Crafting Rails Culture

by Shibata Hiroshi

The video titled "Crafting Rails Culture" features Shibata Hiroshi at the Rails Pacific 2014 event, where he discusses the significance of Ruby on Rails and the development environment surrounding it. The main theme centers on enhancing product development through the adoption of Ruby and Rails in various organizational practices.

Key points from the presentation include:
- Introduction of Ruby and Rails in Japan: Hiroshi introduces his background and contributions to the Ruby community in Japan, emphasizing his role in various Ruby meetups and projects.
- Benefits of Using Ruby: Three primary reasons for adopting Ruby are outlined: 1) Effective testing frameworks that outperform those in other languages. 2) A conducive environment for smooth development processes. 3) The availability of substantial resources in the Japanese language, facilitating learning and growth.
- Transitioning to Modern Architecture: Hiroshi discusses his company’s journey in upgrading legacy systems to modern technologies, highlighting the challenges and successes encountered during these transitions. He shares experiences with middleware changes and the advantages of upgrading the Ruby and Rails versions for better performance and security.
- OSS Culture: The importance of open source software contributions is emphasized as key for team development and project success. He mentions how the company’s structure allows for independent divisions to focus on their strategies while still collaborating effectively.
- Adopting Rails for Future Growth: Hiroshi underscores the need for knowledge sharing and continuous improvement within teams to avoid stagnation in development practices. He shares resources, such as recommended reading, to enhance understanding of Rails culture among developers.
- Long-term Vision: The talk ends with a call to action for adopting best practices in using Rails to ensure sustainable growth and quality in programming services.

The main takeaways focus on leveraging Ruby and Rails for enhancing productivity and fostering a collaborative development environment, while emphasizing the importance of upgrading technology, contributing to open source, and continuous learning and adaptation within teams.

00:00:13.000 Hello, everyone! Thank you for inviting me. My name is Shibata Hiroshi, and I came here with my wife from Taiwan. You can find me on Twitter with the username 'hsbt'. Please follow me there.

00:00:23.680 I came from Tokyo, which is a great city for Ruby enthusiasts. I am one of the organizers of RaGirls Japan and a member of the Asex RV group, which is the most active Meetup group in Japan. We discuss Ruby every Tuesday, so if you find yourself in Tokyo on a Tuesday, let me know! Mataan or I would be happy to pick you up for our Meetup.

00:00:35.680 I have spoken on many Ruby topics at conferences across the Asia-Pacific region. When I learned about this Rails conference last week, I was very excited and decided to attend.

00:00:40.119 I believe we need more communication among Ruby developers and users in the Pacific region. I work every day with Ruby, fixing things and improving various Ruby gems and applications.

00:00:52.200 My work involves maintaining gems such as AR, pyRuby, and Ruby Beard. I spend time not only writing Ruby code but also improving productivity and programming experiences with Ruby.

00:01:01.199 I've prepared web and build servers for Ruby developers and users. In this venue, Fito is translating my talk from English to Chinese. Thank you, Fito.

00:01:07.799 I wish to introduce you to Ruby documentation tools, such as our Ruby document searcher, which is a powerful documentation search engine. This tool aims to enhance the accessibility of Ruby documentation.

00:01:20.200 There are companies that support Ruby development, such as Hero and IIG, which provide the Ruby website. Additionally, they allow downloads of Ruby packages from their repositories.

00:01:30.520 Thanks to IIG and Fastory Global Sign, we have received support for SSL certificates, which are invaluable for our development projects. Ruby Shia is also supported by the Ruby Association and Microsoft.

00:01:45.720 The Ruby Association is focused on advancing the Ruby programming language. Microsoft provides a platform for creating Ruby binaries. Thank you to both organizations for their support.

00:01:56.920 We also use tools like Ruci, which continuously build Ruby code and monitor code quality with major revisions. Our systems leverage contributions from the Ruby Association and other groups to ensure that we maintain quality and performance.

00:02:15.640 Our current team has grown to around 300 people, and we work on a diverse array of services. Our system architecture has evolved over time, integrating various programming languages and frameworks, including PHP and Ruby on Rails.

00:02:35.680 For instance, our company moved to a more unified language for maintaining services and enhancing productivity. This shift allows us to scale technologies and improve productivity throughout our development processes.

00:02:56.720 I am here to discuss why we adopted Ruby on Rails. We chose Ruby for three primary reasons: testing capabilities, development environment convenience, and extensive resources available in Japanese.

00:03:15.520 Ruby has substantial libraries for unit testing, behavior-driven development (BDD), and end-to-end testing compared to other languages. You can test the behavior of classes using tools like TestUnit and Minitest in Ruby, and Rails also supports advanced testing features.

00:03:47.800 We utilize powerful testing frameworks to ensure application quality. Additionally, we have adopted a tool called 'Power Asset', which streamlines assertions in our tests, enhancing the clarity of verification processes.

00:04:10.240 We also employ a methodology that allows us to debug and investigate unexpected results during testing. This process ensures that when tests fail, we can quickly identify the causes and rectify them efficiently.

00:04:25.240 As a result, our entire team can easily collaborate on testing, and we create a culture of accountability regarding code quality. This has made a significant impact on our software development practices.

00:04:37.520 Now let's discuss the second reason we chose Ruby: setting up a development environment is convenient for everyone. We utilize tools like RVM for Ruby version management, making it easy to maintain and upgrade our Ruby installations.

00:04:50.320 The final reason we favor Ruby is the availability of many resources, including books and documentation in Japanese. This accessibility makes it easier for developers in Japan to learn and master Ruby.

00:05:04.080 Next, I want to elaborate on the reasons for using Rails. There are three main benefits: first, it allows us to enforce a modern architecture; second, it promotes a culture of open-source software; and third, it offers improved application performance.

00:05:27.680 Using Rails enables us to continuously upgrade our systems while modernizing them to stay relevant with advancements in technology. We consistently work on employing the latest versions of Ruby and Rails in our applications.

00:05:56.520 Many of our applications are built on older versions of Ruby and Rails, which may lack security fixes. Therefore, upgrading these services has immensely improved performance and security.

00:06:18.360 Additionally, we have migrated toward modern middleware solutions, improving our session management systems and performance stability with our application stack.

00:06:38.360 The migration process involved transitioning from outdated session management to more efficient ones, enhancing the overall performance of our services.

00:07:01.560 To finish our discussion on Rails advantages, it's essential to mention that we utilize various tools to ensure seamless development processes. Our teams actively collaborate to address any issues that arise in the gem ecosystem.

00:07:17.240 We focus on modernizing our architecture by continuously iterating and refining our systems as we develop applications using Rails. In turn, this fosters a culture of excellence in software development.

00:07:34.080 We aim to sustain our growth and adaptability by actively sharing knowledge among team members and keeping up with industry best practices. This is reflected in our daily work and our approach to professional development.

00:07:55.560 Communication and collaboration across teams have played a vital role in our success. We utilize modern tools to monitor our services and ensure quick responses to any issues.

00:08:16.320 Our future plan focuses on mastering Ruby on Rails to further increase productivity and ensure the sustainability of our services over the next ten years. We believe that this investment in our development practices will pay off significantly.

00:08:30.999 In conclusion, Ruby and Rails have revolutionized our approach to software development by providing us with powerful tools and resources. Thank you all for listening, and I hope you found this discussion informative!