# Ruby Weekly News 27th March - 2nd April 2006 **URL:** \ **Category:** ruby-talk\ **Created:** [4 April 2006 10:33 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-27th-march-2nd-april-2006/26409 "2006-04-04T10:33:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tim\_Sutherland1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Tim\_Sutherland1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Tim_Sutherland1)\ **Post date:** [4 April 2006 10:33 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-27th-march-2nd-april-2006/26409/1 "2006-04-04T10:33:48Z")
[http://www.rubyweeklynews.org/20060402.html](http://www.rubyweeklynews.org/20060402.html) Ruby Weekly News 27th March - 2nd April 2006 > **路路路** > > ============================================ > >    Ruby Weekly News is a summary of the week's activity on the ruby-talk >    mailing list / the comp.lang.ruby newsgroup / Ruby forum, brought to you >    by Tim Sutherland. > >    [Contribute to the next newsletter] > > # Articles and Announcements > >      \* Italy on Rails - First Europe Ruby on Rails Conference >      -------------------------------------------------------- > >        Nathaniel Brown announced the first Ruby on Rails Conference in >        Europe. It will be held in Rome in late 2006, and run by Open Source >        Path. > >      \* Article: An Exercise in Metaprogramming with Ruby >      --------------------------------------------------- > >        Hal Fulton wrote an article in February called An Exercise in >        Metaprogramming with Ruby, but neglected to post a link to it on >        ruby-talk. > >        \> My editor said it "didn't do that well" in terms of page views. And >        \> I said, well, I should have posted it to ruby-talk. And she said: Do >        \> that now, and we'll see what effect it has. >        \> >        \> So there you have it. No bots or artificial inflation, please. 馃槈 > >        The article was well received by the group. >        [http://www.devsource.com/article2/0,1895,1928561,00.asp](http://www.devsource.com/article2/0,1895,1928561,00.asp) > >      \* Brazilian Portuguese Ruby Book >      -------------------------------- > >        Eustaquio Rangel de Oliveira J announced his Brazilian Portuguese Ruby >        book, to be released on April 5. > >        The book was added to the RubyGarden RubyBookList page. > >        \> Com um texto orientado para quem j谩 programa em alguma outra >        \> linguagem, este livro apresenta exemplos claros que podem ser >        \> facilmente assimilados, servindo de guia para o conhecimento e >        \> aprendizado da linguagem Ruby. > >      \* Ruby and RoR Book Roundup >      --------------------------- > >        Rob Sanheim, "a big bookworm", put together a list of Ruby books >        coming up in 2006. > > # User Group News > >      \* The San Diego Ruby Users Group lives! >      --------------------------------------- > >        Daniel Amelang claimed that the San Diego Ruby Users Group lives! >        "After some false starts, we've decided to do this thing for real now. >        Calling all San Diego Rubyists!" > >      \* Ruby Social Club - 1st April Milan Meeting >      -------------------------------------------- > >        Chiaro Scuro: "The Ruby Social Club is getting up to speed and >        spreading fast. After the first two meetings in Rome we are going to >        meet up in Milan on the evening of saturday the first of April." > >      \* April Meeting of the Phoenix Ruby Users Group >      ----------------------------------------------- > >        James Britt announced that the Phoenix Ruby Users Group will be >        meeting on April 10, and will likely discuss new features in Rails >        1.1, and old features in Ruby's built-in unit testing library. "And >        I'm sure we'll make stuff up as we go." > > # Quote of the Week > >      \* Blixy Tee Bus Stop >      -------------------- > >    So I was wearing my chunky bacon Blixy Tee >    >      [http://www.cafepress.com/blixytees.10116504](http://www.cafepress.com/blixytees.10116504) >    >    at the School bus stop the other day, and my >    son (5yrs) gets up on his tip toes and starts >    trying to read foxspeak: "Chunky?... bacon? >    Chunky Bacon... Come on, seriously... Chunky. >    Bacon. Chunky Bacon. [repeated ad nauseam]" >    >    Pretty soon all the kids were chanting. >    >    It was fun. >    >    Thanks Why, >    >    Bil Kleb > > # Threads > >   ruby-dev summary 28274-28600 >   ---------------------------- > >    Furuhashi Apuri summarised the Japanese mailing list ruby-dev, which had >    ideas around regexp named captures, \_\_method\_\_ to hold the name of the >    currently executing method, and a proposal for multi-method support. > >    The latter would allow you to write > > class Bar >    def foo(String x) >      "a string" >    end > >    def foo(Integer x) >      "an integer" >    end > end > > b = Bar.new > b.foo("hello") # -\> "a string" > b.foo(5) # -\> "an integer" > >    The String or Integer or ... is just anything that has an === method. >    "Matz said he agrees and this can be committed to 1.9 if it is fast >    implementation." > >   Ruby Goes to the Sun >   -------------------- > >    April Fools' jokes. Hansson's getting the band back together. Mmmbop. > >   Testing DiGraph (#73) >   --------------------- > >    Robert Feldt posted this week's Ruby Quiz. > >    "In this week's Ruby Quiz you will not only have fun and (hopefully) learn >    something; you will also contribute to a research project evaluating >    automated testing techniques. So please read on and then take the quiz!" > >    "The goal of this quiz is to write a good and extensive test suite for a >    Ruby DiGraph (directed graph) class." > >   WIN32OLE#[] and WIN32OLE#[]= method in Ruby 1.9 (or later) >   ---------------------------------------------------------- > >    Win32OLE author Masaki Suketa said he was considering changing the >    behaviour of WIN32OLE#[] and WIN32OLE#[]= "in Ruby 1.9 or later." > >    "I have not commited the change yet. Before commiting it, I want >    suggestions or opinions from Win32OLE users." > >    Currently, [] and []= map to method calls, so that excel.visible = true >    and excel['visible'] = true are equivalent. The change is to make them act >    on properties, so you can write code like worksheet.cells[1,2] = 10. > >    Dave Burt: >    \> Excellent! This makes a lot more sense than the existing function of [] >    \> and []=. >    \> >    \> When I first used WIN32OLE, I was surprised that you couldn't use [] to >    \> access index operations. > >   Rails 1.1 >   --------- > >    In a thread noting the release of Rails 1.1, Jim Weirich commented "The >    CVS head of rubygems will do incremental downloads of the index file. We >    are working out the details of testing this on a large site like >    RubyForge." > >    This will greatly improve the speed of the "Updating Gem source index" >    action when installing or upgrading gems. > >   Ruby Black Belt >   --------------- > >    Dmitry Buzdin posted a draft Ruby exam, having decided to create a Ruby >    equivalent of [JavaBlackBelt.com](http://JavaBlackBelt.com). > >    "What we need is a feedback of experienced Ruby enthusiasts (means You)." > >    James Edward Gray II posted a list of errors in the draft exam, while >    Justin Collins asked what the purpose of the exam was, given that >    previously "most people expressed a strong dislike for anything resembling >    Ruby `certification'." > >    Dmitry: "What we are talking here about is a bit different, than >    traditional certification. The main purpose is learning. You pass the exam >    and see that You don't know some answers." > >    Listrecv: "One of the problems I'd have with a certification of this sort >    is that it focuses only on the least important aspects of the language - >    syntax, nomenclature, conventions, etc." > >    Peter Szinek mentioned The Python Challenge - a set of programming riddles >    where you must apply some Python programming techniques to advance to the >    next level. > >    \> I came to know a LOT of non-programmers through python challange - i >    \> have been mailing on a (nearly) dayly basis with an US (non programmer) >    \> girl (i think se was a lawyer) up to the 18th or something level. When >    \> she begun she did nothing about programming at all, after 1 week he has >    \> been posting about regexps, after 2 weeks about bzip2 from python, after >    \> 3 weeks cookies and HTTP, well you get the idea... She was really >    \> enthusiastic to learn this stuff (which is IMHO not typical for a non >    \> technical person) just to see the next screen... And she was not the >    \> only one... > >    This made Bill Kelly think of \_why's Try Ruby! web-based interactive >    interpreter. It has an on-line tutorial where you type code into your web >    browser and see what happens. > >    Pistos Christou: "I tentatively agree with the others about official >    certification, but this idea of some sort of online interface that covers >    all (or many) of the features, tools, libs, etc. of Ruby in an >    interactive, educational fashion sounds appealing." > >    Ruby Quiz was mentioned several times as a resource for improving your >    Ruby skills. > >   Calling R from Ruby >   ------------------- > >    AlexG created a simple bridge between Ruby and R (a statistical package / >    language), allowing him to use R libraries from Ruby. > >    The thread also discussed advantages and disadvantages of using either of >    the languages over the other, for example R has a fast matrix library (but >    so does Ruby, via NArray), R is "Procedural, with highly limited function >    support", but > >    \> Au contraire! R is at heart a functional language with a Lisp ancestry! >    \> What's different about R (and S) is two different ways of doing objects >    \> and classes, neither one of which is remotely like a Java or Ruby >    \> programmer's idea of objects and classes. [M. Edward Borasky] > >    Going back to the original topic, Thomas said that if you're on Windows >    then you can access R through Win32OLE. > >   Round floats to N decimal places? >   --------------------------------- > >    Pat Maddox: > >    \> I'm doing some math that results in floats with ~10 decimal places, but >    \> I'd like to round them to 2 places. Is there a built in way of doing >    \> this? Right now I'm doing format("%0.2f", the\_float).to\_f, which seems >    \> to work fine but it seems like an ugly way of doing it. > >    Dave Burt said that the Facets project defines Numeric#round\_at(d) and >    Numeric#round\_to(n) methods for this purpose, and suggested that Ruby's >    built-in Numeric#round method be altered to accept an optional parameter >    for degrees of rounding. > >    Karl Brodowsky suggested Pat take a look at the LongDecimal library, which >    is "specialized for doing calculations with a defined number of digits >    after the decimal point." > >   B & E (#72) >   ----------- > >    Stephen Waits created (last) week's Ruby Quiz - find the least number of >    security codes you need to try to break a system where the code passes >    whenever the last sequences of key-presses matches the codes, without any >    reset between. > >   Get the size in pixels for a string >   ----------------------------------- > >    St茅phane Thibaudeau asked how to get the pixel width and height of a >    string rendered with a particular font. > >    Chris Alfeld: > > require 'tk' > > f = TkFont.new('Courier 10') > width = f.measure("Hi There!") > height = f.metrics.assoc('linespace')[1] > > # New Releases > >   JRuby 0.8.3 >   ----------- > >    Thomas E Enebo said that JRuby 0.8.3 was released. "JRuby is a project to >    provide a Java implementation of the Ruby language and interpreter." > >    jirb now works, using Java classes from Ruby is "dramatically" faster, >    several important bugs were fixed and more. > >   Mongrel Web Server 0.3.12 -- Pre-Release >   ---------------------------------------- > >    Zed Shaw: "Mongrel is due for a 0.3.12 release which will feature some >    pretty insane goodies for everyone. There's talk of IOWA support, lots of >    speed improvements (including sendfile support), a great Configurator >    which makes configuring Mongrel a snap (especially for framework >    implementers), and a ton of debugging stuff." > >    "DON'T CRY" (it's a pre-release). > >    "Mongrel now has sponsorship from Eastmedia ([http://www.eastmedia.com](http://www.eastmedia.com)) in >    partnership with Verisign ([http://www.verisign.com/](http://www.verisign.com/)) to make Mongrel fast >    and stable enough for enterprise class loads (meaning "gigantic", not >    "Java style")." > >   Rake 0.7.1 >   ---------- > >    Jim Weirich put out a new Rake release, fixing a bug on Windows and adding >    a few features. > >   Instant Rails 1.1 >   ----------------- > >    Curt Hibbs announced Instant Rails 1.1 an update of the "one-stop Rails >    runtime solution containing Ruby, Rails, Apache, and MySQL, all >    preconfigured and ready to run". Unsurprisingly, this release features >    Rails 1.1. > >   ZenTest 3.1.0 >   ------------- > >    Ryan Davis exposed ZenTest 3.1.0, with updated versions of zentest, >    unit\_diff, autotest and multiruby. > >   RJS, Active Record++, respond\_to, integration tests, and 500 other things! >   -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >    Hoho, it's Rails 1.1. > >    "The biggest upgrade in Rails history has finally arrived. Rails 1.1 >    boasts more than 500 fixes, tweaks, and features from more than 100 >    contributors. Most of the updates just make everyday life a little >    smoother, a little rounder, and a little more joyful."-David Heinemeier >    Hansson. > >   Ruby-FLTK 0.9.3 >   --------------- > >    Jeremy Henty announced a new version of the Ruby-FLTK bindings, "Yes, it's >    been a while!". ---
**Author:** ![Mauricio\_Fernandez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mauricio\_Fernandez](https://rubytalk.org/u/Mauricio_Fernandez)\ **Post date:** [4 April 2006 21:31 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-27th-march-2nd-april-2006/26409/2 "2006-04-04T21:31:26Z")
> [http://www.rubyweeklynews.org/20060402.html](http://www.rubyweeklynews.org/20060402.html) > > Ruby Weekly News 27th March - 2nd April 2006 [...] >   ruby-dev summary 28274-28600 >   ---------------------------- > >    Furuhashi Apuri summarised the Japanese mailing list ruby-dev, which had >    ideas around regexp named captures, \_\_method\_\_ to hold the name of the >    currently executing method, and a proposal for multi-method support. > >    The latter would allow you to write [...] >    The String or Integer or ... is just anything that has an === method. >    "Matz said he agrees and this can be committed to 1.9 if it is fast >    implementation." As I said under that thread, I think this (proposal for multi-method support) is yet another April 1st joke. I'm subscribed to ruby-dev and the message referred to in in that summary ([ruby-dev:28533]) doesn't exist: indeed, the last message is [ruby-dev:28505] as of Wed, 5 Apr 2006 03:30:04 +0900. Maybe it would be better to clarify that for the record. > **路路路** > > On Tue, Apr 04, 2006 at 07:33:48PM +0900, Tim Sutherland wrote: > > -- > Mauricio Fernandez - [http://eigenclass.org](http://eigenclass.org) - singular Ruby ---
**Author:** ![Benjohn\_Barnes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df705f/32.png) [@Benjohn\_Barnes](https://rubytalk.org/u/Benjohn_Barnes)\ **Post date:** [5 April 2006 21:35 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-27th-march-2nd-april-2006/26409/3 "2006-04-05T21:35:01Z")
Tim, thanks for writing the summaries! When I came to Ruby, I found some mailing list summaries, and found them very useful. I imagine it must take quite a while to put together, so thank you for taking the time to do so! Cheers,   Benjohn ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Szinek2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@Peter\_Szinek2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Peter_Szinek2)\ **Post date:** [6 April 2006 16:31 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-27th-march-2nd-april-2006/26409/4 "2006-04-06T16:31:09Z")
