Rails Cookbook

Rails is one of the leading frameworks for developing the new generation of Web 2.0 applications using the increasingly popular Ruby scripting language. This text is for all web developers, regardless of experience, who want to learn about Rails applications.

Rails Cookbook is packed with the solutions you need to be a proficient developer with Rails, the leading framework for building the new generation of Web 2.0 applications. Recipes range from the basics, like installing Rails and setting up your development environment, to the latest techniques, such as developing RESTful web services. With applications that are code light, feature-full and built to scale quickly, Rails has revolutionized web development. The Rails Cookbook addresses scores of real-world challenges; each one includes a tested solution, plus a discussion of how and why it works, so that you can adapt the techniques to similar situations. Topics include: Modeling data with the ActiveRecord library Setting up views with ActionView and RHTML templates Building your application's logic into ActionController Testing and debugging your Rails application Building responsive web applications using JavaScript and Ajax Ensuring that your application is security and performs well Deploying your application with Mongrel and Apache Using Capistrano to automate deployment Using the many Rails plugins Working with graphics Whether you're new to Rails or an experienced developer, you'll discover ways to test, debug and secure your applications, incorporate Ajax, use caching to improve performance, and put your application into production. Want to get ahead of the Web 2.0 curve? This valuable cookbook will save you hundreds of hours when developing applications with Rails.

Why spend time on coding problems that others have already solved when you could be making real progress on your Ruby project? This updated cookbook provides more than 350 recipes for solving common problems, on topics ranging from basic data structures, classes, and objects, to web development, distributed programming, and multithreading. Revised for Ruby 2.1, each recipe includes a discussion on why and how the solution works. You’ll find recipes suitable for all skill levels, from Ruby newbies to experts who need an occasional reference. With Ruby Cookbook, you’ll not only save time, but keep your brain percolating with new ideas as well. Recipes cover: Data structures including strings, numbers, date and time, arrays, hashes, files and directories Using Ruby’s code blocks, also known as closures OOP features such as classes, methods, objects, and modules XML and HTML, databases and persistence, and graphics and other formats Web development with Rails and Sinatra Internet services, web services, and distributed programming Software testing, debugging, packaging, and distributing Multitasking, multithreading, and extending Ruby with other languages

Teaches Rails by guiding you through the development of three example applications of increasing sophistication. The tutorial's examples focus on the general principles of web development needed for virtually any kind of website. The updates to this edition include full compatibility with Rails 5, a division of the largest chapters into more manageable units, and a number of new exercises interspersed in each chapter for reinforcement of the material. This guide provides integrated tutorials not only for Rails, but also for the Ruby, HTML, CSS, and SQL skills you need when developing web applications. Hartl explains how each new technique solves a real-world problem, and then he demonstrates it with bite-sized code. --From publisher description.

Do you want to push Ruby to its limits? The Ruby Cookbook is the most comprehensive problem-solving guide to today's hottest programming language. It gives you hundreds of solutions to real-world problems, with clear explanations and thousands of lines of code you can use in your own projects. From data structures and algorithms, to integration with cutting-edge technologies, the Ruby Cookbook has something for every programmer. Beginners and advanced Rubyists alike will learn how to program with: Strings and numbers Arrays and hashes Classes, modules, and namespaces Reflection and metaprogramming XML and HTML processing Ruby on Rails (including Ajax integration) Databases Graphics Internet services like email, SSH, and BitTorrent Web services Multitasking Graphical and terminal interfaces If you need to write a web application, this book shows you how to get started with Rails. If you're a system administrator who needs to rename thousands of files, you'll see how to use Ruby for this and other everyday tasks. You'll learn how to read and write Excel spreadsheets, classify text with Bayesian filters, and create PDF files. We've even included a few silly tricks that were too cool to leave out, like how to blink the lights on your keyboard. The Ruby Cookbook is the most useful book yet written about Ruby. When you need to solve a problem, don't reinvent the wheel: look it up in the Cookbook.

