Matthew Lang // My Programming Journal

About Me

My name is Matthew Lang, and I'm a software developer based just outside Glasgow in the UK.

I'm very interested in using agile methodologies such as XP to deliver projects with languages such as Ruby and open source frameworks such as Ruby on Rails and Sinatra.

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Snippets #115

Now that Shoulda is being developed more to work with RSpec, I'm wondering if now is the time to jump into RSpec2.

factory_girl 1.3: Integrating effectively with Rails 3 - A minor change if you want factory_girl to work in your Rails 3 projects.
Rails 3 resource routes with dots - Don't get bitten by dots in your paths!
RVM Gemsets + Bundler == Awesome - I'm already using RVM gemsets, but I might look at using Bundler soon.

Filed Under // Gems Rails Snippets

Posted on 22nd of June, 2010

Snippets #113

TeamRoom - A good look at the key components of the agile team room. It's basically the opposite of everything in a typical waterfall development room.
Rails' Next Top Model - Adam Keys' slides from RailsConf, which looks at ActiveModel and ActiveRelation. I can see lots of uses for ActiveModel in some projects, but I need to spend more time looking at ActiveRelation.
The Road to Rails 3 - A look at the compatibility of Thoughtbot's gems for Rails 3.
Unobtrusive JavaScript in Rails 3 - A detailed look at a key feature in Rails 3. Having not spent much time using JavaScript in Rails projects, I'm going to make a point of using this more extensively in future projects.
Hampton's Ruby Survey - It's year 3 of Hampton's Ruby Survey. Take a few minutes out to complete the survey if you can. It's always good to see what trends are emerging in the Ruby community.

Filed Under // Agile Javascript Rails Snippets

Posted on 15th of June, 2010

Snippets #111

Wrapped up my freelancing work for a while. Time to focus on personal projects now!

RubyInstaller Final Packages - Three flavours of installer if your working with Ruby on Windows. Now you can install versions for 1.8.6, 1.8.7 and 1.9.1. Nice!
Autosave Associations and validates_uniquesness_of: Don't Do That - Rails has so many great features, but it can be easy to mis-understand something.
I Suck at Ruby - A fantastic little blog from a beginner Rubyist. It has only been going since May, but I've already found it to be a great guide to Ruby.

Filed Under // ActiveRecord Rails Ruby Snippets Windows

Posted on 8th of June, 2010

Snippets #110

Why documentation - in code? in tests? - Documentation in code is always a grey area, but I like to usually comment the code and use descriptive test names.
Rethinking Rails 3 Routes - Great visual post on alternative ways of handling URLs in Rails. This will get you really thinking about your Rails apps.

Filed Under // Best Practices Rails Snippets

Posted on 3rd of June, 2010

Snippets #109

Rubyist OS X Dev Setup – One developer shares his setup for developing with Ruby.
What Should an Agile Project Charter Contain – With all the emphasis on TDD and other popular aspects of agile projects, it’s good to see a guide to agile project charters.
What Pythonistas Think of Ruby – An interesting look at Ruby.

Filed Under // Agile Ruby Snippets Tools

Posted on 1st of June, 2010

Matthew Lang