Ruby in practice

Ruby in Practice increases your productivity by showing you specific Ruby techniques you can use in your projects. The book offers detailed strategies for using Ruby in a large-scale environment. You'll see concrete examples of integration, messaging, web development, and databases, all presented in a clear Problem/Solution format. This book won't help you push your deadline back, but it will help you get the job done in less time. Above all, Ruby in Practice is a practical book for developers who want an in depth understanding of the Ruby language and its toolset. The book is divided into three major parts. The first part concentrates on issues that developers face both from within their organizations and from their peers. The authors weigh the costs and benefits of using Ruby in enterprise development projects, the over-riding theme being that every developer should always aim to use the right tool for any particular job. The authors then examine the pros and cons of developing with Ruby, and where appropriate, compare Ruby to other languages, both conceptually and in code. The second part discusses techniques for communication and integration of systems. The authors describe how libraries and techniques are used to facilitate messaging, web development and communication automation. They also focus on how the strategies in the first section can be used with these libraries to make development more flexible and efficient. The last part shows how to manage data and integrate with existing data using Ruby. The authors describe techniques for using existing Ruby libraries that either replace popular Java libraries or can interface with existing data in a different way. They go on to show you how strategies covered in the first section can be used to enable Ruby to interact with existing assets or to build new data systems. Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book. Front Cover......Page 1 brief contents......Page 8 contents......Page 10 preface......Page 16 acknowledgments......Page 18 Who should read this book......Page 20 Code conventions......Page 21 About the cover illustration......Page 22 Ruby techniques......Page 24 Ruby under the microscope......Page 26 1.1.1 Optimizing developer cycles......Page 27 1.2 Ruby by example......Page 29 1.3 Facets of Ruby......Page 33 1.3.1 Duck typing......Page 35 1.3.3 DRY efficiency......Page 37 1.3.4 Functional programming......Page 38 1.4 Metaprogramming......Page 39 1.4.1 Getting started with metaprogramming......Page 40 1.4.2 Domain-specific languages......Page 44 1.4.3 Refining your metaprogramming......Page 45 1.5 Summary......Page 47 Testing Ruby......Page 48 2.1.1 Why bother with testing?......Page 49 2.1.2 Types of testing......Page 50 2.1.3 Testing workflow......Page 51 2.2 Test-driven development with Ruby......Page 52 2.3 Behavior-driven development with RSpec......Page 57 2.3.1 What is behavior-driven development?......Page 58 2.3.2 Testing with RSpec......Page 59 2.4.1 Setting up a baseline with fixture data......Page 64 2.4.2 Faking components with stubs......Page 67 2.4.3 Setting behavior expectations with mock objects......Page 69 2.5.1 Testing code coverage......Page 72 2.5.2 Testing quality with Heckle......Page 74 2.6 Summary......Page 76 Scripting with Ruby......Page 77 3.1 Scripting with Ruby......Page 78 3.2.1 Automating Outlook with Ruby......Page 82 3.2.2 Automating iCal with Ruby......Page 84 3.3 Using Rake......Page 87 3.3.1 Using tasks......Page 88 3.3.2 File tasks......Page 92 3.4 Summary......Page 96 Integration and communication......Page 98 4.1 Extending Rails......Page 100 4.1.1 Using helpers to expose Ruby libraries......Page 101 4.1.2 Metaprogramming away duplication......Page 105 4.1.3 Turning your code into reusable components......Page 107 4.2.1 Benchmarking a Rails application......Page 109 4.2.2 Profiling a Rails application......Page 111 4.3 Summary......Page 112 Web services......Page 113 5.1.1 HTTP GET......Page 114 5.1.2 HTTP POST......Page 116 5.1.3 Serving HTTP requests......Page 120 5.2.1 RESTful resources......Page 124 5.2.2 Serving XML, JSON, and Atom......Page 132 5.2.3 Using ActiveResource......Page 137 5.3.1 Implementing the service......Page 140 5.3.2 Invoking the service......Page 146 5.4 Summary......Page 148 Automating communication......Page 149 6.1.1 Automating sending email......Page 150 6.1.2 Receiving email......Page 153 6.1.3 Processing email......Page 155 6.2.1 Sending messages with AIM......Page 157 6.2.2 Automating Jabber......Page 159 6.3 Summary......Page 162 7.1 Open source messaging servers......Page 163 7.1.1 Using ActiveMQ......Page 164 7.1.2 Using reliable-msg......Page 168 7.2.1 Queuing messages......Page 172 7.2.2 Processing