I have to share this piece of code, wich results look indeed nice. You’ll see in the next blog post…

def string_alert
  c = (LIMIT-@iSay.text.length)
  @remaining.style :stroke => “#3276BA”
  c > 10 ? (@remaining.style :stroke => orange) : (@remaining.style :stroke => red) if (c < 21)
  c > 0 ? “#{c.to_s} chars” : “Too Long!”
end

[update]: Twittershoes.rb is born: screenshot here

… just got my github.com invitation and proceeded to the registration.
They say its free while in Beta. Hosted in Engine Yard.
I created my first repo there, and the design seems clear, simple, effective.
Info is presented clearly, and i enjoyed the way they went after the creation of my repo, showing “Next Steps”. Nice.
I’ll work there […]

PostgreSQL 8.3 is here. After apt-get’ing it, the upgrade didn’t move the 8.2 cluster up. Having 8.2 running in a custom port, made 8.3 go use the standard 5432 port.
8.3 created a main cluster.
Check ports:
$ sudo netstat -anput | grep postgres
Check wich configuration files and wich versions are running:
$ ps -Af | grep postgres
pg_upgradecluster when […]

Nuno’s smallr.net API talks JSON. So what about accessing it with Ruby ?
Well, quite easy thanks to Florian’s JSON implementation for Ruby. So:
$ sudo gem install json_pure
Now, just need some attention on the use of the address / (slash) just after json and before the query, or you’ll get a HTTP 301 Status Code.
Code follows:
require […]

URI.escape method with no options doesn’t provide a trully good escape, and i just noticed it upon the need to access an API.

url = ‘http://www.ruby-lang.org’
bad = URI.escape(url)
good = URI.escape(url, Regexp.new(”[^#{URI::PATTERN::UNRESERVED}]”))

The difference is:

bad => “http://www.ruby-lang.org”
good => “http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ruby-lang.org”

(via snippets.dzone => Matt Zukowski)