# Ruby Weekly News 6th - 12th December 2004 **URL:** \ **Category:** ruby-talk\ **Created:** [14 December 2004 08:57 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-6th-12th-december-2004/15289 "2004-12-14T08:57:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **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:** [14 December 2004 08:57 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-6th-12th-december-2004/15289/1 "2004-12-14T08:57:21Z")
[http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyNews/2004-12-06](http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyNews/2004-12-06)                    Ruby Weekly News 6th - 12th December 2004 > **路路路** > > ----------------------------------------- > >    A summary of the week's activity on the ruby-talk mailing list / the >    comp.lang.ruby newsgroup. This summary is brought to you by Tim Sutherland >    (TimSuth). > > Articles and Announcements > -------------------------- > >      \* [Duck Images Weekly News] > >            [whytheluckystiff] parodied the Ruby Weekly News in response to a >            comment from Dave Burt that [last week's RubyNews] failed to >            include the [Duck Images thread]. Your editor gets the last >            laugh(?) though, the second post in that thread wasn't until the >            6th of December, meaning it falls inside this week's summary. See >            Threads for more duck news. > >      \* [RMagick pre-requisite changes] > >            Tim Hunter gave a "heads up" that future versions of the image >            library [RMagick] (a Ruby interface to ImageMagick and >            GraphicsMagick) will no longer be tested with versions of >            ImageMagick earlier than 6.0.0 and may cease to work with them. > >      \* [ruby-dev summary] > >            SASADA Koichi posted the latest English summary of the Japanese >            list ruby-dev, covering messages 24959-25044. > >      \* [RSS, Ruby, and the Web] > >            Tom Copeland reported that this month's Dr. Dobb's Journal has an >            article by Dave Thomas on [RSS, Ruby, and the Web]. >            (Pay-subscription required to view the article on the web.) > >      \* [Dynamic Java: Sun explores dynamic languages] > >            James Britt noticed that Sun is [exploring] how to better support >            dynamic languages on the Java platform. There was a meeting which >            included creators/maintainers from Perl, Python, Jython, Groovy >            and Parrot. No Ruby representative, but Ruby will benefit from any >            improvements in this area. > >      \* [Want to Write a Book?] > >            Dave Thomas wants to launch a series of books from the Pragmatic >            Bookshelf called "Facets of Ruby". These will be small, focused, >            technical books on different aspects of Ruby. He's looking for >            writers for them - this is your opportunity to become an author! >            "The intent is to create a series of books with a deeply practical >            focus. We won't just document APIs. Instead, we want to show how >            to get \_value\_ from those APIs---how to solve real-world problems. >            The books will probably be 100-250 pages long, and full of code." > >      \* [A neat article on Rails performance...] > >            Tom Copeland drew the group's attention to an article [Session >            Container Performance in Ruby on Rails] by "Scott Barron of >            EliteJournal fame". > >      \* [Development Assistance] > >            Austin Ziegler asked for volunteers to help enhance some of the >            libraries he maintains: MIME::Types, Diff::LCS and PDF::Writer. > > Threads > ------- > >    Interesting threads this week included: > >   [Duck images] >   ------------- > >    Dave Burt wrote: > >   "Phil Tomson recently suggested developing a duck image to represent ruby >   instead of the standard red stone thing. >     >   Nikolai Weibull said this has been proposed before, but copyright >   encumbrance has been an issue." > >    The duck, of course, refers to DuckTyping (coined by Dave Thomas), the >    notion that the "type" of an object in Ruby should be seen in terms of the >    capabilities and methods it supports rather than its class - if it walks >    like a duck and quacks like a duck then it's a duck. (This is a well-known >    saying in the English language.) > >    Dave Burt continued, announcing that whytheluckystiff had heard the cries >    for help and used his artistic skills to create [The Only Copyrightless >    Duck In Recent History]. > >    The thread began with a small ASCII-art version of whytheluckystiff's >    