#195
Jan 04, 2010

My Favorite Web Apps in 2009

Here I show several of my favorite web applications which I found most helpful as a Ruby developer over the past year.
Tags: tools
Download (22.7 MB, 6:26)
alternative download for iPod & Apple TV (9.3 MB, 6:26)

Resources

What are your favorite web apps for Ruby development? Let me know in the comments.

RSS Feed for Episode Comments 30 comments

1. Brunagh Jan 04, 2010 at 01:34

Thanks Ryan!
I've bookmarked some of your resources.
I also would add apidock.com where you can browse information on Ruby, Rails and Rspec as well.
I would also recommend rubyinside.com for interesting articles.


2. Coops Jan 04, 2010 at 01:59

Nice episode Ryan... definitely will be checking a few of those out.

I am a massive fan of
apidock.com,
railsforum.com and good old
api.rubyonrails.org
They have all been very good to me and much help when stuck on what options i have with certain methods.

A nice site i like to watch every now and then is also railsenvy.com some of the topics they cover a quite interesting and very handy.

Cheers
Coops
AUS


3. waqas Jan 04, 2010 at 02:39

I would also add www.opensourcerails.com, where developers upload thier new app. guides.rubyonrails.org a very good site for helping you understand everything you need to know about RoR.


4. Botanicus Jan 04, 2010 at 05:05

The gemspecs files might be more useful than just some data for creating gems. Check for examples these http://github.com/botanicus/nake/blob/master/nake.gemspec & http://github.com/botanicus/nake/blob/master/nake.pre.gemspec

As you can see these files are executable and I'm using them for releasing gem & the prerelease gem. I just do ./nake.gemspec resp. ./nake.pre.gemspec and that's it, I get the gem. Unfortunatelly bundler can't handle more gemspecs in one directory, so if someone use git: path/to/your/repo, it won't work, I already created a ticket for it ...

In my opinion you should write gemspecs rather than have some fucking rake tasks for it, because you can just build it and it works, but the rake tasks, you usually depend on some other gems etc. And mainly, when your tasks generate the list of files rather than put Dir.glob directly into the gemspec, then when you add/remove a new file, the gemspecs is old and if you have the gemspec in your Git repo, then if someone build it, he get broken gem which is really very, very bad practice. So please don't do it folks.


5. Aukan Jan 04, 2010 at 05:23

Hi Ryan, thanks for this cast. I think you missed a site I saw you mentioning in other casts which is:

railstips.org


6. Mike Jan 04, 2010 at 06:31

I really enjoy using Heroku for hosting of my rails apps. There are many solutions for rails hosting on the web, but I find Heroku's zero-configuration, Git-centric workflow to be the missing link in my applications' life cycles.

There are some limitations to Heroku such as a read only file system and they only support PostgreSQL, but thanks to the nature of cloud computing, many of these minor roadblocks can be overcome.

Heroku is at http://www.heroku.com

They have free hosting for smaller applications and a dynamically scaling architecture for larger apps, so the theory is that you pay for only what resources you need.


7. Keli Jan 04, 2010 at 09:08

huge fan of railscasts.com, ever herd of it? :)

apidock.com, newrelic.com


8. Dennis Jan 04, 2010 at 09:27

Not rails related, but if you need to find a domain, bustaname.com is super useful.


9. Eric Berry Jan 04, 2010 at 10:13

I am biased, but I love http://www.TeachMeToCode.com (screencasts on demand). Learnivore.com is also an excellent site and will soon have a full iPhone interface as well. And of course, my all-time favorite website is http://RailsCasts.com!


10. Patrick Jan 04, 2010 at 10:27

As other have mentioned, apidock.com.


11. Sam Soffes Jan 04, 2010 at 11:01

I love http://railsapi.com. I run it locally at http://rdoc.local which makes looking up Ruby or Rails stuff super fast and convenient when I don't have internet.


12. David Jan 04, 2010 at 12:05

Not quite rails specific but I've been loving http://rubular.com for playing with ruby regexes, has really helped with some tricky validations on a recent rails app.


