Ruby – a programmers best friend

Learning how to code. I like the word “coding” more than “programming”; code is poetry 🙂
My first efforts were writing some lines of code in PHP. Now I’m learning LISP. Why? Because it is the granddaddy of computer languages. But there is more: I’m not finished yet learning PHP, and I am doing some very small projects – for learning purposes only – in the Mono development framework.

Yesterday I stumbled on Wagn, “Ruby on Rails, Wiki on Wheels”. This “Explore, Organize, Thrive” CMS seems to me the best application for a new project I am planning for my work. (Don’t ask…).
But…I need some knowledge of Ruby on Rails, as well as Git. Hm, that’s all rather arcane to me, but everything can be taught, so I picked up a book from the Public Library “Handboek Programmeren met Ruby en Rails” (in Dutch) by Ivo Balbaert and followed some online lessons at the Ruby Programming Language Website, that led me to another hands-on tutorial, written by why the lucky stiff, whoever that may be, but he describes himself as

…a fledgling freelance professor, one who will die young and make no lasting impression.

Rather modest, IMHO, because besides his beautiful website he also blessed the world with a funny book Why’s (poignant) Guide to Ruby – completely free!

Okay, I downloaded the One-Click Installer and wrote my first line of Ruby; “Hello World”, or something like that. Let’s see if I’ll get Ruby rolling.

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  • The Aesthetics and Beauty of Knowledge

    Shih was the opposite of facts and raw information; shih was the elegance of knowledge, the insight and skill to organize knowledge into meaningful patterns. As an artist chooses colours or light to make her pictures, a master of shih chooses textures of knowledge – various ideas, myths, abstractions, and theories – to create a way of seeing the world. The aesthetics and beauty of knowledge – this was shih.

    – David Zindell, The Broken God, 1993

  • Geek Attitude

    The attitude thing is about flexibility, portability, creativity, sociability and jamming (ran out of suitable “ity” words!). It’s about improvising – in the practical and musical senses of the word; not getting tangled in boundaries and the “right” way to do things.
    Definitely the only way to travel.
    Martin Delaney – “Laptop Music”.