duck. Dave also posted a larger version using a short program he wrote >    (img2ascii.rb) that used the [ruby-gd] library to automatically convert >    the original image to ASCII. T. Onoma gave an alternative that was >    constructed with [Jave] (Java ASCII Versatile Editor). > >    whytheluckystiff: > >   "I'm amazed at the progress that has been made in just the last 12 >   hours. If you'd like to start using any of these ducks, in the form of >   a one-line signature, here's a DRb line: >     >   ruby -rdrb -e >   'DRb.start\_service;duck=DRbObject.new(nil, >   "druby://whytheluckystiff.net:6503");puts duck.daves' >     >   Several other ducks are available at this service, try "puts duck.toms" >   or "puts duck.on\_the\_water". For a complete list: "puts duck.list". >     >   Think of it. In time, we could amass ducks to use them as currency on >   the global markets. I think we can take Switzerland." > >    Combining duck images with the idea of Ruby code in signatures for email >    and newsgroups (see the Previous RubyNews), Florian Frank gave three lines >    of Ruby that produce an animated duck swimming on water and quacking. Many >    people began going back and forth making it shorter. Jannis Harder posted >    one in 108 characters: > >   i=1;loop{puts"\e[2J\e[;11H\_\n%9s(\*)\_\_\_\_,\n%9s(` =~~/ >   #{'~^~'[i%=2,2]\*9}"%[i\>0?'\<':'Quack! \>',''];i+=sleep 1} > >   [Ruby (quiz?) simulation idea] >   ------------------------------ > >    Hal Fulton had an idea for a future Ruby Quiz: write a program that models >    a population of living creatures (similar to Conway's Life) as a grid of >    squares with moving critters who can mate and produce offspring with >    different genes. The program would determine when (if ever?) the genotype >    frequencies of the population stabilised, using two different methods - by >    running the simulation and also by using mathematics to predict the time >    when equilibrium occurs. James Edward Gray II (the Ruby Quiz organiser) >    thought that coming up with the mathematics could be left for >    "extra-credit", saying "Some of us are easily pleased and would be content >    watching little dots move around and multiply." > >    Brian Schr枚der had heard of an example of evolution using bats: > >   "I'd like to propose something a bit different that stresses the fact that >   evolution is \_not\_ survival of the \_strongest\_ but survival of the \_fittest >   population\_. >   ... >   A bat may share the blood it has gathered through the night with another bat >   that had no success. But why should it? If it shares, it needs to gather >   successfully the next night, otherwise it will starve. So it diminusishes its >   strength and helps a rival, whose genes will have a better chance to spread. >   Wouldn't it be better off being egoistic and increasing its survival >   possibility? >     >   In practice, the bats developed some kind of "tit for tat" algorithm. So it is >   \_for the population with this trait\_ an evolutionary positive trait to be >   altruistic." > >    Ducks, bats, [foxes]! What other animals will be co-opted for nefarious >    Ruby uses next? > >   [[SUMMARY] Crosswords (#10)] >   ---------------------------- > >    James Edward Gray II summarised the solutions to last week's Ruby >    Quiz (turning a crossword layout description into an ASCII-art >    format). One interesting solution was Pit Capitain's, whose code >    includes a method String#gsub2! which uses two-dimensional regular >    expressions! > >   [[QUIZ] Learning Tic-Tac-Toe (#11)] >   ----------------------------------- > >    The latest installment in the adventures of [Ruby Quiz] began with our >    narrator (James Edward Gray II)... > >   "This week's Ruby Quiz is to implement an AI for playing Tic-Tac-Toe, with a >   catch: You're not allowed to embed any knowledge of the game into your >   creation beyond how to make legal moves and recognizing that it has won or >   lost. >     >   Your program is expected to "learn" from the games it plays, until it masters >   the game and can play flawlessly." > >    Jannis Harder posted a special signature for the occasion. You'll have to >    run it to see what it does! > >   "bp6siZmijp5CiZlCiW5CgAAChpbiiZYiiZZCi5aCZ2bs".unpack("m")[0]. >   unpack("C\*").map{|x|x.chr}.join.unpack("B\*")[0].scan(/.