13. Pratik Jan 04, 2010 at 13:10

Railscasts.com :)


14. Isee Jan 04, 2010 at 19:26

ah i see


15. Ram Kumar Hariharan Jan 05, 2010 at 00:02

I feel you have missed my all time favourite Heroku www.heroku.com


16. Charlotte Jan 05, 2010 at 00:26

I also like rubypulse.com for it's screencasts on Ruby related topics.


17. Mazembo Jan 05, 2010 at 09:22

My favourite: railscasts.com. Thanks Ryan.


18. Emerson Jan 05, 2010 at 11:46

Loving GitHub as well, seems like everything I use is housed there.

By far this is my favourite site though (and I'm assuming it's build on rails). Happy New Year, look forward to the screencasts of 2010.


19. Fredrik Jan 05, 2010 at 14:41

@Emerson

http://github.com/ryanb/railscasts

Open-sourced and good-looking ;)


20. Darin Jan 05, 2010 at 16:53

I prefer railsbrain.com for the API, but I do use railsapi.com for ruby stuff...


21. Kieran P Jan 05, 2010 at 17:05

As well as the ones you mentioned Ryan, I also found the following really great.

http://apidock.com <- You can save the search prefs to your Firefox search bar, which makes finding things very easy

http://lighthouseapp.com <- sometimes Githubs issue tracker doesn't cut it :-( A very nice alternative.

http://www.confreaks.com/ <- heaps of great vidoes, including recent ruby conf 2009.

http://rubypulse.com <- Discover new libs

http://ruby5.envylabs.com/ <- keep up to date with ruby news

http://doctype.tv/ <- html/css/js tips and tricks


22. gUI Jan 06, 2010 at 03:58

Ryan, in a few days, would you compile comments, because there is also "must seen" websites in all the comments ?

With your site selection, this will be one of the best Ruby development sites bookmark page (-;


23. jamesw Jan 06, 2010 at 12:33

Netbeans for for code development is awesome.
http://netbeans.org/

RailsPlayground for hosting
http://railsplayground.com/
Totally brilliantly helpfull. There is no way I would have got my app running the way I wanted without their help.

As a RailsPlayground customer I got a free sourcerepo account with redmine for secure source code repository and project managemant.
http://sourcerepo.com/
Having used this set up in anger I would happily pay for the service.

Last but not least http://railsforum.com/index.php as a superb place to ask for help


24. Fredrik Jan 06, 2010 at 15:53

@jamesw

Seems like Netbeans lack support for HAML though. I've searched around for plugins to get it working, but no success.

Seems like right now the only editor working (at least for me) is RadRails on Windows.

Gosh sometimes I just hate that I aint on textmate/OSX.


25. Andion Jan 07, 2010 at 10:04

I'd add http://guides.rubyonrails.org and http://heroku.com :)


26. Nico Jan 10, 2010 at 23:59

@Fredrik:

There is a netbeans haml plugin: http://mediacast.sun.com/users/tnorbye/media/org-netbeans-modules-haml.nbm/details


27. Igor Jan 11, 2010 at 01:12

I'd like to add http://www.MyTaskHelper.com
to this great list. Great free online database application. Very useful if you need simple form but don't want to develop it in Rails, but instead you can make in a few clicks.


28. John Jan 11, 2010 at 02:37

Lovely.

Can't wait to see some Rails 3 specific stuff :)


29. Fredrik Jan 11, 2010 at 10:04

@nico:

Of what I saw when using that plugin it never supported auto-indentation. Kinda pain in the ass to always press tab 5 times just to get to the right line.


30. reve Jan 12, 2010 at 08:07

great ! thanks a lot.


31. webrob123 Jan 14, 2010 at 04:08

For those looking for a full IDE I believe you can't, by a long way, do better than RubyMine 2.0. Features are added super fast. Within a few months of becoming aware of HAML and Cucumber the team had integrated and shipped support.

Check it out at http://www.jetbrains.com - it is commercial but a license is not that far off the price of TextMate.


32. TechSlam Jan 15, 2010 at 04:05

Thanks a lot. It was a great collection


33. paolo Jan 17, 2010 at 06:24

Thanks!
I've bookmarked some of your web apps !


34. 543 Jan 20, 2010 at 14:14

cool


35. Leontyushka Jan 29, 2010 at 06:26

Thanks!1!


