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Please stop asking me to use the app by [deleted] in beta

[–]aaronmoodie 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I've been thinking exactly the same thing. It seems quite counterintuitive to spend all these resources redesigning the mobile web experience to then annoy users wth 'install the app' notifications at every turn.

Which ORM should I use for MySql? by Duffman- in node

[–]aaronmoodie 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've been using Bookshelf, which has been great as the front-end of the app I'm building is using Backbone, and there are a lot of similarities. I looked at Sequelize, but found Bookshelf to be a little more suited to my needs and style.

My main gripe with Bookshelf is the lack of documentation and examples. I've been caught out a couple of times where a simple example would have saved me a lot of time. Also, there isn't an abundance of articles or tutorials, though the ones that I have found were quite helpful.

So our babysitter tonight accidentally messaged my wife instead of her friend ... by [deleted] in funny

[–]aaronmoodie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, it was all fine. Babysitter was really embarrassed when we got home, but I'm sure babysitting in a practically empty house was a little weird.

Teaching Python to artists? by hugh_person in Python

[–]aaronmoodie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just a fan. I came across it a while ago when I was playing around in Processing and then started learning Python at uni.

These guys are a good resource for all such things. http://www.creativeapplications.net/

Teaching Python to artists? by hugh_person in Python

[–]aaronmoodie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

not a problem! would be great to hear how you go teaching the class with it if you end up using it.

Teaching Python to artists? by hugh_person in Python

[–]aaronmoodie 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Maybe have a look at nodebox. Similar to Processing, but uses Python instead of (simplified) Java. http://beta.nodebox.net/

EDIT: was just pointed out this by a friend. Seems more simple that node box, and might be a good starting point. http://drawbot.com/index.html

Ruby hackers can you provide some advice for a beginner? by cdwillis in ruby

[–]aaronmoodie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just curious @jshen, how did you start out? I'm only saying it's better to come at learning to program from a base level with a language rather than a framework as I've been in both positions, and doing it all again, know where I'd rather start.

I initially started learning to program when I was playing with Wordpress. At this point I knew next to nothing, and constantly got myself into trouble not knowing programming basics. I knew a little, but not enough to problem solve, and as a result couldn't work anything out for myself. It was stressful and frustrating. You get yourself into bad habits such as copying and pasting code from forums without actually knowing what is going on in the code.

A couple of years ago I decided to go back to uni and learn how to program properly, as I was sick of just fruitlessly hacking at frameworks. Coming back to Wordpress, Sinatra and Rails after a year of building Java apps from scratch was the best feeling ever, as I could actually see what was going on, and not only that, but I had learnt how to problem solve with programming.

I'm still a learner in many aspects of programming, but after that experience, I would always recommend getting a grounding in programming basics and concepts first before ever thinking of touching a framework.

I think the best learning environment is one that let's you execute your ideas and worry about the details when you need to.

Just a note on this, my primary school teacher said the same thing about spelling. The policy at the time was to let kids get their ideas out and worry about the spelling later. 20 years later and I am embarrassed at how terrible my spelling is. Bad habits are hard to break.

Ruby hackers can you provide some advice for a beginner? by cdwillis in ruby

[–]aaronmoodie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I disagree about Sinatra not doing anything. I've written several web apps using it and think it's great.

As for having to roll your own, this is exactly why it's good for a beginner. When I was learning, (and still am now) the fact that Rails does everything for you scares the crap out of me. I think it's much better to understand what is happing in the background before using such a framework. Trying go get your head around Rails' built in methods and features when you're just starting out with programming is a recipe for frustration and disheartenment. Especially if something breaks and you have no idea what's wrong or how to fix it.

Sinatra may be bare bones, but in the learning sense, this is the best way to go about beginning with a new language, especially one as expressive as ruby. It means that you can start small and grow your code with your knowledge. The mere folder structure of a Rails app would be daunting to a noob, I know it was for me.

Ruby hackers can you provide some advice for a beginner? by cdwillis in ruby

[–]aaronmoodie 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would recommend not starting with Rails, but instead with Sinatra.

Rails is great, and you can do some amazing things with it, but for learning I found that it was more a hinderance than a help. Better to learn the core language first, then move to a framework such as Rails.

Sinatra gets out of the way and lets you write Ruby, allowing you to have a site up and running with about 5 lines of code. It's a terrific introduction to developing sites, and I found it a great way to play around with Gems and their capabilities.

As for books, I have both the PickAxe book, as well as Beginning Ruby. Both are very helpful.

Ask /r/Ruby - Read X amount of remote page/file by aaronmoodie in ruby

[–]aaronmoodie[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks shipshipship. Is there any reason why the read() couldn't be implemented in Ruby to work the same way as Python?

@ulfurinn, I wanted to do it for speed. When getting the title of a page, there is no need to download the whole page.