Tim Sutherland wrote: >   Ruby Black Belt >   --------------- > >    Peter Szinek mentioned The Python Challenge - a set of programming riddles >    where you must apply some Python programming techniques to advance to the >    next level. Btw, during the writing of this thread, we begun to work on [www.rubychallenge.com](http://www.rubychallenge.com) with Alex Combas - It will be a Ruby on Rails site stuffed with great programming puzzles, trying to fill the gap between the pickaxe (n00b) and ruby quiz (advanced) levels. If we will manage to implement our ideas, it will be way more cooler than pythonchallenge.com in every aspect, at least imho ;-). After we reach a certain level, we would like to incorporate the Ruby community as well, so stay tuned! bw, Peter ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_Sutherland1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Tim\_Sutherland1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Tim_Sutherland1)\ **Post date:** [4 April 2006 22:13 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-27th-march-2nd-april-2006/26409/5 "2006-04-04T22:13:46Z")
In article \<20060404213120.GB3504@tux-chan\>, Mauricio Fernandez wrote: > > [http://www.rubyweeklynews.org/20060402.html](http://www.rubyweeklynews.org/20060402.html) [...] > As I said under that thread, I think this (proposal for multi-method support) > is yet another April 1st joke. I'm subscribed to ruby-dev and the message > referred to in in that summary ([ruby-dev:28533]) doesn't exist: indeed, the > last message is [ruby-dev:28505] as of Wed, 5 Apr 2006 03:30:04 +0900. > > Maybe it would be better to clarify that for the record. I fell for it, doh! I've updated the site. > **路路路** > > > On Tue, Apr 04, 2006 at 07:33:48PM +0900, Tim Sutherland wrote: ---
**Author:** ![Pistos\_Christou1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/977dab/32.png) [@Pistos\_Christou1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Pistos_Christou1)\ **Post date:** [6 April 2006 15:43 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-27th-march-2nd-april-2006/26409/6 "2006-04-06T15:43:18Z")
Benjohn Barnes wrote: > Tim, thanks for writing the summaries! > > When I came to Ruby, I found some mailing list summaries, and found > them very useful. I imagine it must take quite a while to put > together, so thank you for taking the time to do so! +1 I have appreciated the Ruby Weekly News for some time now. We encourage you to keep up the good work. 馃檪 Pistos > **路路路** > > -- > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/\](http://www.ruby-forum.com/%5C). ---
**Author:** ![James\_Edward\_Gray\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea5d25/32.png) [@James\_Edward\_Gray\_II](https://rubytalk.org/u/James_Edward_Gray_II)\ **Post date:** [7 April 2006 03:21 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-27th-march-2nd-april-2006/26409/7 "2006-04-07T03:21:50Z")
> ruby quiz (advanced) levels Ruby Quiz is your (the community's) quiz. I take submissions: submission@rubyquiz.com Beginners, get those problems in! > After we reach a certain level, we would like to incorporate the Ruby community as well A Ruby Quiz to add levels? 馃槂 James Edward Gray II > **路路路** > > On Apr 6, 2006, at 11:31 AM, Peter Szinek wrote: ---
**Author:** ![Benjohn\_Barnes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df705f/32.png) [@Benjohn\_Barnes](https://rubytalk.org/u/Benjohn_Barnes)\ **Post date:** [5 April 2006 21:31 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-27th-march-2nd-april-2006/26409/8 "2006-04-05T21:31:10Z")
Heh - I thought it sounded like an excellent approach! I particularly liked the idea of using the === operator (that I've started to think of as a predicate acceptance test - it makes the receiver behave as a predicate, and the argument is matched for satisfying the predicate) for the matching. Really very similar to a case statement, but extensible, I suppose. > **路路路** > > On 4 Apr 2006, at 23:13, Tim Sutherland wrote: > > > In article \<20060404213120.GB3504@tux-chan\>, Mauricio Fernandez wrote: > > > > > On Tue, Apr 04, 2006 at 07:33:48PM +0900, Tim Sutherland wrote: > > > > > > > [http://www.rubyweeklynews.org/20060402.html](http://www.rubyweeklynews.org/20060402.html) > > > > [...] > > > > > As I said under that thread, I think this (proposal for multi-method support) > > > is yet another April 1st joke. I'm subscribed to ruby-dev and the message > > > referred to in in that summary ([ruby-dev:28533]) doesn't exist: indeed, the > > > last message is [ruby-dev:28505] as of Wed, 5 Apr 2006 03:30:04 +0900. > > > > > > Maybe it would be better to clarify that for the record. > > > > I fell for it, doh! I've updated the site.