Sun 5 Feb 2006
So, I’ve been doing a lot of experimentation with Ruby and Ruby on Rails recently. And I have to say, I’m really liking it.
First off, the learning curve for getting a basic app using Rails up and running is very low. Since it’s shot to the mainstream, there are many great tutorials available, as well as several great books out now and coming soon.
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Sun 8 Jan 2006
Well, I’ve just yesterday committed the initial check-in of the Snaps! Gallery 2.0 development code to our new CVS repository at SourceForge.net. There are instructions for getting and installing the development code posted at the new Labs Forums.
Also, the Snaps! Gallery project page is now up and running to coincide (roughly) with the initial commit of the development code. You can visit the Snaps! project page here. The project page also sports a couple new screenshots of the current development code.
Currently, I’m working out the technical details and schema for the new user permissions setup that Snaps! 2.0 will use, as well as trying to figure out an elegant way to template the admin section without having to re-write it. The way it was written initially did not take into account the possibility that it would ever be templated, so it’s really gonna be a task to convert it to a template friendly form. Which is exactly why I think I’m gonna have to rewrite it. 
Mon 2 Jan 2006
Well, Snaps! Gallery is getting updated, as you all know. But what you problably didn’t know is that it’s basically getting a complete overhaul.
Since initially writing it, I’ve learned a lot more about good coding practice and code libraries. For instance, I didn’t know how really terrible the DB class from PEAR was until I saw the benchmarks comparing it to straight SQL statements and other code libraries. So, with that in mind, I’ve switched over to the ADOdb library for database access. What this gains is: a much faster library, which results in a faster Snaps!, and better portability between database servers, which was one of my main goals in the original versions of Snaps!, but which DB doesn’t enforce very well. ADOdb’s design, by default, forces you to re-examine your queries and write them in a manner to fit ADOdb, rather than the database server you are using. ADOdb takes care of making it work with the various servers.
Along with that switch, I’m also re-examining all my code to try and remove as much extraneous and repetitive stuff as I can, in an effort to slim down and speed up Snaps! (not that it was ever slow, but…). And of course, I’m adding several features, two of which are complete and ready to unveil!