April 27, 2010
"Automatic SketchUp: Creating 3-D Models in Ruby"
Although I've played with SketchUp Ruby from time to time over the past few years, my first real introduction occurred in the Fall of 2009. Igloo Studios, a well-known name in SketchUp modeling and training, brought me in to maintain some of their tools and create some others. Clearly, I had some homework to do. ...Continue reading ""Automatic SketchUp: Creating 3-D Models in Ruby""
February 10, 2010
Configuration File Trickery
I tend to use a fairly minimal subset
of YAML for configuration files.
YAML supports my favorite data structures (lists and hashes) and is easy to read and edit
(particularly if one ignores its syntax for declaring data types and such).
However, in a recent project,
I found myself using CSV
(comma-separated value) files, instead.
...
Continue reading "Configuration File Trickery"
November 9, 2009
SketchUp MashUp HeadsUp
My recent post, Using Cucumber with SketchUp, discussed one possible way to combine Google SketchUp with other packages. However, there are lots of other possible mash-ups. This entry discusses some of these; other suggestions are welcome... ...Continue reading "SketchUp MashUp HeadsUp"
November 1, 2009
Using Cucumber with SketchUp
Cucumber is a Ruby-based tool (technically, a domain-specific language) that helps programmers and their clients define and agree on tests of program behavior. These tests can be used to guide development, enforce acceptance criteria, and detect regressions.
Although it is popular in the larger Ruby community,
Cucumber has not been used (as far as I can tell) to develop Ruby-based extensions
for Google SketchUp.
This seems like an unfortunate situation;
perhaps it's time to see what can be done about it...
...
Continue reading "Using Cucumber with SketchUp"
September 8, 2009
Safety Nets for OWLs
I've been programming for several decades, but I'm relatively new to ontology development in general and OWL in particular. So, I'm certainly not an expert on the range of work in this area. However, I think I see some areas where programming best practices and tools could provide useful "safety nets" for OWL-based ontology developers. ...Continue reading "Safety Nets for OWLs"
March 19, 2009
Video Resources for Rubyists
There are a slew of video resources available on the web, including the fabulous offerings at sites such as www.ted.com, www.poptech.org/popcasts, gotocon.com, and mitworld.mit.edu/browse. I would strongly recommend taking a look at these, if you have a tuit or two...
However, these sites aren't focused on the interests of Ruby;
so, here are some that are.
Increasing the number of recorded talks is a win-win --
the community gets a record of the talks; the conference and presenter get publicity.
...
Continue reading "Video Resources for Rubyists"