School teacher still at it learning programming language

[Hilary Bailey]

Now I while glimpsing at the beauty of Ruby, there is the software of
Rails. I downloaded it from from the c:\ using gem install rails, then
typed in rails mydiary and got a whole lot of create ...... listing.
NOW, how do I use Rails. Is it a program that I can see and maneuver
from Windows (like Excel), or from SciTe or fxri. Where do I go from
here. Note I am using the ref book: Beginning Ruby from Novice to
Professional.

 

[Samuel Williams]

Dear Hilary,

Can you explain what your goal is?

Are you trying to make a web application, or are you simply interested =
to learn more about Ruby?

Kind regards,
Samuel

 

[Josh Cheek]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Now I while glimpsing at the beauty of Ruby, there is the software of
Rails. I downloaded it from from the c:\ using gem install rails, then
typed in rails mydiary and got a whole lot of create ...... listing.
NOW, how do I use Rails. Is it a program that I can see and maneuver
from Windows (like Excel), or from SciTe or fxri. Where do I go from
here. Note I am using the ref book: Beginning Ruby from Novice to
Professional.

Rails is a framework for programming web applications. That means it helps
you write a Ruby program that works on the internet (in your case, you write
it in SciTe, though I'm not sure whether SciTe is able to deal with large
directories very well). So you're writing your files in SciTe, but it also
provides you a bunch of command line utilities. You can see them in the
folder mydiary/script, and a bunch of rake tasks you can get from the
command line with $ rake -T

If I were to try and explain it in a sentence, I'd say it's a bunch of
conventions, libraries, and tools for building a web application.

If this is really what you want to do, I suggest you start with Sinatra and
move up to Rails when you are ready, Rails is big and full of magic. But if
you really want to learn Rails, then the best resource I know of is the
guides http://guides.rubyonrails.org/ They are really exceptionally well
done. There is a lot of reading in there, but it's packed full of relevant
information, well organized, and presented in such a way to be easier to
consume.

 

[Brian Candler]

Now I while glimpsing at the beauty of Ruby, there is the software of
Rails. I downloaded it from from the c:\ using gem install rails, then
typed in rails mydiary and got a whole lot of create ...... listing.
NOW, how do I use Rails.

Rails is a web application framework. By typing "rails mydiary" you have
created an empty application called "mydiary". If you cd into that
directory, you can start it running (ruby script/server) and then point
browser to http://127.0.0.1:3000/ to see it. But it won't be useful
until you add your own behaviour to it.

For an old but still useful introduction see:
http://oreilly.com/ruby/archive/rails-revisited.html

Note that Rails is a big piece of software in its own right, which just
happens to be written in Ruby. So if you have problems with any
components of Rails (e.g. Rails scripts, classes, helper methods,
controllers, views), you would be best off asking them on a Rails
mailing list.

If you find even Rails doesn't do enough work for you out-of-the-box,
have a look at http://hobocentral.net/. But you probably want to
understand Rails first.

 

[Hilary Bailey]

Dear Hilary,

Can you explain what your goal is?

Are you trying to make a web application, or are you simply interested
to learn more about Ruby?

Kind regards,
Samuel

Dear Samuel,

For the last 19 years of teaching I have being toying with an efficient
way of accounting for students accomplishment/results. This idea has now
grown to the creation (in rough sketches using excel spreadsheets) of a
monster program that determines a school district success. It includes
educational, financial and economic analysis which determines how well a
school district has been doing.

In my past, friends who have the background in writing software have
been disappointing, therefore, why not write it myself. I was advised
by an open source commentator to try Ruby. So, here I am on a mission to
learn a programming language that will allow me to express my 19 year
old idea. I was also told that while learning Ruby, Rails will help, as
it can disperse info etc..

Any suggestions?

Thank's in advance,

HIlary

 

[Samuel Williams]

Dear Hilary,

If you are new to Ruby I recommend the following page:
http://programming.dojo.net.nz/languages/ruby/index

It has links to good beginner tutorials and related information.

I recommend you look at YAML for storing, processing and outputting =
data. It integrates with Ruby very easily and reduces the complexity of =
handing data.

Secondly, I recommend you avoid Rails to begin with unless you are =
specifically after a web based interface. Once you've got your ideas =
working (i.e. data processing) it is easy to add a web interface. So, =
for now focus on the data processing.

Thus, I recommend writing a set of shell scripts to process your data =
and produce results. This is an easy target to begin with and you can =
improve it from there - i.e. add a GUI or web front end - whatever suits =
you.

Once you've got your basic processing algorithm in place, I recommend =
you investigate either Rake or optparse - these both allow you to make =
more complex shell scripts with options and configuration - for example:

With optparse:
$ ./process_data.rb --districts a,b,c --method=3Daverage =
--ignore-subjects=3Dscience

With rake:

$ rake process_districts[a b c]

You will likely end up refactoring the code eventually anyway - start =
simple and go from there!