{24}/){i=7 >   $&.scan(/..../){print"\e[3#{i-=1};1;40m ";$&.each\_byte{|z| >   print" #"[z-?0,1]\*2}};puts"\e[0m"} > >    People posted their solutions under the same thread. > >   [IOWA book ideas] >   ----------------- > >    Stefan Schmiedl received positive feedback on his idea of writing a book >    on the [IOWA] web application framework. He invited more comments on what >    chapters people want in the book, listing some ideas he had. > >   [Wiki Spam Report] >   ------------------ > >    Jim Weirich reported on the status of efforts to free the RubyGarden Wiki >    from spam. > >   "Spammers are automatically routed to a wiki tarpit. The tarpit is an >   (almost) exact copy of the real RubyGarden wiki. Making changes to >   the tarpit looks as if you are making changes to the real wiki. And >   since spammers get their pages from the wiki, it looks like (to them) >   that they have successfully spammed our site." > >    This technique appears to be working very well. > >   [Hash freezes String keys are returns copy] >   ------------------------------------------- > >    Michael Neumann noticed that Hashes seem to behave differently with keys >    that are Strings compared to other objects. If you try to get back the >    String (e.g. with Hash#each or Hash#keys) a frozen-copy of the original >    String is returned. > >    ts explained: > >   "this is made volontary for efficienty : otherwise each time that you >   modify an object, used as a key, ruby will need to re-hash the hash if you >   don't want to have strange result like the example that I've given >     >   In reality when you write >     >     a = "test" >     hash[a] = "test" >     >   the key and `a' share the same string, but `a' is marked copy-on-write" > >    Robert Klemme added: > >   "Yes, it's a special optimization for string keys. You can get your original >   out if you freeze it before putting it into the hash. 馃檪 In fact, that >   might be a performance optimization if you put \*a lot\* string keys into the >   hash. >     >   Because copying an instance is relatively expensive this pattern was not >   adopted generally, i.e. you have to take care of Array and other keys >   yourself. Note also, that you need to rehash if you change your array >   instance after using it as Hash key." > > New Releases > ------------ > >      \* [RubyGems 0.8.3] > >            Jim Weirich announced the latest version of the [RubyGems] package >            management system, fixing some annoying bugs, including a >            workaround for the "string contains null byte" error several >            people have reported seeing. Over 150 Ruby libraries or >            applications are now available as gems. > >      \* [ParseTree 1.3.0] > >            Ryan Davis wrote "[ParseTree] is a C extension (using RubyInline) >            that extracts the parse tree for an entire class or a specific >            method and returns it as a s-expression (aka sexp) using ruby's >            arrays, strings, symbols, and integers." This release features >            improved debugging messages and more nodes. > >      \* [RubyScript2Exe 0.2.0] > >            Erik Veenstra updated [RubyScript2Exe]. This is a tool that >            transforms a Ruby program into a single executable that includes >            it along with the Ruby interpreter and necessary libraries, >            simplifying deployment. It works in Windows and Linux. There was >            some discussion on how to make this work with libraries that are >            loaded with RubyGems. > >      \* [Ruby/Extensions v0.6.0] > >            Gavin Sinclair was pleased to announce a new version of >            [Ruby/Extensions], a set of additional methods for Ruby's standard >            classes. New methods in this release include Array#rand for >            selecting a random item from an Array, Array#one? and Array#none?. >            require\_relative was also added. > >      \* [RPA completion for bash: 12/08/04] > >            Brian Schr枚der issued an improved [RPA Completion], a tool that >            allows the bash shell to do tab-completion for RPA packages. >            Within an hour of the announcement, Mauricio Fern谩ndez had >            included the new version in RPA. An interesting feature of the >            [RPA Completion homepage] is an animated image at the top which >            demonstrates the use of RPA Completion. This is something that >            other developers may find useful for their sites. > >      \* [Jabber-RPC] [Jabber-RPC 0.1.0] > >            Massimiliano Mirra created a new library called [Jabber-RPC]. This >            makes it easy to do RPC (remote-procedure-calls) over the Jabber >            instant-messaging system. An update was later [announced], fixing >            the example code and removing the dependency on expat. >            Subsequently, version 0.1.0 was released with further changes. > >      \* [ruby-sphere-0.1.0] > >            Daigo Tomono announced the first