= Ruby Facets http://facets.rubyforge.com "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO RUBY" == Introduction Ruby Facets is the singele largest collection of general purpose method extensions and system additions for the Ruby programming language. The core extensions is a large collection of methods which extend the core capabilities of Ruby's built-in classes and modules. This collection of extension methods are unique by virtue of their atomicity. The methods are stored in relatively small groups of tightly coupled methods so that each can be required independently. This gives developers the potential for much finer control over which extra methods to bring into their code. The "more" additions are a collection of classes, modules and light meta-systems which consitutes an ever improving source of reusable components. Some very nice additions are provided, from the simple Functor class to a full-blown annotations system. == Installation Ycan intall either via RubyGems or manually: % gem install facets or % tar -xzf facets-2.x.x.tar.gz % cd facets-2.x.x % sudo task/setup == Compatability with 1.x series. Prior to 2.0, Facets was divided between CORE and MORE --standalone extensions vs. classes and modules, respectively. With 2.0, the idea of CORE has take only a slightly new meaning. Instead CORE now represents the libraries that are considerd essential and as such are loaded automatically when using ++require "facets"++. While still primarily made up of extension methods a few classes now belong to core as well. In conjuction with this the extension methods are no longer stored on a per-method basis, but rather in tight knit packs. While dividing the extension methods up on a per-method basis had certain advantages, not the least of which was a simple organization, it proved too granular --rather than "atomic" it was "subatomic". With 2.0 we have address this issue. All the extension methods have now been orgnized into small tightly related groups. However, being able to require on the basis of a method is still a useful approach, so a compatability layer for the 1.x series has been created. It makes it possible to load Facets libraries on a per method basis, just as before, via require redirection. For example: require 'facets/core/string/underscore' Will redirect according to the content of the underscore.rb file: require 'facets/string/stylize' So the underscore method will be loaded just as before. But a few other *stylization* methods will be loaded as well. This actually proves a more useful approach b/c often one will want to use one of the related methods as well. == Mission Facets holds to the notion that the more we can reasonably integrate into a common foundation directed toward general needs, the better that foundation will be able to serve everyone. There are a number of advantages here: * Better Code-reuse * Collaborative Improvements * Greater Name Consistency * One-stop Shop and Installation == Status The current status is quite good. While some parts are still considered beta, everything is relatively usable. == Installation The easiest way to install is via RubyGems. On the command line enter: > gem install facets To manually install, unpack the .tar.bz2 package and use the included setup.rb script. For example: > tar -xvzf facets-x.x.x.tar.gz > cd facets-x.x.x > sudo util/setup On Window the last step will be: > ruby util/setup == Usage For detailed usage of any given method or module please refer to the API RDocs. Most are well documented. Assistance in improving documentation though is always appreciated. If you plan to use more then a few of Facets core method it is recommended that you require require the main facility. require 'facets' This loads all the CORE functionality at once. Of course you can use the CORE library piecemenal if you prefer. The general require statement for a core extensions library is: require 'facets//' For example: require 'facets/time/stamp' Most "atoms" contain only a few methods, sometimes only one, but a few excpetions provide quite a few method, such as ++string/indexable.rb++. You can load per-class or per-module groups of core methods by requiring the class or module by name. For example" require 'facets/time' Will require all the Time method extensions. Note that some methods that were part of CORE in 1.8 and earlier are now part of MORE libraries. A good example is 'random.rb'. There were separated b/c they had more specialized usecases, where as CORE extensions are intended as general purpose. Using a Facets/MORE library of modules, classes or microframeworks is essentially the same. For example: require 'facets/basicobject' # PLEASE IGNORE THIS FOR NOW # # It is possible to eliminate the need for the 'facets/' prefix on requires if # the Facets libpaths are added to the LOAD_PATH. But this isn't as straight-foward # as it is for most libraries b/c of the layout of Facets library. # # require 'facets-topload' # require 'basicobject' # # Understand that on the off chance that another library has the same name as # one of Facets' everything will still work fine. You will just not be able to use the # prefixless shorcut to require it. # # END. Again, for details pertaining to the functionality of each feature, please see the API Docs. == Method File Names Operator method redirect files are stored using english names. For instance for Proc#* is 'proc/op_mul'. For reference, here is the chart. +@ => op_plus_self -@ => op_minus_self + => op_plus - => op_minus ** => op_pow * => op_mul / => op_div % => op_mod ~ => op_tilde <=> => op_cmp << => op_lshift >> => op_rshift < => op_lt > => op_gt === => op_case_eq == => op_equal =~ => op_apply <= => op_lt_eq >= => op_gt_eq | => op_or & => op_and ^ => op_xor []= => op_store [] => op_fetch Facets simply takes the '*' and translates it into a string acceptable to all file systems. Also, if a method ends in '=', '?' or '!' it is simply removed. == Contribute This project thrives on contribution. If you have any extension methods, classes, modules or small frameworks that you think have general applicability and would like to see them included in this project, don't hesitiate to submit. There's a very good chance it will be included. Also, if you have better versions of any thing already included or simply have a patch, they too are more than welcome. We want Ruby Facets to be of the highest quality. == Authors This collection was put together by, and largely written by Thomas Sawyer (aka Trans). He can be reached via email at transfire at gmail.com. Some parts of this collection were written and/or inspired by other persons. Fortunately nearly all were copyrighted under the same open license, the Ruby License. In the few excpetions I have included the copyright notice with the source code. Any code file not specifically labelled shall fall under the Ruby License. In all cases, I have made every effort to give credit where credit is due. You will find these copyrights, thanks and acknowledgements embedded in the source code, and an unobtrusive "Author(s)" section is given in the RDocs. Also see the AUTHORS file for a list of all contributing Rubyists. If anyone is missing from the list, please let me know and I will correct right away. Thanks. == License The collection PER COLLECTION is licensed as follows: Ruby Facets Copyright (c) 2004-2006 Thomas Sawyer Distributed under the terms of the Ruby license. The Ruby license is a dual license that also provides for use of the GPL. Complete texts of both licenses accompany this document (see doc/COPYING). This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA Acknowledgments and Copyrights for particular snippets of borrowed code are given in their respective source. All licenses are either compatible with the Ruby license (namely the GPL) or the original author has given permission for inclusion of their code under such lincense. == Pitch ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO RUBY! ---- [1] A lot of mental anguish went into finding this good project name Ruby Facets. Of course, in the end only one name can take the honor. Other good names which were considered: Calibre, Florida and California, Warchest w/ Atomix, Downs & Ace, Trix & Atomx and even Pillbox & Pills (a _why suggestion). Then the names that almost won out and were used for a good while: Nano Methods and Mega Modules --great names but a little to "fad". Finally let's not forget even older "working" titles that were used along the way: Raspberry, ABC, Succ and the very original Tomslib. ---- Copyright (c)2007 Thomas Sawyer Do you Ruby? (http://ruby-lang.org)