Note: From this point onwards, whenever you create a new program, or modify an existing program in the folder my_ruby_programs, open a Bash shell in that folder and type:

git add .
git commit -a -m "a note about your commit"
git push
The GitHub repository will show you the latest files that you have uploaded.

exercise 2
curl --manual # has docs about how to post and a suggestion to use formfind.pl
curl http://sinatra2.hectorsq.com|formfind.pl
# output gives a clue:
--- FORM report. Uses POST to URL "/reverse"
Input: NAME="str" VALUE="Type a string..." (TEXT)
Button: ".. and reverse it!" (SUBMIT)
--- end of FORM

$ curl http://sinatra2.hectorsq.com/reverse -d "str=atest"
# output: success!

<h1>String Reverse Results</h1> 

<p>You had entered the string - atest</p> 
<p>The reversed string is     - tseta</p> 

day 8 exercise 2 (or 3):

syntax for my first heroku app:

curl http://rbg-rackheroku.heroku.com/reverse?reverse='this is a new string with spaces'
curl http://rbg-rackheroku.heroku.com/reverse?reverse='this%20is%20a%20new%20string%20with%20spacesaspercent20'

from browser window:

http://rbg-rackheroku.heroku.com/reverse?reverse=hi%20there

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Locator#Syntax

note: deployed it without knowing this syntax above was required - but there is no other way to pass in the string (so far)

day 10 bonus:
curl localhost:9292/show?symbol=goog # syntax was not obvious from formfind.pl