36. ruby on rails Feb 11, 2010 at 03:53

nice one


37. Ken Mayer Feb 11, 2010 at 17:13

Ruby Tube: http://rubytu.be/ is also a great place for finding screen casts.


38. Dmitry Feb 19, 2010 at 13:10

http://echowaves.com – an awesome free alternative to campfire.


39. Jerseys Jul 14, 2010 at 02:39

For those looking for a full IDE I believe you can't, by a long way, do better than RubyMine 2.0. Features are added super fast. Within a few months of becoming aware of HAML and Cucumber the team had integrated and shipped support.


40. juegos gratis Jul 19, 2010 at 01:47

I am apreciating it very much.I have never read such a lovely article and I am coming back tomorrow to continue reading.


41. authentic nike shoes Aug 01, 2010 at 23:26

To also like rubypulse.com for it's screencasts on Ruby related topics.


42. özgün 2010 Aug 02, 2010 at 16:26

Özgün siteler 2010 en yeni sitlerinbir çok alandaki yazıları ve biribirinden güzel özgün 2010 sitleri buradalar.


43. süper siteler Aug 02, 2010 at 19:11

Hocam en süper siteler burada rail olarak süper sitleri ve 2010 yılınca meydana gelen olayları kısa ve öz bir bişimde sizlere sunuyoruz.


45. logo designs Aug 09, 2010 at 23:32

Lots of great info you have shared


46. UGG Boots on sale Aug 10, 2010 at 18:55

Gooooooooooooooooooood luck ~~!!


47. p90 workout Aug 12, 2010 at 09:14

This is one of the most incredible blogs Ive read in a very long time. The amount of information in here is stunning, like you practically wrote the book on the subject. Your blog is great for anyone who wants to understand this subject more. Great stuff; please keep it up!


48. Jordan basketball shoes Aug 14, 2010 at 01:19

I have never read such a lovely article and I am coming back tomorrow to continue reading. I feel you have missed my all time favourite Heroku


49. Rip Blu-ray for Mac Aug 18, 2010 at 01:51

Thanks,it's so good.
suport!


50. supra tk society Aug 18, 2010 at 18:48

good job,good article


51. Rumana Akter Aug 18, 2010 at 23:21

Since most of the business dealing is done in the net itself these days if you are interested in buying or selling any of yours then just create an account in any of the available sites as “small business for sales”.

Buy Website
http://businessforsale.cc/


52. Wholesale baseball hats Aug 20, 2010 at 20:15

I really liked your article and I shared with my friends in my facebook account ..
I gave my site a few examples below. If you appreciate my comments in you enter.


53. converse all star Aug 20, 2010 at 20:46

love converse all star,love yourself.High quality low price.It's fit for you.


54. omega watches Aug 23, 2010 at 02:37

  winni2078 08 23
http://www.juicycouture4u.com/
http://www.newstyleomega.com/
http://www.juicycouture4u.com/Juicy-Couture-Handbag.html
http://www.juicycouture4u.com/Juicy-Couture-Tracksuits.html
http://www.newstyleomega.com/
http://www.newstyleomega.com/
http://www.newstyleomega.com/


55. cheap clothes Aug 24, 2010 at 19:32

I like your style so much, I am your honest reader.


56. PDF to Images Converter Aug 24, 2010 at 23:02

Some times, to a certain need, we have to convert PDF to image for enjoyment.


57. Wholesale Electronics Aug 25, 2010 at 01:17

Discount Wholesale Electronics, Wholesale Cell Phones, Electronic Gadgets and More from the Best Dropship Wholesaler


58. louis vuitton shoes Aug 26, 2010 at 21:03

Thanks for sharing your article. I really enjoyed it. I put a link to my site to here so other people can read it. My readers have about the same interets


59. snow boots Aug 30, 2010 at 20:36

 thanks for this cast. I think you missed a site I saw you mentioning in other casts which is:

railstips.org


60. Dolce & Gabbana Belts Sep 01, 2010 at 22:51

YES! Great piece, keep up the terrific work. This is the type of information that should gain recognition for it’s craft. More writers should learn from you. This is right on the money.

Add your comment:

(SKIP THIS ONE)

(required)

(not shown)


(use pastie or gist for code)

sponsored by:
if you want to help:
required:
Get Quicktime Player
Give Back to Open Source