release of [ruby-sphere], a set >            of libraries and tools for calculating the apparent position of >            stars. This can be used for planning astronomical observations. > >      \* [TeX::Hyphen 0.4.0] > >            Austin Ziegler had great pleasure in announcing a new version of >            [TeX::Hyphen]. This is the last planned release of the library - a >            replacement will be created to enable support of non-US >            hyphenation definitions. > >      \* [Nitro 0.6.0] > >            George Moschovitis announced a preview of the next version of the >            [Nitro] web application framework. George invited people to email >            him concerning the new logo (see the top of the [Nitro homepage]). > >      \* [DBus/Ruby 0.1.7] [DBus/Ruby 0.1.8] > >            Leon Breedt fixed some bugs that could result in crashes in >            [DBus/Ruby], a Ruby interface to the D-BUS message bus system. > >      \* [FreeRIDE 0.9.2] > >            Laurent Julliard announced version 0.9.2 of the Free Ruby IDE >            [FreeRIDE]. A number of bugs have been fixed. In the thread Curt >            Hibbs lists possible enhancements that the community could >            contribute to FreeRIDE. > >      \* [ruby-growl] > >            Eric Hodel created [ruby-growl], a platform-independent system for >            generating [Growl] messages. Growl is a notification system for >            MacOS X. Applications use it to display messages on the screen. > >      \* [vflow 0.2 beta] > >            jm wrote "[Vflow] is a netflow processing library for ruby similar >            to Cflow (perl) and pyflowtool (python) for use with flow-tools". >            Stability problems have been fixed in this release. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_Sutherland1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Tim\_Sutherland1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Tim_Sutherland1)\ **Post date:** [14 December 2004 09:07 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-6th-12th-december-2004/15289/2 "2004-12-14T09:07:23Z")
> [http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyNews/2004-12-06](http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyNews/2004-12-06) [...] > [Hash freezes String keys are returns copy] [...] >     \* [ruby-growl] [...] >     \* [vflow 0.2 beta] I was a bit "naughty" this week and included some posts that were from \_this\_ week (Monday/Tuesday) rather than the Monday-Sunday of last week. I blame the google groups beta! Watch for next week's RubyNews when I forget all about this and accidently repost some of these 馃檪 > **路路路** > > In article \, Tim Sutherland wrote: ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Burt2](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/rubytalk.org/dave_burt2/32/2036_2.png) [@Dave\_Burt2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Dave_Burt2)\ **Post date:** [14 December 2004 09:27 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-6th-12th-december-2004/15289/3 "2004-12-14T09:27:19Z")
Thanks again for the news, Tim. Just to correct a couple of factual errors, all in this paragraph: Tim Sutherland, Ruby Weekly News 6th - 12th December 2004: >   The thread began with a small ASCII-art version of whytheluckystiff's >   duck. Dave also posted a larger version using a short program he wrote >   (img2ascii.rb) that used the [ruby-gd] library to automatically convert >   the original image to ASCII. T. Onoma gave an alternative that was >   constructed with [Jave] (Java ASCII Versatile Editor). I've changed the paragraph on RubyGarden to the following: The thread began with a small ASCII-art version of whytheluckystiff's duck. T. Onoma posted a larger ASCII-art version, generated from whytheluckystiff's image. Dave posted a short program ([img2ascii.rb]) that used the [ruby-gd] library to automatically convert the original image to ASCII, and an alternative big ASCII-art duck that was constructed with [Jave] (Java ASCII Versatile Editor). The latest Ruby Weekly News is still at: > **[WebMD - Better information. Better health.](https://www.webmd.com/?RubyNews%2F2004-12-06)** > > The leading source for trustworthy and timely health and medical news and information. Providing credible health information, supportive community, and educational services by blending award-winning expertise in content, community services, expert... Cheers, Dave ---
