What about Ruby on Rails? ... from a PHP guy

Presented at GeekCampSG 2014

Transcript

1. …from a PHP guy
   What About Ruby on Rails?
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2. Michael Cheng
   Software Engineer, Neo Innovation Inc.
   http://twitter.com/coderkungfu
   http://github.com/miccheng
   http://CoderKungfu.com
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3. Speaker Deck
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   http://bit.ly/rorfromphp
   

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4. About Me
   • Self-learned front-end / back-end / iOS developer
   • Building web apps since 2001
   • Started Singapore PHP User Group in 2006
   • Co-founded iOS Dev Scout (2012)
   • Worked in startups: Foound (2010) and mig33 (2012)
   • Joined Neo Innovation Inc. in March 2014
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5. Ruby on Rails vs PHP?
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6. Its an unfair comparison…
   • Ruby on Rails in a software framework
   written in Ruby (a programming
   language)
   • PHP is a programming language

   … or so it thinks… :)
   • Should compare Ruby vs PHP?
   • Or Rails vs CakePHP/Symfony/Laravel
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7. Ruby
   • A dynamic, open source programming
   language with a focus on simplicity and
   productivity. It has an elegant syntax that is
   natural to read and easy to write
   • Created by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto
   • Public release in 1995
   • Currently version 2.1.3
   • Ruby on Rails released in 2004
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8. PHP
   • Created in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf as a
   collection of CGI scripts written in C
   • In 1997, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski of
   Tel Aviv, Israel started a complete rewrite of
   the parser - first steps to becoming a real
   language
   • Released PHP 3 in 1998 - Changed meaning
   to “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor”
   • Currently version 5.6.2
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9. Ruby vs PHP?
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10. Similarities
    • Interpreted languages
    • Dynamically typed
    • Easy to understand syntax
    • Object oriented
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11. Differences
    • PHP
    • Web centric
    • Not quite a
    language -
    collection of
    functions
    • Ruby
    • General purpose
    (more effort to
    make web)
    • An expressive
    programming
    language
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12. Specifics…
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    “A string” “Hello,
    $name”
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    3.146
    $variable
    $obj->variable
    Klass::$static_var
    SOME_CONSTANT
    Klass::SOME_CONST
    “A string” “Hello
    #{name}”
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    local_variable
    $global_var
    Klass.class_var
    SAME_CONSTANT
    Klass::SOME_CONST
    

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13. Specifics…
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    array(10, 20, 30)
    array(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
    array(
    “a” => “Apple”,
    “b” => “Banana”
    )
    [10, 20, 30]
    [1..5]
    {
    a: “Apple”,
    b: “Banana”
    }
    

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14. Specifics…
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    if($morning == true){
    echo “Hullo”
    }
    if ($morning)
    echo “Hullo”
    if morning?
    puts “Hullo”
    end
    puts “Hullo” if morning?
    

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15. Specifics…
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    class Tea extends Beverages{
    private $water
    private $milk
    public function __construct(){
    $this->water = true;
    $this->milk = true;
    }
    public function is_good(){
    return true;
    }
    }
    class Tea < Beverages
    def initialize
    @water = true
    @milk = true
    end
    def good?
    true
    end
    private
    def secret
    “hello”
    end
    end
    

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16. Other similarities…
    • Console (irb / php interative shell)
    • Debugging (pry / phpdbg)
    • Testing (TestUnit, Rspec / PHPUnit)
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17. Other similarities…
    • Healthy open source ecosystem
    • http://rubygems.org/ & https://
    www.ruby-toolbox.com/
    • http://packagist.org
    • Dependency management / packaging
    • Bundler / Composer
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18. What I like about Ruby?
    • Ecosystem
    • Problems solved by smart people
    • Tools for developer happyness
    • Debugging, Testing
    • Packaging, dependency management
    • Deployment
    • Running multiple versions on the same
    machine
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19. What I like about Ruby?
    • Testing
    • Unit testing
    • Feature testing
    • Mocking / Stubbing
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20. Ruby on Rails
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21. What about Rails?
    • Front-end web application framework
    • An opinion on how to build a web app
    • Convention over configuration
    • MVC
    • Big on testing
    • Unit, behaviour, feature
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22. What about Rails?
    • Running tasks are easy
    • Emailers are easy
    • Track DB schema changes easily
    • Command line interface
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23. What about Rails?
    • "There's a Gem for that”TM
    • Problems already solved
    • Usually drop in solutions with minimal
    tweaking (defaults are good enough)
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24. PHP: We invent the wheel
    • We have full control & knowledge of
    how things work
    • Usually because we had to code it
    ourselves by hand
    • Even when you use a framework like
    CakePHP, Laravel, Symfony… you still
    have to write a lot of code
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25. RoR: We invented Automagic
    • It works like magic
    • It works, provides for common use
    cases & standards
    • It's usually relatively secure &
    production ready out of the box
    • Really lends itself to rapid development,
    MVP
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26. RoR: We invented Automagic
    • Example:
    • Devise - Login, registration, password
    reset, emails, timeout, etc.
    • CarrierWave - File upload, S3 support,
    custom URL, thumbnails, etc.
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27. Benefits
    • Faster ramp-up for building your web app
    • Commonly used stuff are already build - just
    add the Gem, configure and go!
    • From idea to product in short time - and its
    relatively secure and beta tester ready
    • Easier deployment options
    • PaaS - Heroku, Azure
    • Self host via VPS, shared hosting
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28. Benefits
    • Continuous Integration/Deployment friendly
    • Easily testable - ensure your product does
    what its supposed to
    • Flexible DB options
    • Easy to Google / StackOverflow for
    solutions
    • CLI FTW!
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29. Downside
    • Quite memory intensive
    • Mostly solvable by throwing machines at
    the problem. :p (i.e. more money)
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30. Where to start?
    • TryRuby
    • http://tryruby.org
    • RailsCast
    • http://railscasts.com/
    • Ruby Meetup
    • http://www.meetup.com/Singapore-
    Ruby-Group/
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31. Where to start?
    • Rails Girls Singapore
    • http://railsgirls.com/singapore
    • http://www.meetup.com/Singapore-Ruby-
    Group/events/213119462/
    • Sat, 25 Oct 2014 @ ThoughtWorks Singapore
    (87B, Amoy Street, #03/04)
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32. http://www.neo.com/jobs#Singapore
    We’re Hiring!
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