On Apr 18, 2006, at 7:28 AM, Patrick H. wrote:
- Specialized CMS (content management systems) for schools, clubs,
etc (calendaring, events, forms, contacts, etc)
I really like this idea.
James Edward G. II
On 4/17/06, Jake McArthur [email protected] wrote:
I’m also eligible, and this is right up my ally. Would love to get
involved. I’m very intently keeping up with this thread for neat
ideas, so any others would be appreciated.
+1
- Jake McArthur
Patrick H. wrote:
definitions (best guess, list of possibilities, etc)
any static analysis, but they could be “good enough”:
schema, test coverage, etc.
- A project modeled on oswd.org, but providing rails templates
(application.rhtml, css and possibly helpers). I think this would be
really popular – especially if the free templates in oswd were
“borrowed”. – A smart rails command that could pull in the templates
would make it even more appealing.
Cool ideas… I like mainly 3)
These are just ideas or you are offering some kind of mentoring also?
Peter
Patrick H. wrote:
On 4/17/06, Tanner B. [email protected] wrote:
On 4/17/06, Jake McArthur [email protected] wrote:
I’m also eligible, and this is right up my ally. Would love to get
involved. I’m very intently keeping up with this thread for neat
ideas, so any others would be appreciated.
I’m in as well. I’ll be applying as a student and I’m willing to do
pretty much anything, but here are some ideas I had (in order of my
enthusiasm :-):
-
An asynchronous networking framework for ruby. Something ala ACE or
Twisted, but in ruby with dynamic programming & closures it can be made
so much more beautiful! I think with an easy to use framework we could
see an explosion of nifty p2p & other networking utilities and apps come
out of the ruby community. This type of project would help beef up
non-blocking IO support in ruby, and provide a starting point for
creating networked apps. It could follow the lead of rails in using
standard application layouts, generators etc. so people could quickly
jump and in turn out new clients, servers, protocols, whatever. Lots of
existing libraries can be used directly or poached for code, but making
an integrated system would help a lot. Maybe a good idea to choose a
specific application to guide the development? -
Working on a more integrated documentation system would probably be
very useful. It could provide an interface to the documentation so code
completing editors (vim7, yes!) could query for information about
classes, methods etc, and it could allow for easier queries (e.g.
regexps, tab completion…) in an interactive documention browser.
Maybe something akin to the built-in help for python… Another thing I
was thinking could be cool is programmable comments for dynamic code. I
think Rdoc has a little support for declaring generators like
attr_accessor, but that could be extended so people could program their
documentation. When using generated methods or method_missing it would
be great if you could have a documentation_missing method as well…
I don’t think it would be my choice, but I was thinking of a variation
on the CMS described before. A digital secretary organizer thingy, with
a focus on making life easier to deal with rather than the same old web
based lists and calendars. So you have a data-store that holds say
calendar events and contacts for starters. Sure, throw a rails
interface on top of the DB, but I want to be able to call it and leave
it messages from my cell-phone, IM & email with it, and access it with
an API so programs can use it as a central store. It should be
pluggable so people can add new interfaces, event handlers (desktop
reminders, IM, email, phone, sms, glowing orbs, mp3, aibo dog)
whatever… As long as its clean and easily extended people will go
nuts. Lots of grunt work with a project like this though. Implementing
and/or debugging a ton of RFC based libraries for various formats of
import, export, communication etc…
But yeah, how about that number 1?
-Jeff
On 4/18/06, James Edward G. II [email protected] wrote:
On Apr 18, 2006, at 7:28 AM, Patrick H. wrote:
- Specialized CMS (content management systems) for schools, clubs,
etc (calendaring, events, forms, contacts, etc)I really like this idea.
+1
[…] ideas […]
I was struck with an idea yesterday that could theoretically be
really nice for Ruby developers. I’m sure most of us are aware of the
idea of keeping code DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself), and I think most
people that know about it don’t have too much of a problem with
following it. Another idea that programmers follow, not as well, is
to not reinvent the wheel, which for the sake of the rest of this e-
mail I will refer to as DROP (Don’t Repeat Other People).