**Author:** ![T\_Onoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@T\_Onoma](https://rubytalk.org/u/T_Onoma)\ **Post date:** [14 December 2004 12:05 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-6th-12th-december-2004/15289/4 "2004-12-14T12:05:08Z")
That's good. But why did you not credit yourself? Isn't that final large-ascii version your doing? T. > **路路路** > > On Tuesday 14 December 2004 04:27 am, Dave Burt wrote: > > > I've changed the paragraph on RubyGarden to the following: > > > > The thread began with a small ASCII-art version of whytheluckystiff's duck. > > T. Onoma posted a larger ASCII-art version, generated from > > whytheluckystiff's image. Dave posted a short program ([img2ascii.rb]) that > > used the [ruby-gd] library to automatically convert the original image to > > ASCII, and an alternative big ASCII-art duck that was constructed with > > [Jave] (Java ASCII Versatile Editor). > > > > The latest Ruby Weekly News is still at: > > [http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyNews/2004-12-06](http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RubyNews/2004-12-06) ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Burt2](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/rubytalk.org/dave_burt2/32/2036_2.png) [@Dave\_Burt2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Dave_Burt2)\ **Post date:** [14 December 2004 12:32 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-6th-12th-december-2004/15289/5 "2004-12-14T12:32:19Z")
"trans. (T. Onoma)" \ wrote... > \> ... Dave posted a short program ([img2ascii.rb]) that > \> used the [ruby-gd] library to automatically convert the original image > to > \> ASCII, and an alternative big ASCII-art duck that was constructed with > \> [Jave] (Java ASCII Versatile Editor). > > That's good. But why did you not credit yourself? Isn't that final > large-ascii > version your doing? I don't know how much credit I can take for "Dave's duck": ruby -rdrb -e "DRb.start\_service;duck=DRbObject.new(nil, 'druby://whytheluckystiff.net:6503');puts duck.daves" Why the lucky stiff drew it, and some software I found turned it into ASCII with a bit of configurification by me. But I did claim to have posted it: "Dave posted ..., and an alternative big ASCII-art duck that was ..." Feel free to improve this text if it's unclear. Cheers, Dave ruby -rdrb -e "DRb.start\_service;duck=DRbObject.new(nil, 'druby://whytheluckystiff.net:6503');puts duck.squirrel" # it's mine, all mine, ya hear! > **路路路** > > > On Tuesday 14 December 2004 04:27 am, Dave Burt wrote: ---
**Author:** ![T\_Onoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@T\_Onoma](https://rubytalk.org/u/T_Onoma)\ **Post date:** [14 December 2004 12:38 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-6th-12th-december-2004/15289/6 "2004-12-14T12:38:00Z")
Oops. Never mind. I misread as:   ASCII. And an alternative big ASCII-art duck was constructed with   [Jave] (Java ASCII Versatile Editor). Silly me. T. > **路路路** > > On Tuesday 14 December 2004 07:32 am, Dave Burt wrote: > > > "trans. (T. Onoma)" \ wrote... > > > > \> On Tuesday 14 December 2004 04:27 am, Dave Burt wrote: > > \> \> ... Dave posted a short program ([img2ascii.rb]) that > > \> \> used the [ruby-gd] library to automatically convert the original image > > \> > > \> to > > \> > > \> \> ASCII, and an alternative big ASCII-art duck that was constructed with > > \> \> [Jave] (Java ASCII Versatile Editor). > > \> > > \> That's good. But why did you not credit yourself? Isn't that final > > \> large-ascii > > \> version your doing? > > > > I don't know how much credit I can take for "Dave's duck": > > ruby -rdrb -e "DRb.start\_service;duck=DRbObject.new(nil, > > 'druby://whytheluckystiff.net:6503');puts duck.daves" > > > > Why the lucky stiff drew it, and some software I found turned it into ASCII > > with a bit of configurification by me. > > > > But I did claim to have posted it: > > "Dave posted ..., and an alternative big ASCII-art duck that was ..." > > > > Feel free to improve this text if it's unclear. ---
**Author:** ![why\_the\_lucky\_stiff1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/898d66/32.png) [@why\_the\_lucky\_stiff1](https://rubytalk.org/u/why_the_lucky_stiff1)\ **Post date:** [14 December 2004 16:16 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ruby-weekly-news-6th-12th-december-2004/15289/7 "2004-12-14T16:16:29Z")
Dave Burt wrote: > I don't know how much credit I can take for "Dave's duck": > ruby -rdrb -e "DRb.start\_service;duck=DRbObject.new(nil, 'druby://whytheluckystiff.net:6503');puts duck.daves" > > Why the lucky stiff drew it, and some software I found turned it into ASCII with a bit of configurification by me. I know how thankless a job rendering ducks is. Believe me, we're all applauding. And this cheering throng is looking at you, Dave. You. Geesh. Humility on ruby-talk is so old school. \_why