Kind regards,
Samuel

=20
Dear Samuel,
=20
For the last 19 years of teaching I have being toying with an = efficient=20
way of accounting for students accomplishment/results. This idea has = now=20
grown to the creation (in rough sketches using excel spreadsheets) of = a=20
monster program that determines a school district success. It includes=20=

educational, financial and economic analysis which determines how well = a=20
school district has been doing.
=20
In my past, friends who have the background in writing software have=20=

been disappointing, therefore, why not write it myself. I was advised=20=

 

[Hilary Bailey]

Dear Hilary,

If you are new to Ruby I recommend the following page:
http://programming.dojo.net.nz/languages/ruby/index

It has links to good beginner tutorials and related information.

I recommend you look at YAML for storing, processing and outputting
data. It integrates with Ruby very easily and reduces the complexity of
handing data.

Secondly, I recommend you avoid Rails to begin with unless you are
specifically after a web based interface. Once you've got your ideas
working (i.e. data processing) it is easy to add a web interface. So,
for now focus on the data processing.

Thus, I recommend writing a set of shell scripts to process your data
and produce results. This is an easy target to begin with and you can
improve it from there - i.e. add a GUI or web front end - whatever suits
you.

Once you've got your basic processing algorithm in place, I recommend
you investigate either Rake or optparse - these both allow you to make
more complex shell scripts with options and configuration - for example:

With optparse:
$ ./process_data.rb --districts a,b,c --method=average
--ignore-subjects=science

With rake:

$ rake process_districts[a b c]

You will likely end up refactoring the code eventually anyway - start
simple and go from there!

Kind regards,
Samuel

Dear Samuel,
Thanks for such detail guide. I just opened the link and will use it as
a guide. Someone recommended that at some point I should use Shoes. Do
you know what kind of program this is? Is it similar to Excel,Rake or
YAML?

Once again thank you for such detailed guide.

Yours truly,

Hilary

 

[Samuel Williams]

Dear Hilary,

I wouldn't recommend using Shoes for what you are trying to do. Shoes is =
a way to display content on the screen using windows, text, buttons, =
etc. I'd recommend that you get the algorithm and data processing =
working first, and then make the web application later.

Kind regards,
Samuel

Dear Hilary,
=20
If you are new to Ruby I recommend the following page:
http://programming.dojo.net.nz/languages/ruby/index
=20
It has links to good beginner tutorials and related information.
=20
I recommend you look at YAML for storing, processing and outputting=20=
data. It integrates with Ruby very easily and reduces the complexity = of=20
handing data.
=20
Secondly, I recommend you avoid Rails to begin with unless you are=20
specifically after a web based interface. Once you've got your ideas=20=
working (i.e. data processing) it is easy to add a web interface. So,=20=
for now focus on the data processing.
=20
Thus, I recommend writing a set of shell scripts to process your data=20=
and produce results. This is an easy target to begin with and you can=20=
improve it from there - i.e. add a GUI or web front end - whatever = suits=20
you.
=20
Once you've got your basic processing algorithm in place, I recommend=20=
you investigate either Rake or optparse - these both allow you to = make=20
more complex shell scripts with options and configuration - for = example:
=20
With optparse:
$ ./process_data.rb --districts a,b,c --method=3Daverage=20
--ignore-subjects=3Dscience
=20
With rake:
=20
$ rake process_districts[a b c]
=20
You will likely end up refactoring the code eventually anyway - start=20=
simple and go from there!
=20
Kind regards,
Samuel

=20
Dear Samuel,
Thanks for such detail guide. I just opened the link and will use it = as=20
a guide. Someone recommended that at some point I should use Shoes. Do=20=

 

[Hilary Bailey]

Dear Hilary,

I wouldn't recommend using Shoes for what you are trying to do. Shoes is
a way to display content on the screen using windows, text, buttons,
etc. I'd recommend that you get the algorithm and data processing
working first, and then make the web application later.

Kind regards,
Samuel

Dear Samuel and the entire OpenSource community

In my education of Ruby, I am now at the section that deals with Shoes.
Do you know of an installation site, and if such, which Shoes version
should I use. Recall I am trying to write an education desktop software
that will be used as a data base to generate analysis and predictions.

Thanking you in advance,
Hilary

 

[Steve Klabnik]

Hey Hilary-

As of right this second, you should be using Shoes 2 ("Raisins"),
which you can download here: http://shoes.heroku.com/downloads

Shoes 3 ("Policeman") isn't quite ready yet... but it will be soon! If
you wait another week or so, we're putting the final touches on for
release.

-Steve

 

[Hilary Bailey]

Hey Hilary-

As of right this second, you should be using Shoes 2 ("Raisins"),
which you can download here: http://shoes.heroku.com/downloads

Shoes 3 ("Policeman") isn't quite ready yet... but it will be soon! If
you wait another week or so, we're putting the final touches on for
release.

-Steve

Thanks a $llion Steve. So far it looks very inviting to read.

Hilary