Rails Ajax Scaffolding

Interesting post here.

This is a generator for creating an ajax powered scaffolding in Rails.

Great stuff! I love Rails!

Why Rails is better than Java for Web Apps

I found this posting on the Rails Mailing List and I have to say it was about as right on as I have found in all of the discussion.

Here's a section of the thread:

Ken Kousen wrote:
> The biggest problem I have with Java these days is that it's so large I
> never feel like I know enough to do a decent job. There's Java itself, of
> course, then Ant, JUnit, all the J2EE specs (EJB, JMS, JSTL, JNDI, JDBC,
> ...), app server deployment and administration, frameworks (Hibernate,
> Struts -- now Shale, JSF, Spring, Tapestry)... The list just goes on and
> on. I've spent years in it and still use it all the time, but RoR is so
> much simpler for simple problems that it makes development fun again. :)
> It's also a "full stack" solution -- everything I need is there.
>

I recently switched from Java to Rails. I find Java is fantastic for
desktop client (only with SWT toolkit mind you) and network server
development. As far as web development goes, I've tried many times,
using many diverse frameworks, but it's just a mess of acronyms that no
one really knows how to fully use. In addition to this, every year or
so, a new bunch of acronyms joins the party offering so much more that
no one really understands.

Struts is terrible. Don't even attempt to go there. I think one of the
major drawbacks to web development in Java is that it's all bolted on.
Rails on the other hand, is designed from the ground up to be what it
is, and it does it very well.

Guys make large investments into Java because that is what it takes to
learn it, a very large investment. It is unproductive and just not
worth it.

Dan

Learning What Matters

I read an excellent post from Signal vs. Noise today. The discussion centered around the notion that the emphasis in any product development should be on those elements which matter. From the article:

My favorite answer to the “why?” question is always: “Because it just doesn’t matter.” I think that statement embodies what makes a product great. Figuring out what matters and leaving out the rest.

Here's a link to the article blog article.

Nice article, Jason!