Dependencies in ROR that developers face during development

Ruby on rails is one of those fortunate products of the industry which received a quick popularity among the developers. It is just few years old technology and it has seen a tremendous growth in the industry. It is already an established brand in the IT world and there is a huge potential for the ruby developers in future. Well we can’t say it’s a total luck rather there is some logic behind its success. It is launched at a time when the industry was hunting for a good web development tool which possesses potential to develop quick websites to meet the demand of the industry. Fortunately ruby on rails is a language framework combo which is extremely efficient in developing quick web applications on the fly. So we can say it was the perfect break through for the industry when the industry was carving for such platform. So it spread like a fire in the industry and gained an overnight popularity. Anyway today we will discuss about some of the challenges and dependencies of ruby on rails from the ruby developers perspective.

RoR developer should give maximum priority to inbuilt functions: When it comes about dependencies the first thing that comes to our mind is compatibility. Well a web developer or ruby developer can write a specific function in different ways. Rather I would say one function can be written in hundreds of ways. But what makes it unique is the standard and optimisation of the function. So as a ruby on rails developer you must try to achieve optimisation through proper use of all its inbuilt functions because, these functions are already optimised and extremely compatible with the platform. Hence in order to take the maximum advantage of the framework a ruby developer must use those in house functions and libraries for optimised application development.

Sometimes, up-gradation becomes fatal: Up-gradation helps the ruby developer in many ways like enhancing the power of the framework, improving the efficiency and productivity of the ruby on rail developer. So it is strongly suggested to update your framework in order to get those improvements and advantages for your application. But sometimes it is extremely fatal to up-grade your software with the old codebase on its backbone. It may lead to instant crash of your web application due to incompatibility issue. Well it can be fixed by the ROR developer but it’s better to take necessary precautions before you move for up-gradation. So as a web developer you must aware of those incompatibility issues before you are taking such a strong decision.

Make sure you are not going closer to compatibility issue: As stated above, while you are dealing with software up-gradation you must ensure that it will not create any incompatibility issue in your application. Moreover, even when you are taking the help of any third party plugins or modules in your application you must ensure that it is compatible with the current version of software.

You must ensure that your app is future ready: To be a good ROR developer or web developer you must be aware of all future possibilities of your application i.e., you should learn how and if any modern technology can be integrated to your application to give an interactive and future ready look and feel to your application. Technologies like HTML5, CSS3 and JQuery are our intention for efficient ruby developers. You can get in touch with a Ruby on Rrails development company who can help you develop apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide Rails CMS Development services. If you would like to know more about our expertise or want to hire Certified Rails Programmers for your web app development needs, please contact us Mindfire Solutions.

Developing with ROR for android platform - Is it a good option

Ruby on Rails is probably only language-framework combo in the industry which has seen an overnight popularity among the web developers. Though there are many other frameworks for web developers like CakePHP, Zend, ASP .Net, Django, Swing, Spring, Hibernate etc but RoR has its own charm within it. Its beauty is so eye catchy that, it will make you fall in love with Ruby!! Its simplicity will attract you and its ease of integration will tempt you to put your hands over it. Since its inception it has seen only success and it has received only positive word of mouth and hence it is now one of the leading frameworks of the industry. Web developers are trying hard to become a Ruby developer!!

Scope of RoR: The best part of RoR is its easy approach. Anyone can learn RoR in much faster than other language or framework. Moreover, it is Open Source and hence you can start your first website development from day one itself. You need not to be an expert in web development to be a RoR Developer. This makes a clear path for fresher to jump into RoR development tom kick start their career in IT industry. What is more? RoR has similar syntax that of PHP and .Net hence, if you are an experienced web developer, you will feel easier to learn RoR. Rather I would say you can build web application in just few days. RoR also provides scope to write readable and maintainable code; hence this will help you in building enterprise standard web applications on the fly.

RoR for mobile apps: In the phase, when there is a huge buzz for smart phones and tablets, we can’t ignore the importance of mobile apps that can be run on different platforms like Android or iOS. Fortunately, RoR gives the android developers much room to develop their android mobile apps in less time and more efficiency. Yes, android developers can develop mobile apps using different modern technologies like HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery for their users. This really provides an awesome opportunity for the android mobile developers to build interactive and attractive mobile apps for different android device and browsers.

