With several spawling, monolithic Rails apps under my belt, I had the opportunity to go a different route. Bulging models, obtuse controllers, and views chock full of logic were my world. When I came up for air, all the cool kids were writing thick clients with svelte backends. Perhaps Sinatra and some hip Javascript framework were the way? Here's what I learned...

1. RAILS SOJOURN:
ONE MAN’S
JOURNEY
Mike Desjardins
Monday, October 14, 13

2. HI, I’M MIKE!
I’M FROM
PORTLAND
Monday, October 14, 13

3. NO, NOT THAT PORTLAND
Monday, October 14, 13

4. THIS PORTLAND
Monday, October 14, 13

5. CONFESSION
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6. OK MIKE, WE GET IT.
YOU HAVE SELF
ESTEEM ISSUES.
So what is this
presentation about?
Monday, October 14, 13

7. So I’ve worked on some
decently “big” Rails apps
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8. FAT MODELS
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9. MASSIVE CONTROLLERS
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10. VIEWS
WITH
(CONFUSING)
LOGIC
IN THEM
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11. STUFF HAPPENS
Monday, October 14, 13

12. GOOD NEWS:
This presentation
isn’t a complainfest about Rails
Monday, October 14, 13

13. I work here:
(we’re kinda awesome)
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14. But I used to work here:
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15. (NEED A BULLPEN)
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16. INCUBATION
MONTH
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17. LIKE CHRISTMAS MORNING!
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18. WE SHOULD
USE
THIS TIME TO
EXPLORE!
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19. LET’S BUILD AN APP!
It’ll be one of those
new-fangled
single page whizzbang Javascript MVC
thingies!
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20. WHAT TO DO?
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21. WHAT TO DO?
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22. WHAT TO DO?
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23. BACK END CRITERIA
• Had to be Ruby
• Building RESTful API
• Had to be easily deployed
• Want “lightweight”
• Had to be actively developed
• Couldn’t be Rails. Just ‘cuz.
Monday, October 14, 13

24. Monday, October 14, 13

25. FRONT END CRITERIA
• Active Development
• Strategic choice for company
• Well documented
• Stable API
(Not gonna talk a whole lot about these)
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26. FRONTEND
(Not gonna talk a whole lot about these)
Monday, October 14, 13

27. ARCHITECTURE
Notifications Worker
Worker
Process
Process
Amazon SQS
(Queueing Service)
Collector
Collector
Client Gem
User Application
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SQL
DB
API Server
API Server
Static Single-Page
Javascript Front End
Happy
User

28. FOCUS ON
Collector
Collector
API Server
API Server
THE “RUBY” PARTS
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29. HMM...
require
'sinatra'
get
'/hi'
do
"Hello
World!"
end
$
ruby
hi.rb
Monday, October 14, 13

30. HMM...
$
ls
app.rb
$
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31. Monday, October 14, 13

32. GOOD NEWS:
This presentation
isn’t a How-To
session on
Sinatra
Monday, October 14, 13

33. SETTLED ON THIS
Gemfile
Gemfile.lock
Procfile
README.md
Rakefile
app.rb
config/
config.ru
log/
middlewares/
routes/
services/
spec/
templates/
Monday, October 14, 13

34. INIT.RB PATTERN
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35. CONFIG AND
INITIALIZERS
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36. THIS SERVED US
PRETTY WELL.
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37. ASIDE: MONK
Learned about this project
after the fact.
Website down?
http://monkrb.com
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38. WAIT, WHERE ARE
THE MODELS?
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39. ORM
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40. ORM
We tried three different ones.
Models were in their own gem.
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41. DATAMAPPER
Ran into issues.
1.x kind of a ghost town.
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42. Monday, October 14, 13

43. OPEN SOURCE
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44. OPEN SOURCE
You can, you know, actually
read the source when you get stuck.
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45. ONE OF THE
BIGGEST THINGS
I LEARNED!
•I always had been intimidated by
complexity Rails’ source.
•Intimidated by size and talent of community.
•Hadn’t run into trouble with Rails, no need
to look at the source.
Monday, October 14, 13

46. bundle
open
<gem
name>
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47. LESSON #1
DON’T BE
AFRAID.
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48. SEQUEL
Weird (concurrency?) problem we just couldn’t nail down.
Probably wasn’t Sequel, probably was us.
Running out of time so...
Monday, October 14, 13

49. ACTIVERECORD
We swallowed our pride.
Monday, October 14, 13

50. PUTTING THE
MODELS INTO
THEIR OWN GEM
SAVED OUR
BACON.
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51. LESSON #2
ISOLATE YOUR
APP FROM YOUR
LIBRARY
CHOICES.
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52. WHAT IS RACK?
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53. “A Rack application is an Ruby object (not a
class) that responds to call. It takes exactly one
argument, the environment and returns an Array
of exactly three values: The status, the headers,
and the body.” - Rack API docs
Monday, October 14, 13

