Yup Dot Com: Category Web Development

New Ruby Web Application Framework: Merb

Daniel Butler — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 09:49:00 -0400

Ezra Zygmuntowicz of Yakima, Washington, has announced a new lightweight Ruby web application framework: Merb, named by combining the lightweight HTTP application server Mongrel with the templating system Erb. Using ActiveRecord, a simpler-than-rails routing system and taking full advantage of Mongrel’s X-SendFile features, the “pocket framework” can server dynamic templated pages at 400 requests/second on a MacBook.

It’s simple to get started:

$ sudo gem install merb
$ gem unpack merb
$ cd merb-0.0.3/examples/sample_app
# edit the conf/merb_init.rb to add your database password info.
# then add a posts table to your db with a title and body column.
$ merb start -t

Once you do that, visit http://localhost:4000/posts/new, http://localhost:4000/posts/list, or http://localhost:4000/uploads/start to see the little framework that could in action.

Thanks, Ezra!

The RubyForge Project Page
The Merb Trac Page
The Merb SVN Repository
An article on Merb at Brainspl.at

Windows Live Writer works with Typo

Daniel Butler — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:54:12 -0400

It looks like Windows new Blog publishing tool works out of the box with Typo. This post is being published with the tool.

It features the following goodies:

WYSIWYG Authoring
Photo Publishing
Map Publishing
Writer SDK
Compatibility with Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, and others (including Typo)

If you’re on Windows, go try it!

Window Live Writer Main Page

Webalizer with Autonomous System Numbers

Daniel Butler — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:01:00 -0400

While researching web site statistics packages, I came across Webalizer-ASN, which identifies the Autonomous System a host belongs to.

Init Seven AG has developed an extension of The Webalizer called ‘webalizer-asn’, that supports AS number (Autonomous System Number) lookups to generate additional statistics based on the origin of the hosts that have visited a website.

The AS number identifies the AS (Autonomous System) a host is belonging to. An Autonomous System is a group of IP networks operated by one or more network operator/s which has a single and clearly defined external routing policy. (See RFC1930 for more information about AS numbers.)

It is useful for high-traffic sites and ISPs when they know from which networks the visitors are coming from. For example they can plan future peerings or other things based on this information.

Another interesting Webalizer derivative is AWFFull - A Webalizer Fork, Full o’ Features!, which adds, among other features, more than 12 months of history and CSS-styling for the reports.

Webalizer-ASN Home Page
Webalizer-ASN Demo Page
Gentoo Portage ebuild