Biodegradable Geek

How To Use Fixtures to Populate Your Database in Rails

This is a response to the email I’ve been getting asking me how to use fixtures to load data into a database. You want to create dummy entries in your Rails app, either for testing, for development, or for production, to make your site appear popular. Whatever the reason, populating your database can be done easily [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "How To Use Fixtures to Populate Your Database in Rails", url: "http://biodegradablegeek.com/2008/07/how-to-use-fixtures-to-populate-your-database-in-rails/" });

Got API? Instantly Search API Documentation

gotAPI.com does an excellent job congregating API documentation for numerous programming languages under an AJAX interface. No more bulging neck veins or fulmination when you can’t remember the order of those pesky arguments. No support for your favorite language? Contribute. You can add a gotAPI Search Widget to your site: http://www.gotapi.com/widgets/index.html See Ruby/Rails widget below (requires Javascript). Still [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Got API? Instantly Search API Documentation", url: "http://biodegradablegeek.com/2008/06/got-api-instantly-search-api-documentation/" });

How to POST Form Data Using Ruby

Being able to post data on web forms from your own apps will give you the ability to write tools, services,and provide automation, by interacting with resources already available on the web. This is a very brief example on how this can be accomplished in Ruby, using Net::HTTPand this POST form example. Looking at the source [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "How to POST Form Data Using Ruby", url: "http://biodegradablegeek.com/2008/04/how-to-post-form-data-using-ruby/" });

Music to Code By - What Do You Listen to While Programming?

Some swear by it, for others it’s a bane: Music while programming. Throughout grade school, we’ve been cautioned not to keep the TV and music on when doing homework, but is it really counter-productive? According to this study, not so, at least for people who are understimulated — which probably accounts for most geeks these [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Music to Code By - What Do You Listen to While Programming?", url: "http://biodegradablegeek.com/2007/12/music-to-code-by-what-do-you-listen-to-while-programming/" });