Noel Rappin Writes Here

Programming Ruby 3.3

The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide

Ruby is one of the most important programming languages in use for web development. It powers the Rails framework, which is the backing of some of the most important sites on the web. The Pickaxe Book, named for the tool on the cover, is the definitive reference on Ruby, a highly-regarded, fully object-oriented programming language. This updated edition is a comprehensive reference on the language itself, with a tutorial on the most important features of Ruby—including pattern matching and Ractors—and describes the language through Ruby 3.3.

Modern Front-End Development for Rails, Second Edition

Hotwire, Stimulus, Turbo, and React

Improve the user experience for your Rails app with rich, engaging client-side interactions. Learn to use the Rails 7 tools and simplify the complex JavaScript ecosystem. It’s easier than ever to build user interactions with Hotwire, Turbo, and Stimulus. You can add great front-end flair without much extra complication. Use React to build a more complex set of client-side features. Structure your code for different levels of client-side needs with these powerful options. Add to your toolkit today!

Modern CSS with Tailwind, Second Edition

Flexible Styling without the Fuss

Tailwind CSS is an exciting new CSS framework that allows you to design your site by composing simple utility classes to create complex effects. With Tailwind, you can style your text, move your items on the page, design complex page layouts, and adapt your design for devices from a phone to a wide-screen monitor. This new edition of the book covers Tailwind 3.0, which changes the way Tailwind generates its CSS and has a large number of new features powered by the new system.

Rails 5 Test Prescriptions

Build a Healthy Codebase

Does your Rails code suffer from bloat, brittleness, or inaccuracy? Cure these problems with the regular application of test-driven development. You’ll use Rails 5.1, Minitest 5, and RSpec 3.7, as well as popular testing libraries such as factory_bot and Cucumber. Updates include Rails 5.1 system tests and Webpack integration. Do what the doctor ordered to make your applications feel all better. Side effects may include better code, fewer bugs, and happier developers.

Better Know A Ruby Thing: On The Use of Private Methods

June 22, 2024

Last time around, we got to Better Know access control in Ruby, and I started to write my opinion on the use of private methods in Ruby, but my position/argument/rant had gotten out of hand and so I spun it off into its own post. This is that post. It’s long enough as it is, let’s just get to it, we’ll skip the internal ad. What I think about Private Methods in Ruby In Ruby, a method without side effects should be public.

Better Know A Ruby Thing: Methods and Access Control (part 1)

May 29, 2024

I’ll be honest, I picked this topic out of the half-dozen or so Better Know A Ruby Things on my to-do list strictly because it’s maybe the only Ruby take that I genuinely argue with people about. To be even more honest, it got away from me a bit as I started writing the argument: which is why I tend to avoid declaring methods private. I know these newsletters have tended toward long, but 3100+ words was a bit much even for me, so I’ve split it in half.

Conway’s Law

April 15, 2024

If your organization has coders continually getting in each other’s way, or if you make a change to part of your code base and don’t know who needs to review it, or if you have code that nobody maintains because everybody owns it… you may be violating Conway’s Law. Hi – I thought I’d do something a little different this time. We’ll be back to more Better Know Ruby things next time, but I’ve been sitting on this essay for a while and wanted it to get out.

The Big Book Post for 2023

April 1, 2024

This is late even by my absurd standards for having this post be late. I have a good excuse – I got on to TikTok. And not that I wasted a bunch of time on TikTok, but that I started to see a lot of BookTok videos, where a lot of very earnest people would talk about their 5-star-books for November or whatever. And I thought, “Do I sound like that?

Mastodon

Teaching Testing and Design

With Avdi Grimm, Betsy Haibel and Penelope Phippen

Episode 72, October 2019

Teaching and Learning

With Sandi Metz

Episode 69, August 2019

Pragmatic Programmer at 20

With Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas

Episode 68, August 2019