Ready to go to the next level with Rails? From examining the parts of Ruby that make this framework possible to deploying large Rails applications, Advanced Rails offers you an in-depth look at techniques for dealing with databases, security, performance, web services and much more. Chapters in this book help you understand not only the tricks and techniques used within the Rails framework itself, but also how to make use of ideas borrowed from other programming paradigms. Advanced Rails pays particular attention to building applications that scale -- whether "scale" means handling more users, or working with a bigger and more complex database. You'll find plenty of examples and code samples that explain: Aspects of Ruby that are often confusing or misunderstood Metaprogramming How to develop Rails plug-ins Different database management systems Advanced database features, including triggers, rules, and stored procedures How to connect to multiple databases When to use the Active Support library for generic, reusable functions Security principles for web application design, and security issues endemic to the Web When and when not to optimize performance Why version control and issue tracking systems are essential to any large or long-lived Rails project Advanced Rails also gives you a look at REST for developing web services, ways to incorporate and extend Rails, how to use internationalization, and many other topics. If you're just starting out with rails, or merely experimenting with the framework, this book is not for you. But if you want to improve your skills with Rails through advanced techniques, this book is essential.

If you're interested in JRuby, you probably don't need a tutorial on Ruby, Rails, or Java -- you just need to know how to get things done. This Cookbook offers practical solutions for using the Java implementation of the Ruby language, with targeted recipes for deploying Rails web applications on Java servers, integrating JRuby code with Java technologies, developing JRuby desktop applications with Java toolkits, and more. Using numerous reusable code samples, JRuby Cookbook shows you how to: Install and update JRuby on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and IDEs such as NetBeans and Eclipse Package and deploy Rails apps on Java Servlet containers and Java EE application servers, including JBoss, Tomcat, and GlassFish Integrate Ruby and Rails applications with popular Java EE technologies such as JMS, JMX, JPA, Spring, and Hibernate Develop desktop and client applications with cross-platform Java UI technologies and toolkits such as Swing, SWT, and Java 2D Maximize the flexibility of your testing and build environment, using both existing Java-based tools such as Ant and Maven and newer Ruby-based tools such as Rake, Raven, and Buildr The JRuby interpreter combines Ruby's simplicity and ease of use with Java's extensive libraries and technologies, a potent blend that opens new possibilities for Ruby, Rails, and Java. This Cookbook helps you take full advantage of JRuby's potential. "The JRuby Cookbook is an excellent book for any polyglot who is trying to bridge the gap between Java and Ruby. It provides solutions to specific problems developers face in both their development and testing environments, along with the applications they're building."-- Bob McWhirter, Research & Prototyping, Red Hat Middleware

Ruby on Rails is the super-productive new way to develop full-featuredweb applications. With Ruby on Rails, powerful web applications thatonce took weeks or months to develop can now be produced in a matter ofdays. If it sounds too good to be true, it isn't. If you're like a lot of web developers, you've probably consideredkicking the tires on Rails - the framework of choice for the newgeneration of Web 2.0 developers. Ruby on Rails: Up and Running takes you out for a test drive and shows you just how fastRuby on Rails can go. This compact guide teaches you the basics of installing and using boththe Ruby scripting language and the Rails framework for the quickdevelopment of web applications. Ruby on Rails: Up andRunning covers just about everything youneed - from making a simple database-backed application toadding elaborate Ajaxian features and all the juicy bits in between.While Rails is praised for its simplicity and speed of development,there are still a few steps to master on the way. More advancedmaterial helps you map data to an imperfect table, traverse complexrelationships, and build custom finders. A section on working with Ajaxand REST shows you how to exploit the Rails service frameworks to sendemails, implement web services, and create dynamic user-centric webpages. The book also explains the essentials of logging to findperformance problems and delves into other performance-optimizingtechniques. As new web development frameworks go, Ruby on Rails is the talk of thetown. And Ruby on Rails: Up and Running can makesure you're in on the discussion.