About Ruby on Rails
An open source web application framework written in Ruby is commonly known as RoR (Ruby on Rails). It was designed to make web development faster, simpler and more efficient and it also used to develop real-world application with less code, compared to other application frameworks. Ruby on Rails divides itself into various packages, namely Active Record, Active Resource, Action Pack, Active Support and Action Mailer.
Ruby on Rails Chases Simplicity in Programming
Ruby on Rails has focused on creating templates and designs that tackle the unglamorous problems. It is not also to create a sophisticated development framework that the engineers at Google or Amazon.com will flock to; it is like making a database modification that the great majority of Web developers face every day.
Ruby – Still on the Sidelines?
Ruby has long been fighting for recognition in the world of open-source development and in the past few years, it surely has managed to go mainstream with some major development projects. One surprising fact when it comes to overall popularity, recent development surveys show that use of the scripting language has jumped by 40% which may be sign that people are embracing more options in their drive to lower all costs with regard to the newer versions of the many flavors being used all over the globe. The updated Ruby on Rails 2.3 is a bit better and easier to use compared to previous to older versions and with the recession putting the brakes on many projects being planned, alternate methods of development and deployment have to be found to allow enterprise to continue with their plans with less costs. Keep on reading!
Rails 2 – Enterprise Ready
From the recently concluded RailsConf 2009, the many core Rails developers have made it known that Ruby on Rails 2.0 is indeed enterprise ready for use on the net. As with many of the open-sourced languages being used the world over, security remains to be one of the greatest concerns due to the open nature that is counter-intuitive for most enterprise development projects who need their information secured in more ways than one. Another good point given light was the ability of the current version to scale meaning adapt with changing conditions that allows easy upgrades allowing more people to use without much fuss. Keep on reading!
Mac’s and Ruby – Nice!
The somewhat hidden world of the Mac from Apple has remained in place as one of the alternate PC manufacturers the world over. Many have been forecasting the demise of the computer maker but with their venture into other avenues such as the multimedia gadget market and others have allowed them to remain a figure in the computing industry. Thous everybody knows that Mac’s are overall more stable than PC’s there are still not enough versions of popular software available for Macs compared to other computing platforms. Keep on reading!
JRuby
The match can be called one made in heaven, that is to stress the point of a scripting language that has added benefits and power with the injection of code from languages such as ruby. JRuby as it is called has the ruby engine embedded within Java apps allowing both to do what they do best. Having one of the most powerful scripting languages to use the extensive open-source native libraries or the ones included when combined with other languages makes for one strong and powerful mix. Keep on reading!
Some handy ideas for using Rails
1. Never underestimate the power of plug-ins.
It’s really going to be a waste of time developing script that somebody has already beaten you to. So instead of making your own, why not look for applications and plug-ins that do all the work for you? That’s the beauty of open source. Try looking at sites like Rails Plug-in Directory and Core Rails to help you find the particular plug-in you’re looking for.
2. Keep yourself updated.
Another beauty of open source is that there are a lot of resources, updates, fixes, reviews and all other sorts of opinions out there about Ruby and Rails and everything in-between. So try to integrate yourself into online communities that discuss Ruby and Rails programming so you can keep abreast with all the developments in the community. Trust us, you will always learn new things.
MemoPal’s Cloud Search
The release of MemoPal of their much awaited Cloud Search, is a very powerful tool that would simplify and speeds up online file searching. It makes remote file searching faster with the advent of cloud computing everything becomes well, a little cloudy for most who are still coming to grips with the technology and it’s benefits. Keep on reading!
Ruby and Merb: Peace at last
Ruby on Rails and Merb has been at war for a long time, and if there was ever a time that peace should reign, it should be on the holidays. And here they are combining to form, Rails 3:
We all realized that working together for a common good would be much more productive than duplicating things on each side of the fence. Merb and Rails already share so much in terms of design and sensibility that joining forces seemed like the obvious way to go. All we needed was to sit down for a chat and hash it out, so we did just that.
What this will mean in practice is that the Merb team is putting their efforts into bringing all of the key Merb ideas into Rails 3. Yehuda Katz will outright join the Rails core team, Matt Aimonetti will work on a new evangelism team, and Carl Lerche and Daniel Neighman (hassox) will be co-starring the effort to bring all this over. We’ve immortalized the merge with plaque page at rubyonrails.org/merb.
Always give peace a chance, I say.
Necessity for a Hash Key
Image Source: www.cheat-sheets.org
The only restriction for a hash key is that it must reply to the message hash with a hash value, and the hash value for a given key must not alter. This means that certain classes (such as Array and Hash, as of this writing) can’t conveniently be used as keys, because their hash values can change based on their contents.
If you keep an external reference to an object that is used as a key, and use that reference to alter the object and change its hash value, the hash lookup based on that key may not work.
Because strings are the most frequently used keys, and because string contents are often altered, Ruby treats string keys specially. If you use a String object as a hash key, the hash will replace the string internally and will use that duplicate as its key. Any changes afterward made to the original string will not influence the hash.
If you write your own classes and use instances of them as hash keys, you need to make sure that either (a) the hashes of the key objects don’t change once the objects have been created or (b) you bear in mind to call the Hash#rehash method to reindex the hash whenever a key hash is altered.