Rails 3.1.0 Released

RubyOnRails has announced the release of Rails 3.1.0

On August 31, 2011, Ruby on Rails announced the release of Rails 3.1.0.

Aaron P in his blog thinks Rails 3.1.0 is the best release of Rails to date, and asks everyone to continue to create amazing things with this framework. He has highlighted the major changes in Rails 3.1.0.

ActionPack

• ActionPack has been updated to include the new asset pipeline. Please see the rails guides on the asset pipeline.
• Streaming response support has been added. This feature allows you to stream templates to the user before processing has actually finished. See the Rails Guides, or documentation in ActionController::Metal::Streaming for more information. Middleware have been refactored to support this feature.
• RJS has been extracted to a gem.

ActiveModel

• attr_accessible and friends now accepts :as as option to specify a role
• Added ActiveModel::SecurePassword to encapsulate dead-simple password usage with BCrypt encryption and salting.

ActiveRecord

• Prepared statement caches have been integrated. ActiveRecord::Base#create and simple finders will use a prepared statement and cache for more performant inserts and selects.
• Associations have been refactored for greater simplicity and maintainability.
• default_scope can take any object that responds to call.
• PostgreSQL adapter only supports PostgreSQL version 8.2 and higher.
• Migrations use instance methods rather than class methods. Rather than defining a self.up method, you should define an instance method up.
• Migrations are reversible. When a new migration is generated, the migration will contain one method called change. Database changes made in this method will automatically know how to reverse themselves. For more information, see the documentation for ActiveRecord::Migration and ActiveRecord::Migration::CommandRecorder.
• When a model is generated, add_index is added by default for belongs_to or references columns.

ActiveResource

• The default format has been changed to JSON for all requests. If you want to continue to use XML you will need to set self.format = :xml in the class.

ActiveSupport

• ActiveSupport::BufferedLogger set log encoding to BINARY, but still use text mode to output portable newlines.
• Add Object#in? to test if an object is included in another object.
• ActiveSupport::Dependencies::ClassCache class has been introduced for holding references to reloadable classes.
• Added weeks_ago and prev_week to Date/DateTime/Time.
• JSON decoding now uses the multi_json gem which also vendors a json engine called OkJson. The yaml backend has been removed in favor of OkJson as a default engine for 1.8.x, while the built in 1.9.x json implementation will be used by default.

Railties

• The default database schema file is written as UTF-8.
• Rack::Sendfile middleware is used only if x_sendfile_header is present.
• Add alias r for rails runner.
• jQuery is the new default JavaScript library.
• Added config.force_ssl configuration which loads Rack::SSL middleware and force all requests to be under HTTPS protocol

For more info
For a more detailed list of changes, please see each of the CHANGELOG files checked in to the Rails repository on github. For an even more detailed list of changes, please see the commit list between Rails 3.0.10 and 3.1.0.

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Ruby on Rails Up; Mobile, Big Data, User Engagement Define 2011

Ruby on Rails Up 100%; HTML5, Android, iPad/ iPhone Rule the Roost

Aug. 25, 2011

The first annual Technology Outlook Report from agile consulting and IT staffing firm Bluewolf (www.bluewolf.com) identifies top tech trends based on IT staffing/hiring spending patterns for the past 12 months. The report highlights the emergence of mobile, big data, UI and consumerization of IT as the defining trends of 2011 with HTML5, Android Development and iPad/ iPhone, all ranked as top technologies by growth percentage.

According to Bluewolf Co-founder Michael Kirven, companies increasingly see technology and information as competitive differentiators. Kirven believes innovative companies are leveraging the trends identified in this report to become more agile, collaborative and relevant, and to attract and retain the agile workforce of the future.

Based on areas that have seen rapid, year-over-year growth, the report identified the top five tech trends for 2011.

• Mobile Defined by HTML5, iPhone/ iPad and Android, mobile is remaking entire industries, with the media industry leading the pack.
• User Engagement Companies increasingly see user engagement as a core value. HTML5, .NET, and Java are allowing UX systems to be applied more broadly to back-end legacy systems and mobile applications.
• Big Data IT is breaking deep into the data, providing new streams of insights.
• Consumerization of IT IT pros expect workplaces to reflect consumer innovations, and "many-to-many" interaction is becoming the norm.
• Cloud Computing The big players are dominated by emerging technologies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Apps, as well as more established solutions such as Salesforce.

