I’m currently reading Programming Ruby (2nd edition)
in my pursuit to learn Ruby. This book, known as the PickAxe because of the tool on the front cover, is part tutorial, part language reference, part best-Ruby-practices, and part API/Library reference.
The tendency with a reference book like this is to lump everything about a particular topic into long, boring sections. However, Dave Thomas and co-authors have managed not to do this. The book is good at switching gears frequently enough to keep my focus. Notes comparing Ruby to Perl, Java, and C++ add perspective if you are familiar with those languages. The code samples in this book also set it apart from similar programming books: the examples are concise–giving just enough information to illustrate the point in question.
As I read through the book, I find myself thinking: “Wow, it would’ve taken me so much more code to do that in Java (or C++ or …)!”
It’s nice to see Oracle tipping it’s hat to PHP over the last year or so. PHP is very good at meeting specific web needs in the enterprise, and Oracle acknowledges this by including it in their Oracle HTTP Server (Apache, really) package. See the PHP Developer Center for more Oracle/PHP goodness.
I’ve been learning the Ruby language lately. This language started in Japan, but I think it’s catching on like wildfire over here now. It seems to have such a pure way about implementing its features.
Some helpful Ruby references:
I’ve recently been reading Linux Kernel Development (2nd Edition) by Robert Love.
I’m not a kernel hacker, and it’s been a while since I’ve coded in C, but I picked this up to learn more about the nitty gritty details of the operating system I use everyday. I like the special attention given to overall concepts and how certain aspects of the kernel came into being. A good read.
For about a week now Windows Update on my work machine has failed to download or install the latest security patches. I’ve tried Automatic Updates and going directly to the windowsupdate.microsoft.com site, but both methods start to download and then fail with no error messages. Perfect.
So, I did some digging and found that the update log lives here (in default XP Pro): C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\ReportingEvents.log
Scrolling down through this text file I find the 9th column over to show the error number: 80264005
Google then brings up Ali’s helpful blog entry: Windows update gives a 80246005 error
Basic rundown: Stop the Automatic Updates service, delete the contents of C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore, restart the Automatic Update service and try the download/install of updates again.
Worked for me. Thanks, Ali.
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