Marko Anastasov wrote this on May 11, 2012

The meaning of pain with mature tools

There are moments in work when I’m trying to do something with a mature, well-established tool (eg a framework or library), but it gets very difficult. I’m spending a lot of time doing silly things to make it work, but it’s not hapenning.

There’s ever only one reason, assuming I generally know how to use the tool: it is not made for that purpose. Recent examples include trying to serve XML files from the asset pipeline and testing a JSON API with Cucumber. Yes, some people do it, but the hacks it takes is a sign that it’s not the right thing to do. Learn to recognize those signs quickly and take another route. It’s the finer part of knowing to pick the right tool for the job, the timeless engineering skill.

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About Marko Anastasov

Rendered Text co-founder. Started with code, currently more focused on people and words. Foosball striker and entry-level cyclist.

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Rails Testing Handbook

Rails Testing Handbook

A new ebook on building test-driven Rails apps with RSpec and Cucumber.

At Rendered Text, we have a long history with Ruby on Rails. Checking the blog archive reminds me that we published first posts about working with Rails way back in 2009.

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