Practical JRuby on Rails Web 2.0 Projects: Bringing Ruby on Rails to Java (Expert's Voice in Java) [Paperback]

Ola Bini (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1590598814 | ISBN-13: 978-1590598818 | Edition: 1

Discover how JRuby on Rails can be used to create web applications faster and more efficiently while still taking advantage of the vast power of the Java platform.

Ruby on Rails is proving itself to be one of the most efficient and powerful agile web development application frameworks available and has had a profound influence on the Java community. The JRuby project offers Java developers the best of two worlds: the flexibility of Ruby on Rails coupled with the enterprise-level power and maturity of the Java platform.

JRuby core developer Ola Bini covers everything you need to know to take full advantage of what JRuby has to offer, including:

• Full coverage on how to use JRuby to create web applications faster and more efficiently, while continuing to take advantage of the vast power of the Java platform
• Several real-world projects that illustrate the crucial specifics you need to know about the interaction of Java and Ruby
• Helpful, practical instruction and discussion on how web applications can be deployed using a variety of popular servers such as Apache and Mongrel

What you’ll learn

• Create a Rails application that uses JDBC to talk to legacy databases
• Use Java Management Extensions (JMX) to more effectively manage your application
• Deploy a Rails application within a Java Enterprise web container (Tomcat)
• Create interoperable applications involving EJBs and Rails-driven web services
• Securely integrate XML processing into your Ruby applications
• Build cutting-edge Web 2.0 web sites using Rails, Prototype, and script.aculo.us to provide a pleasing user experience
• Build four important projects: Store, CMS, Admin tool, and a web library project

Who this book is for

You'll get the most from this book if you have medium-to-advanced skills in Java web development, with a little Ruby experience, and are interested in taking Web development to the next level, both in terms of speed and features and in interoperability with existing infrastructure.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Getting Started
3. Introduction to Rails
4. Store Administration
5. A Database-Driven Shop
6. Java Integration
7. A Rails CMS
8. Content Rendering
9. A JRuby Enterprise Bean
10. An EJB-Backed Rails Application
11. Deployment
12. Web Services with JRuby
13. JRuby and Message-Oriented Systems
14. The LibLib Rails Application
15. Coda: Next Steps

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ola Bini is a longtime developer from Sweden who started at age 9 with Basic, on an Apple IIc; from there, he learned C, C++, Assembler, Lisp, Java, Ruby, and various other languages. He has no formal education except for a few Sun Java certifications. He has worked with system development at Karolinska Institutet since 2001 and runs his own consulting company, OLogix Consulting, in his spare time. He has contributed to various open-source projects and is one of the three core developers of the JRuby project.

Product Details

• Paperback: 330 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (September 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590598814
• ISBN-13: 978-1590598818
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,517,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for Java developers wanting to get started with JRuby November 15, 2007

By James Stewart

Format:Paperback

I am not in this book's target audience. Whereas the book is aimed at experienced java developers who are just getting started with rails and want to take advantage of JRuby, I've rarely touched Java but have lots of ruby and rails experience and am interested in JRuby mainly to see where I might be able to take advantage of java libraries, or ship my ruby apps into new contexts. In that respect, the book was helpful but there's probably space for a companion volume for people like me.

The book takes a measured pace, introducing Rails early on and then building in different components from the Java world as it works through four different projects. Use of JDBC within a rails app, calling ruby code from Java, deployment strategies, packaging a Rails app as a .jar that can be dropped into an application server, and making use of java for interfacing with SOAP web services are all covered.

Readers will probably need to spend some time experimenting with each feature to really get comfortable with them, but the book works well to get you started and point in the right direction. The introduction to Ruby and Rails is a case in point, as Ola dives right in to his examples after a brief lead-in. That may work well for experienced developers who will enjoy exploring the accompanying code, but it is worth being aware of.

It did feel like there were some missed opportunities later in the book, particularly in the final project, to introduce more of Rails' "RESTful" features since that example really invited that style of design, and it would have been interesting to have some discussion of the pros and cons of treating the libraries built to interface with external services as models within a rails app, making the interface more transparent.

I'm also not quite sure where the "Web 2.0 Projects" line in the title comes from. The final project interfaces with amazon web services, which I suppose might get thrown onto the "web 2.0" bandwagon, but don't go into the book expecting a series of stereotypical "web 2.0" projects. It's an introduction to JRuby on Rails for Java developers, whatever approach to the web they may be taking.

JRuby is a really exciting technology that promises to help developers take another step towards picking technology based on their projects, not just the platforms their organisations may have standardised on over the past decades. If you're a java developer wanting to learn how to make use of JRuby and looking for some help to get up and running, this book is likely to give you just that.

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book for review by the publisher.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Really good book. (Just a bit old) April 13, 2010

By Seedy O. Bensouda

Format:Paperback

It is a really good book. Just a bit old. If only the author would update it.

Still recommend it if you are looking to get a head state on jruby. You will run into a few surprises once you download and install the latest rails but nothing you cannot overcome am sure.