Additionally, the report identifies technologies that have seen the most and least overall growth nationally in the following categories:

• Mobile: HTML5, Android Development and iPhone/ iPad increased by 200+%; Blackberry and Windows Mobile dropped by 50+%.
• Business Intelligence: Cognos and Informatica increased by 100+%; Crystal Reports and Business Objects remained steady within 25%.
• ERP: SAP increased by 100+%; JD Edwards remained steady within 25%.
• CMS: Drupal and TeamSite increased by 100+%; Vignette dropped by 50+%.
• Operating System: Linux (all) increased by 200+%; Unix (all), Windows and Mac remained steady within 25%.
• Development Language: PHP and Ruby on Rails increased by 100+%; Python/ Perl dropped by 50+%.
• Web Front End: UI Design increased by 100+% while Flash, Flex, and ActionScript dropped by 50+%.
• Database: MySQL and HBase increased by 100+% while DB2 dropped by 50+%.
• Cloud: Eloqua, Marketo, Salesforce and Google Apps increased by 100+%; AWS increased by 50+%.

Adapted from Bluewolf Annual Tech Outlook Identifies Top Trends in IT, By Bluewolf, Aug. 22, 2011 - 6:11 am 

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WordCamp SF Aug12-14 -- Highlights

Fifth Annual WordCamp San Francisco Highlights Rapid Growth, Announces Developer Survey Results
Bluehost, DreamHost and Automattic are “Bling Bling” Supporters

The fifth annual WordCamp San Francisco was held at the Mission Bay Conference Center from Friday, August 12 through Sunday, August 14. WordCamp San Francisco is the official annual conference of the WordPress open source project.

The event was organized into multiple tracks per audience:

• first-time user workshop
• professional & large-scale implementations
• developers & designers
• bloggers & content creators

WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg also announced the results of the 2011 developer survey.

STATE OF THE WORD KEYNOTE
Each year at WordPress San Francisco, Mullenweg presents a “State of the Word” keynote that recaps the past year’s accomplishments, and provides a glimpse into future releases.

Highlights

• “22 of every 100 active domains created in the U.S. are running WordPress.”
• “WordPress 3.2, released in July 2011, had 500,000 downloads in the first two days, representing the fastest upgrade velocity ever.”
• “WordPress now has 15,000 plugins and 200 million plugin downloads.”
• “14.7 percent of the top million websites in the world use WordPress.” (source: W3Techs)
• “You are not customers of Facebook and Twitter… you are the product. The advertisers are the client.”
• “Being involved with the WordPress core is one of the most rewarding experiences for a developer on the web right now."
• “One of my dreams is for WordPress to auto-update like Chrome. Versions are so archaic.”
• “I obsess about every release and every feature.”

Mullenweg’s keynote is now available at WordPress TV. Video from all of the sessions will be posted there in coming weeks.

WORDPRESS DEVELOPER SURVEY
This year WordPress commissioned its first-ever developer survey, which ran for six weeks beginning on July 4, 2011 and generated responses from 18,000 users worldwide.

Results:

• 2,800 survey respondents are making a living using WordPress.
• 53% of the respondents are working as WordPress developers, 36% of which are self-employed.
• The 6,800 self-employed developers have created 170,000 sites, averaging nearly 25 sites per WordPress developer.
• The WordPress developer’s average hourly rate is $58.
• 92% of WordPress developers use WordPress as a CMS; 8% use as a blog.

Every day of the conference was sold out, with more than 1,000 total registrants. It was the highest attendee level for a WordCamp event, with U.S. and international representation including Amsterdam, Hawaii, Israel, Nepal and Romania. Thirty percent of the attendees were women.

Bluehost, DreamHost and Automattic were this year’s “Bling Bling” supporters. Additional sponsors included Microsoft, .tv, Zemanta, Voce Communications, ServerBeach, Layered Tech, Laughing Squid, GetShopped.org, Event Expresso and A Small Orange.

Upcoming WordCamps

• Los Angeles, September 10 
• Salt Lake City, September 10
• Kobe, Japan, September 11
• Cape Town, South Africa September 15

Adapted from Fifth Annual WordCamp San Francisco Highlights... Aug. 15, 2011.

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WordPress App on the Touchpad

Easy to take along for most outings, making it available should a writing opportunity present itself

A portable blogging machine must be easy to carry most of the time. It doesn’t do much good if I have to leave it in the office a lot. The best blogging system is the one I have with me. The TouchPad is such a gadget, I find it easy to take along for most outings, making it available should a writing opportunity present itself.

The WordPress app on the TouchPad is very good compared to other versions, and those with a simple blog on the network will be happy. Our blogs on ZDNet are very complex and require a special backend to support this publishing environment. That usually means writing in the browser editor. This works on the TouchPad browser to a degree, but I find it falls short in handling the entire blogging process from writing to publishing.

I have settled on a method for blogging that utilizes the TouchPad as a writing machine only. I write articles using a text editor on the TouchPad, and then finalize them back at the desktop for publishing. This method works well, even better than I expected, and has benefits as a result.

TapNote for the TouchPad is a simple text editor that makes this system work well. It provides me with a blank screen for entry, which allows me to focus on what I want to say and not the vehicle for capturing it. This has turned into a great method for me as it allows my creativity to flow. It works equally well with the onscreen virtual keyboard and the Bluetooth keyboard I occasionally use. The TouchPad onscreen keyboard is really good, and I can do a lot of entry using it. When I have big articles planned, I bring the wireless keyboard along to get busy.

