[ANN] The "Ruby Best Practices" Collaborative Blog

ruby-talk
21

Seems like my latest post:
http://blog.rubybestpractices.com/posts/gregory/rails_modularity_1.html

Confirms that gists don't play well with embedding in feeds :-/

To our RSS readers, I apologize, but we need to use Gist until an
acceptable syntax highlighting solution appears in Korma.
If you see missing code examples in our feed, go to the original page.
We'll do what we can to make it worth your while.

-greg

PS: If anyone has other suggestions, just let me know off list, I
don't want to keep spamming RubyTalk. :slight_smile:

···

On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 12:35 PM, Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com> wrote:

On 15.04.2009 17:46, Gregory Brown wrote:

On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 11:16 AM, Michael Fellinger

Doesn't that prevent gist embedding/highlighting in the feed?

I'm actually not sure. Anyone know the answer here?
We definitely plan to use gist on the RBP blog.

I don't know either. But let's see what happens when we have the first gist
in a posting.

22

Gists require JavaScript. Most feedreaders either don't support that (including Google Reader AFAIK), or have it deactived by default.

If I turn on JavaScript in NetNewsWire, I can see the gists in the feed just fine.

Have you tried a <noscript> tag with a link to the gist?

g, Markus

···

On 16.04.2009, at 08:31, Gregory Brown wrote:

On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 12:35 PM, Robert Klemme > <shortcutter@googlemail.com> wrote:

On 15.04.2009 17:46, Gregory Brown wrote:

On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 11:16 AM, Michael Fellinger

Doesn't that prevent gist embedding/highlighting in the feed?

I'm actually not sure. Anyone know the answer here?
We definitely plan to use gist on the RBP blog.

I don't know either. But let's see what happens when we have the first gist
in a posting.

Seems like my latest post:
http://blog.rubybestpractices.com/posts/gregory/rails_modularity_1.html

Confirms that gists don't play well with embedding in feeds :-/

23

It is about ok in Google Reader, which has the adavantage to open the
blog in a tab (at least in Firefox), thus I am perfectly happy, but I
cannot speak for others.

Now for something completely different:

R A N T:
Personally I am very unhappy with the language that is applied by
about everybody nowadays, in your example, why "bastard". Why???
MERDE, ok now I did it too :wink: Actually that is only mildly offending,
I have seen and heard much worse than that recently, e.g. in the
Mountain West Ruby Conf....

R E A S O N:
It is very difficult to evaluate the natural evolution of a language
that is not your own (and it might be as difficult with your own
language, but I am out of contact with my own language, "Na
Servas!!!"). I am therefor obliged to unhappily accept all lectures
that will be given now :(.
BTW Rick are you reading this, will you support me?

Q U E S T I O N:
When we program in Ruby and write
  File.open( "xxx" ) do | f | f.readlines end
do we not feel stupid? Do we not have any pride to replace this with
  File.readlines("xxx")
?
Is the usage of four letter words or "bastard" to be interpreted like
a counter point, does it have elegance or does it express emotional
attachment.
Or do I have to acknowledge that I am old (OMG, I might even die, eventually)
Please enlighten me.
What about English Best Practices ( for Foreigners )?

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T:
Great Blog for the rest.

···

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 8:31 AM, Gregory Brown <gregory.t.brown@gmail.com> wrote:

--
Si tu veux construire un bateau ...
Ne rassemble pas des hommes pour aller chercher du bois, préparer des
outils, répartir les tâches, alléger le travail… mais enseigne aux
gens la nostalgie de l’infini de la mer.

If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect
wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to
long for the endless immensity of the sea.

--
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

24

We now have syntax highlighting[0] that works reasonably well in the
browser. The code should still show up in the RSS feed, but without
the highlighting.
I think this is probably a reasonable compromise, and hopefully will
solve the issue for now. Of course, if there is some amazingly
awesome solution out there, patches are welcome :slight_smile:

-greg

[0] Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.

···

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 2:31 AM, Gregory Brown <gregory.t.brown@gmail.com> wrote:

To our RSS readers, I apologize, but we need to use Gist until an
acceptable syntax highlighting solution appears in Korma.

25

Q U E S T I O N:
When we program in Ruby and write
File.open( "xxx" ) do | f | f.readlines end
do we not feel stupid? Do we not have any pride to replace this with
File.readlines("xxx")
?
Is the usage of four letter words or "bastard" to be interpreted like
a counter point, does it have elegance or does it express emotional
attachment.

'Lazy bastard' is an established self-deprecating term (along with 'lazy bitch', 'lazy cow', 'lazy sod', etc.) used to suggest that someone only works hard at the things which need to be done and not at the things which don't. It can of course also be derogatory :slight_smile:

More generally there's an established practice of saying more-or-less the opposite of what you mean and then letting the context and/or verbal tone indicate that that's what you've done.

Or do I have to acknowledge that I am old (OMG, I might even die, eventually)
Please enlighten me.
What about English Best Practices ( for Foreigners )?

I can't speak for American English which has its own laws on vulgarity, but here in the UK you'll often find this kind of language used in the written form to indicate an air of informality as well as in the spoken form between friends or work colleagues. There is a class divide in that traditionally the upper and working classes adopt this trait whilst the middle classes like to feign offence at it (I blame those damn Puritans for that), but in recent decades a kind of inverted snobbery has also given it currency amongst young professionals - although not in a strictly formal business context or I suspect in the privacy of their own homes :wink:

The rules on when exactly to use these forms tend to be very vague and instinctual so the best advice for non-native speakers is to steer clear of vulgarities altogether (except for the occasional "bloody hell" or "well I'll be buggered" as exclamations of surprise when the severity of a situation requires it) and instead concentrate on adoption of other English forms which suggest informality: the use of contraction being the easiest to adopt (i.e. "he's" instead of "he is") along with lazy vowel sounds and dropped "H"s.

