Rails API should not change! It’s a mistake to change the API and the implementation at the same time (think Ruby 1.9 language and VM).

ORM Agnisticism

With for_for @obj, @obj can be an ActiveRecord, DataMapper, CouchDB, SimpleDB, Sequel object.  Two interfaces are now support for ORM objects, ActiveRecord/DataMapper style: errors, #each, #join and Sequel style: errors, #to_str.
Under the covers: Works with any ORM that codes to the interface:

1
2
3
4
5

ActionORM::Drivers::AbstractDriver
initialize
new_record?
errors
valid?

Sequel will provide a proxy for their users, an adapter to ActiveRecord API. Inside Rails, the only line that changed is:

objects.map! { |o| ActionORM.for(o) }

Makes writing plugins easier.

Rack

• Is an abstraction between servers (Mongrel Thin Webrick IRB CGI Runner Eb FCGI) and Rails/Merb.
• Prefork – efficient parallelization.
• Middleware: build up pipes of stuff between the server and Merb/Rails
• Rails 2.3: Sessions is middleware, Failsafe is middlware. To use in Rails 2.3, do: config.middlware.use Foo

Router can now route to RailsController or MerbController or RailsRouter or SinatraApp, it really doesn’t matter.

AbstractController

A pluggable API for building controllers. Add what you want: dispatch, callbacks etc, leave out what you don’t want.

Public / Private / Plugin API

Rails had a public API and everything else was :nodoc:. Trouble with that was that there was no stable interface for plugin writers to implement against.

Rack::Bug

Debug toolbar based on Django Debug Toolbar. Made pluggable with Orchestra – a pub/sub framework for streaming instrumentation events that Yehuda just started. Lower impact. Will work for New Relic, Five Runs, etc.

Exception Middleware

JavaScript

<form class="remote" method="post", ...

Then in rails.jquery.js

$("form.remote").live("submit", function() { $this.ajaxSubmit(); })

Replace it with rails.you!.js

Performance

Ruby 1.9 is now 2nd fastest dynamic language at 50x slower than C++. Python2 is the fastest (40x), PHP is the new loser (100x) now that Ruby 1.8.6 (150x) is gone.

Rails Boost

Build you own custom rails stack. Pick templating language, pick javascript framework…

Competition

Plugin APIs allow everyone to compete in the area they are interested in, without having to write an entire framework.

Schedule

Alpha for Railsconf. Need something to give to plugin writers. Would like to get it released by EOY.

Rails 2.2 is thread safe.  Threads are safe to use on the JVM.  Use threads and use their performance advantage.

Warble (from Sun – Charles Nutter et al) will package a complete Rails app for deployment on a Java App Server.

Lacks the ease of Passenger.

Lots of weird incompatibilities.  Timeout.  RubyIO.  Namespace issues.  Metaprogramming.  You can’t use packages that use C extensions, e.g. RMagick.

Adam Blum (adam at rhomobile.com), Building Mobile Apps with Rhodes

Majority of development in HTML (erb templates).
Gives you access to PIM, camera, GPS etc.
On Github, bugs in Lighthouse.

Rhodes

• Microframework for building locally executing natively optimized mobile apps.
• Developers run app generator for their pbjects of interest the edit HTML templates.
• Contains first mobile Ruby implementation.

RhoSnyc

• Handles syncing of web service (REST, SOAP) data.

ORM = Rhom

Gave a demo.  Seems pretty simple.  Didn’t seem as easy to debug.

• Bumper Sticker RoR app: 17M users, 900M views/month
• NewIN – show new linkedin uses on google maps / ?globe9?
• LinkedIn mobile
• LinkedIn iPhone App (not rails)
• OpenSocial Sandbox (hackday project)
• LinkedIn Polls using JRuby
• Use Starling, Beanstalk looking at JMS

Emmet @ JustIn.tv

• Website for live video on the Internet (Youtube but live!)
• Wrote a caching reverse proxy in Python & Twisted.
• Use Twisted : Network Protocols :: Rails
• Caches smaller than page items – don’t expire page just to change your name or flash.
• This is a badass application.

At this point the LinkedIn guest wireless network asked me to reauthenticate and I lost access to this post and stopped writing. However…

The last talk from Adam @ Heroku was great.  He is indeed correct – people focus way too much on Heroku’s web tools.  The command line tool is way more interesting.