messages......Page 178 7.3 Summary......Page 182 Deployment......Page 183 8.1.1 Using RubyGems in your organization......Page 184 8.1.2 Setting up a RubyGems repository......Page 187 8.2.1 Simplifying deployment with Capistrano......Page 190 8.2.2 Tailing remote logs with Capistrano......Page 193 8.2.3 Deploying with Vlad the Deployer......Page 194 8.3.1 A typical God setup......Page 196 8.3.2 Notifications......Page 199 8.4 Summary......Page 201 Data and document techniques......Page 204 Database facilities and techniques......Page 206 9.1 Using plain-text files for data persistence......Page 207 9.2 Using the (g)dbm API......Page 212 9.3 The MySQL driver......Page 220 9.4 Using DBI......Page 227 9.5 Summary......Page 230 Structured documents......Page 231 10.1.1 Using XML to read configuration files......Page 232 10.1.2 Writing configuration data to disk......Page 235 10.2 Parsing HTML and XHTML with Hpricot......Page 237 10.2.1 Post-processing HTML output......Page 238 10.2.2 Reading broken HTML......Page 239 10.3 Writing configuration data: revisited......Page 243 10.4 Reading RSS feeds......Page 244 10.5 Creating your own feed......Page 248 10.6 Using YAML for data storage......Page 253 10.7 Summary......Page 254 Identity and authentication......Page 256 11.1 Securely storing a password......Page 257 11.1.1 Authenticating against LDAP......Page 260 11.2 Authenticating against Active Directory......Page 261 11.3 Adding authentication to your Rails application......Page 263 11.4 Semi-private, personalized feeds......Page 266 11.5 HTTP Basic Authentication......Page 269 11.6 Integrating OpenID into your application......Page 270 11.7 Summary......Page 275 Searching and indexing......Page 276 12.2 Standalone and high-performance searching......Page 277 12.2.1 Standalone indexing and search with Ferret......Page 278 12.2.2 Integrating with the Solr search engine......Page 282 12.2.3 Ultrafast indexing and searching with FTSearch......Page 286 12.2.4 Indexing and searching Rails data with Ferret and Solr......Page 290 12.2.5 Searching in Rails with Ultrasphinx......Page 293 12.3.1 Web search using a basic API (Yahoo!)......Page 296 12.3.2 Web search using a scraping technique (Google)......Page 298 12.4 Summary......Page 300 Document processing and reporting......Page 301 13.1 Processing CSV data......Page 302 13.2 Generating and emailing daily reports......Page 306 13.3 Comparing text reports to well-formed data......Page 312 13.4 Creating customized documents for printing......Page 318 13.5 Reporting against large datasets......Page 324 13.6 Summary......Page 329 A.1 Installing on Windows......Page 330 A.3 Installing on Linux......Page 331 A.4.1 Requiring RubyGems with RUBYOPT......Page 332 A.4.3 Accessing Ruby’s documentation......Page 333 B.1 Installing and using JRuby......Page 335 B.2 JRuby and Ruby side by side......Page 336 B.3 Mixing Ruby and Java......Page 337 B.5 Deploying web applications......Page 338 C.1 An overview of deployment options......Page 339 C.2 Reverse proxying......Page 340 C.3 Setting up Thin......Page 341 C.4 Setting up Apache load balancing......Page 344 C.5 Summary......Page 347 A......Page 348 C......Page 349 F......Page 350 H......Page 351 M......Page 352 O......Page 353 R......Page 354 S......Page 356 W......Page 357 Z......Page 358 Back Cover......Page 359

Like Ruby itself, Ruby in Practice will make you more productive. The book shows you practical techniques and strategies for small projects and large-scale environments. A cookbook-style reference, it gives you concrete examples of systems integration, messaging, web development, and databases, all in a clear problem/ solution format.

Part 1 of the book concentrates on the Ruby way of developing software, especially how to use Ruby as a tool for integration. Part 2 talks about REST, Web services, asynchronous messaging, and deployment. In the last part, you'll discover how to manage all forms of data—from manipulating structured documents to identity management. Along the way you'll learn how to use Ruby to build new applications, solve more problems with less effort, integrate with your existing applications, and give new life to your legacy systems.

"Like Ruby itself, Ruby in Practice will make you more productive. The book shows you practical techniques and strategies for small projects and large-scale environments. A cookbook-style reference, it gives you concrete examples of systems integration, messaging, web development, and databases, all in a clear problem/solution format." "Along the way you'll learn how to use Ruby to build new applications, solve more problems with less effort, integrate with your existing applications, and given new life to your legacy systems."--BOOK JACKET