7 Years of Ruby & Rails With the Same Web Site

Experiences and lessons from maintaining and forking one Rails codebase for seven years. Code changes and people change!

1. 7 YEARS OF RUBY & RAILS WITH THE SAME WEB SITE ZEV BLUT KEVIN GRIFFIN & RUBYKAIGI2014
2. RUBYKAIGI2014 What is iKnow!? About Cerego
3. RUBYKAIGI2014 Online English Language Learning Platform
4. RUBYKAIGI2014 Super SRS (spaced repetition software)
5. RUBYKAIGI2014 History of Cerego 2007 2008 2009 2011 2013 iknow.co.jp Ruby Kaigi! smart.fm iknow.jp Cerego English cerego.com
9. RUBYKAIGI2014
10. RUBYKAIGI2014 3 Lessons Learned
11. RUBYKAIGI2014 3 Lessons Learned 1. Sharing code is hard 2. Custom solutions require effort 3. People change
12. RUBYKAIGI2014 1. Sharing Code is Hard
13. RUBYKAIGI2014 Code Organization Web App Web API Shared Core
14. RUBYKAIGI2014 `rake stats` LOC 0 25000 50000 75000 100000 web app api core Code LOC Test LOC
15. RUBYKAIGI2014 Strategies for Sharing • git submodule in vendor/plugins • rails engine • gem
16. RUBYKAIGI2014 Submodule Challenges • Bundler doesn’t work well • Editors and tools can’t deal with submodules • Deployment and Jenkins builds are complex
17. RUBYKAIGI2014 3 Sites Forked from the Same Code Base Web API Core Web API Core Web API Core
18. RUBYKAIGI2014 Failures with Forks • Features get out of sync • Rails upgrades are harder • Differing systems requirements for each • (Ruby versions, RubyGems, C-extensions)
19. RUBYKAIGI2014 Successes with Forks • Starting a new site is fast • Known codebase (everyone knows how it works) • Room for divergent changes
20. RUBYKAIGI2014 Other Ways to Share • `git cherry-pick` • Gems • Engines
21. RUBYKAIGI2014 2. Custom Solutions Require Effort
22. RUBYKAIGI2014 We Used Lots of Custom Code • Gem Management • Asset Management • Access Control • Serialization • Natural Language Parser • Mobile Push Notifications
23. RUBYKAIGI2014 “WTF?” • “Why aren’t we using this common tool?” • Bundler • Rails Asset Pipeline • Jbuilder • CanCan • Rails Russian doll caching • etc…
24. RUBYKAIGI2014 Too Many Patches • Not sure what is native Ruby/Rails versus custom • Difficult to maintain when upgrading Rails • But we keep it all in a specific directory •vendor/patches
25. RUBYKAIGI2014 When to be custom? • Concepts that haven’t made their way into Rails • Owning the core code: performant and specific • Domain-specific code
26. RUBYKAIGI2014 When to move on? • Things break, Rails and Ruby change • Too much code builds around private APIs • Authors leave the project
27. RUBYKAIGI2014 Use Standard Tools • Helps people get up to speed faster • Better documentation • Can share experiences with the world
28. RUBYKAIGI2014 Open Source Custom Stuff
29. RUBYKAIGI2014 Attack on Customization ਐܸͷΧελϜ
30. RUBYKAIGI2014 Rails 2.x to 3.x { “SELECT `users`.* from `users` WHERE `users`.`id` = 42 LIMIT 1;” => {“id"=>42,“name”=>"Zev"} } User.find(42) #<User id: 42, name: “zev”>
31. RUBYKAIGI2014 Rails 2.x to 3.x def close @target.close if @target.respond_to?(:close) ensure ActiveRecord::Base.connection.clear_query_cache
32. RUBYKAIGI2014 3. People Change
33. RUBYKAIGI2014 ~60 Developers
34. RUBYKAIGI2014 Migrations > 1,400
35. RUBYKAIGI2014 What happens when people leave? • Knowledge gets lost • Tests lose meaning • Well-designed code goes bad
36. RUBYKAIGI2014 Knowledge Gets Lost • Workarounds are lost • Data structure meaning is lost • Dead code piles up
37. RUBYKAIGI2014 Tests Lose Meaning • Test helpers are forgotten • Tests check values, not intention • Fixtures rot
38. RUBYKAIGI2014 Well-designed Code Goes Bad • Intention isn’t maintained • Lots of small hacks build up • Code duplication
39. RUBYKAIGI2014 What Can We Do? • Delete dead code • Keep everything up-to-date • Bootstrap new developers
40. RUBYKAIGI2014 DELETE CODE
41. RUBYKAIGI2014 5,751,894 LOC added 3,332,234 LOC deleted !! ! ŝŦᴸ ƅ㱼ƅ)ᴸ! ! ( ꒪⌓꒪)
42. RUBYKAIGI2014 Delete Dead Code • Reduces mental overhead • Speeds up tests • Makes upgrading easier • Don’t fear the code
43. RUBYKAIGI2014 Keep Everything Up-to-date
44. RUBYKAIGI2014 Developer Bootstrap Make it easy to get started on a fresh computer
45. RUBYKAIGI2014 Good for Everyone
46. RUBYKAIGI2014 3 Lessons Learned 1. Sharing code is hard 2. Custom solutions require effort 3. People change
47. RUBYKAIGI2014 Code Changes People Change Maintain code, intention, and knowledge!
48. RUBYKAIGI2014 Questions? • We are hiring (we love new members!) ! iKnow! Coupon Code: RubyKaigi2014