Folks:
I’ve uplaoded the B1.05 version of AWDwR. It fixes a number of
reported errata (and a few that weren’t reported :), and
adds two significant changes:
-
It now uses the new Active Record decimal -> BigDecimal
conversion. I’ve personally been waiting for this for a long
time, and I’m really happy it’s now part of core. However,
this code is not yet part of a released Gem, so if you want to
use the feature, you’ll need to install Edge Rails. This change
affects the entire Depot application, the Testing chapter,
and numerous examples in the Active Record chapters. Speaking
of which…
-
I’ve now reworked the Active Record chapters. You’ll find there’s
a brand new chapter (making three Acctive Record chapters in all),
and things have moved around a lot. I’ve documented all the
new association methods, changes to validation, and have new
sections on with_scope and polymorphic associations. I believe these
new chapters are now more up-to-date than the Rails documentation
itself.
Sorry it has taken so long—Active Record is complex, and I’d
forgotten how
long it takes to work through it.
Cheers
Dave
That settles it, I’m upgrading my first edition right away… 
Dave T. wrote:
Folks:
I’ve uplaoded the B1.05 version of AWDwR. It fixes a number of
reported errata (and a few that weren’t reported :), and
adds two significant changes:
This is why I like you. Keep up the great work.
Bill
Superb! Any idea when we’ll be able to hold this in our hands? Having
the PDF as it is written is great so we can keep up with new Rails
features. But I really do prefer reading about it on paper.
I’ve got the update and it’s clearly the 2nd edition.
Is this refering the 2nd edition AWDwR, or does B1.05 refer to the 1st
Edition?
Thanks for the clarification.
-Larry
On Jul 22, 2006, at 1:39 AM, Cynthia K. wrote:
Superb! Any idea when we’ll be able to hold this in our hands? Having
the PDF as it is written is great so we can keep up with new Rails
features. But I really do prefer reading about it on paper.
I’d love to hold it in my hands, too…
I’m about 2/3rds the may through the revision: so far about 700-800
hours in. I’m hoping that it will start going a little bit faster,
but to some extent I’m at the mercy of the core team and the new
features they add. The BigDecimal change, for example, took about 20
hours to apply. SimplyRestful will be a big one, too.
One of the nice things about the beta PDF is that I ca release stuff
incrementally like this.
I’m still hoping for the book to be done in the fall.
Dave
On Jul 22, 2006, at 11:41 AM, Larry K. wrote:
Is this refering the 2nd edition AWDwR, or does B1.05 refer to the
1st Edition?
Sorry, I should have made it clear that this is the second edition,
which is in beta.
Dave
<…>
The BigDecimal change, for example, took about 20
hours to apply. SimplyRestful will be a big one, too.
Am I right thinking that 2nd edition targets Rails 1.2?
Regards,
Rimantas
http://rimantas.com/
I am somewhat dissapointed to hear that the extensivity of the
documentation
is now going into the near “official” book rather than into the manual
itself? I understand the marketing of it, the book is better than the
docs,
but should it be? Would be excellent to hear someone so close to the
core-team be able to muster the ability to get the new information
available
to all.
-NSHB
On 7/21/06, Dave T. [email protected] wrote:
- I’ve now reworked the Active Record chapters. You’ll find there’s
a brand new chapter (making three Acctive Record chapters in all),
and things have moved around a lot. I’ve documented all the
new association methods, changes to validation, and have new
sections on with_scope and polymorphic associations. I believe these
new chapters are now more up-to-date than the Rails documentation
itself.
–
Kind regards,
Nathaniel B.
President & CEO
Inimit Innovations Inc. - http://inimit.com
On Jul 22, 2006, at 12:41 PM, Rimantas L. wrote:
Am I right thinking that 2nd edition targets Rails 1.2?
With BigDecimal, I went slightly ahead of the curve, as it’s a
feature not in 1.1. However it was important enough that I felt I had
to include it, and then assume that 1.2 would be out fairly soon.
