Using Ruby on Rails for Web Development. Introduction Guide to Ruby on Rails: An extensive roundup of 100 Ultimate Resources

Transcription

1 Using Ruby on Rails for Web Development Introduction Guide to Ruby on Rails: An extensive roundup of 100 Ultimate Resources

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3 Ruby on Rails 100 Success Secrets Copyright 2008 Notice of rights All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Notice of Liability The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the products described in it. Trademarks Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

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5 Ruby on Rails 100 Success Secrets There has never been a Ruby on Rails Guide like this. 100 Success Secrets is not about the ins and outs of Ruby on Rails. Instead, it answers the top 100 questions that we are asked and those we come across in forums, our consultancy and education programs. It tells you exactly how to deal with those questions, with tips that have never before been offered in print. This book is also not about Ruby on Rails best practice and standards details. Instead, it introduces everything you want to know to be successful with Ruby on Rails.

6 Table of Contents Getting a Grip on Ruby on Rails vs. ASP.Net Mono Debate...14 Offshore Firm Experiences with Ruby on Rails...16 The Benefits of Learning Ruby to Enhance Your Programming Skill Set...17 Choosing Between PHP or Ruby on Rails Tips to Hiring Ruby on Rails Contractors...21 How to Optimize Ruby on Rails Production Environments...23 Understanding the Pros and Cons of Using Ruby on Rails in a Large Scale Web Project...25 Ideal Operating Systems for Ruby on Rails Deployment...27 PHP and Ruby on Rails Which One Wins?...29 Ruby on Rails with Agile Software Development Can Boost Enterprise Growth...30 Criteria for Learning Materials on Ruby on Rails...32 Scalability Issues of Ruby on Rails...33 Top Considerations for Books on Ruby on Rails and Database Design...34 How Ruby on Rails Fare in the Market for Mobile Apps Distinct Advantages of Ruby over Other Web Scripting Languages...36 The Impact of Ruby on Rails on Software Development and Employment...38

7 Important Considerations When Using Ruby on Rails for Changing Backend Architecture The Google App Engine and Ruby on Rails Divide: Which One is Worth Pursuing? How is Ruby Being Implemented in Large Enterprises? Improving Ruby on Rails Web Services through Multivariate or Taguchi Testing Recommended Ruby Reading: Organizing Your Reading Materials to Learn Ruby Truth to the Buzzword of Ruby on Rails Minor Downside of Ruby on Rails Size Considerations for a RoR Development Team Comparing the Performance of Django and Ruby on Rails The Growing Number of Experienced Ruby on Rails Web Developers Choosing the Best Editor for Ruby on Rails Ruby on Rails: Does it Possess Maturity in Components to be utilized in Higher Level? PHP or Ruby on Rails: Which is the better Option? The Robust Properties of Ruby on Rails for Companies to Consider Adopting this Framework What is Ruby on Rails All About? Tips to Find the Best Site Reference for Rails on Ruby Applications... 61

8 The Right Kind of Production Architecture for both PHP and Ruby on Rails...62 Ruby on Rails: As a Tool to Develop Social Network Sites?...63 Tips on How to Find the Best and Effective Ruby on Rails Programmer...65 The Effective Ways to Have Your Production Environment Properly Set-up Using Rails Stack...66 The Other Components of Ruby other than the Rails...68 Ruby on Rails: Bane or Boon?...70 J2EE, JBoss, and Ruby on Rails: Which is Exceptionally Good? 71 Using Ruby on Rails for Web Development...72 Why is Ruby on Rails very Popular Now?...73 JSON and YAML as against XML on Ruby on Rail Web Projects...74 What Lies Ahead Ruby on Rails in the IT Arena?...75 How Far Can Ruby on Rails Extend its Features for a Big Web Project?...77 Is Ruby on Rails worth of all these Publicity Milestones?...79 The Strength and Weakness of Linux Apache MySQL PHP or LAMP as Ruby on Rails Development Platform...80 PostgreSQL: The Database Tool to Effectively Utilize Ruby on Rails...82 What Do You think about Choosing Ruby on Rails?...84 Tips on How to Choose the Best Online Ruby on Rails Course.86

