More RoR

Normally, vi is my IDE. But for RoR, I decided I wanted something that does syntax checking, suggestions, and hints. Aptana had a nice tool, but then I tried Netbeans... Netbeans is much, much nicer.

But I do suggest not downloading the entire thing. Instead, get the Ruby-only version from http://deadlock.netbeans.org/hudson/job/ruby - it's much smaller and somewhat faster, since it doesn't include all the Java support Netbeans is known for.

Ruby on Rails

I've been wanting to learn Ruby on Rails for a long time, so I'm finally getting around to it because I have an idea for a website. Maybe I'll talk about that concept later, but for now, Mum's the Word.

First impressions:
I have a pretty good programming background, but it's over 75% procedural. Ruby is 100% OO, so I have to get in that mindset. Not too difficult...

But the whole Model-View-Controller (MVC) layout of RoR is new to me... that's definitely taking me a bit longer to grasp. I think I'm starting to understand the elegance of it, though. But then again, I'm just reading books and watching RoR screencasts so far, playing with the demo scripts they offer.

Who is this guy and why should we care?

I didn't know anyone cared! Thank you for caring!

I am currently IT Manager at a semiconductor intellectual property (IP) platforms company where I am responsible for all IT operations world-wide at our 6 international design and development sites. We use a mix of Windows, Linux, and Solaris systems as well as a plethora of varying back-end and network devices.

Supporting a world-wide hi-tech operation such as this is a constant challenge. There's always the demand to stay at the bleeding edge of technology, but do it on a shoestring budget. Hence the need to focus on quality so that things can be implemented correctly the first time. And the other focus to go with Open Source when possible.

I want to use this blog as a forum to kick around some ideas and talk about tools that make managing such an environment possible.