I tried to switch to sphinx and thinking_sphinx. I downloaded the source of sphinx 0.9.8.1 and built smoothly on my Mac development machine with snow leopard as my MySQL installation is not by Macports, or you can install sphinx directly from Macports. With the guidelines in thinking_sphinx website, everything goes fine. I installed the gem, added some codes in models, ran the rake tasks and I can start to search.

Then I need to deal with CJK support in my search. Parameters charset_table and ngram_char is need to be set in config file to facilitate this function. I found the charset table list in sphinx wiki. For charset_table, I combined the “common” list and “cjk” list, and it is a huge list. I spent sometime to add this list to the RAILS_ROOT/config/sphinx.yml file. The yml parser will throw “line too long” exception if I paste the list in a single line. I have the make the list in multiline, I tried to google around but the samples of other users just don’t work for me – the parser still can’t parse and throw exception. On the other hand, as thinking_sphinx generates a RAILS_ROOT/config/development.sphinx.conf file base on sphinx.yml, I have to make the list in multiline in the conf file too because sphinx cannot handle a too-long-line in conf file also. Finally, here is my current working sphinx.yml:

development:
sql_range_step: 10000000 #handle fixture random id
min_word_len: 1
min_infix_len: 1
ngram_len: 1
enable_star: true
ngram_chars: #...
charset_table: "U+FF10..U+FF19->0..9, ..., 0..9, A..Z->a..z, a..z, \\\n \
U+F900->U+8C48, ..., U+F904->U+6ED1, \\\n \
#...
U+AC00..U+D7A3, ..., U+A000..U+A48C, \\\n \
U+A492..U+A4C6"

Testing

Full width alphanumeric: works, use “ｈａｐｐｙ”, “２００９” can find “happy 2009″

Traditional & Simplified Chinese: works, can search with single character/multi characters/single word/multi words

Korean: works, same as above

Japanese: partially work, sometimes fail to search with single kana character. For example, searching “あ” (a)/ “あい” (ai)/ “あいう” (aiu) cannot find “あいうえお” (aiueo) but search with “あいうえお” works. Searching “バカ” (BAKA) or “め” (me) can find “バカめ” (BAKAme) (Note: sorry for bad words…lol). Furthermore, this link introduces charset table handling mapping of hiragana, katakana and half width katakana, which is useful in Japanese searching.

Prologue

1. Test your code

Move code from Controller to Model

1. Move finder to named_scope
2. Use model association
3. Use scope access
4. Add model virtual attribute
5. Use model callback
6. Replace complex creation with factory method
7. Move model logic into the model
8. model.collection_model_ids (many-to-many)
9. Nested model forms (one-to-one) – accepts_nested_attribute_for
10. Nested model forms (one-to-many) – accepts_nested_attribute_for

RESTful

1. Overuse route customization – map.resources …
2. Needless deep nesting
3. Do not use default route

Model

1. Keep finder in their own model
2. Love named_scope
3. The Law of Demeter (LoD) – delegate
4. DRY: metaprogramming
5. Extract into Module
6. Extract to composed class – composed_of
7. Use observer

Migration

1. Isolating seed data
2. Always add DB index

Controller

1. Use before_filter
2. DRY controller – InheritedResources

View – “Never logic code in views”

1. Move code to controller
2. Move code to model
3. Move code to helper
4. Replace instance variables with local variables – render :partial => …, :locals =>…
5. Use form builder
6. Organize helper files
7. Learn rails helpers – content_for, yield, pass block parameter in helper

Code Refactoring

1. The book – “Refactoring Ruby Edition”

把雙重否定句扭曲成否定句，卻仍嘗試讓其保存原本意思的例子還有一個，就是最近幾年李克勤的某首歌的歌詞中，有一句「被你溫柔無微的照顧」。本來的「無微不至的照顧」，為了塞進兩個字的歌詞中，被人寫成「無微的照顧」了。結果，我就被你既「無」且「微」的照顧了。

Remove old version of Git:

sudo apt-get remove git-core

Install prerequisites:

sudo apt-get install curl libcurl4-openssl-dev gettext

Fetch, unpack and build:

wget http://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/git-1.6.2.2.tar.gz


tar zvxf git-1.6.2.2.tar

cd git-1.6.2.2

make prefix=/usr all

sudo make prefix=/usr install

• Abstraction
• Encapsulation
• Polymorphism
• Inheritance

OO Principles

• Encapsulate what varies.
• Favor composition over inheritance.
• Program to interfaces, not implementations.
• Strive for loosely coupled designs between objects that interact.
• Classes should be open for extension but closed for modification.
• Depend on abstractions. Do not depend on concrete classes.
• Only talk to your friends.
• Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
• A class should have only one reason to change.

OO Patterns

• Strategy - defines a family of algorithms, encapsulates each one, and makes them interchangeable. Strategy lets the algorithm vary independently from clients that use it.
• Observer - defines a one-to-many dependency between objects so that when one object changes state, all its dependents are notified and updated automatically.
• Decorator - Attach additional responsibilities to an object dynamically. Decorators provide a flexible alternative to subclassing for extending functionality.
• Abstract Factory - Provide an interface for creating families of related or dependent objects without specifying their concrete classes.
• Factory Method - Define an interface for creating an object, but let subclasses decide which class to instantiate. Factory Method lets a class defer instantiation to the subclasses.
• Singleton - Ensure a class only has one instance and provide a global point of access to it.
• Command - Encapsulates a request as an object, thereby letting you parameterize clients with different requests, and support undoable operations.
• Adapter - Converts the interface of a class into another interface clients expect. Lets classes work together that couldn’t otherwise because of incompatible interfaces.
• Facade - Provides a unified interface to a set of interfaces in a subsystem. Facade defines a higher-level interface that makes the subsystem easier to use.
• Template Method - Define the skeleton of an algorithm in an operation, deferring some steps to subclasses. Template Method lets subclasses redefine certain steps of an algorithm without changing the algorithm’s structure.
• Iterator - Provide a way to access the elements of an aggregate object sequentially without exposing its underlying representation.
• Composite - Compose objects into tree structures to represent part-whole hierarchies. Composite lets clients treat individual objects and compositions of objects uniformly.
• State - Allow an object to alter its behavior when its internal state changes. The object will appear to change its class.
• Proxy - Provide a surrogate or placeholder for another object to control access of it.
  • Remote Proxy manages interaction between a client and a remote object.
  • Virtual Proxy controls access to an object that is expensive to instantiate.
  • Protection Proxy controls access to the methods of an object based on the caller.