RoR for web apps: Well, besides mobile apps android developers can take the help of RoR to develop web apps for their android platform. It is really a tough task for web developers to develop a common web app that can give same user experience irrespective of screen size and browsers of different android devices. As we know there is a large band of screen sizes available in the market in different android devices starting from 2 inches to 10 inches. So, in that case, the android RoR developer must take the help of Responsive web design using HTML5 and CSS3 to develop dynamic, Asynchronous and light weight web applications that can run on android platform. Ruby developers can definitely meet the demand of the users through their modern web apps.

RoR for Native appa!!: It may sound little Odd for the web developers or even Ruby developers; But, it is TRUE!! We are aware of Java (for android native app) and Objective C (for iOS native apps) for developing native apps in smart phone platforms. But, how can we build a native app using a web framework. Well, there are many third party tools which can help the Ruby developers in developing native apps. One such piece is “Mobiloitte”, this tool can help Ruby developers in converting their Ruby codes to develop Android native apps. So, what are you waiting for? Just go and try it out yourself now!!

You can get in touch with a Ruby on Rails development company who can help you develop apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide ROR development services. If you would like to know more about our expertise or want to hire Certified Rails developers for your web app development needs, please contact us Mindfire Solutions. 

What has changed in ROR 4.2 - The new version of Rails

During mid-August the ROR 4.2 was announced for the first time. Now when it is out it definitely looks to go a long way. Besides being the latest and upgraded version, this time certain interesting changes have been introduced in the Ruby on Rails application. Moreover, since it is the recent version it is being widely applied to solve performance issues across the various ROR versions.

Let’s explore the changes one by one:

Active Job and Action Mailer

Delayed Job, Resque, Sidekiq, etc are queuing systems and on top of these lies Active job, an adapter layer. This feature can be used to note down the jobs and they will be running on the queues without any changes. This happens due to the pre configured inline runner. It is a new framework that has been added to Rails 4.2.

Besides the Active Job, there is Active Mailer that is available with #deliver_later method which can add an email that is to be used to the queue. If this is done the model or controller cannot be bogged down at all.

Adequate Record

This version of ROR is also packed with another performance improving feature, known as Adequate Record. This is a set of patches that enables the Active Record to be faster twice. As far as Active Record is concerned it transforms the relation objects to ARel ones. The ARel objects stand for the SQL query AST. Lastly, the Adequate Record can also convert the AST to a real SQL string that is further made to pass to the database.

The Adequate Record works by caching onto the SQL query pattern even when it executes the Active Record calls. The cache, thus, helps in skipping some part of the computation that is engaged in transforming the calls into SQL queries.

Web Console

This is a set of debugging tools used for the ROR application. In a default Rails error page the interactive console is automatically launched. Inspecting the stack trace as well as executing the Ruby code becomes easy with this. Thus running the rail console proves to be quite handy. At times, however, it is not easy to access or share the session with a friend if it is configured with a remote desktop server. It is in this regard that the web console can help the rails console to run. These are found on the in the terminal right in the browser.

Support for Foreign Key

Initially there was no support for the foreign key – neither while adding it nor while removing it. But this time it is different. These keys are immensely useful to ensure that the data stays consistently and corrected even while the records are removed. This feature is supported ROR out of the box.

Bootstrapping apps

For enabling an automated setup code while bootstrapping an app, a new feature has been launched, known as setup or bin. If you have already written down the script then it is time to rename it. For almost all the Rail applications, you need to run certain commands before they are tried out. Even if the apps are almost empty they would require the database to be setup prior to the booting. This is also the place where you should include other codes required to run your applications as well.

HTML Sanitizer

Finally, ROR has replaced the HTML Sanitizer with a more robust framework that has been built across Nokogiri and Loofah. The advantages of this new sanitizer are that it has been built more powerfully and it is also more secure.

Besides the mentioned changes there are other several changes as well, like, the following:

• JSONB datatype is supported by PostgreSQL adapter

• ActiveRecord::Base#validate! has been introduced. This leads to the display of RecordInvalid if the record is actually invalid.

• In order to define the validation on the association a :required has been added to the singular associations.

• #valid? Has found a new alias in #validate

Owing to such changes and more, the ROR 4.2 is being considered as an application that will help I further improvements. You can get in touch with a Ruby on Rails development company, who can help you develop web apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide ror development services. If you would like to hire Certified Rails Programmers for your development needs, please contact us at Mindfire Soltuions.