54. “A Rack application is an Ruby object (not a
class) that responds to call. It takes exactly one
argument, the environment and returns an Array
of exactly three values: The status, the headers,
and the body.” - Rack API docs
require
'rubygems'
require
'rack'
class
HelloWorld
def
call(env)
[200,
{"Content-­‐Type"
=>
"text/html"},
"Hello
Rack!"]
end
end
Rack::Handler::Mongrel.run
HelloWorld.new,
:port
=>
9292
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55. MIDDLEWARE
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56. SECURITY
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57. • Rack::Attack - middleware to do
•
•
whitelisting, blacklisting, throttling.
Rack::Protection - middleware that
handles a bunch of attack vectors (IP
Spoofing, Path Traversal, Session
Hijacking, others).
Omniauth::Identity - User authentication
Monday, October 14, 13

58. SERIALIZATION
Monday, October 14, 13

59. SERIALIZATION
• achiu/rack-parser - I was surprised to
•
learn that converting JSON docs to
Rack parameters wasn’t automatic.
HashWithIndifferentAccess - Don’t
expect your parameter names to be
symbolized for you.
Monday, October 14, 13

60. SESSION COOKIES
Rack::Session::Cookie
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61. WE EVEN WROTE
OUR OWN
MIDDLEWARE!
HTTP status handling
for common errors
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62. class
ErrorMiddleware
def
initialize(app,
options
=
{})
@app
=
app
end
def
call(env)
dup._call(env)
end
def
_call(env)
@app.call
env
rescue
Exception
=>
e
logger.error
"-­‐-­‐-­‐
rescued
#{e.inspect}
at
#{Time.now}
-­‐-­‐-­‐"
e.backtrace.each
do
|line|
logger.error
line
end
handler
=
ExceptionHandler.new(e)
Rack::Response.new(handler.body,
handler.status,
{}).finish
end
end
Monday, October 14, 13

63. INITIALIZER
ExceptionHandler.register(
"CloudshineData::UniqueConstraintViolation"
=>
{
body:
{errors:
["Already
taken"]}.to_json,
status:
422
}
)
ExceptionHandler.register(
"CloudshineData::Unauthorized"
=>
{status:
401,
body:
"Unauthorized"}
)
ExceptionHandler.register(
"CloudshineData::RecordNotFound"
=>
{
body:
{errors:
["Resource
not
found."]}.to_json,
status:
404
}
)
ExceptionHandler.register("CloudshineData::ValidationFailed"
=>
HandlerWithMessage)
ExceptionHandler.register("Cloudshine::MissingParameter"
=>
HandlerWithMessage)
Monday, October 14, 13

64. class
ExceptionHandler
HANDLERS
=
{}
attr_accessor
:exception
def
self.register(handler={})
HANDLERS.merge!(handler)
end
def
initialize(exception)
@exception
=
exception
@handler_map
=
HANDLERS
@handler_map.default
=
{body:
{errors:
["Server
error"]}.to_json,
status:
500}
end
def
handler
return
@handler
if
@handler
logger.info
"using
#{handler_map[@exception.class.to_s]}
to
handle”
logger.info
"
a
#{@exception.class.to_s}
exception."
handler
=
handler_map[@exception.class.to_s]
@handler
=
handler.is_a?(Class)
?
handler.new(@exception)
:
OpenStruct.new(handler)
end
def
status;
handler.status;
end
def
body;
handler.body;
end
private
attr_accessor
:handler_map
end
Monday, October 14, 13

65. LESSON #3
MIDDLEWARE
IS EASY!
Monday, October 14, 13

66. TOOLS
Monday, October 14, 13

67. ARCHITECTURE
Notifications Worker
Worker
Process
Process
SQL
DB
API Server
API Server
Amazon SQS
(Queueing Service)
Static Single-Page
Javascript Front End
Collector
Collector
Happy
User
Client Gem
User Application
Monday, October 14, 13

68. CODE IS SPREAD
OVER EIGHT
REPOSITORIES
Minimum of four separate
applications just to run the system.
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69. VAGRANT
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70. VAGRANT
Still doesn’t help w/ the nuisance of
having to commit code into multiple
places to make one feature change.
Monday, October 14, 13

71. VAGRANT
If I had to do it over again, I’d
probably keep one repo/app for the
server-side components and deploy
it differently by task.
Monday, October 14, 13

72. OTHER HANDY
TOOLS
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73. RAILS CONSOLE
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74. RAILS CONSOLE
Missed it for a while.
Monday, October 14, 13

75. RAILS CONSOLE
Missed it for a while.
Then I realized I could just make a silly setup script.
Monday, October 14, 13

76. RAILS CONSOLE
Missed it for a while.
Then I realized I could just make a silly setup script.
It worked just as well and was a lot faster.
Monday, October 14, 13

