Matt, M.S.

Here is a simple monkeypatch (duckpunch, donkeykick, squirrelbite, etc) to the Date class that easily allows us to calculate the number of weekdays between two dates. I can't believe that this functionality doesn't exist in the standard lib, but I'm normally the last person to mess with Date/Time calculations because they are absolute evil.

Drop this sucker into a file named "date.rb" in your Rails app's config/lib directory and restart.

Usage: Date.today.weekdays_until(some_date_in_the_future)

class Date
  def weekdays_until(date)
    return 0 if date <= self
    (self..date).select{|day| day.is_weekday?}.size
  end

  def is_weekday?
    self.wday != 0 && self.wday != 6
  end

end

I just translated an old PHP function to its Ruby counterpart. I think it really showcases Ruby's elegance:

PHP Version:

function calc_pct_complete($job_id, $d) {
  $pc = 0;
  $sql = "some SQL query";
  $res = mysql_query($sql);
  while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($res)) {
    $x = total_days($row[start_date], $d) / total_days($row[start_date], $row[end_date]);
    if ($x < 0) {
      $x = 0;
    } elseif ($x > 1) {
      $x = 1;
    } elseif ($row[name] != "X" && $row[name] != "Y") {
      $x = $x * $x;
    }
    $pc += $x * $row[pct_hours];
  }
  mysql_free_result($res);
  return $pc;
}

Ruby Version:

def percentage_complete(date = Date.today)
  self.phases.inject(0.0) do |sum, phase|
    percent_complete = phase.percentage_complete(date)
    percent_complete = percent_complete ** 2 unless %w{X Y}.include?(phase.name)

    sum += (percent_complete * phase.percentage_of_hours)
  end
end

While starting to enjoy Dan Ariely's book "Predictable Irrational", I come across a security tag firmly affixed to a page. I purchased this book directly from Amazon; so they have much trouble with shoplifters?

I understand protecting assets, but this ruined a paragraph of a book that I purchased.

Everyone in the Rails community knows and loves Obie Fernandez (or they should). He gave a wonderfully insightful presentation at RubyFringe that everyone should take to heart.

Obie Fernandez - Do The Hustle

Here are the slides from the lightening talk I gave last night at the Columbus Ruby Brigade meeting:
restful_acl.pdf