TapNote can automatically sync with my Dropbox account in the cloud, and this makes the process work for me. I enter a new “note” and it instantly appears in my Dropbox storage. This makes it available on every computer and gadget I use, so my work follows me as it should. TapNote saves each note to Dropbox as a simple TXT file, making it easy to incorporate into blog posts via simple copy and paste. This system works so well that I am using it more often than I anticipated.

Once I’ve written an article in TapNote while on the go, I can create a WordPress blog post at any time back in the office (or on a laptop anywhere). I bring the text into the blog editor and then edit it as usual for publishing. I have come to appreciate the extra proofreading I do on both the TouchPad and the desktop, as I catch almost all typos.

Adapted From James Kendrick, HP TouchPad as portable blogging machine, August 8, 2011

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Best WordCamp Speakers?

As we complete speaker selection for the annual WordPress conference (a.k.a. WordCamp San Francisco), it’s clear that even though there were more than 200 speaker applications, many great WordCamp speakers did not apply. No fear! We will seek them out to make sure that WordCamp SF has a fantastic lineup, including people who didn’t apply (too shy? who knows?) but have wowed local crowds at previous WordCamps.

This is about as basic a survey as there is. Tell us the three best WordCamp presentations you saw in the past year or so. For each, give the presenters name, the topic (exact title not necessary) and which WordCamp it was at (important).

Example:
1. Joe Shmoe, Using the Loop, WordCamp Sheboygan 2011
2. Jane Doe, Top 5 WordPress Plugins, WordCamp La Mancha 2010
3. Lee Smith, Your First Core Patch, WordCamp Atlantis 2011

That’s it. We don’t need your name or any info at all, just your three top speaker votes. We’ll take a look at the people with the most votes, and consider them for WCSF if they’re not already in the application pool. Thanks for your help in making this year’s conference better and more WordPressy than ever.
 Vote Now!
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Source: http://wordpress.org

Rails 3.1 HackFest

Have you ever wanted to contribute back to Rails? This is the opportunity you've been looking for. We're organizing a Rails 3.1 Hackfest on the weekend of July 23rd and 24th!!!

GOAL

The goal of this event is to have Rails 3.1 as the most stable version as possible. So, in this event we will focus on working on 3-1-stable branch of the project.

HOW

In order to achieve this we encourage you to:

• Upgrade your existing apps to Rails 3.1 and report any existing issue if it doesn't already exist
• Test your favorite plugins/gems with Rails 3.1 and report any existing issue if it doesn't already exist
• Review all the open issues and pull requests
  • Check if issues can be reproduced
  • If so provide as many details as possible (for example it's important for us to know which Rails version/s are affected. They could be 2-3-stable, 3-0-stable, 3-1-stable or master)
  • If it's not possible to reproduce the issue, add a comment on github issue tracker indicating that
• Provide test cases and patches for 3-1-stable blockers only (blockers will be tagged as 'blocker')
  • Follow the contributing to Ruby on Rails guide
  • Try to provide a failing test case (if you can't figure out the whole solution)
  • Try to provide a full patch (tests, code and docs if needed)
• Write documentation (guides, API), you can push modifications directly to docrails
• Write blog posts about your experience using 3.1

Please note that since we are on the release candidate already, only patches for blocking issues will be accepted.

WHO

From the core team: Aaron Patterson (tenderlove), Xavier Noria (fxn) and Santiago Pastorino (spastorino), and the core contributors: Damien Mathieu (dmathieu), Prem Sichanugrist (sikachu) and Josh Kalderimis (joshk) will be around, so don't hesitate to ask whatever questions you may have.

WHEN

The weekend of July 23rd and 24th, 2011

WHERE

On IRC:
Server: irc.freenode.net Channel: #rails-contrib

For Free consultation on regarding Ruby on Rails Programming, RoR Application Development, Ruby on Rails Developer, Ruby on Rails Programmer log on to http://www.dckap.com

Source: http://weblog.rubyonrails.org

Rails 3.0.9 has been released!

Hi everybody!

Rails 3.0.9 has been released! Since I am at Nordic Ruby, I will deem this Nordic Ruby Edition. ;-)
The main boogs fixed in this release are problems dealing with modifications of SafeBuffers.
gem install rails or update your Gemfile and bundle update while it's hot!

CHANGES

The major changes in this release of Rails are bug fixes surrounding modifications to SafeBuffer strings. We had places that were modifying SafeBuffers and those places raised exceptions after the security fixes in the 3.0.8 release.

We've since updated those code paths, and now we have this nice release for you today!
Please check the CHANGELOG files in each section on github for more details.
For an exhaustive list of the commits in this release, please see github.

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Source: http://weblog.rubyonrails.org