(SFTP is a network protocol that enables files to be transferred securely.) Ruby also has a decent open source SFTP library available (Net::SFTP) so I wasn't forced to write my own.
This enabled me to avoid code duplication more elegantly than I could have with a procedural language. It's a scripting language, but it's also object-oriented. Ruby (being dynamically typed) makes it simple to write compact code that can be extended with a minimum of fuss. I wanted my code to be short and maintainable since I would probably be adding additional features to it later on. I decided to use Ruby to write an automation script. I wanted a program that did everything I was doing by hand, but faster and more accurately. It was a process that practically screamed "AUTOMATE ME!" So last summer, I fired up my favorite text editor and decided to do just that. Not a quick thing to do, and it got very old after awhile. Installing a Web server locally and editing the files directly was time consuming and didn't port well, so I usually found myself changing a page, switching over to my FTP client, uploading the file, switching to my browser, and refreshing to view the updated page. More recently I have embraced my Notepad-wielding destiny and joined the ranks of those who prefer to "do it by hand." I've enjoyed the additional flexibility afforded by doing it this way, but the cost in ease of use hasn't been low. Neither way is wrong, but neither way is totally right either.ĭuring my early years of web design I fell into the first camp. The first camp sacrifices flexibility for convenience, and the second, convenience for flexibility. The second camp uses a text editor like Emacs or Vim to code HTML by hand and an FTP client to upload the finished page to a web server for the world to see and, hopefully, appreciate. The first camp uses a WYSIWYG editor like Dreamweaver to design and publish a web page.
If you've also dabbled in the wonderful world of pseudo-coding called "web design" you undoubtedly recognize that, these days, most designers fall into one of two camps.
Isn't it funny how computer skills, just like the computers themselves, evolve at such a rapid pace? Some of us who find ourselves doing hard-core computer programming today got our start with HTML and CGI in the enthralling days of the early web.