This is an introduction to Ruby metaprogramming where I cover two different ways to define a method. The idea actually started as a joke, but there are valuable lessons to be learned here.

Ruby Method Name with Spaces from Joon You on Vimeo.

It appears that everyone’s getting into Vim these days, and rightfully so. PeepCode just released “Smash into Vim” screencast.

I’ve declared many times that I always go back to my familiar editor, and with the right plugins, it can be used as an IDE for any language.

Just one disclaimer, I haven’t reviewed it yet, but you can always bet that Geoffrey is putting out the best screencast. It also appears that it’s geared towards someone looking to switch.

Bad Ruby Practices: Commenting Out Code from Joon You on Vimeo.

I was and still am not a big fan of the whole cloud movement. I just don’t see what the big deal is. However, it’s been demanded by the clients. I was just about to engage in common S3 storage feature and Codeulate’s Amazon S3 screencast just in time for me.

If you saw my screen cast series on MongoDB, I try to explain the underlying features before all the magic. Ben does the same thing with this screencast. He even writes tests to show you the real world example, even dropping down to console. I really appreciated the fact that he even covered the basics in details.

The illustration is simply awesome and the production quality is better than previous Vim episode. Unlike his previous one, he actually covers details and explains/spoon-feeds the bucket and the object concepts as well as the REST. I truly get a sense of complete tutorial, and I’ll even say that it’s almost good as the PeepCode.

As for the price, I initially saw $99 price tag and thought that Ben might have made a mistake. Well, he corrected the price and it’s now $9.

If you’re looking to use Amazon’s S3 in your application, you HAVE to buy this one. I can’t recommend it high enough.

When PeepCode released the screencast on Emacs, I thought he’d release one on Vim, MY editor. I was delighted when Ben Orenstein released Vim for Rails Developers. By the way, I’d like to thank Ben for providing me with a review copy.

Production Quality

As a screencaster, I know what it takes to put together high quality screencast, and I was impressed with the quality here. The video is clean without any clutter nor annoying effects. The QuickTime video contains indexes so that you can skip to top level subject. Ben is very articulate and it was pleasure listening to his explanation. I also sense that he’s very passionate about Vim and it shows.

The only thing that annoyed me was that I was not able to see the keystrokes. I’m not sure which screencast software he’s using, but it is my understanding that both ScreenFlow and iShowU comes with the feature.

You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

I consider myself as a proficient Vim user. After all, I actually edit without thinking about the keys. I tweeted recently that I will try to learn something new on Vim each day, but I find it hard to learn anything new at this point.

Although I have both rails and snipMate plugins installed, I really didn’t use them effectively. This video was a real wake-up call and I immediately started using the features Ben mentioned, and started to go through the documentations. Nice!

The Content

If you’re new to Vim, I don’t think this one is for you although you can come back later. This screencast assumes that you know Vim, but not for Rails just as the name suggests. If you need to learn Vim, I highly recommend Derek Wyatt’s videos on Vimeo or his site.

You should also be aware that this screencast is not about spoon feeding. It’s a great tutorial and points you to right direction. If you want to learn the details, then you’ll have to do that on your own. As an experience Vim user, I actually find this approach refreshing.

The first section, “The Fundamentals” is somewhat useless as Ben talks about improving typing skills, but the rest of the video is packed with valuable information. I love the fact that the content comes from Ben’s own real-world usage. In other words, it’s not “Hello World”.

Final Words

Vim for Rails Developers is priced at $9 and runs for 37 minutes. Considering the amount of productivity gain, I think this one is a no-brainer.

Although my post on Komodo Edit as the TextMate replacement has gotten great deal amount of traffic, I went back to Vim and never looked back. I no longer use even TextMate even on a Mac although I miss some features. With this screencast, I can finally put TextMate and Komodo Edit to rest.