Latest posts
Test driving Socrata for Open Data
The Queensland Police Service recently published some data about reported offences from July 1997 to June 2012. I was interested to see how Socrata would handle that data. Here’s the results. Powered by Socrata Note that the graph is only displaying the first few years worth of data. Also note that this experiment was conducted Read more about Test driving Socrata for Open Data[…]
Spork to Spin
In my last post, I documented the trials and tribulations of getting spork working properly with RSpec, Cucumber, SimpleCov and Mongoid, and a solution I devised to the problems. I also posted my solution to the SimpleCov issues list on GitHub. Then Christoph Olszowka, the maintainer of SimpleCov introduced me to spin, a lightweight alternative Read more about Spork to Spin[…]
When spork puts a fork in your cucumber and a spanner in your specs
TL;DR: Getting Rails, RSpec, Cucumber and SimpleCov to play nicely with spork is a pain. However, it is possible to get them all working together. Ensure config.cache_classes = true, that Rails threadsafe mode (config.threadsafe!) is not enabled, and then see my spec_helper.rb file below. So, I’m hacking again. How I have missed it. It has Read more about When spork puts a fork in your cucumber and a spanner in your specs[…]
ICT: An industry for all!
Today I joined Group X to speak to year 10 students at St John’s Anglican College in Forest Lake about why there’s never been a better time to launch a career in tech. This post first appeared on the Group X blog, and it’s reposted here with their kind permission. One of our favourite activities here at Read more about ICT: An industry for all![…]
Of Thanksgiving Turkeys and Black Swans
A couple of months ago I finished reading The Black Swan (TBS) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I suspect I’ll read it again sometime. In a nutshell, TBS is about (un)predictability, uncertainty and knowledge. Karen and the kids bought me the second edition of TBS for Fathers’ Day. It’s the one with a lengthy postscript essay, Read more about Of Thanksgiving Turkeys and Black Swans[…]
The Australian and the new Battle of Jericho
When the Israelites crossed the River Jordan into the land of Canaan, they came upon the city of Jericho. God spoke to the leader of the Israelites, Joshua, saying he and seven priests should walk around the city once a day with the Ark of the Covenant, until the seventh day, at which time they Read more about The Australian and the new Battle of Jericho[…]
No startup culture in Australia
Occasionally I go back and read some of Paul Graham‘s past essays. I find them to be a source of enlightenment, mostly on issues surrounding startups. Some gems are consigned to the footnotes: There are two very different types of startup: one kind that evolves naturally, and one kind that’s called into being to “commercialize” Read more about No startup culture in Australia[…]
RSpec: verifying model instance creation
UPDATE: I think this post may be a complete waste of time. Just stub out the valid? method on your model to return true or false depending upon what you’re testing. See Ryan Bates’ RailsCast on how he tests controllers. I’m a freaking idiot sometimes. As a good little rspeccer, I try hard to write Read more about RSpec: verifying model instance creation[…]
Installing nokogiri on Mac OS X
A quick search reveals that I’m not the only one who’s had difficulty installing the nokogiri Ruby gem on Mac OS X. The official docs recommend installing the fink or macports versions of libxml2, and so does this nokogiri tutorial over on the Engine Yard blog. I like macports. It’s a good way to stay Read more about Installing nokogiri on Mac OS X[…]
Introducing Claire
Our daughter, Claire Elise, was born on October 29, 2009. Here’s a photo of her, and another with her proud family.