A Not-So-Objective View of Ruby

It’s a sad state of affairs. I’ve been so remiss when it comes to blogging (and anything else that is quasi- but not directly work-related) that someone scooped me on something related to me. Marcel Molina, of 37 Signals (and previously, Ionist), posted this to the Ruby on Rails weblog:

The first is an introduction to Ruby by Amy Hoy. She brings her quirky right-brained ebullience to bear, providing a thorough yet accessible tour of Ruby. She emphasizes that one of its most salient characteristics is that it makes you happy. If her writing style is any indication, she’s loving life.

Awww, Shucks

Do you hear that sound? It’s the blood rushing to my cheeks. I mean, gosh. There’s a whole world of adjectives one could use to describe me, including “hare-brained lib arts word-hippie,” and yet the words he chose are so… complimentary. (Unless you hate quirkiness and ebullience, in which case I would not be to your taste anyway.)

The PDF Goods

Download

I do, in fact, have an article on Ruby in this edition of ObjectiveView, which comes just before Obie Fernandez‘s excellent and extremely in-depth Ruby on Rails tutorial. I was tickled when Mark Collins-Scope approached me for an article, and it was fun to write. (I’m sure poor Mark is much less enamored of the whole process than I am, since he had to pester me constantly, but I hope he feels the end result was worth it.)

My article is aimed at folks who may potentially be rescued from the slavering jaws of enterprise-style Java, so if you’re a total neophyte it’s probably not for you. You still can be enlightened by Obie’s tutorial, however, so I recommend grabbing the magazine PDF either way.

No Comments

  1. Andrew says:

    How about a link directly to the pdf from this post? Why make me hunt for it?

  2. Andrew says:

    How about a link directly to the pdf from this post? Why make me hunt for it?

  3. Amy Hoy says:

    Durrr. That is why I titled that section "the PDF goods," but I am scatterbrained. Thanks, Andrew.

  4. Amy Hoy says:

    Durrr. That is why I titled that section "the PDF goods," but I am scatterbrained. Thanks, Andrew.

  5. Nice compliment – bravo!

  6. Nice compliment – bravo!

  7. Colin Barrett says:

    Good to hear you’re finally getting the good press you deserve! 😀

  8. Colin Barrett says:

    Good to hear you’re finally getting the good press you deserve! 😀

  9. Congrats on the article. I downloaded it and began to read it. While the content is good, the magazine has possibly the worse layout ever. With all the talent they have, I am surprised they don’t have something a bit more solid on the design front. Do you happen to know anything about that?

  10. Congrats on the article. I downloaded it and began to read it. While the content is good, the magazine has possibly the worse layout ever. With all the talent they have, I am surprised they don’t have something a bit more solid on the design front. Do you happen to know anything about that?

  11. Amy Hoy says:

    CM, I knew someone was going to say that. I won’t disagree — it ain’t pretty. But as someone who’s done a lot of print layout — and not even with having to track down recalcitrant authors at the same time — I can tell you it’s no walk in the park. I think Mark deserves humongous props regardless of aesthetics. He does it out of love and on his own and I imagine it chews up quite a bit of time and energy every issue. (I know I posed him no end of hassles, I am horrible at deadlines.)

    I also think that if someone who had both print design experience and time (e.g., not me) offered to help him improve the looks, he’d accept their help gladly.

  12. Amy Hoy says:

    CM, I knew someone was going to say that. I won’t disagree — it ain’t pretty. But as someone who’s done a lot of print layout — and not even with having to track down recalcitrant authors at the same time — I can tell you it’s no walk in the park. I think Mark deserves humongous props regardless of aesthetics. He does it out of love and on his own and I imagine it chews up quite a bit of time and energy every issue. (I know I posed him no end of hassles, I am horrible at deadlines.)

    I also think that if someone who had both print design experience and time (e.g., not me) offered to help him improve the looks, he’d accept their help gladly.

  13. Oh, there is no question he deserves huge ups for putting together something like this. Perhaps I could lend an idea or a hand. While I totally don’t have time to actually do it, I am a "friends don’t let friends do bad design"-type person, so I may noodle something together, and say "here’s a template, run with it".

    Who knows, maybe he’ll use it, and I’ll get a bit of net.fame.

  14. Oh, there is no question he deserves huge ups for putting together something like this. Perhaps I could lend an idea or a hand. While I totally don’t have time to actually do it, I am a "friends don’t let friends do bad design"-type person, so I may noodle something together, and say "here’s a template, run with it".

    Who knows, maybe he’ll use it, and I’ll get a bit of net.fame.

  15. Oh, and speaking of big ups, Congrats to you, with such a wonderful site. Keep up the good work.

  16. Oh, and speaking of big ups, Congrats to you, with such a wonderful site. Keep up the good work.

  17. Ray Meredith says:

    It seems that the Objective View site is unavailable as of 9 a.m. Central Standard Time, Mar. 7th, because it has reached its bandwidth limit! Any chance that you (Amy) have the PDFs to which you refer and that you can post them on your site?

    Cheers, Ray M.

  18. Andrew says:

    What’s up with the Jacob Two Two responses? Database troubles?

    Enjoyed your talk at Canada on Rails, btw.

  19. Mark Collins-Cope says:

    Hey Guys,

    Mark CC here – editor of ObjectiveView. You’re probably right about the layout – but as Amy said, I do the whole thing on my own, in my spare time, for no money at all.

    Not that I mind that, but I’m limited just how much time I can spend on it.

    So if anyone would like to commit to helping out on the design front – I would be interested. Contact: mcc AT ratio.co.uk

  20. There is some strange behaviour with this!

  21. Mrs Stewarts says:

    i am not sure as to why!

  22. Not really new 🙁

  23. i am not sure as to why 🙂

  24. The content of your show is great, I really enjoy it!

  25. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

  26. Well at last catched the problem!

  27. Thanks for taking the time to do it 🙂

  28. Moda Anni 60 says:

    Gonna have to give it a try.

  29. Just thought I’d make a note about a problem 🙂

  30. I had and the fix I found 🙁

  31. That is strange.

  32. Gonna have to give it a try!

  33. La Havana says:

    Thanks for taking the time to do it…

  34. Well at last catched the problem!

  35. I thout to do it in my local version.

  36. Very nice write up 🙁

  37. I thout to do it in my local version 🙂

  38. Mobile Com says:

    i am not sure as to why 🙂

  39. Not really new 🙁

Hey, why not get a shiny
Freckle Time Tracking
account?