Customer Reviews

Advanced Rails Recipes

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book hoping to get more insight into Rails modeling; to get an idea how certain less-than-common models would be implemented - things not covered in your average Rails book.

This book does not cover that at all - its main goal is discussing various ways to spruce one's application - by using functions that are not commonly seen, or using various third-party technologies with Rails, like obscure full-text searching tools, or Google Maps. I'm all for the former, and the book has some pretty clever ways of doing things you probably never thought it could do. I find things like Google Maps integration less than interesting, however, since I can easily pull that type of information from myriad of the Rails blogs already out there.

I went through this book cover-to-cover every few pages saying, 'Wow, I could have used/need that now!' If you're a RoR developer, you really should have this book on your shelf. I marked maybe 75% of the recipes as something I could use--worth it's weight in gold!

It's simple, really: If you're programming with Rails you should buy this book. Let's face it, one recipe that shows you how to do something is all that it takes for this book to pay for itself.

Some of the recipes are meant to be looked at on an as-needed basis, e.g. searching using Solr, Sphinx, or Ferret, and sending email via Gmail. But most of the book can be simply read as a way to learn more about Rails, e.g. customizing error messages, testing with RSpec and Shoulda, and caching strategies and tools.

I just got my copy yesterday and am having trouble putting it down! This book reads better than a novel/story if you have even a remote interest in Ruby on Rails. Mike Clark has done an outstanding job of putting together really interesting recipes contributed by Ruby on Rails enthusiasts from all over the world and an equally good job of quality assurance. I really hope that he works on producing a sequel as soon as possible.

This book is a must have resource for anyone developing Rails applications. Mike Clark, the Ruby community and the Pragmatic Programmers have once again delivered a set of recipies you'll find immediately usable. I'm already using four in an application I'm working on, all of which have helped me reduce code, increase readability and reduce maintenance.

The book is thoughtfully organized with each recipie being both well written and concise.

No matter what type of Rails application you are writing, or your level of experience, I think you'll find something in this book to make you say "Thats a great idea" and rush to the keyboard to try it out.

This is not only a phenomenal reference, but it is great for whetting your appetite when embarking into new Rails territory -- the book is full of ideas, that Rails devs of all levels can benefit from. Reading this book gave me an additional perspective on items I practice and those I am learning -- specifically enjoyed the parts on REST, CC payment processing, scalability, testing. Highly recommend.

I've been reading through this book since my copy arrived a week or so ago, and have already "baked" five of the recipes into my Rails applications. I expect that there will be many more solutions found as I progress through the book.

The recipes in the book are clear and concise, and have been easy to implement in my own applications. A broad range of topics are covered, so there will certainly be something for everyone. I've also found that while the recipes are directly applicable, a number of them also teach "patterns" that you can use in a variety of contexts, not just to achieve exactly what's described in the recipe.

Many recipes are related thematically, or build upon each other, making for great teaching. For example, there are four recipes covering how to search for text in fields stored in the database, from extremely simple (a nice way to implement LIKE searches across a couple fields) to three progressively more robust solutions using external full-text search engines (Ferret, Sphinx, and Solr). This sequence really illustrated the trade-offs you can make, in terms of complexity vs. flexibility and power, when implementing search, and was instrumental in my selection of the Sphinx engine and the Ultrasphinx plug-in for doing searches in my projects. Without the clear sequence of recipes, which illustrated implementations of similar searches, I would have had to spend hours on the Internet, searching tutorials and blog posts for details, and the results wouldn't have been as directly comparable. The time savings here alone justifies the cost of the book.

If I was going to write about a limitation of the book, it would have to be the length. At ~450 pages, it's not a slim volume. But with the range of material covered (reflecting the growing complexity of the Rails ecosystem), it's hard to cover any specific topic area in depth. Even with the nicely-covered search topic, I could envision even more recipes. (Advanced search and savable searches come to mind.)

But wanting more is just quibbling. It's not a reason to not buy this book, it's a reason to start asking for Volume 2!