September 2007 Archives

"tracing through weird Japanese code takes less brain than tracing Rails" -- drbrain

My current favorite emacs hack, thanks to SeanO. This extends find-file-at-point (which I have bound to C-x C-p) to automatically look a bit further for a line number and use it if available:

(defadvice find-file-at-point (around goto-line compile activate)
  (let ((line (and (looking-at ".*:\\([0-9]+\\)")
                   (string-to-number (match-string 1)))))
    ad-do-it
    (and line (goto-line line))))

ParseTree is a C extension (using RubyInline) that extracts the parse tree for an entire class or a specific method and returns it as a s-expression (aka sexp) using ruby's arrays, strings, symbols, and integers.

As an example:

def conditional1(arg1) if arg1 == 0 then return 1 end return 0 end

becomes:

[:defn, :conditional1, [:scope, [:block, [:args, :arg1], [:if, [:call, [:lvar, :arg1], :==, [:array, [:lit, 0]]], [:return, [:lit, 1]], nil], [:return, [:lit, 0]]]]]

• Uses RubyInline, so it just drops in.
• Includes SexpProcessor and CompositeSexpProcessor.
  • Allows you to write very clean filters.
• Includes UnifiedRuby, allowing you to automatically rewrite ruby quirks.
• ParseTree#parsetreefor_string lets you parse arbitrary strings of ruby.
• Includes parsetreeshow, which lets you quickly snoop code.
  • echo "1+1" | parsetreeshow -f for quick snippet output.
• Includes parsetreeabc, which lets you get abc metrics on code.
  • abc metrics = numbers of assignments, branches, and calls.
  • whitespace independent metric for method complexity.
• Includes parsetreedeps, which shows you basic class level dependencies.
• Does not work on the core classes, as they are not ruby (yet).

Changes:

• 2 minor enhancements:

  • Deactivated gcc-specific compiler flags unless ENV['ANAL'] or on my domain.
  • Minor code cleanup - happier with -pedantic and the like.

• 1 bug fix:

  • FINALLY conquered the splat args bug on certain platforms/versions. Special Thanks to Jonas Pfenniger for debugging this and providing a patch.

• http://www.zenspider.com/ZSS/Products/ParseTree/

Which one is better? You decide...

if true then # 0.75 seconds
  require 'active_record'
  require 'yaml'
  require 'app/models/author'
  require 'app/models/project'
  config = YAML.load(File.read('config/database.yml'))
  ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(config["development"])
else # 2.0 seconds
  require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../config/environment'
end

conn = ActiveRecord::Base.connection

I'm slightly partial to the faster running one (esp. during development)... but it did take me a while to figger it out. Loading config/environment a heavy price to pay just to get a DB connection and automatic requires.

Vlad the Deployer is pragmatic application deployment automation, without mercy. Much like Capistrano, but with 1/10th the complexity. Vlad integrates seamlessly with Rake, and uses familiar and standard tools like ssh and rsync.

Impale your application on the heartless spike of the Deployer.

FEATURES/PROBLEMS:

• Full deployment automation stack.
• Turnkey deployment for mongrel+apache+svn.
• Supports single server deployment with just 3 variables defined.
• Built on rake. Easy. Engine is small.
• Very few dependencies. All simple.
• Uses ssh with your ssh settings already in place.
• Uses rsync for efficient transfers.
• Run remote commands on one or more servers.
• Mix and match local and remote tasks.
• Compatible with all of your tab completion shell script rake-tastic goodness.
• Ships with tests that actually pass in 0.028 seconds!
• Does NOT support Windows right now (we think). Coming soon in 1.2.

Changes:

1.1.0 / 2007-09-12

• 3 major enhancements:
  • Vlad.load now takes a hash of recipe overrides, eg: Vlad.load :web => :nginx. See rdoc for defaults.
  • Removed vlad_tasks.rb and split into vlad/apache.rb, vlad/mongrel.rb, and vlad/core.rb.
  • The flog ratio between capistrano+deps / vlad+deps is pi (or, damn close)!
• 12 minor enhancements:
  • Added $TRACE to make it more available and cleaner to read.
  • Added :svn_cmd variable.
  • Added Rake.clear_tasks *str_or_regexp
  • Added debug and mana_from_heaven tasks to Rakefile.
  • Added more documentation.
  • Added :rsync_cmd and :rsync_flags.
  • Added :ssh_cmd and :ssh_flags.
  • Added variable expansion to vlad:debug task.
  • Removed :scm variable. Now a Vlad.load component/flavor/need-a-word-here.
  • Removed :application var. Use it if you want it. We don't require it.
  • Renamed :p4cmd to :p4_cmd.
  • Renamed :rake var to :rake_cmd.

• 2 (important) bug fixes:

  • HUGE: Fixed sudo hang bug #13072. Fix suggested by Chris Van Pelt.
  • HUGE: Vlad.load calls user config last, allowing variable overrides. ACK! Sorry!

• http://rubyhitsquad.com/

• http://rubyforge.org/projects/hitsquad/

I'm not sure yet (still waiting on more responses on the mailing list), but I think that Seattle.rb is batting 1000 for RubyConf2007!!! A big congratulations goes out to:

• Evan Phoenix - talking about Rubinius.
• Eric Hodel - giving a talk about Über-Productivity.
• Phil Hagelberg - giving a talk on tightening the feedback loop.

And, um... my talk... titled:

It should be fun... I hope to see you there!