Coming Soon…
Posted by Tom | February 22, 2008 14 Responses comments

A quick post is in order to let you know why things are so quiet around here. We’re making some changes.

As promised, Hobo is being broken down into smaller sub-projects such as DRYML, the migration generator, the security system etc. etc. You’ll still be able to use Hobo as a whole but people will be able to try out just the bits that interest them much more easily.

As promised, Hobo is going to be properly tested and documented. This is being done at the same time as the break-up into sub-projects. Each sub-project will be released complete with a decent test suite and documentation.

And finally, the current hobocentral.net website does a pretty poor job of expressing what the project is all about. We’ll be making some changes there too.

The break-up / test / document work is already well underway, but we’re holding off from any releasing anything until we’re a bit more prepared. The goal is to have our new face ready in time for the Ruby Fools conference in Denmark. That’s 31st March, so you don’t have to hold on for too long. In the mean time there probably won’t be any releases and the blog will be a bit quiet. We haven’t gone anywhere so you can still say hi in the forums and the #hobo channel. A new and much more mature chapter in the Hobo story is just around the corner - please hold tight :-)

Reader Comments Add your comment »

Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Fernando Correia
Posted on:
February 22, 2008 at 4:49 pm

Great! We’ll be waiting for it.

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Paul Davis
Posted on:
February 22, 2008 at 7:31 pm

Sounds great!

I am excited to hear the chorus of calls for doc (in which I am an uncommonly audible tenor) answered.

Don’t be scared to share work in progress as it emerges!

Thanks again for a great tool!

Paul

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Owen
Posted on:
February 22, 2008 at 9:03 pm

Looking forward to it!

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Micah Winkelspecht
Posted on:
February 24, 2008 at 4:12 am

Fantastic! In my latest project, I am using the incredible migration generator and the security system, but I don’t particularly like the syntax of DRYML (no offense, just a personal taste issue), so I’m using HAML instead. It will be great to be able to only install the components that I’m actually using.

I think you’ll find much broader interest in the Hobo suite once people can pick and choose plugins.

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
Martin Ceronio
Posted on:
February 26, 2008 at 4:38 pm

I’ve been watching this project with some anticipation. I’m a little hesitant about using it because I’ve read that it is going to change, and now this announcement! Can’t wait to see what the final product looks like!

Comment Number:
6
Written by:
kwahu
Posted on:
February 27, 2008 at 9:27 am

In our company we are putting together a library of DRYML tags we developed through the last 4 projects base on HOBO. So my mates are excited to have the DRYML extracted. We are confident that DRYML is the propper templating engine for us. We can use one tool that acts as both helpers and partials in most cases.

GOOD WORK TOM AND TEAM! ;)

Comment Number:
7
Written by:
Brandon Zylstra
Posted on:
February 28, 2008 at 1:08 am

This is great news… I look forward to diving in in a big way once things stabilize and are more thoroughly documented.

Although I suspect most people will end up wanting to use all of Hobo, breaking it up makes it much more approachable: you don’t have to make a huge commitment up front to making your project completely revolve around Hobo and to doing everything the Hobo way. You can start using Hobo with the knowledge that you can drop parts of it and lose so much of your work.

Comment Number:
8
Written by:
Omarvelous
Posted on:
February 28, 2008 at 8:28 pm

Sounds great!

This Hobo project is very promising. I’ve been following the trac (which has been down last few days), and are eagerly awaiting it’s release and new plugins. You guys are really on to something, and I’m sure it will really shake up the Rails and Dynamic Web community.

@Martin - Dive right in! I think grasping it now will only help you greatly in the future with the new release.

Comment Number:
9
Written by:
Keith (oupa) Garrod
Posted on:
March 2, 2008 at 12:08 pm

It’s great to hear that you guys are focussing on the right stuff(imho). Hobo is a really good tool with the potential to dramatically improve productivity. The lack of doc has detracted from that potential as you know. The only other thing that is slowing me down is development system performance. Since my Hobo project has grown a bit big (50 models), my system has slowed down to the point where it is a real hindrance. Any work (or suggestions) in that area would be really welcome. Production performance is fine btw.

Micah: I had a look at HAML a while back and didn’t find it functionally comparable to DRYML. I must say though, that the YAML-style syntax of HAML is more appealing to me than the XML-style syntax of DRYML. As somebody suggested in this forum some time ago, the combination of HAML syntax and DRYML functionality/extensibility would be killer!

Thanks for Hobo!

Keith

Comment Number:
10
Written by:
Justin
Posted on:
March 13, 2008 at 6:44 am

Ooo, exciting! I just discovered Hobo yesterday, but am finding it hard to learn due to lack of/unorganized docs (gee, have you guys ever heard that before? :)… it’s great to hear that’s being fixed soon.

This really is the best development experience ever, even with lack of documentation, so thank you for that.

Comment Number:
11
Written by:
Martin Ceronio
Posted on:
March 18, 2008 at 7:53 pm

As far as the documentation goes: Any reason why you have not integrated a wiki into your website? I know there are some messy wikis around, but it’s a way for the community to contribute, and if it’s structured properly from the start it could be quite usable and helpful. Just my two cents…

Comment Number:
12
Written by:
Brandon
Posted on:
March 20, 2008 at 8:44 am

I’m dying to get my hands on things… are you on track for a major documentation release by the 31st?

Comment Number:
13
Written by:
Justin
Posted on:
March 20, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Haha… I didn’t want to post again… but I’m in your boat, Brandon. I’ve put almost all of my web development on hold until the new Hobo :)

(I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, I’m just antsy)

Comment Number:
14
Written by:
The secret is out! « Life, the Universe, and Everything
Posted on:
March 21, 2008 at 6:46 pm

[…] The secret is out! For all the millions of people reading my blog, I have a secret to share: the much-anticipated changes in Hobo, that were promised for the end of the month, are now mostly available in Hobo version 0.7.3. […]


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