9 Will the Time Come When Ruby on Rails is Going to Replace Java? Good Rails Shared Hosting Recommendations Do Web Developing Companies Offer Ruby on Rails packages for websites and CMS? Why Ruby on Rails Is a Good Web Dev platform for Startup Ruby on Rails and Cake PHP: What Else Is Out There? The Best and the Most Popular Web Host Ruby on Rails Developers Use How Do You See The Future of Ruby-on-Rails Web Framework? Rails Future: Bright or Bleak Ruby on Rails Based Web Development Project: Avoid a Fiasco Why a Computer Language and Its Supporting Framework is Used by the Majority Ruby on Rails versus Python for the Masses: Any More Suggestions? Ruby on Rails Web Developers and Development Firms Make Your Web Development Successful, Trust only Ruby on Rails Programmers Getting Started with Ruby on Rails Active Record Ruby on Rails Software

10 The Benefits and Challenges for Enterprise 2.0 in Ruby on Rails To The People Who Haven t Tried Django Framework Yet Web Development Made Easy in Ruby on Rails Ruby on Rails and Google s Maps Applications Ruby on Rails Web Hosting Create powerful E-Commerce Websites with Ruby on Rails Two-Ways to Install Ruby on Rails Ruby on Rails Help on Its Programming Obtainable Online.125 The Stand of FiveRuns on Ruby on Rails Production Performance and Monitoring Changing Ruby on Rails Store Session: Possible Ruby on Rails Websites to Generate Dynamic 2.0 Websites Noel Rappin s Professional Ruby on Rails The Top Three Sites for Ruby on Rails Hosting Ruby on Rails Security Guide: an Advance Protection against Web Applications Troubles The Fundamentals of Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Patrick Lenz.138 Why Ruby on Rails Is the Answer Key to Save Quality Productivity The Inclusion of Ajax in Ruby on Rails Learning About Ruby on Rails Development Choose Your Own Ruby on Rails Training The Benefits of Joining a Ruby on Rails Community...144

11 The Truth Behind Ruby on Rails Jobs How to Use Ruby on Rails with Apache2? Why Use Ruby on Rails Screencasts? The Many Benefits of Ruby on Rails Virtual Servers Knowing the Common Problems of Ruby on Rails Tips and Tricks to Speed Up Ruby on Rails Ruby on Rails Consulting: Know It Ruby on Rails Learning: Learn by Oneself or by Tutorials Ruby on Rails Web Development: Easier for Mistakes? Ruby on Rails Design: Get Two Know the Two Concepts Ruby on Rails LightTPD Learn Ruby on Rails: Forward or Backward? Ruby on Rails Review: For and Against Ruby on Rails Videos: Simple Method of Explaining Ruby on Rails Ruby on Rails CMS: Integration or With Ruby on Rails Services: End-Results

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14 14 Getting a Grip on Ruby on Rails vs. ASP.Net Mono Debate Debates are raging about whether Ruby on Rails is a better web application framework than ASP.Net. Discussions on this subject are very active on many programmer forums and bulletin boards. Tech bloggers are also contributing much to the noise created by the which is better debate. It is best therefore to know what are the strengths and weaknesses of these programming languages. In this way, you can determine which one would be most suitable for your own programming needs. First, ASP.Net is a very powerful framework that can be used for platform and web development. It is supported and can cross communicate with other popular scripting languages on the MS network. The application libraries and code resources for ASP.Net are well developed and they can be used for all kinds of development. The big downside of ASP.Net is its MS-centric orientation. The language and its implementation are too dependent on Windows. This makes the platform very unpopular for non- Windows users. With Mono scripting however, ASP.Net can be used for other platforms. That s why some developers qualify their support for ASP.Net. They say that they use ASP.Net as long as it has integration with Mono. This makes the platform flexible enough and not heavily reliant on Windows.