My idea is to create an open source code repository, web site, and
set of tools designed to help people to automate the process of
factoring code out of their projects which they can all share. First,
it helps them to find instances of code that need to be DRYed or
DROPed by comparing lines of code across the entire code base in the
repository and pointing out lines that are similar to things that
have already been done before. If the programmer finds things within
his program which he repeated, then it should be a simple a matter of
factoring out to another function or class within his code to DRY it.
If he finds that somebody else has similar code, he can factor it out
into a separate “project” in the repository to DROP it. People with
similar code in the repository are notified so that they can update
their individual projects accordingly if they desire to do so.
Using code that has been factored out into these external projects
should be both easy to integrate and easy to keep up to date in each
project. Though I’m not quite sure of the mechanics of how that would
be done yet, I’m envisioning a script programmers can run that will
bring all functions and classes they are using from external projects
up to date in their own program. As it does this, it runs all the
programmer’s tests to make sure that it doesn’t break something and
pulls back to a previous revision if necessary. (As such, it would
practically be a requirement that all code that takes advantage of
this be unit tested.) This would also provide the benefit that
factored out projects can be edited by anyone, like a wiki, without
screwing everything up; any time something gets messed up or is
incompatible with some projects, somebody will see when they try to
update and can fix it themselves.
The web site would show the projects in the repository, provide a
method of discussion around the various bits of code, and give
downloads and instructions for using the resource for yourself.
My hope is that this would be a tool that could speed up development,
simplify and stabilize Ruby programs, and bring a collaborative
atmosphere even to individual projects.
- Jake McArthur
BTW, I don’t think I want this posted on the ideas page. I’m going to
be applying with this one probably! 
On 4/18/06, Peter S. [email protected] wrote:
- A ruby code browser, including heuristic linking of method calls to
not be 100% safe as there are things a programmer could do to break
browse-able documentation of the model/view/controller, data flows,
Peter
I just signed up to be a mentor with Ruby Central as the organization.
pth
Jake McArthur wrote:
My idea is to create an open source code repository, web site, and set
repository are notified so that they can update their individual
requirement that all code that takes advantage of this be unit tested.)
simplify and stabilize Ruby programs, and bring a collaborative
atmosphere even to individual projects.
Hello Jake,
Wow what a great idea. BTW. do you know the online python-cookbook?
It is a small subset of the possible results of the implementation of
the idea you describe here, of course your idea is much-much more than
this, since python cookbook is just a set of manually added code
snippets.
If you decide to implement DROP, be sure to put up a page/wiki/mailing
list something so we can track your progress and send some ideas (if you
don’t mind 
Cheers,
Peter
On 4/18/06, Phil H. [email protected] wrote:
Not to say that it’s perfect and couldn’t use more work, but I don’t
think it would keep someone busy for a whole summer. Then again,
perhaps I just don’t have enough imagination. =D-Phil
Yeah exactly like that :-),
Thanks
pth
On 4/18/06, James Edward G. II [email protected] wrote:
On Apr 18, 2006, at 7:28 AM, Patrick H. wrote:
- Specialized CMS (content management systems) for schools, clubs,
etc (calendaring, events, forms, contacts, etc)I really like this idea.
James Edward G. II
I really like this idea. I have been thinking of a similar project for a
long time. Mainly I was imagining a replacement for the current school
Course management systems. The current one I used: WebCT, BlackBoard and
Lon-capa, are ill fitted for K12 schools. And for they are not much
better
for colleges. I will probably use this idea in one of my attempts.
Nic
On Tuesday 18 April 2006 9:19 am, Jake McArthur wrote:
My idea is to create an open source code repository, web site, and
set of tools designed to help people to automate the process of
factoring code out of their projects which they can all share. First,
You might take a look at Facets: facets.rubyforge.org
Kirk H.
On Tuesday 18 April 2006 9:19 am, Jake McArthur wrote:
My idea is to create an open source code repository, web site, and
set of tools designed to help people to automate the process of
factoring code out of their projects which they can all share. First,You might take a look at Facets: facets.rubyforge.org
Facets is more of a general library. My proposal works even for the
most specific of tasks so long as two or more people end up trying to
implement them.
- Jake McArthur
On Apr 18, 2006, at 10:53 AM, Peter S. wrote:
Hello Jake,
Wow what a great idea.
Thanks.
