MySQL is dead to me

All right, I'm done with MySQL for now. I've fallen into a trap with trying to get MySQL to work. I've been so focused on following the instructions in Beginning Ruby that I let my difficulty in installing MySQL completely derail my progress, rather than moving around it and looking for another solution. But no more!

I took my friend Eli's advice and switched to using sqlite. I'm also giving Beginning Ruby a break and checking out the guides on rubyonrails.org instead.

The first exercise is also building a blog, but the tutorial is designed around sqlite, so it'll be easier for me to understand than the one in Beginning Ruby, which references MySQl heavily. I'm not feeling comfortable enough to set up a database without explicit instructions yet. One day!

In the meantime, full speed ahead. I need to quit being so myopic and remember that it's about learning Ruby and getting more comfortable with it, not following a specific set of instructions.

Getting past my MySQL gem issues

So the MySQL gem has absolutely killed my productivity today. A simple command line install didn't work. So I installed macports, only to have my friend Eli recommend homebrew instead. Then I had to uninstall macports (surprisingly difficult, it was like an infestation) and install homebrew. So I finally get homebrew installed, hoping to use it to install MySQL, then use that installation to install the MySQL gem. MySQL was installed, but I'm still having errors with the gem. WHAT!

tldr: the MySQL gem is a headache I don't need to deal with right now, so I'll skip it.

So this morning I've been learning about how to create, document and distribute gems. It seems a bit far-fetched to think I'll be writing code others might want to use, but who knows? One thing I really like about Ruby is the openness of the community: experienced developers are open to helping newbies and developers are open to sharing code that others might find useful.

It feels good to be back in the swing of things and not just beating my head against the wall. This is one of those things I told myself I wouldn't get hung up on.

Working with MySQL and Ruby

Whoa, what's up SQL and MySQL?

Here's something I've recently realized about learning Ruby: I can't just learn Ruby. Ruby is going to be the thrust of what I'm learning and I'll spend the bulk of my time with it, but if my ultimate goal is to make a career change and become a full time Ruby programmer, I'll have to learn other languages as well.

This idea isn't as daunting as it might have been a month and a half ago, before I even had the seed of a desire to learn Ruby.

So here's something I've noticed about working with a bit of SQL and MySQL tonight. Computer languages share a lot of the same ideas. Sure, Ruby is more elegant than something like C++ and more modern than the Basic I learned in 9th grade, but the idea is the same. So the teeny, tiny little snippet of MySQL I wrote tonight was easier to understand than it would be if I hadn't also been working with Ruby for a month and a half or so.

I actually had to cut my database work short tonight because I couldn't get the MySQL gem to install, but I WAS able to write a program that allowed me to write to a database and retrieve information from it. Pretty cool, considering that's what I've been hot balls to learn since I cracked open Beginning Ruby.