Ruby On Rails Programming 101

Simplicity is the Key

Drew — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:18:56 +0000

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It is quite interesting to recall how David Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails came up with this simple yet powerful tool for developers and programmers alike. Hansson, a native of Copenhagen has built an entire framework aiming to help simplify all the complexities of programming. And help developers save more time and energy thus be more productive with their work. It was his belief to look for alternative ways around the standard IDEAS of computer science that influence the work of programmers. This has led to so many complex product design, that would in turn lead to further complexity. He did not think of creating a complex framework for Google engineers to flock to. He instead concentrated on creating simple designs that would modify the database which developers face every time.

Ruby Migrations

Drew — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:07:57 +0000

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Ruby Migrations support all the basic data types like string, text, integer, float, datetime, timestamp, time, date, binary and boolean.

string is basically used for small data types such as a title.
text is used for longer pieces of text data, such as the description.
float is used for decimals.
integer is used for whole numbers.
date and time is used to store either the date only or time only.
boolean is used for storing true or false values.
binary is used for storing data like images, audio, or movies.
datetime and timestamp is used to store the date and time into a column.

Rails Migration activities can be done using any front end GUI or direct on SQL prompt. Rails Migration makes all those activities very easy. Valid column options are: limit (:limit => “50”), default (:default => “blah”), null (:null => false implies Not Null)

Apple and Ruby Together

Drew — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:14:10 +0000

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Last year was an exciting thrill for the techies and developers alike, when Mac OS X (Leopard) was released. And with full support for Ruby and Rails included in the OS package. It seems that the Ruby on Rails train is still rolling with Apple. Some of highlights of Apple, using Ruby in its package, that you might have missed out includes:

The iPhone Configuration Web Utility - A tool written with Ruby on Rails allowing its user to manage iPhones.
The SproutCore JavaScript framework - Which is designed for making desktop-like applications on the web and is used in Apple’s new MobileMe applications. Fyi: SproutCore is not a Ruby project, but it does offer some good tie-ins to the system.
The MacRuby project - Apple’s own port of Ruby to the Objective-C runtimes - which should make it much easier to integrate with Cocoa for Desktop development.

Ruby on Rails Development Tips

Drew — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 10:13:26 +0000

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Ruby on Rails is great for acquiring ideas prototyped super quick. These tips will slow down growth and make apps less portable, but definitely progress the speed your system
Ruby on rails coding style:
• Try to evade the over indulgence use of helpers since it adds overhead.
• You may think about using memcached to cache your model and library computation results.
• Use a custom configuration file for passwords and API keys instead of keeping them in your Subversion repository. Use YAML and mirror the style of database.yml.
• Use constants when desired. Instead of repeating strings like the address of your customer service reply email, set it once in a constant (in environment.rb or the appropriate environment file) and use that throughout your application.
• Keep time in UTC. A no brainer, and easy to do.
• Don’t loop through ActiveRecord models inside other models. Use keen loading if you need to exertion with multiple associated models. Better yet, write a custom SQL query and let the database do the work for you.

RoR and Text Editors Part-2

Avatar — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:33:19 +0000

More on text editors that are used with RoR and we not discuss VIM or Vi Improved. Vim like Emacs is quite efficient and easy to use with RoR provided it is set-up properly. The nice about Vim is that it has the nifty way of highlighting syntax in ruby making it easy to trace and debug. It features advanced features such as having a selective command and insert mode with the first being the default mode upon startup. It is not a word processor so fonts and other word processor features are not to be expected.

TextPad
One of the quickest and easiest to use as a text editor for making RoR programs with straightforward interface and features mostly adept to windows users. Though considered a text editor it is capable of syntax highlighting, search , spell check and macro recording which makes it a choice of many developers.

ArachnoRuby
Is deployable on both windows based and Unix based systems and is considered to be the native editor of RoR. It was not too user friendly so it quickly lost favor of many developers who turned to the other specified editors for programming code.

Before You Start

Avatar — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:05:08 +0000

Assuming you have even just a little background in programming with any language there are four basic programs and extensions that you need but are provided by the quick installers you’ve just downloaded to your hard drive. You have The Ruby programming language program files, the Rails part of the programming extension/platform, MySql or your database query handling system and the Apache which is a web server that you use to emulate your application’s execution on the web. Granting you have these set up properly and tested (instructions for which are included in the installer package). You can now start building your first application with RoR.

What to Look for in a Hosting Company that Supports Rails (Part 2)

editor — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:28:25 +0000

5. Rails Documentation (that is why some websites have FAQ’s if they can’t solve your problem, then you might have a bigger problem)
6. Scalability Options (do they meet your demands presently and for the future?)
7. Pre-installed Gems (much better if they already have this)
8. mySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite Databases (options are better than no choice at all)
9. Subversion, Trac, and/or Buzilla Hosting (company that supports developers are good companies)
10. A Website or Applications of Their Own Developed with Rails. (a good sign that they mean business with a framework)

What to Look for in a Hosting Company that Supports Rails (Part 1)

editor — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:25:27 +0000

Sure, you are about to go Rails, but which company works best? How would you know right? Well, the ten listed below are your criterias for a good Rails application in a company.

1. Shell/SSH Access (the command line is important)
2. Fast CGI, SCGI and/or Mongrel Support (needs to have speedy connection)
3. The Latest Ruby on Rails Releases (updating is important, if they don’t update, security problems may be up)
4. Support Staff who knows Rails (it is better to know someone who can guide you with your every single inquiry than taking a wild guess)

Rails Render

editor — Sat, 24 May 2008 16:24:50 +0000

Rails render is a well-built technique that assists you to provide your web pages. It has proven itself as easy to use and it is less time consuming. So, Rails on Ruby has Rails Render in supporting you to fix up your site. Tom make Rails Ruby easy to use, Rails Render has provided the following commands. It appears in different varieties like:

1. Action (renders an action in the present controller)
2. Partial (renders a part of your web page)
3. Template (renders a page, the file path is comparative to your application)
4. File (complete path is needed)
5. Text
6. Json

411 on Ruby on Rails

editor — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:24:21 +0000

Good name and actually makes you wonder, what is ruby on rails? Is it literally the ruby for jewelry found on railroad tracks? It is not, and if you read on, you will understand, that this is no bling on a train track, but it is actually for web designing with codes that will make you dizzy. But with a little help, you will get it.

Ruby on rails is a full-stacked outline for creating database-backed web applications in reference to the Model-View-Control Pattern. Rails provide a wholesome-Ruby advance setting such as: Ajax in the view, demand and retort in the controller, domain model wrapping the database. Ruby on rails is the answer to go live since it supplies database and a web server.