Here’s what I’m talking about:
In console,

time_string = "2010-07-21 11:52:31"
helper.time_ago_in_words(time_string) # => about 5 hours


The catch here is that the “5 hours” duration is incorrect. This was hardly 5 minutes ago! So, the problem here was in time zones.
By default,

time_string.to_time # => Wed Jul 21 11:52:31 UTC 2010

Notice the time zone offset. It has been set to “UTC” by default. But the original time zone of this string time was different. And the tricky part is, it was different for different environments. So how’d we get past this? Here’s the entire snippet:

def custom_time_ago_in_words(time_str)
time = time_str.to_time + (-Time.zone_offset(Time.now.zone))
"#{time_ago_in_words(time)} ago"
end

This essentially adjusts the time according to the server time zone and gives correct output as “5 minutes ago”.

1. If we want to assign an entire AR object to a local hash:
A direct assignment is possible with “attributes”

local_hash = session_user.attributes

the ‘local_hash’ now has an attribute-value hash of the session_user object, an ActiveRecord object of model User ]

2. If we need the local_hash to have only a subset of the AR object attributes:

desired_keys = ['address' , 'zipcode' , 'city' , 'country']
local_array = session_user.attributes.select{|key,value| desired_keys.include?(key) }
local_hash = Hash[*local_array.flatten]

the ‘local_hash’ now has only the desired attribute values. This can easily be extended by simply adding more keys to ‘desired_keys’.
Instead of what I usually see,

local_hash = {
'address' => session_user.address,
'zipcode' => session_user.zipcode,
'city' => session_user.city,
'country' => session_user.country
}

What do you think of this snippet? Is there a shorter/smarter way of doing this? Think on!

In case of YAML, the spaces between array elements makes a difference. A much needed code snippet :

A file ‘myfile.yml’

array: [ 1 , 2 ,3, 4]
array_spaces: [1 , 2 , 3 , 4]

Loading this file in ‘irb’:

>> f =YAML.load_file('myfile.yml')
=> {"array"=>[1, "2 ,3", 4], "array_spaces"=>[1, 2, 3, 4]}
>> f["array"]
=> [1, "2 ,3", 4]
>> f["array"].size
=> 3
>> f["array_spaces"]
=> [1, 2, 3, 4]
>> f["array_spaces"].size
=> 4


Now that’s not Ruby-ish. But then, as a seasoned co-developer pointed out, YAML should be language agnostic. I still find it a bit odd, though. Hmmm, interesting. Point taken.

Always begin by looking at RoR guides:
Ruby on Rails guides

The BEST Ruby on Rails resource that gives a consolidated set from many relevant RoR resources:
Drink Rails

The renowned railscasts
Railscasts

RoR @SlideShare
Ruby @SlideShare
Rails @SlideShare

Awesome RoR screen casts. Short and concise.
Ruby Plus

Not very frequently updated, but has good content.
Monkey on Rails

Elaborate content on a wide variety of RoR subjects. By Yehuda Katz is a member of the Ruby on Rails core team.
Katz Got Your Tongue

Usually covered by “drinkrails”. Good resource.
Lindsaar Net

Updated, concise and good information resource.
Rails Dispatch

Latest on Rails. Tonnes of new and interesting stuff.
Rails Inside

Short concise everyday Rails tips.
Rails Quick Tips

The latest developments in Rails, all in one place
Riding Rails

Rails notes. Solutions to every day “how-tos”.
Rails Notes

Get your Ruby right with quick Ruby tips.
Ruby Quick Tips

Awesome Ruby resource. 5 minutes of Ruby goodness.
Ruby5

Another amazing Ruby resource. Concise episodes. Really useful.
Ruby Pulse Episodes

A good collection.
Rails Coach

http://sappsdreams.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/databases-dont-bite/

Underlying Technologies - The application is built on Java 2 Micro Edition[J2ME] technology and is compliant with all Java supporting mobile devices.

Enhancements – The application supports “Over the Air” upgrade to “Mobile Yellow Pages” where in the user can query not only for hotels but for various categories like hospitals, movie theatres, schools, colleges, travel agents, consultaants etc.

Underlying Technologies – Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and HTML, Javascript have been used to develop this web portal’s front end. The back end has been provided by Microsoft Access.

Underlying Technologies – Canvass has been developed on Ruby on Rails web development platform for the front end and My SQL database for the back end.

This is an online file sharing application which gives the user unlimited storage space using the cloud storage provided by integrating Amazon S3 service along with this. This application also includes the PayPal payment gateway to make secure payments between the user and the service provider.

This was developed on Ruby on Rails which makes web development fairly easy and fast. This is a growing platform which allows developers to make better and bigger applications in fairly less time.