The History of Rails in 10 Blog Posts

Calling nostalgic veterans and newbies alike! We’re traveling through time on a tour of some of the most influential blog posts to hit the Rails community over the past two decades. With stops at iconic locations including in testing, service objects, and JavaScript, you won't want to miss it! Bring your chrono-passport and see you in 2003!

Originally given at RailsConf Philadelphia in 2025

Transcript

1. 10 Impactful Blog posts that shaped the Rails community
2. All aboard!
4. I'm your Tour guide Joël Quenneville
7. Ooops!
8. Next exit isn't until ...
9. 1600s
10. Early Scientists Robert Boyle Robert Hooke Isaac Newton
11. Share ideas and experiments by Writing letters
12. Invisible College
13. Republic of Letters
15. Jumping Forward to Early 2000s
21. Pattern Plaza (North)
23. 2006 Fat Model, Skinny Controller Jamis Buck
24. Context Rails has been out for 3 years Joël is just getting started with web dev Common dev is single file PHP scripts + FileZilla People are starting to build serious apps
25. Big Question
26. As applictions grow, where should logic go?
27. Most logic goes in the Model layer BIG IDEA
28. Jamis suggests In the model Not in the controller Not in the view (like old-school PHP)
29. Impact "fat models" and "skinny controllers" become terms Helped define what MVC means in the context of Rails Opened the conversation on where logic should go Emphasized the model layer is where the interesting parts of your app should be
31. 2008 Waiting for a Factory Girl Joe Ferris
32. Rails Community is big on Testing
33. Born out of Frustration about Mystery Guests
34. Tests are more readable when setup is inline BIG IDEA
35. Gem most of you have in your Gemfiles: FActory Girl
36. Community approach to testing
37. Follow Up Debates Return to fixtures RSpec let/before Shared context and examples
38. Shoutout Thoughtbot Blog
40. 2012 7 Patterns to refactor Fat ActiveRecord models Bryan Helmkamp
41. There are patterns beyond Active Record BIG IDEA
42. Value Object class Rating include Comparable def initialize(letter) @letter = letter end def <=>(other) to_s <=> other.to_s end def better_than?(other) self > other end # to_s, hash, eql?, and self.from_cost end
43. Other Value objects Date ActiveSupport Duration URI
44. Form Object class Signup # [elided] including ActiveModel modules and defining attributes def save! if valid? persist! true else false end end def persist! @company = Company.create!(company_name) @user = @company.users.create!(name: name, email: email) end end
45. Service Object class UserAuthenticator def initialize(user) @user = user end def authenticate(unencrypted_password) return false unless @user if Bcrypt::Password.new(@user.password_digest) == unencrypted_password @user else false end end end
46. Conditions to Consider a Service Object The action is complex (e.g. closing books at the end of accounting period) The action reaches across multiple models The action is not a core concern of the underlying model There are multiple ways of doing the action (strategies)
47. Talked about Everywhere
48. These patterns are in our apps
49. impact Catalyzed Conversations Patterns Hexagonal Rails Object-Oriented Development Domain Driven Design
52. Philosophy Row
54. 2012 Rails is Omakase DHH
55. Context Frontend frameworks starting with Backbone.js age of jQuery JS is fast now (V8)
56. Rails made some bold choices like CoffeeScript, jQuery, and the asset pipeline
57. Rails should have it's own vision of the web DHH ARGUES
58. Use Rails Defaults for Best Results BIG IDEA
59. Omakase enters Vocabulary
61. 2016 The Wrong Abstraction Sandi Metz
62. Renewed interest in OO and abstraction
64. Sandi is one of the Best Rails speakers!
65. Duplication is cheaper than the wrong abstraction BIG IDEA
66. Still hear the phrase
67. Rails Community balances idealism and pragmatic concerns
70. Ops Alley
72. 2011 12 Factor App Adam Wiggins
73. Many do custom setups on own hardware Cloud is becoming mainstream
74. Came out of work at Heroku
75. Some of the factors Dev/prod parity Explicit dependencies ENV config
76. Apps should be Environment-independent BIG IDEA
77. Most impactful article you've never read
79. 2017 Configuring Puma For Maximum Efficiency Nate Berkopec
80. Tune processes/Threads for more performance BIG IDEA
83. Pattern Plaza (South)
85. 2015 Monoliths First Martin Fowler
86. Microservices popular based on work at Netflix
87. Monoliths should be your default starting Architecture BIG IDEA
88. Becomes Accepted Best Practice monolith-first
89. Martin has Questioning Tone!
91. 2023 Beware of SErvice Objects in Rails Jason Swett
92. Builds on "7 Patterns"
93. Becomes The pattern
94. Service Objects Give up a lot of the power of OOP BIG IDEA
97. JavaScript Junction
99. 2024 Should you use Hotwire or a Frontend Framework? Radan Skoric
100. Hotwire is best to manage Shared State
101. FE Framework is best for Visual interactions
102. Html over the wire is the best balance between interactivity and effort BIG IDEA
105. Railsland Station
107. 10 Big Ideas from the Rails community There are patterns beyond ActiveRecord Use Rails defaults for best results Duplication is cheaper than the wrong abstraction Apps should be environment-independent Tune processes/threads for better performance Monoliths should be your default starting architecture Service objects give up the benefits of the OO paradigm HTML over the wire is the best balance between interactivity and effort Most logic goes in the model layer Tests are more readable when setup is inline
108. What is a theme we see over and Over?
109. Rails as a One-person Framework BIG IDEA
110. Rails Community is Thoughtful and Fun-Loving
111. More Buildings more than just the ones on my tour
113. Write your own!
114. Joël Quennville your tour guide thoughtbot Principal Developer & blog author Co-host Bike Shed podcast bikeshed.fm @joelquen
115. List of Blog posts weblog.jamisbuck.org/2006/10/18/skinny-controller-fat-model thoughtbot.com/blog/waiting-for-a-factory-bot codeclimate.com/blog/7-ways-to-decompose-fat-activerecord-models dhh.dk/2012/rails-is-omakase.html sandimetz.com/blog/2016/1/20/the-wrong-abstraction 12factor.net speedshop.co/2017/10/12/appserver.html martinfowler.com/bliki/MonolithFirst.html codewithjason.com/rails-service-objects radanskoric.com/articles/hotwire-or-frontend-framework 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10