Straw Dogs

The Tao of Ruby, Python, and….Straw Dogs?

Archive for October, 2007

Your MP – Google Desktop Gadget

October 15th, 2007

I was playing around with the Google Desktop Search API again at the weekend and threw together a gadget that queries the TheyWorkForYou.com UK MP database. It basically enables you to gather all sorts of interesting info about various MPs, Peers, debates and committees.

This gadget is just a simple interface so you can enter your postcode and the panel then shows your local MP with links to their profiles (BBC, Wikipedia and the Guardian) with the list of the most recent debates they’ve been involved in. All of this is done with three requests to their server resulting in three seperate JSON responses. The first response is used to get the “person_id” which is necessary for the next two which retrieve further info and debates listings.

The gadget is hosted on Google’s Code Project Hosting site and released under GPL 3 so anyones free to tinker if they wish.

Download Your MP Gadget

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Posted in javascript, web technologies

Tags: desktop gadget gds google javascript open source plugin search

‘Newbies’ First 2 Months

October 12th, 2007

I so wanted to avoid using that horrendous ‘N’ word in any part of my blog but I needed something short for the title.

Anyway – TAW made an interesting post on his first 2 months on Rails and I sympathise with many of his points but for a different reason. Most of the issues he raises aren’t really a problem when you know the Ruby/Rails way of doing it. Which sounds incredibly dismissive so I apologise but it is the way learning any language. Most difficulties are often more to do with trying to program in your ‘native’ Java, Python, PHP using Ruby – it just doesn’t work. Once you get to know Ruby and Rails more and more it eventually becomes clear that Ruby has its own way of doing things – this often means many disheartening setbacks when you realise your amazing whizz-bang class that cooks your dinner can be done in a single line of clever Ruby as opposed to the mountainous 30 line monster you built over a few days.

It’d be worth having a book, blog, website dedicated to just one thing: Showing the Rails/Ruby way of doing common tasks. To save these stumbling blocks for people new too the language and framework. Any volunteers?

Tags: ruby, rails

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Posted in rails, ruby

Tags: rails ruby

Top 9 Icon Resources

October 2nd, 2007

As a developer the design of an applications interface can often take a second peg to the function-guts. I always like to have a dig around a selection of good icon sets though to spruce up my interfaces and these are six of those resources:

Search Engines

Iconlet – One of the two major icon search engines. Has a good selection but like IconFinder relies on submissions of open source icons to stock its coffers.

Iconfinder -The second icon search engine but provides for tagging of icons for more refined searching.

Speciality

Ajax Loader Wizard – A simple wizard for building a funky ‘ajax’ loader animated gif.

Feed Icons – If you’ve ever seen the RSS feed icon dotted about and fancied one yourself. Okay so maybe you arne’t as sad as me but if you did you can rush to this site.

Icon Sets

Fast Icons – Really fast, like flying fast. I have no idea why but thats their name. Good selection and worth a look for a wide selection of free stock icons.

FamFamFam – Small but funkey collection of free icons.

Tango Icon Desktop – The Tango set is a huge source of quality SVG and PNG icon.

Crystal Wikimedia Icons – Opened to the world these are well used across a variety of places. Still very nice selection though.

DeviantArt – They do just about everything over at DA with it being the biggest art community on the net. I just wish I could contribute something as nice as the others on there.

So thats my list of nine icon sites – if anyone has any others they think are worth adding then let me know in the comments.