Oh, and ignore absolutely everything written by the Grammar Police (like "Eats, shoots and leaves") as they'll make your English read like something from a 1940's Pathé News broadcast!

Ellie

Eleanor McHugh
Games With Brains
http://slides.games-with-brains.net

···

On 16 Apr 2009, at 09:14, Robert Dober wrote:
----
raise ArgumentError unless @reality.responds_to? :reason

26

Well, I would feel stupid, but I also don't see this advocated anywhere.

···

On Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:14:27 +0900 Robert Dober <robert.dober@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 8:31 AM, Gregory Brown > <gregory.t.brown@gmail.com> wrote:
It is about ok in Google Reader, which has the adavantage to open the
blog in a tab (at least in Firefox), thus I am perfectly happy, but I
cannot speak for others.

Now for something completely different:

R A N T:
Personally I am very unhappy with the language that is applied by
about everybody nowadays, in your example, why "bastard". Why???
MERDE, ok now I did it too :wink: Actually that is only mildly offending,
I have seen and heard much worse than that recently, e.g. in the
Mountain West Ruby Conf....

R E A S O N:
It is very difficult to evaluate the natural evolution of a language
that is not your own (and it might be as difficult with your own
language, but I am out of contact with my own language, "Na
Servas!!!"). I am therefor obliged to unhappily accept all lectures
that will be given now :(.
BTW Rick are you reading this, will you support me?

Q U E S T I O N:
When we program in Ruby and write
  File.open( "xxx" ) do | f | f.readlines end
do we not feel stupid? Do we not have any pride to replace this with
  File.readlines("xxx")
?

--
^ manveru

27

Does this mean that "bastard" in "lazy bastard" does not have the same
value at all than bastard in e.g. "take this you bastard"? This kills
me :wink: but actually there are lots of those expressions in other
languages I know "salopard" in French or "figlio di putana" in Italian
can be used as compliments. However this is a dangerous feature and is
normally used in face to face situations where the context, a friendly
setup and a broad smile or tap at the shoulders bear much more
semantic meaning than the words.
So I can maybe be forgiven, as would be Bill's mom ;)?

Concerning Bill's advice, I believe it is very import for us foreign
speakers, because these subtle things lead normally to very vulgar
expressions, strangers use so often when learning a language. Maybe
that is why I am so worried about it.

Thank you in any case.
Robert

···

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 2:19 PM, Eleanor McHugh <eleanor@games-with-brains.com> wrote:

28

Oh it was just an example in the context, please do not take offense.
Personally when I discovered the one liner I felt quite stupid for
having written the actual three liner all over the places, maybe I am
taking programming too seriously, LOL.
As I said it was only an example, and, but this gets confusing :(, I
meant that normally people want to express themselves nicely.... But
wait, maybe this too is a wrong assumption and even if it is not,
nicety lies in the eyes of the beholder...
R.

···

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 4:13 PM, Michael Fellinger <m.fellinger@gmail.com> wrote:

Q U E S T I O N:
When we program in Ruby and write
File.open( "xxx" ) do | f | f.readlines end
do we not feel stupid? Do we not have any pride to replace this with
File.readlines("xxx")
?

Well, I would feel stupid, but I also don't see this advocated anywhere.

29

In this context, the two are not even remotely related. The post was
entirely a reference to myself, because I personally can't stand
working with Rails and do everything I can to work around its
verbosity. Thus, I am a lazy bastard. The post is for lazy bastards
like me.

I didn't consider the possibility of anyone (except maybe Bill's mom)
being offended by the title of the post, but to be fair, I didn't
think of what the literal interpretation by a non-native speaker might
be. In that case, I hope the tone of the post made it clear that I
was not being derogatory towards any group of people. But if it was
clear on reading that I wasn't out to hurt anybody, I'm really not
sure why we're having this conversation.

-greg

···

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 9:58 AM, Robert Dober <robert.dober@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 2:19 PM, Eleanor McHugh > <eleanor@games-with-brains.com> wrote:

Does this mean that "bastard" in "lazy bastard" does not have the same
value at all than bastard in e.g. "take this you bastard"?

30

To be honest I suspect people, as Eleanor has confirmed a little bit,
to use those words because it is in, but I completely misunderstood
the term in the context, my bad.
As I said, great effort.
Cheers
Robert

···

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 4:47 PM, Gregory Brown <gregory.t.brown@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 9:58 AM, Robert Dober <robert.dober@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 2:19 PM, Eleanor McHugh >> <eleanor@games-with-brains.com> wrote:

Does this mean that "bastard" in "lazy bastard" does not have the same
value at all than bastard in e.g. "take this you bastard"?

In this context, the two are not even remotely related. The post was
entirely a reference to myself, because I personally can't stand
working with Rails and do everything I can to work around its
verbosity. Thus, I am a lazy bastard. The post is for lazy bastards
like me.

I didn't consider the possibility of anyone (except maybe Bill's mom)
being offended by the title of the post, but to be fair, I didn't
think of what the literal interpretation by a non-native speaker might
be. In that case, I hope the tone of the post made it clear that I
was not being derogatory towards any group of people. But if it was
clear on reading that I wasn't out to hurt anybody, I'm really not
sure why we're having this conversation.