Future of Ruby on Rails as a Programming Language

A number of recent reports have highlighted how Ruby on Rails (RoR) is being adopted widely by both established companies and startups across various sectors. Many reports have even indicated that Rails will be used widely for mobile application development. The most recent information clearly indicates a steady and consistent increase in the popularity of RoR as an open source and full stack internet application development.

The framework written in Ruby also supports several widely used software development architectures and patterns including model–view–controller (MVC), active record pattern, don't repeat yourself (DRY) and convention over configuration (CoC). So Rails makes it easier for programmers to create robust internet applications that complement the most recent trends in web development.

Why the Future of Ruby on Rails is Extremely Bright?

Full Stack

Unlike other popular web technologies, RoR is a full stack web development framework. So it can be used to cover the font-end as well as the back end. A web programmer can use Rails to create an entire internet application without relying on any other developers. Any developer familiar with HTML, JavaScript and CSS can start using RoR. Thus, the enterprises can easily hire Rails developers for their project.

Usable for Creating a Wide Range of Internet Applications

At present, Ruby is used by businesses belonging to different sectors to create internet applications and online portals. Along with allowing users to tweak or change the applications in a flexible way, Ruby also enables them to test the application quickly and efficiently. Further, businesses can use the programming language to update their internet applications by adding new features. In comparison to other web technologies, Ruby can better effectuate the development, testing and deployment of applications without requiring any extra time and efforts.

Option to Customize Internet Applications

Often programmers have to customize the look and feel of an internet app according to client’s specific requirements. Unlike other technologies, RoR enables developers to easily create their own building blocks, and add plug-and-play functionality to the application. The developers also have option to reuse the elements of their current project for future projects. So they can easily extend the performance and usage of the app without developing building blocks from the scratch.

Saves Time and Money

Many enterprises, nowadays, opt for open source technologies to curtail project costs. Along with being open source, RoR also enables developers to cut significant chunks out of internet app development project. At the same time, the framework also makes it easier for programmers to complete coding within a reduced span of time. Thus, a business can rapidly move from planning stage to development stage. Many startups and emerging companies rely on Rails to save both development time and cost.

Facilitates Software Updates

As RoR supports MVC architecture, it becomes easier for programmers to keep the model separate from view and controllers. They can simply create models using a wide range of objects, and modify the models to change the web application’s look and feel. Once the modifications are done, the models can be saved in the database and reused with different server side code. Rails further make it easier for database developers to create optimized SQL queries, while preventing SQL injection and XSS attacks. Thus, RoR is popular among businesses that require the web applications and online portals to be updated at regular intervals.

Support of a Large and Active Community

Like other open source technologies, Rails is also supported by a large and active community of developers. The community further contributes hugely towards increasing the adoptability of the framework. Along with improving Rails code consistently, the developers also help other programmers in completing their projects. So the novice Ruby developers can avail the assistance of the community to get software libraries to simplify certain tasks and to fix certain issues.

The web programmers can further use the most recent version of Ruby on Rails to avail several new and enhanced features. For instance, the latest version of Rails 4.1 allows them to avail new features like variants, spring, enums, mailer previews, and secrets.yml. You can get in touch with a ruby on rails development company, who can help you develop web apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide ruby software development services. If you would like to hire Certified Rails Programmers for your development needs, please contact us at Mindfire Soltuions.

Changes in Rails 4 and what impacts will it have

The release of Rails 4 has been much anticipated with nearly 1 year spent on the development. Architecturally, there are no major changes; nevertheless there are quite a number of changes in the overall system. There is a modular format in the evolving of the framework with the main focus being keeping the main codebase lean as well as effective. In fact, many features have been pushed into separate gems and for deprecated features all official support has been removed. However, if a developer really needs to use them then they can do that without too much trouble.

Minimum Ruby 1.9.3- This is considered as the biggest change that has been brought in this framework. With minimum ruby 1.9.3 needed, 1.8.7 has become completely obsolete. Previously there was no issue as such about the versions but with this renewed requirement it has become necessary to upgrade everything. This might seem to be challenging but nothing can be far from the truth. RVM makes the upgrading process really simple. So there is nothing but benefits to reap- a smooth transformation with the features of the improved as well as upgraded version.

