fun with ruby and rails

Fun with Ruby and Rails Chris Jeris 18 October 2011 I am • formerly a software engineer at HCL • also formerly co-chair of abcd-library • now working for Brightcove, a software company in Kendall Square that uses Ruby on Rails (not solely) Ruby is • a modern programming language • available for Windows, Mac OS, Unix/Linux, Java (JRuby), .NET (IronRuby), and Android (Ruboto) • flexible and easy to read and write: def is_lower_48?(address) address.country == "United States" and not ["AK", "HI"].include?(address.state) end • designed to maximize programmer happiness Rails is • a framework for building web applications in Ruby • a set of strong ideological opinions about how web applications should be structured • a particularly good tool for building prototypes rapidly (which doesn't mean it's only good for that) • a thriving, productive, fractious community of free software developers • a constantly growing and changing software ecosystem with libraries to do almost anything Who uses Ruby on Rails? • Lots of web applications you've heard of: Basecamp, Twitter, Hulu, Groupon, • Blacklight (projectblacklight.org), a Solr-based discovery interface • Umlaut (wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Umlaut), a link resolver enhancer • Library Lab projects developed at the Berkman Center (like the Widener carrel reservation app) • The HCL annotated bibliography application I wrote The page-centric paradigm • Web pages, with instructions in them to do things <cfset today = Now() /> <div id="the_date"> <cfoutput>Today's date is #DateFormat(today, "yyyy-mm-dd")# </cfoutput> </div> • It's a lot like writing a regular website, only every so often you tell the server to do something • Usually you eventually reach an unmaintainable mess Model-View-Controller paradigm • Partition your program into three basic responsibilities: o The model is your representation of data (bibliographic records, search queries, shopping carts, ) o The view is the web pages that you show to the user, and all the behavior they contain o The controller directs traffic, receiving requests from the user, deciding what actions to take, and mediating between model and view • Every major web programming platform provides a way for you to follow this paradigm • Rails forces you to from the very beginning Demo Other neat things to use with Rails • RSpec for test-driven development • Cucumber for behavior-driven development Scenario: Request to create a new collection Given I open the topic at the home page When I follow "create a new collection" Then I should be on the collection creation form • jQuery is now built in (as of Rails 3.1) Learning Ruby and Rails • Read these Agile Web Development with Rails and Programming Ruby 1.9 from Pragmatic Programmers • Join boston.rb (bostonrb.org) • irc.freenode.org: #ruby-lang, #rubyonrails • railscasts.com [...]... to, use JRuby.) • Rails on iSites is a clash of two opinionated frameworks You can make it work, but it takes some hacking • The Rails world changes very fast You don't need to keep up with the latest hip fashions Until you do, because something you use changed Evaluation • Ruby, in and of itself, is a friendly programming language and a good one for people who are new to programming • Rails is a... new to programming • Rails is a wonderful system for building web applications, if you can program or want to learn programming • Ruby on Rails has a steeper learning curve than pagecentered systems like PHP or ColdFusion • If you need to build an interactive web thing and don't really like the idea of programming, try Drupal instead Thank you! Questions? . of Rails 3.1) Learning Ruby and Rails • Read these Agile Web Development with Rails and Programming Ruby 1.9 from Pragmatic Programmers • Join boston.rb (bostonrb.org) • irc.freenode.org: #ruby- lang,. that uses Ruby on Rails (not solely) Ruby is • a modern programming language • available for Windows, Mac OS, Unix/Linux, Java (JRuby), .NET (IronRuby), and Android (Ruboto) • flexible and easy. Fun with Ruby and Rails Chris Jeris 18 October 2011 I am • formerly a software engineer at HCL • also formerly