77. SILLY SETUP SCRIPT
require
'bundler'
require
'active_record'
require
'activeuuid'
Bundler.require(:default,:development)
ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(
:adapter
=>
'mysql2',
:database
=>
'cloudshine_dev',
:username
=>
'root',
:host
=>
'localhost')
ActiveUUID::Patches.apply!
Monday, October 14, 13

78. Monday, October 14, 13
RERUN

79. RERUN
Restarts your server for you when
files change in your app’s directory.
Wouldn’t work with pokey old Rails
but works great with Sinatra.
Monday, October 14, 13

80. CORS Issues
Cross Origin
Resource Sharing
Monday, October 14, 13

81. User’s Browser
Web Server
HTTP
OPTIONS
http://api.myapp.com/resource
Origin:
http://www.myapp.com
Monday, October 14, 13
PR
-F
E
IG
L
T
H

82. User’s Browser
Web Server
200
OK
Access-­‐Control-­‐Allow-­‐Origin:
http://www.myapp.com
Monday, October 14, 13

83. User’s Browser
Web Server
HTTP
GET
http://api.myapp.com/resource
Origin:
http://www.myapp.com
Monday, October 14, 13

84. CORS Support
Firefox: 3.5+
Chrome: 3+
Safari: 4+
Opera: 12+
IE: 10+
Monday, October 14, 13

85. CORS Issues
Can’t serve your single
page app from file://
during development
Can’t go across ports
without explicit
permission
Monday, October 14, 13

86. CORS Issues
Did all of this with (you
guessed it) middleware!
github.com/cyu/rack-cors
Monday, October 14, 13

87. SUMMARY
•Don’t be afraid to look at the source code
of your libraries.
•Isolate your app from libraries
•Middleware is easy!
•There are lots of cool tools out there. Learn
about them.
•Figure out your strategy for dealing w/
cross origin requests right away.
Monday, October 14, 13

88. SPENDING TIME AWAY
FROM RAILS DE-MYSTIFIED
IT FOR ME AND MADE ME
MORE COMFORTABLE WITH
RUBY.
Monday, October 14, 13

89. SPENDING TIME AWAY
FROM RAILS DE-MYSTIFIED
IT FOR ME AND MADE ME
MORE COMFORTABLE WITH
RUBY.
It was totally worth it.
Monday, October 14, 13

90. HOWEVER...
If I were starting all over again,
I probably would just use
Rails API.
Monday, October 14, 13

91. Monday, October 14, 13

92. @mdesjardins
github.com/mdesjardins
md@openbay.com
Monday, October 14, 13

93. FIN.
Monday, October 14, 13

94. PHOTO CREDITS
Lobster on Slide 2: Creative Commons © Man Pikin (http://www.flickr.com/photos/musicamang/)
Priest on Slide 3: © Anyka, Licensed from Fotolia.com, All Rights Reserved
Giant NES Controller on Slide 8: Creative Commons © Pop Culture Geek (http://www.flickr.com/photos/popculturegeek/)
Boston Construction Road Sign on Slide 9: Creative Commons © NNECAPA (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nnecapa/)
Bird Poop on Slide 10: Creative Commons © Chris Smith Ronnie Shumate “My Favorite Pet Sitter” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/myfavoritepetsitter/)
Fenway Bullpen on Slide 15: Creative Commons © BuzzFarmers “Red Sox Game at Fenway Park.” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/buzzfarmers/)
Alien Incubator on Slide 16: Creative Commons © Steve Jurvetson “alien incubator” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/)
Christmas Morning on Slide 17: Creative Commons © John Lemieux “Nikon Christmas” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/newdimensionfilms/)
Segway on Slide 42: Creative Commons © Wesley Fryer “Darth Vader on a segway in the Edmond 4th of July Parade” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer)
Bacon on Slide 49: Creative Commons © Shawn Zamecheck “Bacon” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnzam/)
Rack of Lamb on Slide 51: Creative Commons © Waferboard “rack of lamb presentation II” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/waferboard/)
Rainbow Cake on Slide 54: Creative Commons © Janine and Jim Eden “Rainbow Cake” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/edenpictures/)
Security Cameras on Slide 55: Creative Commons © Jake Setlak “Security” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pylbug/)
Cookies on Slide 59: Creative Commons © Jeramey Jannene “Cookies” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/compujeramey/)
Tool Chest on Slide 66: Creative Commons © El Cajon Yacht Club “tool chest” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/el_cajon_yacht_club/)
Console on Slide 73: Creative Commons © Cliff “Console, Countdown and Monitor“ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/)
Apple Cores Slides 80-85: Creative Commons © Roger Karlsson “red apple core two days” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/free-photos/)
Mosaic 3.5” Floppy Slides 81-83: Creative Commons © Bill Rawlinson “plug-n-play-mosaic” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefinalcut/)
Mainframe Slides 81-83: Creative Commons © Don DeBold “NEC 2203 Mainframe Computer” (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddebold/)
Creative Commons images licensed under the CC 2.0 Attribution License.
Monday, October 14, 13