Author: Greg

Ruby

No not a new girl friend. For most of you non-geeks out there Ruby is a scripting language and I want to use it for managing some of my photos and GPS data. Ruby is relatively new and has many characteristics of the older and more common Python and Perl. I decided to jump in after getting frustrated with AppleScript which I’ve dabbled for years. Matt Newburg’s switching may have finally pushed me into Ruby.

I started with Pine’s book which is a bit basic for me, but it sucked me in. Then onto Pickaxe (nickname for the “standard” reference book for Ruby), but it’s a bit terse for me. so following recommendations on the web, I got Black’s Ruby for Rails. And the recommendations were right. In spite of the Rails’ focus, the level of description is good for a non-computer expert. But it’s also showed me that I bit off quite a bit.

Progress on two fronts

Monday Louisa was finally given the go ahead to resume normal activities. Not wanting to make this a medical journal; we didn’t cover the numerous laser surgeries required to repair additional retinal tears. But no reoccurrences in several weeks, so back to bike riding and skiing. The continued tearing for a couple of months is common once a tear has occurred.
The other progress is in Guinea. After months of strikes and at least one hundred dead the president has appointed a prime minister from a short list provided by the strikers. We hope this means the start to some prosperity and freedom for the long suffering citizens of Guinea.