BTW. do you know the online python-cookbook?
I’ve heard of it, but I’m not a big Python guy, so I haven’t ever
really had much reason to browse through it or use it. I mainly only
use Ruby and C, not for lack of understanding other languages, but
just because they are the only ones that actually achieve their goals
as far as I am concerned.
It is a small subset of the possible results of the implementation of
the idea you describe here, of course your idea is much-much more than
this, since python cookbook is just a set of manually added code
snippets.
Yeah. I have known of “cookbooks,” but they are really only useful if
somebody just so happens to think that something they made would be
useful to other people. Like you said, this is different. It works
for things that people are actually using and continues to improve
the entire code base over time.
If you decide to implement DROP, be sure to put up a page/wiki/mailing
list something so we can track your progress and send some ideas
(if you
don’t mind
Gladly. I will definitely be applying with it, so if any of the
mentors here want to be my mentor, that would be the guarantee that
it will happen soon. </hint hint wink wink> If it’s not accepted, it
will have to just go into my increasingly long queue of projects to
do (meaning it will take forever, possibly years, just to start… by
then I may forget).
- Jake McArthur
“Patrick H.” [email protected] writes:
On 4/17/06, Tanner B. [email protected] wrote:
6. A rails project visualizer – should generate printable (pdf?) and
browse-able documentation of the model/view/controller, data flows,
schema, test coverage, etc.
You mean like RAV?
Not to say that it’s perfect and couldn’t use more work, but I don’t
think it would keep someone busy for a whole summer. Then again,
perhaps I just don’t have enough imagination. =D
-Phil
On 4/18/06, Nicolas K. [email protected] wrote:
I really like this idea. I have been thinking of a similar project for a
long time. Mainly I was imagining a replacement for the current school
Course management systems. The current one I used: WebCT, BlackBoard and
Lon-capa, are ill fitted for K12 schools. And for they are not much better
for colleges. I will probably use this idea in one of my attempts.
Our university uses BlackBoard. It’s a mess.
[email protected] wrote:
We’re now listed, and after I finish my current travels (I’m flying
home from Canada this afternoon) I’ll be posting some information on
Ruby Central’s website, looking for mentors and ideas for projects.(But by all means keep chatting here, and I’ll harvest stuff from the
list
As I understand it, projects neither have to be from scratch nor
original ideas. Given this, I’d suggest people peruse RubyForge for
projects that were started and never finished or are unreleased. In
some cases, a helping hand to complete a useful tool, in others, a
rewrite/new project. Also, recurring ideas keep popping up on this list
when new people join: 'Do you have something equivalent to [language
x]‘s [library]?’
I’d love to see someone throw in a helping hand making wxRuby2’s
interface more Ruby-like. I’d also like to see a cross-platform RAD
tool in Ruby (a la Delphi).
Roy
On Tuesday 18 April 2006 4:10 pm, Gregory B. wrote:
Our university uses BlackBoard. It’s a mess.
Take a look at Moodle. It is implemented in PHP, but is a pretty decent
piece
of software, and one could do well to learn from their experience
building
that product.
Kirk H.
I’ll second Moodle … only problem with it is that it’s written in PHP,
not Ruby/Rails. 
It’s a piece of cake to get up and running. In fact, if you’re willing
to wait a couple of days, I’ll have a VMWare virtual machine with a
complete Gentoo Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP/Moodle stack up on my web site.
It’s queued up behind a similar virtual machine with a Rails stack.
Nicolas K. wrote:
decent piece of software, and one could do well to learn from their
Nic
–
M. Edward (Ed) Borasky
On 4/18/06, Roy S. [email protected] wrote:
[email protected] wrote:
We’re now listed, and after I finish my current travels (I’m flying
home from Canada this afternoon) I’ll be posting some information on
Ruby Central’s website, looking for mentors and ideas for projects.(But by all means keep chatting here, and I’ll harvest stuff from the
list
As I understand it, projects neither have to be from scratch nor
original ideas. Given this, I’d suggest people peruse RubyForge for
projects that were started and never finished or are unreleased.
Maybe someone would like to pick up rwb. I’m happy to provide help,
pointers, cheerleading, etc.
[deleted]
Roy
–
thanks,
-pate