15 15 With Ruby on Rails, you will get an easy to code programming language. Simplicity is the keyword for Ruby on Rails thus it makes the life of application developers quite easier. Using Ruby on Rails on Windows platform is possible but some developers will say that it would be too difficult. That is why it is best to learn Unix implementations and Mac OS in order to get the best benefit of Ruby on Rails.

16 16 Offshore Firm Experiences with Ruby on Rails Many companies nowadays use the Ruby on Rails program to manage their database systems and web development projects. From small scale businesses to multinationals, almost everyone can say that Ruby on Rails is near-perfect in efficiency and usability. Of course, when trying to consider the totality of the picture, we would therefore be required to add the input of the offshore firms that have also considered going the way of Ruby on Rails. What are their experiences with such a program like, considering their situation and status as offshore? Is there any difference compared to how they run their systems to that of normal or regular work set ups? In general, statistics indicate that most offshore firms have had a very positive experience with regard to using Ruby on Rails. This is because the functionality and the efficiency also work for them. If there should be any difference between theirs and the more standard work set ups, it would probably be that the program is replicated across several levels in their database since they handle some heterogeneous accounts at the same time. It is sort of like applying the Ruby on Rails systems on smaller scales that make up the entire picture. Having said this, most offshore firms have decided to create small development teams to manage the systems at the micro level while having one main team that brings together and monitors the activities of all the smaller levels. Clearly, Ruby on Rails works for a wide variety of users and work firms and provides them with the results they need.

17 17 The Benefits of Learning Ruby to Enhance Your Programming Skill Set Adding Ruby in your programming skill set can open new opportunities. Ruby is currently the fastest growing programming language in terms of adoption. This means more developers are implementing Ruby on software architecture. Learning Ruby programming therefore could widen your job prospects especially if large enterprises will deploy it on their architectures. You will not be confined anymore to enterprises that use Java or C programming. You can also use your Ruby programming skill set to implement new platform for your company. By learning Ruby, you can easily create extensions for other programming languages adopted by large enterprises. This alone could significantly enhance the productivity of the enterprise platform. And if you re the one who created such extensions, then you ll surely get a commendation from your company. Ruby is by far the easiest programming language to implement. The simplicity of Ruby coding also reduces the amount of time devoted to maintenance. If you deploy Ruby on your company platform, you re sure to reduce the cost of software maintenance. This means more profitability and more cost benefit. You ll also be able to create robust web applications especially if you learn Ruby on Rails on top of Ruby platform skill set. Such web applications would be capable of querying large amount of data which is advantageous for enterprise web sites.

18 18 This means more productivity for the enterprise as it can maximize the utility of its web based services. And if you re the developer, it can only mean more feathers on your cap.

19 19 Choosing Between PHP or Ruby on Rails Many people are asking the difference between PHP and Ruby on Rails. Some are also weighing their options if they will use PHP or Ruby on Rails for web services development. In order to simplify the matter, here are some basic differences between PHP and Ruby on Rails and some tips on how to maximize the two languages. First, PHP is totally different from Ruby on Rails. PHP is a comprehensive programming language that can be used to create software platform. On the other hand, Ruby on Rails is not a programming language. It is primarily a framework you can use for coding and developing web applications and services. Ruby on Rails is based on the Ruby programming language. This is a platform known for its coding simplicity. So you will be able to create excellent web apps using simple and fewer codes. PHP on the other hand is the engine that supports many scripting framework to create web applications. Most web tools using PHP are also reliable but some are really bad scripting tools. If you want ease of use, Ruby and Ruby on Rails are your best options. If you want wide support for your web apps however, PHP programming should be suitable for you. That s because PHP has been in use for more than a decade already while Ruby on Rails was introduced several years ago. So the level of support between the two and the amount of resource libraries would significantly favor PHP. Another advan-