The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and

falling short but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high andfalling short but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.

- Michelangelo

It’s easier to optimize correct code than to correct optimized code.

Languange: Ruby

Framework: Ruby on Rails

Requirement: Remove duplicate Product Descriptions for display on an eCommerce web page.

Solution: Create a method in the Products helper class called dedup_product_descriptions containing this code:

@products = Hash[*(@products).map{|o|[o.description,o]}.flatten].values

and add this code to the Products view:

<% dedup_product_descriptions() %>

To make it even more interesting, let’s say in the case of duplicate descriptions you are required to display the description associated with the most expensive product. No problem. Use this code in the helper method instead of the code above:

@products = @products.sort{|a,b|a.price<=>b.price}

@products = Hash[*(@products).map{|o|[o.description,o]}.flatten].values

via: xkcd

An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.

- Dr. Edwin Land

via: VisualEconomics

In the early days we were so focused on speed. We had to ship the thing even if it wasn’t perfect. We can ship it later and it would be higher quality but someone else might have eaten our lunch by then. – Jamie Zawinski

We were also trying to start a photo hosting-service, which Flickr beat us to. Ours was probably overdesigned: beautifully abstract and plugged into everything. – Brad Fitzpatrick

quotes are from Coders at Work

Language: Ruby

Requirement: You want to write this:

2.weeks.ago

and have the date two weeks ago returned. With Ruby it’s easy. You can add any method you want to any object (including core objects like FixNum). Fun, huh?

require ‘date’

class Weeks

def initialize(number)

@number = number

end

def ago()

return Date.today – (@number * 7)

end

end

class Fixnum

def weeks

return Weeks.new(self)

end

end

In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. - Eric Hoffer