Beginning Rails 6: From Novice to Professional

ISBN-13: 9781484257159 / Angielski / Miękka / 2020 / 565 str.

Brady Somerville; Adam Gamble; Cloves Carneiro Jr

Spis treści

1. Introducing the Rails Framework

2. Getting Started

3. Getting Something Running

4. Introduction to the Ruby Language

5. Working with a Database: Active Record

6. Advanced Active Record: Enhancing Your Models

7. Action Pack: Working with the View and the Controller

8. Advanced Action Pack

9. JavaScript and CSS

10. Sending and Receiving Email

11. Testing Your Application

12. Internationalization

13. Deploying Your Rails Applications

A. Databases 101

B. The Rails Community

C. Git

NOTES below:  for Planned Revisions for Beginning Rails 6

Chapter 1: Introducing the Rails Framework 

The majority of chapter 1 is still relevant, needing only minor, superficial changes. This may also be a good place to address the “is rails dead?” question. In short, no -- Rails is not dead, it’s mature. 

Chapter 2: Getting Started

This chapter needs to be updated to include more recent installation instructions and screenshots for more recent versions of technologies involved. The general idea is the same, though.

Chapter 3: Getting Something Running 

This chapter needs minor updates to:

Reflect the new directory structure created by Rails

Reflect that Rails 6 now uses webpack instead of the asset pipeline

Chapter 4: Introduction to the Ruby Language

This chapter needs little, if any revision, as the basics of Ruby which it covers haven’t changed much.

Chapter 5: Working with a Database: Active Record

This chapter needs little, if any revision.

Chapter 6: Advanced Active Record: Enhancing Your Models

This chapter seems like it would need only minor revisions. It is a dense chapter, though, with lots of code samples that need to be verified.

Chapter 6.5: ActiveModel

We could add this chapter, showing readers how they can create objects very similar to ActiveRecord models described in the previous chapter, but which aren’t directly backed by the database. 

We would explain why this can be useful, and include an example of usage that fits in with the sample application being developed throughout the app.

Chapter 7: Action Pack: Working with the View and the Controller 

Like the previous chapter, this chapter is still mostly relevant, but has a lot of code samples and screenshots which need verification and updating.

Also, the following sections have some changes in Rails 6 that should be updated:

“Using Form Helpers” (`form_with` was added, and is the preferred way going forward.)

“Rendering a Collection of Partials”  ( Rails 6 has a newer, more performant way of rendering a collection of partials which should be described)

Also, a section on Caching could be added, though it’s not new, and may not be appropriate for a “Beginning” book.

Chapter 7.5: ActionText

In this chapter, we would introduce ActionText, which gives the developer a simple path for adding a WYSIWYG editor to their application. This would be a short chapter, and we would show how to add a WYSIWYG editor to the sample application.

Chapter 8: Advanced Action Pack

This section only needs minor updates to verify code samples are still correct, and to update screenshots. 

Chapter 8.5: ActiveStorage

ActiveStorage facilitates the attaching of files to records. (e.g., product images, downloadable pdfs, etc.) We would explain why this is useful, how to configure it, and then provide code samples for how to enhance the sample application with images for each article, or something like that.)

Chapter 9: JavaScript and CSS

This chapter needs significant revision. The structure of the chapter is good, but the underlying technologies have changed significantly, and all code samples need to be replaced. Thankfully this is a relatively short chapter. 

Chapter 10: Sending and Receiving E-Mail 

The existing content is mostly still relevant. Hower, the following changes should be made:

We could add a section on “Previewing Emails” (https://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org/action_mailer_basics.html#previewing-emails), a new feature which aids development of emails sent by a Rails app.

We could add a small section on “Action Mailer Callbacks” 

The section on “Receiving E-Mail” should be updated to reflect the new “ActionMailbox” feature

Chapter 10.5: ActiveJob

In this chapter, we would explain the concept of background jobs, explain why they’re useful, and then provide a working sample which ties into the sample application. (Namely, as a way of sending the email developed in the previous chapter.)

Chapter 11: Testing Your Application

This chapter will need some more significant updates, as Rails 6 has changed some concepts and introduced new ones:

“Parallel testing” is new, and should be introduced -- it can dramatically increase the speed of running the test suite

“Functional Testing Your Controllers” needs to be revised to reflect new technology

“System Testing” could be added to introduce readers to the concept of browser-based testing

Small sections for testing ActiveJob and ActionMailer, and ActionCable could be added

Chapter 12: Internationalization

This chapter is still mostly relevant, and would only need small revisions. Additionally, we could introduce the concept of “lazy lookup”, allowing developers to rely on convention to make their usage of internationalization keys throughout their code more concise.

Chapter 12.5: ActionCable

We could add a chapter to introduce this concept to the reader, explaining how it could be used to add “real-time” functionality to their application. (The easiest to understand example is a chat system, where you want to see messages from another user as soon as they are submitted without having to refresh the page.)

We could add sample code to add something like a chat system to the application, though it seems like a stretch. I may try to think of a more relevant feature to add to the sample application.

Chapter 13: Deploying Your Rails Applications 

This short chapter is still mostly relevant, but needs minor revisions to reflect newer technologies and software versions.

Appendix A: Databases 

This appendix needs little (or no) revision.

Appendix B: The Rails Community

This appendix is mostly fine as-is; I would just want to make sure links are still valid, and that we’re not overlooking any new sources.

Appendix C: Git

This appendix is still mostly relevant. I would just want to update links and references to version numbers, and make sure that example output and function listings are up-to-date.

O autorze

Brady Somerville is a professional web developer and senior engineer at Eezy.  In general, he has experience in applications development, web development, and even system administration. His programming background includes Ruby/Rails and Java. He has a degree in computer science as well.  

Adam Gamble is a professional web developer and currently works as CTO for Eezy in Birmingham, AL. He has over 10 years' experience building web applications for everything from startups to multiple Fortune 500 companies. His passion for technology has enabled him to turn a hobby into a career that he loves.

Cloves Carneiro Jr is a software engineer who's been building software since 1997, especially web-based applications. He's also the original author of Beginning Rails and Beginning Ruby on Rails for Apress.  His experience includes both Ruby and Java.  He is currently working for LivingSocial in Florida.  

Rida Al Barazi is a passionate web developer experienced in building smart web applications for startups. He has been designing and building for the web since 2002. He started working with Rails in 2005 and has spoken at different web and Rails conferences around the world.

Blurb

Springboard your journey into web application development and discover how much fun building web applications with Ruby on Rails can be. This book has been revised to cover what's new in Rails 6 including features such as WebPack, advanced JavaScript integration, Action Mailbox, Action Text, system and parallel testing, Action Cable testing, and more.  

Beginning Rails 6 gently guides you through designing your application, writing tests for the application, and then writing the code to make your application work as expected. It is a book that will guide you from never having programmed with Ruby, to having a Rails 6 application built and deployed to the web.   

After reading and using this book, you'll have the know-how and the freely available source code to get started with your own Rails-based web development in days.   

You will:

• Create Ruby on Rails 6 web applications from the bottom up
• Gain the basics of the Ruby programming language
• Combine all the components of Rails to develop your own web applications 
• Apply TDD to make sure your application works exactly as you expect  
• Use Git source control and best practice techniques to create applications like a pro