Tools to Simplify ROR Development

When it comes to a web development project, developers always look for cutting edge technologies and tools for implementation. There are many Ruby on rails IDEs, but among all ruby on rails IDE is taking the development world by storm. It is one of the most popular solutions. Ruby on Rails is an open-source programming language and provides ease in writing and reading through available elegant syntax. Simplicity and productivity is a significant consideration. It can be a grueling task for developers to develop a large rails application and keeping the code clean and organized. To make the job of developers easy, there are countless tools available. These tools make code clean and make the entire process less time consuming and tedious.

We have categorized tools into different parts to help you keep your codes maintainable, secure, and optimized. This will help you create a fantastic application with its easy to use features and effortless work.

(A) IDE’S – Integrated development environment

What is IDE and types of IDE tools for ruby on rails?

It is a software application that is used for programming. IDE offers comprehensive facilities to developers for software development. It usually comes in three parts.

• Source code editor
• Build automation tool
• debugger

• Source code editor –

It offers an editor that can be used to write codes from programs.

• Build automation tool –

It complies with the codes written by the programmer.

• Debugger-

This stage helps in testing and debugging programs and checks errors in the code.

Some best IDE tools for ruby on rails

1. Jet Brains Ruby Mine

2. Sublime text 3

3. Visual studio codes

4. Aptana studio

5. Emacs

6. Cloud 9

7. Atom

8. Net beans

(B) ROR Development process and styles

1. Database Design and Architecture

In this stage, a robust and scalable architecture of the app is created, keeping future requirements in mind. Ruby on rails works on MVC pattern. This phase also covers database design while starting the development process. Tools used- MS Visio, DB design tools.

2. Designing your app and process

This process highlights how exactly the app will look, and the output of the process is decided like there will be wireframes, PSD, CSS/HTML, and with compliant W3C, and it is tested on all browsers. Apps design philosophy, usability guidelines are taken into consideration. Tools required – photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, MS Visio

3. ROR design patterns

Ruby on rails design pattern works on basic MVC design pattern and stays the same in all development. But, this can be modified, and here we have explained the modified pattern.

• Service objects

• Value objects

• Form objects

• Query objects

• View objects

• Policy objects

• decorators

(C) Developing your app –

• API based app/ web app development

• what are gems? And why is it useful?

The gem is a ready, reusable solution available to solve the problems. It keeps ruby stable and thriving. Also, gems are free to use by ruby programmers. Gems help in faster ruby on rails programming and even helps developers to no write codes from scratch in certain parts. Shorter the development time, lower the cost.

(D) Debugging tools-

While writing codes, errors do occur. You can get unpleasant results if your typo or gem does not integrate properly. There are few debugging tools to eliminate these errors.

Some debugging tools are-

• Pry-byebug

• Pry console

• Better errors

• Letter opener

• binding_of_caller

(E) CODE ANALYSIS (optimization and cleanup tools)

It is quite a challenge to keep the code clean and organized in large rails application. There are gems to make the task easier. Manual code refactoring is a tedious and time-consuming task. So there is a third party tool to save you from such errors.

Let’s take a look at gems who helps keep code maintainable, secure, and optimized.

• Robocop

• Deadweight

• Rails best practices

• Traceroute

• Rubycritic

(F) Performance and efficiency optimization-

When it comes to project success, application speed and performance is very important. As every user expects the app to load quickly, and it is really important to meet the expectations. Here we have listed a few gems that help in finding and solving errors and measures and improves app and app development performance.

• Bullet
• Brakeman
• Rack mini profile
• Performance metrics

(G) Testing tools

Several awesome ruby gems ease the pain of writing automated tests. There are several tools, or we can say ruby gems, which we use in our projects, and they are RSpec, cucumber, database_cleaner, factory_girl, minitest, test-unit, etc.

RSpec- It is a testing framework mainly used in BDD and TDD environments. Its syntax is descriptive and neat, and the major focus is on writing in human language so it can be easily understood. If you are looking to test the behavior of a model or a library, then RSpec is an effective tool for testing.

Wrapping up-

Above are the few tools that a developer can use to simplify ruby on rails development. Well, using ruby gems is standard practice while working with ruby on rails applications. Whether it is file uploads, authentication, authorization, or testing, these gems solve common problems related to rails development. Ruby is more like frozen food, though they are ready to go, but you can’t eat it straight out of the box. We have highlighted the tools that GKMIT expert developers are using. In case if you have more suggestions and better ideas, we would love to hear from you.