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.