Architecture Over Framework: Rethink Your App Structure

With the kind of maturity Rails has gained over the past few years, saying our business logic resides in app/ makes us look like we are from 2009. However, that is also a truth we are bound to, as Rails exhibits a very rigid app structure. Every app has models, views, concerns, mailers etc. However, they don't have to always be in app/views, they could be in src/authentication/templates for what it's worth.

In this talk, we'll take a typical Rails app and completely mess it up by restructuring the content. We'll fragment it in a way that is relevant to the application context. No more app/models and app/controllers and such. What we will get as a result, is a big screaming pile of fail!

But, this is a start of a new red-green-refactor cycle. We will try to make it work by changing one thing at a time, looking at one error at a time. And in the end we'll make it all work, or give up hopelessly, but with a far more understanding of the magic happening under the hood.

Transcript

1. Architecture Over Framework Rethink Your App Structure
2. Tweet@_swanand GitHub@swanandp StackOverflow@18678 Build { Simplero } swanand@pagnis.in Ruby, Clojure, Lisp, Rails, Android, Emacs, TextMate, RubyMine, Minitest, MySQL, Zsh, Curl, Gmail, Hadoop, Mavericks, Solarized, Retina-MBP, Nexus 5 Oscar Wilde, Robert Jordan, J K Rowling, Quentin Tarantino, Chris Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlize Theron, Metallica, Dream Theatre, Pink Floyd
3. ! if magic_code puts "I am in IF block" else puts "In ELSE block I am" end ! => I am in IF block => In ELSE block I am how?
4. ! if fork puts "I am in IF block" else puts "In ELSE block I am" end ! => I am in IF block => In ELSE block I am how?
5. Looking Ahead Why do this ? Case Study: Discourse
6. Looking Ahead Why do this ? Case Study: Discourse
7. Why do this ? Clear Intent Better Understanding
8. Why do this ? Clear Intent Better Understanding
9. Architecture Elements of a system and their relationship with each other
10. Architecture Designed such that intent is apparent and palpable
11. Framework An abstraction you build upon, to provide app specific software
12. This picture screams RAILS!
13. –Robert Martin “This is good for DHH; but not So good for you.” http://www.confreaks.com/videos/759-rubymidwest2011-keynote-architecture-the-lost-years
14. Why do this ? Clear Intent Better Understanding
15. Debugging bad code: Frustration
16. Debugging good code: Enlightenment
17. Debugging good code: Learning
18. Looking Ahead Why do this? Case Study: Discourse
21. That’s not a lot, but if you are new to the project, then …
22. http://media0.giphy.com/media/KE9cblgPK6EPS/200_s.gif
23. Before
24. After
27. File lookups are fixed by managing load path
28. Const lookups are fixed by managing auto-load path
30. config/application.rb
31. $ rails console
32. $ rails console
33. http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maeu8e5wuj1rxmai6o1_500.gif
35. First real limitation: namespace based look ups
36. application_controller
38. Second limitation: unfriendly helper customisation
39. Second limitation: unfriendly <foo> customisation
40. action_controller/helpers
41. rails/railtie
42. config/helper_railtie
44. Looking Back File structure (Load Path) Const lookups (Auto Loads) View Paths (Namespacing) Helper Paths (Railties)
45. Rearrange tests Rearrange assets Custom Rake tasks Possibilities
46. Muddle with Metal Build your Rackware Examine pre-forking Possibilities
47. Thank you!
48. Questions?