Thread by @JalisoCSP

I listened to Rails With @JasonSwett, episode 57 - @_swanson, Creator of Boring Rails

🎧 overcast.fm/+SMfICOQYM

I took a lot of notes — way more than I usually do for a podcast, so I thought I'd make a thread... ⤵️

React is the craze right now. New developers are entering the dev world and that's the norm — maybe it is, but it can be easy to forget that front end frameworks aren't even required.

💭 We forget that React was created by Facebook, and they have very different needs to most.

Business logic is complicated enough without adding front-end complexity — simple CRUD apps are amazing powerful.

👤 "Make sure that with whatever you add, you add value to your end user." [paraphrased]

It's easy to look at big companies to solve your problems, but the reality is they:

1⃣ Have the same _struggles_, just on a bigger scale with more bureaucracy
2⃣ Do not have the same _problems_

There is a difference between struggles and problems in this context.

Let's start talking #rails with this great quote from the episode:

🚄 "Being an annoying asshole is the rails way" - @_swanson

I need to read more on @JasonSwett's dislike for service objects, but in general, I'm growing to agree with what he's saying.

OOP is a great tool.

When working with rails, you're used to working in the MVC 'containers' — maybe a sprinkle of helpers.

🧙‍♂️ There isn't much guidance outside of these.

What can we do? Can we share more resources here?

How do you structure more complex apps?

🔀 "Just because it's a model, doesn't mean it has to be an Active Record model"

Extracting concepts into new models (as a PORO) is a great choice.

🚫 I don't want to dive into Repositories right now...

🚧 Tests

I've always said testing is my weak point.

There was mention of a testing triangle — I think they might be referring to @martinfowler's Practical Testing Pyramid.

🔺 martinfowler.com/articles/pract…

I'm going to check that out later.

An interesting approach to handling exceptions and regressions is to treat them as priorities.

👏 Treating exceptions almost as catastrophic events means we can make _existing_ software work impeccably well.

It's easy to set a threshold and ignore errors though.

🙅 Ignoring errors can compound over time, until they get lost in the noise.

I've definitely experienced this — it's not the developers fault. Responsibilities and structures need to be in place to empower them to act.

Fin.

That's the end of my run down on Rails with Jason, episode 57.

Thanks @JasonSwett and @_swanson — looking forward to hearing another episode with you two! 🤩