Sunday, January 13, 2013

The Automated Store - Accessing Data

Update: See this page on Learneroo, and see the full tutorial on the Rails Model and Data

This is part two in a series about a mad engineer and the machine-framework he created in the early 1900′s. Any resemblance to modern frameworks, living or dead, is purely coincidental. 

In the first post of this series, the store owner, Jim Blackford, outlined the basic requirement he would need for Version 1 of the Automated Store Machine. We’ll quickly review his requirements:
Blackford: Well, I want to keep track of my inventory. So I guess it should let me create inventory records and store them well. The I should be able to access them at any time to read them, update them, or delete them. And it should keep track of how much inventory I have, and let me modify that when I get a new delivery or sell an item.

Dr. Hanson: Crud, that’s a lot of work. But me and my assistant can get started on building that machine. We’ll keep you posted on our progress…
Update: See this page on Learneroo.

Software security, College Costs

The US government warned about using Java due to a vulnerability that was being exploited to install malicious software. Oracle has since released a ‘patch‘, but people don’t really need to run Java applets that much anymore. I don’t think these vulnerabilities are relevant to other software that runs on the desktop or phones.


Also, an exploit of Ruby on Rails sites was published last week. While a patch was released, some sites won’t update quickly enough. This  will probably cause an increase of hacked websites as hackers find vulnerable websites. I wonder if it was really necessary for people to publish the vulnerability so quickly.


College costs have been rising at a ridiculous pace, despite the poor economy and their poor results. A group of people create an infographic on this topic and sent me the link to share: College isn’t cheap. It shows how many college graduates are stuck with school-debt, but cannot find jobs. I think there are big problems with getting people into so much debt when there’s no guarantee their degree will help them.


Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that colleges have finally begun cutting tuition increases and offering more scholarships. This means they need to cut back on some programs. However, there are much greater changes that will need to happen, such as greater use of technology in education.

Monday, January 7, 2013

The Automated Store – The Plan

Update: See this page on Learneroo.

This is a the first post in a story about a mad engineer and the machine-framework he created in the early 1900′s. Any resemblance to modern frameworks, living or dead, is purely coincidental. 

Dr. Victor Hanson was a brilliant mathematician and engineer, though a tad crazy. He had invented a machine that could perform various calculations, but it had not sold well, and anyways he wanted to create something more ambitious. He decided to take out an ad in a newspaper to see if anyone needed his services...

Continued on Learneroo