Feed: Ruby Blender - AggScore: 46.3

Default values for Attributes

---

This is the first in a series of entries which I’m pulling over articles from an old blog, revising, etc… The Problem One of the neat things about Ruby is it’s ability to create accessor methods for you, by simply declaring attr_reader, attr_writer, or attr_accessor.  However, there’s not an easy way to define a default [...]

Arguments with Trollop

---

Command line arguments can be a hassle to parse. Trollop makes them easier.

Database Paranoia — ActiveRecord Callbacks

---

On a particular, nameless, heterogenous project using ruby on rails, ant, and shell scripts, there was an instance where data was not being properly cleaned before going into the database (primarily due to user errors in property files which were used by ant to feed the database).   As a result, the database was filled with [...]

Ruby Bindings and Scope

---

One of the features of Ruby’s Kernel module (which is imported into Object, so it’s available in every class) is the binding.  The binding allows you to keep a pointer to the scope at a particular location in your application and then later evaluate code from that location. For example (and this came up as [...]

What’s #method_missing missing?

---

#method_missing is a useful feature in ruby. However, there's something that many people miss when using it.

After long silence

---

The hiatus has been due to me having been really sick with a weird neurological disorder.  I didn’t do any coding at all for over 2 months.  I’m starting to feel better, but I still have my good days and bad.  So, there will be updates.  Hopefully before not too much longer.

Overriding operators: two dimensional arrays

---

Image via Wikipedia One of the neat things about ruby is that, in general, operators are methods, so they can be overridden. When working with multidimensional arrays, some languages allow you to do the following: a[0,0] whereas ruby uses: a[0][0] Which makes sense, since Ruby implements it as an array of arrays and you’re chaining [...]

To Paren, or not to Paren

---

To paren, or not to paren: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The bugs and errors of maintenance programs, Or to take arms against a host of typos, And by debugging end them? To hack: to slash; No more; and by a slash to say we end The heart-ache [...]

my_methods revisited

---

In irbrc goodness, I touched briefly on my_methods, a method of discovering the methods of an object which are distinct from those inherited from Object. The method looks like this: class Object def my_methods (self.methods - Object.methods).sort end end I have since had the idea of extending it — now you can also choose to [...]

irbrc goodness

---

Here’s my (current) .irbrc, with comments # I am including gems in my irb session. Therefore, the next require require 'rubygems' # wirble is a wonderful gem which add nice features to irb require 'wirble' # Dr. Nic's useful helper gem. It makes it so you can say: # foo.map_by_bar # instead of having to [...]