You Should Write a Ruby Gem

Lightning talk given at Ruby Hoedown 2011 and RubyConf 2011. Video from RubyConf is at http://www.confreaks.com/videos/741-rubyconf2011-lightning-talks, at around 18:15.

Transcript

1. You Should Write a Ruby Gem Ernie Miller @erniemiller erniemiller.org http://github.com/ernie Sunday, September 23, 12
2. Blame Ben Sunday, September 23, 12
3. Blame Ben Sunday, September 23, 12
4. I Write Gems Sunday, September 23, 12
5. • MetaSearch I Write Gems Sunday, September 23, 12
6. • MetaSearch • MetaWhere I Write Gems Sunday, September 23, 12
7. • MetaSearch • MetaWhere • Ransack I Write Gems Sunday, September 23, 12
8. • MetaSearch • MetaWhere • Ransack • Squeel I Write Gems Sunday, September 23, 12
9. • MetaSearch • MetaWhere • Ransack • Squeel • attr_bucket I Write Gems Sunday, September 23, 12
10. https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/258 Sunday, September 23, 12
11. https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/258 Sunday, September 23, 12
12. https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/258 Sunday, September 23, 12
13. https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/258 Sunday, September 23, 12
14. https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/258 Sunday, September 23, 12
15. https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/258 Sunday, September 23, 12
16. https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/258 Sunday, September 23, 12
17. https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/258 Sunday, September 23, 12
18. https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/258 ...and so on... Sunday, September 23, 12
19. it 'negates negated negated negated negated negated frozen?' do @o.not_not_not_not_not_not_frozen?.should be_false end Sunday, September 23, 12
20. it 'negates negated negated negated negated negated frozen?' do @o.not_not_not_not_not_not_frozen?.should be_false end Sunday, September 23, 12
21. Sunday, September 23, 12
22. WTH? Sunday, September 23, 12
23. You should write gems too Sunday, September 23, 12
24. Why? Sunday, September 23, 12
25. • Reusable code is awesome Why? Sunday, September 23, 12
26. • Reusable code is awesome • Well-factored code is awesome Why? Sunday, September 23, 12
27. • Reusable code is awesome • Well-factored code is awesome • awesome * n > awesome (for n > 1) Why? Sunday, September 23, 12
28. • Reusable code is awesome • Well-factored code is awesome • awesome * n > awesome (for n > 1) • One more bullet point with awesome Why? Sunday, September 23, 12
29. • Reusable code is awesome • Well-factored code is awesome • awesome * n > awesome (for n > 1) • One more bullet point with awesome • You will learn stuff Why? Sunday, September 23, 12
30. • Reusable code is awesome • Well-factored code is awesome • awesome * n > awesome (for n > 1) • One more bullet point with awesome • You will learn stuff • You can give lightning talks about your gem Why? Sunday, September 23, 12
31. Why not? Sunday, September 23, 12
32. Why not? • People will see my code! Sunday, September 23, 12
33. Why not? • People will see my code! • No, really... people will see my code. Sunday, September 23, 12
34. Why not? • People will see my code! • No, really... people will see my code. • Everyone rolls their own Sunday, September 23, 12
35. Why not? • People will see my code! • No, really... people will see my code. • Everyone rolls their own • Someone else has probably done it better Sunday, September 23, 12
36. Why not? • People will see my code! • No, really... people will see my code. • Everyone rolls their own • Someone else has probably done it better • It’s too trivial to bother with Sunday, September 23, 12
37. Valium http://github.com/ernie/valium Sunday, September 23, 12
38. Valium • Bypass ActiveRecord instantiation http://github.com/ernie/valium Sunday, September 23, 12
39. Valium • Bypass ActiveRecord instantiation • Direct value access http://github.com/ernie/valium Sunday, September 23, 12
40. Valium • Bypass ActiveRecord instantiation • Direct value access • Ridiculously simple http://github.com/ernie/valium Sunday, September 23, 12
41. Valium • Bypass ActiveRecord instantiation • Direct value access • Ridiculously simple • Seriously. Like, <100 LOC simple. http://github.com/ernie/valium Sunday, September 23, 12
42. Employee.where(:slacker => true).values_of :first_name, :last_name, :hired_at # => [["Ernie", "Miller", 2009-09-21 08:00:00 -0400], ...] class Animal < ActiveRecord::Base serialize :extra_info end Animal.where(:genus => 'felis').values_of :species, :extra_info # => [["catus", {:domestic => true}], ["lolcatus", {:can_has_cheezburger => true}], ...] Obligatory Usage Examples Sunday, September 23, 12
43. This talk is NOT about Valium Sunday, September 23, 12
44. You Should Write a Ruby Gem Sunday, September 23, 12
45. Months LOC Watchers MetaSearch 19 926 570 MetaWhere 18 948 565 Ransack 6 1742 130 Squeel 6 2049 265 attr_bucket 8 117 18 ZOMG, A TABLE! (this talk is so information-rich) Sunday, September 23, 12
46. Valium ~ 1 month 91 LOC Sunday, September 23, 12
47. Valium ~ 1 month 196 watchers 91 LOC Sunday, September 23, 12
48. “I've had times where I would just fork off a child process, do all the memory-intensive stuff inside the child process (1000+ AR objects would be instantiated) and then kill off the child when it was finished to remove potential memory leaks.” – A Commenter Sunday, September 23, 12
49. Lessons Learned Sunday, September 23, 12
50. Lessons Learned • What’s obvious to you is not necessarily obvious to someone else Sunday, September 23, 12
51. Lessons Learned • What’s obvious to you is not necessarily obvious to someone else • You can’t predict what others will find useful Sunday, September 23, 12
52. Lessons Learned • What’s obvious to you is not necessarily obvious to someone else • You can’t predict what others will find useful • Don’t ask yourself, “Should I release this?” Sunday, September 23, 12
53. Lessons Learned • What’s obvious to you is not necessarily obvious to someone else • You can’t predict what others will find useful • Don’t ask yourself, “Should I release this?” • Release it. The Internet will answer that question for you. Trust me. Sunday, September 23, 12
54. People Like Free Stuff Sunday, September 23, 12
55. So, write a gem. Jeweler Ho Sunday, September 23, 12
56. So, write a gem. Jeweler Hoe Sunday, September 23, 12
57. Thanks! @erniemiller Sunday, September 23, 12
58. Thanks! @erniemiller Sunday, September 23, 12