A very interesting article by David Heinemeier Hansson Describing the greater value of system tests over granular unit tests. I’ve definitely seen some of David’s points play out in web systems more concerned about users interacting with the interface than intricate calculations. Although, for those web applications where one small bug might cause significant monetary loss, like in financial related software, seems unit tests would still be extremely relevant.
Go – Is it A Programming Language to Consider?
I’ve been researching up and coming programming languages, and Google’s Golang (Go) language looks very interesting! As far as web development, looks like the Revel framework may have a bit more maturing to do, but as far as efficiency, Go seems to have a lot of potential! Although ruby will remain my first love, Go looks to be a worthwhile language to learn. I’m also interested to see what happens with the open source project Skynet, which marries Go with Ruby via polyglot computing (basically seamlessly utilizing multiple programming languages as needed to get a job done) for building massively distributed apps.
The Ruby Railroad 