00:00:08.800
Welcome to what is considered the best PHP conference of the year. Today, we'll discuss how to migrate from Rails to PHP.
00:00:16.209
Yes, that's why I wrote Lotus. Okay, let me be serious for a moment. How's the weather in Italy? I hope it's nice.
00:00:25.599
Please give a big hand to our three speakers. We will have a discussion panel, and I expect everyone in the audience to have a lot of challenging questions.
00:00:34.780
The discussion will focus on the post-Rails world. So, you two have written frameworks that go beyond Rails. How did you come to that decision?
00:00:51.460
Okay, I'll give the non-stupid answer: it was necessary. I needed to write a book about it. Over the past ten years, I've been working on gems like Cells and Rails, but I have only made eighty dollars from donations in that time.
00:01:04.089
That's amazing! I actually had more money than that; I just don't know where it went.
00:01:10.030
But seriously, did you already buy yourself a boat?
00:01:16.680
It’s a very small one! I have a question: how do Volt and Trailblazer work together? That's a good question. I should really check out Trailblazer.
00:01:28.810
It seems you didn't catch my talk at the conference. I missed most of it because I had to leave.
00:01:37.989
I did listen to yours, though! From what I understand, Volt allows you to combine back-end and front-end logic in Ruby. But how do you handle business logic, like creating a comment?
00:01:54.700
When it comes to form submissions, it's primarily client-side, similar to how it's handled in Ember, where most code runs on the client and communicates with the database for validations and permissions.
00:02:05.980
This means validations need to run twice - once on the client and once on the server. The backend can dispatch operations based on these validations.
00:02:18.610
In that sense, there should be some binding mechanisms, but it’s likely nothing will replace Rails since it’s deeply rooted.
00:02:37.129
In terms of validation, they reside on the model itself. We do not have them abstracted away, but Volt’s models can handle persistence differently. You can instantiate a model and declare where it should persist.
00:02:50.720
I don’t think you could just use ActiveRecord with it. You still require some form of persistence.
00:03:06.360
Volt models come with callbacks alerting when their state changes, allowing you to create a persister class that can handle that.
00:03:17.880
I think I understand Volt a bit better now. I wonder how Trailblazer and Volt would look outside of Rails. You two are addressing various concepts, right?
00:03:29.890
Actually, that's why I'm quite frustrated that Luca isn't here, as we started to prototype the integration. It’s not special to run an operation in a Lotus action; Lotus actions are very much like Rails controllers.
00:03:41.210
You can dispatch to an operation and use Lotus views or Cells, as Cells are already decoupled from Rails. We started prototyping, but I haven't had the time to finish it as I'm busy with my book.
00:03:58.000
Also, please buy Jim's book and Ryan's upcoming book. We need to promote our work!
00:04:10.000
Treblazer is decoupled from Rails, and I mainly use Rails for marketing since a good portion of Ruby developers initially start with Rails.
00:04:31.890
Yes, it’s a challenge to create applications that can grow and evolve. Systems like Trailblazer and Volt try to address some of those issues.
00:04:44.310
As we explore what comes after Rails, we should reflect on what we think is wrong with Rails that led you to create other frameworks.
00:05:06.450
From my experience with Volt, I loved Rails initially, but with time I noticed many duplications in the code, especially between client-side and server-side logic. This duplication makes it harder to maintain.
00:05:25.040
I want to build apps where search engines can index all content, which means we need it to be available on both back-end and front-end.
00:05:49.500
Volt was actually my attempt to eliminate much of that duplication and maintain a clean architecture that enables me to work on both the front-end and back-end.
00:06:03.400
What about you, Jim? Do you agree or disagree? I believe that for every expert, there’s an equal and opposite expert. It’s important to consider the experiences with the frameworks you employ.
00:06:17.210
Frameworks save us time by helping us learn others' ways of working, but ultimately you'll find patterns that work best for you.
00:06:29.200
With frameworks such as Volt, Trailblazer, and Lotus, we’re discussing different ways of working and how people might outgrow those tools as they evolve.
00:06:43.210
While frameworks, such as Rails, do some things for us well, the costs of implementing bespoke tools could be lower compared to others. Modern development calls for flexibility.
00:06:59.140
It sounds like each framework tackles different aspects of application development, which is a great opportunity.
00:07:08.490
It’s important to design systems that can grow and adapt. I found using different notions of what’s wrong in Rails is what prompted the creation of other frameworks.
00:07:23.890
Let's revisit what aspects we believe were fundamentally wrong with Rails at its core, which prompted the evolution of newer frameworks.
00:07:38.299
I believe that one of the primary issues I encountered was a significant amount of repetition between back-end and front-end code in Rails.
00:07:52.250
In my experience, Rails has become increasingly complex, pushing me to find solutions elsewhere that better suit the fast-paced nature of modern web applications.
00:08:05.210
What do you think contributed to your own evolution, Jim? Error handling is a significant factor when navigating through frameworks and is critical in development.
00:08:17.220
Having frameworks that handle errors gracefully enables smoother development without systems breaking mid-task. What were your thoughts?
00:08:31.230
I think my experiences have informed how I approach frameworks, and it’s essential to consider not just how we use a system, but how we hope to grow with it.
00:08:45.530
I encourage our audience to contemplate how to structure your projects; it's all about considering ways that can allow for future improvements.
00:09:03.470
At the end of the day, we want to make our frameworks more accessible to everyone.
00:09:16.840
Should we employ frameworks based on our current capabilities? Or is learning multiple frameworks viable?
00:09:30.710
Each approach has its merits; it’s all a game of trade-offs in choosing what works best for specific applications.
00:09:44.150
In terms of application features, should we focus on core functionality? How far can we push our frameworks?
00:09:59.790
The bottom line is that opportunity for growth comes through experimentation and community feedback.
00:10:15.650
Ultimately, our discussions today have illuminated some exciting possibilities for development.
00:10:26.479
As we conclude, I urge you to carry forth the knowledge gained here in your own unique environments.
00:10:41.080
Thank you all very much for your time and engagement. Let's look forward to catching up during the party tonight!
