From: James Britt <james_b@...>
Date: 2005-05-25T06:49:49+09:00
Subject: Writing about Ruby (Re: new article)

pat eyler wrote:
> On 5/24/05, Brian Schr�der <ruby.brian@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>>Just started with your article, and I wonder why you build a
>>constructor that tests for object classes, why not simply call .to_s
>>on the argument?
> 
> 
> I wrote it that way to create some (artificial, but easy to see) 
> boundary conditions for the article, this test doesn't actually 
> show up in the released versions of r43.  It would have been
> better to be able to verify the format of the id strings, but I
> wasn't able to find that kind of information about them.


My own experience in writing abut Ruby, especially in the common case 
where the audience is largely unfamiliar with Ruby, is that practices 
and procedures tend to get a bit skewed for reason of discourse.

Code is often not as compact is a it might otherwise be because that 
tends to require more background explanation.  It's also hard to create 
good demo cases, to find the balance between a compelling problem and a 
7-page discussion limit.

Has anybody collected tips and guidelines for writing about Ruby? It 
would be good to see more Ruby articles in high profile places (i.e. 
sites outside the Ruby community circle, or in widely-circulated 
magazines such as Linux Journal), but I wonder if people with good ideas 
and useful knowledge hold off because they don't know where to start or 
how to construct a well-organized, (reasonably) self-contained article.

James Britt