solid insight to the framework. Something worth checking out. Go Python!!!

Oh, I was at Borders, cause Barnes and Nobles sucks!!! I emailed them a few years back and questioned why they continued to reduce the computer book selection each time I went into the store. Their response was, “our market research shows that those types of books are not being sold in our stores”. Reason, Amazon.com, Bookpool.com… and your discount program sucks. Borders its free and you get some very nice coupons.

Python Django, Python

Right now I am basically testig my thought processes (maybe getting a headache) and seeing how I can apply what I have learned over the years programming in ASP.NET (C#) to Ruby On Rails. One major thing that sticks out when started a RoR project is that the structure is already there and set in stone. Sure if you are feeling frisky you could change how things work, but why bother, its already been tested and its ready to go.

Here are a few items that RoR gives you that makes life a bit more simple:

1. Generators - Generate the stubs for models, controllers and other various items. ASP.NET you get use to “adding new item” to create user controls, pages and other items required for your application.

2. If you are a Prototype fan, integration for AJAX calls. I prefer JQuery, and yes there is a plug-in for JQuery which will overwrite the Prototype calls. But I prefer to use just the JQuery library without the rails plug-in. Yes, ASP.NET has the lovely AJAX libraries but they are a bit bloated and the server side controls are not that great, too much talk over the HTTP protocal for my blood. My current .NET projects all use JQuery and have tossed aside the ASP.NET AJAX libraries.

3. ActiveRecord is baked in. No need to stored procedures, modelling and other various task that most .NET developers cried about. But a plus for .NET is libraries such as NHibernate (I use this), SubSonic and LINQ. These libraries make your DB cook with happiness.

4. Structure - where things go, how things work and how things should be done is there for you already. This is great, since it really takes away the having to thing and plan out part of your project. But on the flip side, it might get a little redundant after 10 or so projects in Rails. ASP.NET MVC is trying to follow this method but you still have a lot of flexibility to make your project work the way you want it to.

5. Filters - filters are great because they intercept the request, before_filter, after_filter - these are great for items such as authentication, or even setting various parts of the page when needed. ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC have ways of doing this with overriding base class methods and MVC has filters cooked in (stolen from RoR I would suppose).

Now, the only real questions I have about Ruby on Rails is, how well does it scale. I know the guys over at Rails Envy joke about this a lot, but seriously, you hear the horror stories about Twitter crashing, and 37singals heavily driving into C code to do task fast for their flagship applications. I will have to research this more and find an answer for myself, I will be googling this topic more and posting my findings.

I enjoy the simplicity of rails, and it does make web development fun again. The current version of ASP.NET MVC did breath some life into .NET development but it still has a way to go.

One thing I hate about .NET development is the “drag and drop” features. You interview a canidate and all they know how to do is drag and drop code snippets onto the work space. Come on now, learn to code!!! I blame Microsoft for this, they always discuss the basic kiddy features and never bother to dive into the good stuff, are we just that dumb when it comes to development and software design? That we need a GUI to do any type of work?!?

Rails notes:

400 restarts a day! - this post is basically a response for Zed Shaw’s bashing and most hilarious opinion of of rails.

Presentation on Scaling Rails - have read this on, some great ideas that you can apply to any enviornment, not ust rails!

Asp.net, Asp.net MVC, Microsoft, Ruby, Ruby On Rails Asp.net, Asp.net MVC, linq, Microsoft, nhibernate, Ruby on Rails, scaling, subsonic, web development