Turbolink- The turbolink concept is often marked as controversial since due to it, normal HTTP links are not generated by Rails and everything is done with JavaScript. The serving of the original page will be done normally; however, other links clicked afterwards will result in all markup being deleted, replaced with HTTP reply’s markup and then the displayed URL will be updated. It might seem complicated, but since browsers do not have to go through requests for checking the changes of Javascript and CSS files, the method is really fast. Just a single request has to be focused on, without any attention needed to be given to additional requests.

ActiveRecord::SessionStore- When we use cookies to store sensitive information it might lead to problems and breach of security later on. Thus, to eliminate that problem ActiveRecord::SessionStore feature has been abolished. But if you do want to store sessions in database all you have to do is take help of activerecord-session_store gem and this functionality can be brought to use.

ActiveRecord::QueryMethods.none- This is a newly introduced function that helps implement the null object pattern. This is perfect for those conditions where there is a method that returns some relation but a condition requires the database to not being queried. This will help in smooth working of all chained conditions without much of an issue which helps eliminate the requirement of constant checking of the object for a relation.

Thread-safe- This feature has been incorporated as a default feature. This helps in good performance of threaded HTTP servers in case the same Ruby process is handling multiple requests. For the characteristic Rails application, it may not mean much but it does ensure that the used gems are thread safe; also the application code will keep the state to itself. In case the same variable is accessed by another thread, this will ensure that the normal results like crashes and other disastrous circumstances are avoided. It also helps avoid data corruption.

Streaming through ActionController::Live- Through Rails, streaming can be conducted. Through HTTP streaming the response is doled to some request over a period of time instead of everything at the same time. In case of media like video streaming, this is often used. Simply including ActionController:Live module can help use streaming. Response.steam.write can be used for writing of data or text to stream. This addition may be small but a lot of possibilities are opened by this.

There are several other additions as well as subtractions and the aim of all these is to make the framework more functional and user-friendly. In all, it is quite easy to implement the new architecture so that maximum advantages can be enjoyed but with the least problems. You can get in touch with a ruby software development company, who can help you develop web apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide Ruby on Rails development services. If you would like to hire Certified Rails Programmers for your development needs, please contact us at Mindfire Soltuions.

Few Facts to Know About Ruby Programming

Ruby (R) is a general-purpose object-oriented, programming language with an intensely dynamic as well as reflective approach along with a series of to-the-point yet flexible syntax, specifically designed to minimize the syntactic noise and to serve as the very base of languages that are domain-specific. Now, when it comes to using Ruby, the programmers need to know about certain facts regarding the language so that it becomes easier for them to deal with it.

However, instead of straightaway discussing about the facts, let us at first discuss the background against which the language was introduced. When we talk about apps development for websites along with mobile devices, it is mostly governed by a wide variety of software that is mostly available on the internet. Ruby is one of them and the language is mostly influenced by Lisp, Perl, Python, Eiffel, Ada, Smalltalk, etc.

Dynamic Typing

The language comes up with a string of good things and compile-verifiability along with IDE support. It also comes up with dynamic typing properties that really help to get the projects bootstrapped as well as smooths along the changes, especially during the middle or the early stages of the projects.

Spectacular Modules

From the functional point of view ‘R’ comes up with features that are similar to trails that you find in Perl, Squeak, Scala. From the technical point of view the language allows dynamic addition of the news elements of class hierarchy during run time. “super” is dynamically evaluated during run time, for considering the modules which are added. When it comes to extension of functionality, it becomes easier as extension can be done in an umpteenth number of times, if and when needed.

Besides, in this particular language the class bodies are not considered special context. They are considered context, where ‘self’ points on a particular ‘class’ object. Again, that method is excellent when it comes to execution of arbitrary codes in class, especially when it comes to creating fresh methods, execution of other code pieces, updating class instance variables etc. However, bodies of ‘R’ classes are capable of taking up runtime information into consideration, much unlike Java annotations.

String Eval

String Eval is another property that helps ‘R’ to take various structures that are Ruby-oriented such as Rail routes and AOP definitions and then compile them into the Ruby Methods. Though these things can be implemented as add-ons onto other languages, Ruby helps in implementation of these things. Besides, Ruby is a large degree and self-hosting language as well.