Cheers
Dave
On Jul 22, 2006, at 1:04 PM, Nathaniel B. wrote:
I am somewhat dissapointed to hear that the extensivity of the
documentation is now going into the near “official” book rather
than into the manual itself? I understand the marketing of it, the
book is better than the docs, but should it be? Would be excellent
to hear someone so close to the core-team be able to muster the
ability to get the new information available to all.
I’m not sure you should take it this way: this isn’t a marketing
issue. I’s simply that the core team are busy, and some of the RDoc
has not yet been updated to reflect changes they’ve made. When I
updated the book, I read the source code and extracted APIs and
behaviors from it.
This isn’t a sinister plot: I just worked hard to make the book useful.
Remember also that AWDwR is not intended to be an API reference. For
the API, you need the RDoc. And I’m sure the core team would value
folks helping to keep that up to date.
Cheers
Dave
+1
I agree. I’ve purchased AWDwR ( 1.0) and other Ruby/Rails books to
understand how to use the methodology better, and will probably get the
AWDwR 2.0 Betabook as well 'cause that’s where the information is.
But, I think I’m like a lot of people who are trying to use a changing
system. The first place I expect to find documentation on a new feature
is
in the manual. I look to the books for clarifications, explanations,
tutorials, recipies, tips and tricks, best practices, etc. In essence,
the
manual should at least describe what it is.
Please take this in the spirit in which it was given. A commentary, and
opinion, and some wishfull thinking.
-Larry
I’ve been looking through the latest rev and it looks great! I’m also
gratified to hear that you are going to include SimplyRestful and other
“ahead of the curve” concepts. I’m very keen on ways that make consuming
(and providing) REST services even easier. Will Active Resource make it
into
this edition at all or is that too far ahead of the curve?
On Jul 22, 2006, at 2:43 PM, Brian H. wrote:
I’ve been looking through the latest rev and it looks great! I’m
also gratified to hear that you are going to include SimplyRestful
and other “ahead of the curve” concepts. I’m very keen on ways that
make consuming (and providing) REST services even easier. Will
Active Resource make it into this edition at all or is that too far
ahead of the curve?
I’m not sure: my main concern is not to be wrong: if I document the
API, and then it changes a month later after the book’s in print,
that’s bad (it happened to me with the 1st edition testing chapter
when they changed the defaults). So I’ll take a view on the
stability as I get closer to documenting it.
Dave
On Jul 22, 2006, at 2:32 PM, Larry K. wrote:
But, I think I’m like a lot of people who are trying to use a
changing system. The first place I expect to find documentation on
a new feature is in the manual. I look to the books for
clarifications, explanations, tutorials, recipies, tips and tricks,
best practices, etc. In essence, the manual should at least
describe what it is.
Please take this in the spirit in which it was given. A
commentary, and opinion, and some wishfull thinking.
I agree 100%, but I’m not a Rails committer, and have no control over
what goes into the API documentation. I’m in the same boat as you
when it comes to learning what’s new. I just try to document stuff as
I find it.
Cheers
Dave
I just want to say a big thank you for all the stuff Dave has
written for the ruby/rails community. It would be great to have
better api docs but they don;t come for free. Really going through
the source and documenting it in as much detail as Dave is doing just
doesn’t happen for free. It requires hundreds of hours to write a book
(trust me;) and as fast as rails changes its hard to keep it as
consistent and up to date as Dave is doing with AWD. Bravo Dave! And
thanks!
Cheers-
-Ezra
I’m about 2/3rds the may through the revision: so far about 700-800 hours in.
Wow. That’s almost a half-year’s full-time work. And it seems to have
happened in a lot less time than 6 months. I will echo Ezra’s
statement above - thanks for your hard work! It’s no wonder the Prag
Prog books are great.
-TJ
Dave, How can I verify my copy is the latest? I have a copy on PC at
work, my laptop and flash
drive. I don’t know which one is the latest. Thank you!
On Jul 22, 2006, at 2:46 PM, Ezra Z. wrote:
I just want to say a big thank you for all the stuff Dave has
written for the ruby/rails community.
+1
eh, rather…
+5
–
– Tom M.