graeme nelson

A talk I really enjoyed at Rails Conf 2007 was Clean Code by Robert Martin. An important idea from that talk was “Always check in your code a little bit cleaner than when you checked it out”. I never looked at refactoring as being that simple, but it is. Prior to this talk, I looked at refactoring as this big undertaking. I mean the whole application can use some improvement, right? I also tended to take on big refactoring endeavors by deleting the current code and starting over. Robert Martin urges against this, since you might break the current application with the rework code, and that’s much worse than ugly code. At least the ugly code is working. Tackling the smaller refactors, by improving the code a little bit at a time, the refactoring process becomes manageable.

If you are attending RailsConf (or Portland in general) and you love BEER, be sure to check out PLANET ARGON Portland Revealed article.

I am looking forward to meeting others in the Rails Community, please hit me up if you are interested in meeting up. I am sure I will be at several of the after conference get togethers.

In the coming weeks, PLANET ARGON will be introducing a new hosting service called Boxcar. Be sure to sign up on the email list or watch the official PLANET ARGON Blog for more updates.

So, what is Boxcar? [from the official PLANET ARGON blog]:

”...a new hosting service, which aims to provide you with even more privacy, more guaranteed resources, and better options for scaling your Rails application as your business grows.”

It was nice to visit with friends in Seattle this past week. I forgot how many talented friends I have. Check out Gustav Braustache a film shot and directed by my friend Rob Cunningham and staring my other good friend Ken Jarvey, who is also a member of The Can’t See

Okay, I took a break from ruby on rails development this weekend. It was Anisa birthday, so we decided to go to Seattle. We stayed with my brother the first night and played with his new Wii machine. I am not a big gamer, but I’ve been wanting to try out the Wii for some time. I must say Nintendo did it right. It was just entertaining. My mom even loved playing it. You can’t say that for the xbox or playstation. But the one thing I really loved about the Wii, was my Wii character. I can’t believe how much it looks like me. Take a look.

Just incase you can’t tell, I am the one on the right.

The team at PLANET ARGON is excited that RailsConf 2007 in Portland is fast approaching. We are looking forward to meeting other ruby on rails developers. We are hoping we can help out our peers and find cool things to do in Portland during the conference. We have started a Portland Revealed Series. Okay, there’s only one post, but we hope to add a few more (busy times at PLANET ARGON).

We would also like to get recommendation from you on what types of things you would like to know about Portland.

Hey everyone,

PLANET ARGON is looking for intermediate to experienced ruby on rails developers. Having been there for a little over 2 months, I can say its a really nice environment to work in.

see jobs at PLANET ARGON

I've accepted a full time position with PLANET ARGON.

I am really excited to be working with all the great people there.