Areas of Expertise:
- Rails
- XML
- HTML
- CSS
- documentation
Biography
Books
|
|
|
|
|
|
(
Blog
Recent Posts | All Posts
Why is HTML Suddenly Interesting?
August 26 2009
After a decade of quiet, HTML is a hot topic once again. While there is pent-up demand for new features, the conversation reflects a more basic change in the Web's landscape. read moreProgramming Contests, Community, and Business
June 10 2009
Attending the TopCoder Open, the final in-person rounds of an intense programming competition, in support of the TopCoder Cookbook, showed me possibilities that go way beyond programming or books into business models and community I came expecting to see a competition, but found a much more inclusive (and compelling) business… read moreProgramming as Live Performance
June 03 2009
As I'm writing this, twenty people are watching their peers write code. They aren't looking over anyone's shoulders, or doing peer programming - they're watching mirrors of screens at the TopCoder Open, seeing exactly how competitors work their way through algorithm problems in C++, Java, and C#. Is this something… read moreMay 19 2009
I've worked on lots of collaborative books before. Now, I'm starting on something different: a book written by competition. read moreDreaming of Rails as the Next Microsoft Access
May 05 2009
Rails? Microsoft Access? Aren't those from different planets? Well, they may have different origins, but their similarities give me hope. read morePersonalizing the Learning Conversation
May 05 2009
Twenty years of change are shifting technology from top-down broadcast-model documentation and training to a more conversational approach that shrinks the social distance between teacher and learner, personalizing our experience. read moreChoosing your application's version of Rails
March 28 2009
Rails updates versions frequently. There are a few different ways to make sure your application is running the version of Rails you think it should be, and to make sure you can run it under the version it expects. read moreFebruary 18 2009
GM's putting an end to its Saturn line shines a light on the challenge of building "a different kind of company" inside the "usual kind of company", at a time when a lot of web companies are aiming to be different. read moreFebruary 16 2009
For most people, ISBNs are random noise on the backs of books, helpful mostly for barcode scanning at the register. For publishing folk, ISBNs can actually be memorable, magic keys for jumping from one system to the next. Of course, there are now two different flavors of ISBN, the obsolete… read moreFebruary 13 2009
The way I learned computers back in the 1980s doesn't seem that different a path from the way teens are learning now - but both seem very different from the way that adults traditionally learn. Is there a way to improve adult learning by encouraging teen practices? read moreReviving the Labs - "It's alive...."
February 10 2009
After a long hibernation, O'Reilly Labs has returned, with a mix of software and code that should excite casual ebook readers as well as dedicated publishing technologists. read moreHeroku moves forward and sideways
January 17 2009
I've had a lot of positive feedback from readers for including Heroku in Learning Rails. Its web-based interface is the easiest way I know to get started with Rails programming without getting trapped in installation challenges. They're changing gears a... read moreJanuary 01 2009
My New Year's Resolution for this year is simple: practice. You don't have to achieve (or even aim for) total mastery for the practice to be worthwhile. read moreInstalling Instant Rails on Windows
December 22 2008
Instant Rails is getting old, but it's still a quick way to install Rails and start coding. This screencast shows how to download and install Instant Rails, and shows off how it works with a simple example from Chapter 2 of Learning Rails. read moreTemplates Offer Rails New Path to Ubiquity
December 16 2008
Rails application templates, just added in Edge Rails, offer Rails developers the chance to spread their wings and bring Rails to new audiences and new capabilities - and might even help Rails lead the next generation of frameworks. read moreRecent Posts | All Posts
Also find Simon on:
Recent Twitter posts:
