Go Speed Racer Go!

On the Fence with Rails

Ok, unless you’re a person who just doesn’t care what types of frameworks or technologies that are out there, you’ve probably heard of Ruby…and most likely “Ruby on Rails”.  Lots of books and opinions have been written about this particular framework and I thought I’d put in my quick 2 cents worth about the subject since I’ve recently finished up another Ruby/Rails project.

The Real Deal
Ok what’s the big deal about it?  Good question.  In a nutshell…speed.  I have to admit, the ability to create a model view framework that takes care of your inserts/deletes/reads/updates in literally 2 seconds or less has to be a draw for any developer who has been through this mundane procedure before even with the advent of some helpful modelers (see my blog on PHP and asp.NET ones: http://www.justicesolutionsllc.com/blogcfm/1/2008/02/57.Getting-the-CRUD-out-in-your-code.cfm).

Ok so what else?  Well there are some very helpful ‘helpers’ that Ruby provides that does actually make things quite easy when needing a membership module built, or a quick and easy shopping cart, etc. 

Custom Pathways are another neat little feature of RoR.  If you want you can defined a custom path based upon a users input, a page they enter on, a word they type after the page.  It’s really a super version of taking 404 error rewrites and doing something useful with them in a very easy to use fashion.

The Down
So there’s gotta be a downside right?  Otherwise everyone would be RoR-ing about it.  (btw…RoR is short for “Ruby on Rails”).  Anyway, what I’ve found personally is an issue with the server speed and sometimes the paths you create take a while for good ol’ Roob’ to figure out and deliver the page.  If you use a “mongrel” server base vs. Apache or IIS (yes it can run on it) things do improve. 

However, there are some tweaks and tunes you’ll need to do in order to get it to run just right. 

It’s a typical Linux type scenario that most of us have been through.  Yes…the Linux based server config of Lamp (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) does run very well and hardly ever crashes….however setting up that ideal system with your own custom needs sometimes does become its own beast.

Like all frameworks there are some cool features that unfortunately create other problems.  Some are not obvious until Mongrel crashes unexpectedly on you like it did me when I was using Ruby’s neat little refresh Ajax control that basically can be used to update data in a <DIV> every second if you’d like.  The problem….it also submits the variables of a POST form as a blank at the same time if you’re not careful.

“Let Me Explain…no….there is too much….Let me Sum Up.” (I’ll award a gift certificate to a national chain restaurant to the person who emails me at doug@justicesolutionsllc.com with the answer to where that quote is from.  No Matt Krause…you are not eligible….lol)

So should you go Rails?  The answer like I say to so many new clients who ask me the same question about asp.NET, PHP, ColdFusion, Flash, and yes…Rails…is simply this.  It depends.  It depends on your budget, your site’s future development needs, the availability of a developer who knows RoR…etc. 

If you have a site that is pretty simple that maybe requires a blog, some simple data entry and data display…I’d say go Rails in an instant.  You could literally build that entire concept in probably an hour or two at the most.  But, if you’re going large scale and have a lot of unknowns in your development and business plan path…perhaps another language may work a bit better for you.  Again, it depends on your developer.

So there’s my two cents on rails.  For a look at this latest Rails project we’ve launched recently and continue to develop on (btw….great company with a great concept), check out http://www.gqex.net when you get a chance.

Happy Coding!

Doug.

A new kind of Napster…

If you’re a programmer like me….I find it’s almost a necessity to have a steady stream of tunes going to keep the creative juices and energy flowing during those coding marathons we always seem to be faced with.  However, sometimes putting together a playlist takes a lot of time that we don’t have.  So your alternatives are taking a chance and listening to one of Napster’s preloaded lists, or finding a few radio stations that you like and flip back and forth between them when the music starts to go off the beaten path a bit.  Oh and let’s not even get into how annoying commercials are.

Enter Pandora’s Box
Those of you familiar with Greek Mythology’s accounting of Pandora will recall she was created by Hephaestus and molded out of the earth and given a jar (box) which she unfortunately opened and released all of the evil and stuff into the world.  Yep….woman gets blamed again….but did I mention I have the WE network on right now? 

Why I’m not quite sure of how they came up with the name, Pandora.com (Pandora Radio) is anything but a collection of evil.  It actually is quite the opposite which is maybe why they chose the name?  Picture a collection of tens of thousands of songs all at your beckon call?  Yeah…I know iTunes and Napster does that too.  However what if I told you these folks have been analyzing these songs to break down rhythms, lyrics, artists, albums, decades, etc. and then put them into a clever music finding algorithm which would make the guy on CBS Television’s “Numbers” a proud man.

Pick a Song any Song
When you first get to the website…you’ll find it quite plain…you almost think you’re on the wrong site.  But trust me….just enter in any song, artist, etc. and let the magic begin.  I went ahead and typed in “Men at Work” since I’m such a slave to the 80’s music. 

Within seconds I had a custom radio station on my list called “Men at Work Radio” and literally over a 100 songs from not only men at work, but also many other artists and songs having similar beats, styles, etc.  I

Thumbs up….Thumbs Down
Now, while it’s not an exact science, I have to admit with the few requests I’ve put into the system, I’ve been pretty happy with the lineup of songs Pandora.com came back with.  If there’s one that kind of makes your head go “Huh?!?”…just give it a quick thumbs down…Pandora moves on to the next song automatically.

Oh…and when you log back in the next day and click on that station…the songs are both different and/or shuffled automatically…pretty damn cool if you ask me.

Give it a Try!
So if you’re stuck in front of a computer, or your computer is also a media center for your home and want a nice steady stream of songs instantly….give Pandora a try.  Let me know what you think.

Until next time…

Doug.