begin #dosomething rescue false end

I'm becoming a fan of the following Ruby code idiom, where a single line of code evaluates whether something is true or false.

def interrogative_function?(args)
    begin 1==1 rescue false end
end

Oracle Data Modeler, unsigned apps, and OSX Mountain Lion

I am loving this new macbook pro. As with any new computer, I've been installing most of the open source programs that I've gotten used to without a hitch. But today I came across an issue installing Oracle Data Modeler. The default security settings in OS/X 10.8 prevent installing unsigned apps and Oracle Data Modeler is one such unsigned app.

For all the noobs including me, the solution is to adjust the security settings in Apple's new Gatekeeper.

Here's a link to an explanation by that Jeff Smith => http://is.gd/Z8KuoO.

Rails['2.0'..'3.x'].each do |learning|

I am porting an old RoR site I built in 2005/6 over to latest version of rails.

It took me days of effort to figure out why templates wouldn't render inside of the application layout.

It was b/c I was using <%= @content_for_layout %> in my application.html.erb file and it's been deprecated in favor of a simple <%= yield %>. #refactoring! hindsight is 20/20!

This script by John Nunemaker was useful for renaming my old view files from .erb to .html.erb.