Whys guide to rails

In words of Martin Fowler himself:. Or if you don't want to take my word for it or Martin's , check out this video of Rails conf couch edition to get a feel of the Ruby community culture.

The effect of amazing work that the community has done compounds over time. The amount of resources and quality documentation available to you is mind-boggling. Whether you care about how to use a library or need advice on how to design large Enterprise applications, the community has you covered.

We fully realise that the world of web development is spinning fast, and we are not blind to the benefits that technologies like React or Vue bring to the table. Rails plays along with new technologies really well.

The thing is, learning Rails or any other 'hot' JavaScript technology is not an either-or proposition. Actually, Rails plays along extremely well with other front-end frameworks. You can embed light options on top like Turbolinks or Stimulus. The most valuable thing that alumni take away from a Bootcamp will not be the tech stack. It's the ability to think in code, break down problems, and use technology to solve them. The key takeaway is falling in love with coding and problem solving, and learning to drive your own journey in technology in the future.

I understand that people seeking a Bootcamp want to learn the 'hottest' technology because it's naturally seen as a proxy for employability. Going through the Bootcamp helped me fall in love with computer science, and get the foundations to steer my career.

Whichever particular technology you start with is irrelevant, it's all just a means to an end. Rails is still relevant in , and a great entry point into the world of web development. It's a reliable, proven technology with a solid ecosystem of tools, big companies, startups, and enthusiasts around it. The community is active and welcoming.

But at the end of the day and above all, learning to code it's not about which technology you choose. It structures code by separating the logic of the application into three interconnected parts. The Model represents the logic of the application, the data objects and high-level classes associated with them. The View is essentially the visual representation of the data the template files, in other words , and the Controller is the piece which connects the other two, responding to user input and gathering data from the Model to render in the View.

This pattern cleans up the application logic and makes Ruby on Rails applications very flexible. The design philosophy of this language is centered on certain key principles, as outlined in its Rails Doctrine , most notably:. The DRY principle is a concept used everywhere in software development. It encourages programmers to reduce repetition in their code base and isolate functionality in small, easier to maintain functions or files. This makes code modular, easier to understand, maintain, and debug.

The term was introduced by David Heinemeier Hanson in an effort to explain the design philosophy he had chosen when developing Ruby on Rails while working at Basecamp. Models are always named the singular proper noun of the object they represent, and corresponding database tables take the plural form.

However, Ruby on Rails allows programmers to override these conventions where necessary to remain flexible. It was open sourced in and has kept growing and evolving ever since.

Its core developer team now counts 11 members along with of hundreds of open source contributors. As it celebrates its latest version release 6. There have been murmurings on the internet for awhile now claiming that the Ruby on Rails framework is losing its popularity and relevance.

However, things changed dramatically with Ruby on Rails 5 , which addresses some of these concerns. The developer community around it has ensured that this release is not only loaded with new features to keep it up to date and interesting, but also that the framework is ready to evolve and embrace the future of technology. Ruby on Rails 5 was the biggest release from the community since June It came with an impressive range of features and changes, including: real-time communication with ActionCable, API Mode to use Rails purely for a backend application, and simplified terminal commands.

Whichever way you look at it, things at Ruby on Rails are moving fast with many changes and developments ahead. For the foreseeable future Ruby on Rails will remain one of the most exciting and innovative programming frameworks to know and work in.

So now that you know what Ruby on Rails is, you probably have a whole host of other questions. The big one is of course WHY. Why should you learn Ruby on Rails?

What are the advantages of learning Ruby on Rails over all the other programming languages out there? Will Ruby on Rails on its own be enough to build a career? Is it future-proof? How much previous experience do you need to learn it? What kind of company can you work in once you have these skills?

And is it applicable to all web development jobs, or just a select few? Follow author to receive email updates about new content.

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PluralSight is a popular technology learning platform with tools that can evaluate your skills irrespective of your knowledge level and help you find solutions to almost all your Rails problems. Lynda is another popular website that can help you learn Ruby on Rails with the help of video tutorials. Code Academy offers online courses on Ruby on Rails, including lessons, quizzes, and projects to help you get started.

However, it is not like any other online course — they have a completely new take on education! Thinkful is a revolutionary online school for developers that offers a perfect mix of traditional face-to-face learning and the convenience of online education. The platform also has a blog where they post lots of great tips for developers. The book features 52 exercises for Rails developers and quite valuable pieces of advice from an experienced programmer. Sitepoint is a well-known learning platform providing tutorials, books, and videos on various topics.

GoRails is an online platform publishing Ruby on Rails guides, screencasts, and tutorials for web developers, and much more. Everyone who wants to learn Ruby on Rails can practice basic programming, sketching, as well as prototyping. Codewars is a collective effort by its community, where users teach each other various techniques and solutions and comment with constructive feedback.

It offers Rails developers an opportunity to improve their skills by challenging other developers on real code challenges. Everyone loves Stack Overflow. Most probably, every developer has come across this site in their career.