Noel Rappin Writes Here

Programming Ruby 3.3

The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide

Ruby is one of the most important programming languages in use for web development. It powers the Rails framework, which is the backing of some of the most important sites on the web. The Pickaxe Book, named for the tool on the cover, is the definitive reference on Ruby, a highly-regarded, fully object-oriented programming language. This updated edition is a comprehensive reference on the language itself, with a tutorial on the most important features of Ruby—including pattern matching and Ractors—and describes the language through Ruby 3.3.

Modern Front-End Development for Rails, Second Edition

Hotwire, Stimulus, Turbo, and React

Improve the user experience for your Rails app with rich, engaging client-side interactions. Learn to use the Rails 7 tools and simplify the complex JavaScript ecosystem. It’s easier than ever to build user interactions with Hotwire, Turbo, and Stimulus. You can add great front-end flair without much extra complication. Use React to build a more complex set of client-side features. Structure your code for different levels of client-side needs with these powerful options. Add to your toolkit today!

Modern CSS with Tailwind, Second Edition

Flexible Styling without the Fuss

Tailwind CSS is an exciting new CSS framework that allows you to design your site by composing simple utility classes to create complex effects. With Tailwind, you can style your text, move your items on the page, design complex page layouts, and adapt your design for devices from a phone to a wide-screen monitor. This new edition of the book covers Tailwind 3.0, which changes the way Tailwind generates its CSS and has a large number of new features powered by the new system.

Rails 5 Test Prescriptions

Build a Healthy Codebase

Does your Rails code suffer from bloat, brittleness, or inaccuracy? Cure these problems with the regular application of test-driven development. You’ll use Rails 5.1, Minitest 5, and RSpec 3.7, as well as popular testing libraries such as factory_bot and Cucumber. Updates include Rails 5.1 system tests and Webpack integration. Do what the doctor ordered to make your applications feel all better. Side effects may include better code, fewer bugs, and happier developers.

What Do I Think I Think About LLMs

May 28, 2025

Every time I think the AI frenzy has peaked, it peaks again. Writing about coding these days feels like Jimmy Stewart dancing on the edge of a floor that’s rapidly receding under him. I had a draft of this that started with five or six capsule stories of interactions with LLMs for coding purposes, some saving incremental time, some being wrong, some even being right. Then I realized that I probably shouldn’t be that detailed about work stuff, but more importantly, you likely have all these stories too.

2024 Books Recap (Finally)

May 10, 2025

So, this is wildly late. So late that it mocks the very concept of an end-of-year recap. And honestly, if I didn’t like going back to these things and re-reading them, I probably wouldn’t have finished it. Couple of quick notes before getting to it: The new thing this year is that I used The StoryGraph to rate all the books right after I finished them. You’d think that’d make it easier to get this list out, but apparently not.

Better Know A Ruby Thing: Method Lookup

March 9, 2025

Notes and Corrections Before we get fully started here, a couple of notes on Better Know Singleton Classes, which, among other things, got mentioned on Hacker News, giving me comments there for the first time in years, maybe for the first time ever. One Hacker News comment suggested that “Eigenclass” was coined by _why the lucky stiff as a joke and was then adopted by the community. I looked this up and that doesn’t seem to be the case… _why’s Poignant Guide To Ruby uses “metaclass” when it discusses this feature (at least the version I have does…).

Better Know A Ruby Thing: Singleton Classes

January 20, 2025

It is time to Better Know what is perhaps the Ruby-iest of Ruby things, a feature that didn’t even have an official name for several years, despite being critical to Ruby’s Object-Oriented semantics. (It only just now occurs to me that there was no official name in English, I wonder what the Japanese name for it was…). Yes, it’s the singleton class. Which isn’t really a singleton. Or really a class.

Mastodon

Teaching Testing and Design

With Avdi Grimm, Betsy Haibel and Penelope Phippen

Episode 72, October 2019

Teaching and Learning

With Sandi Metz

Episode 69, August 2019

Pragmatic Programmer at 20

With Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas

Episode 68, August 2019