Monkey-patching is so 2010. We’re in the future, and with Github and Bundler there is now rarely a need to monkey-patch Ruby code in your applications.

Monkey-patching is the dangerous-yet-frequently-useful technique of re-opening existing classes to change or add to their behavior. For example, if I have always felt that Array should implement the sum method, I can add it in my codebase:

That is a monkey-patch. Of course, when I require activesupport it also adds a sum method to Array though its version has an arity of one and takes a block. This conflict can cause hard to track down errors and is why monkey-patching is to be used with caution. Read More

I started Ruby Inside in May 2006 as a promotional vehicle for my then in-progress book, Beginning Ruby. It eventually went on to be published by Apress and is now on its second edition having sold quite a few copies.

It’s typical to choose someone who’s better known than you in the field to write a foreword for you to lend some legitimacy to your book and I only had one choice: Why The Lucky Stiff. As with many Rubyists, Why was a hero of mine and I wanted to go with the unusual route of an illustrated foreword. Surprisingly, Why readily accepted the challenge. Read More

MacRuby’s lead developer and Apple employee Laurent Sansonetti has today released MacRuby 0.10 (yep, that’s ten), the latest version of the Mac OS X-focused Ruby implementation. 0.10 is the latest stepping stone on the way to a forthcoming 1.0 release.

Getting MacRuby

You can grab MacRuby 0.10 from the downloads page or directly at http://www.macruby.org/files/MacRuby 0.10.zip. Beware, though, that the binary installer download will only work on 64 bit Intel-powered machines running OS X 10.6 or higher.

New Features, New Possibilities

0.10 is not a major release but a few things stand out in the release notes for 0.10 amongst all the usual performance tweaks and bug fixes:

• Support for the new MacBook Pro hardware (SandyBridge processors).

Read More

The RSpec Book (Amazon.com) by David Chelimsky (plus a cadre of BDD superstars) is a recent release from The Pragmatic Programmers and a handy addition to any TDD-mad or RSpec-using developer’s bookshelf. You can buy a copy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, or direct from the publisher (more expensive but a PDF version is available).

What is The RSpec Book?

The RSpec Book is a 400 page book by David Chelimsky (RSpec‘s primary maintainer), Dave Astels, Zach Dennis, Aslak Hellesøy (of Cucumber fame), Bryan Helmkamp and Dan North. Its aim is to teach you all about RSpec (RSpec 2.0 – specifically) and BDD (Behavior Driven Development) from the ground up and it promises to “help you write better code, write better tests, and delver better software to your users.”

Robert C. Read More

It’s been a killer month for new Ruby and Rails jobs over at the Ruby Inside Jobs board so I’m going to cut the filler to a minimum today.. though if you want to learn more about posting one of your own, check our Post A Job page. The current bonus is you’ll get your job ad into the 4000+ subscriber-strong Ruby Weekly for free!

There are a couple of really appealing jobs in here (particularly the first one) and they span the US with a few in the United Kingdom and one in Australia for good measure:

Innovation Developer – San Francisco, California

salesforce.com, inc. Read More

Eloquent Ruby (Amazon.com – print & Kindle) by Russ Olsen is the first Ruby book I’ve read in its entirety within 24 hours; it’s that good. That may be all you need to know before you buy a copy at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or read it on Safari (if you have an account). If you want to learn more though, keep reading.

What Is “Eloquent Ruby”?

Eloquent Ruby is a book published by Addison Wesley and written by Russ Olsen (who also wrote Design Patterns in Ruby a few years ago). It clocks in at around 400 pages and has 31 chapters clocking in at around a punchy 10 pages each. Read More

Yes, I’m sad enough to have had this in my calendar for some time but.. it’s Ruby’s 18th “birthday” today! Happy Birthday Ruby! While this means it can drink, vote, and otherwise join its slightly older friends Perl (24) and Python (21) in the nightclubs of Europe, I was surprised to learn that coming of age in Japan is at 20 years old.

From Wikipedia’s Ruby entry:

If you’re interested in learning more, this interview with Matz back in 2001 will give you more history and background to the creation of Ruby.

While Matz has said that February 24, 1993 is Ruby’s “birthday” (back when I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston was topping the charts), the first public release wasn’t until December 21, 1995 when Ruby 0.95 was released and the first mailing list established. Read More