Some of the basic facts about the language are mentioned below:

1. Web applications are such that they can be performed within a matter of a few days
2. The language is immensely dynamic, imperative, as well as reflective
3. Ruby programming language is highly object-oriented
4. It supports multiple programming paradigms
5. ‘R’ is much easier to write than the shell scripts
6. It is rich with an innumerable number of plug-ins
7. It is much easier, when it comes to building up a certain query

For projects, which take months to complete can be completed with the help of Ruby in weeks and at times within a matter of only a few days. This can be done with the help of R, especially (ROR) Ruby on Rails, as the extension comes up with a string of strategies of development, which are fast as well as simple, when compared to other languages.

It is because of these and many other factors that ‘R’ is fast becoming one of the most adorable as well as sought after languages in the programming world and the fact that it is much safer than others in terms of longevity has almost confirmed that the language is going to stay along with the likes of Java, .NET and so on. You can get in touch with a ruby on rails development company who can help you develop web apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide Ruby on Rails development services. If you would like to hire expert Ruby on Rails developers for your development needs, please contact Mindfire Solutions.

What Differentiates ROR 4 from ROR 3?

As an open source full-stack framework, Ruby on Rails (RoR) is widely used by developers across the worlds to rapidly develop web application. Along with featuring an independent routing system, RoR also supports popular software engineering patterns like model-view-controller (MVC), don't repeat yourself (DRY) and convention over configuration (CoC). The developers also have option to choose from different versions of the Ruby programming language based web application development platforms, including RoR 3 and RoR 4. If you are yet to migrate to the most recent version of Ruby on Rails, it is important to understand some of the features that differentia these two versions.

Some Major Features that Differentiate RoR 4 from RoR 3

Changed Mass Assignment Mechanism

The RoR 4 comes with completely revamped mass assignment mechanisms. The mechanism can still be used to feed unfiltered params to the model by putting into a gem. However, the hashes need to be generated by using the require and permit methods on the param hash. The model will also support the hashes generated in a new way. The change makes it easier for programmers to separate model from the user interface. They can simply state the attributes to be updated explicitly to eliminate mass assignment security risk.

Turbolink

The fourth release of Ruby on Rails generates normal HTTP links using JavaScript. While serving the web page initially, it generates normal links. But when a user clicks on a link, it deleted all markups and updates the URL displayed in the address bar with the markup generated from the HTTP reply. The feature makes it easier for developers to increase the speed of their web applications. As the browser is not required to check the changes in CSS and JavaScript files, no additional requests are sent to the server. A single request from the browser can generate and deliver the results more efficiently.

Default Thread Safety

By default, RoR 4 is designed as a thread-safe development framework. So the same Ruby process can now quickly process multiple requests on threaded HTTP servers. However, the feature does not make all gems used by the application thread-safe. Also, the application code cannot maintain its states automatically. So the programmers need to ensure that individual gems are thread safe to avoid problems when the application code interacts with any global variables or class variables. The feature must be used carefully to avoid data corruption and application crashes.

Live Streaming

The most recent version of Rails also supports live HTTP streaming. The HTTP streaming feature can be used by web application developers to doll out response to a user request over a time. So the user requests are not required to be responded at once. During the streaming process, RoR will simultaneously produce output, wait for new data generation, and continue streaming new output after waiting for a specific amount of time. The feature can be used by programmers to optimize the performance of RoR applications that use streaming videos and media.

Improved Cookies Serialize

RoR 4.1 also serialized cookies in a completely different way to make the web applications more secure and stable. Earlier, the objects placed inside cookies Hash were being serialized and deserialized by RoR programmers through Marshal.dump and Marshal.load. The method was prone to the risk of remote code execution by attackers. The most recent version of RoR comes with an improved JSON serializer that supports simple JSON data types like string and integer. Thus, the complex objects that can be used by attackers cannot be generated. The programmers also have option to use a hybrid serializer to smoothly convert their existing marshalled cookies into JSON cookies.

The fourth release of Ruby on Rails intends to keep the primary codebase lean by pushing several features of RoR 3 into separate gems. At the same time, RoR 4 has evolved as a more modular web application development framework with major changes in its internal architecture. You can get in touch with a ruby on rails development company who can help you develop web apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide Rails e-commerce site development services. If you would like to hire Ruby on Rails developers for your development needs, please contact Mindfire Solutions.