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Video equipment rental cost is paid for by Peep Code.
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Today, I want to talk to you about Ruby best practice patterns.
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This is something that I have spent a lot of time thinking about in my work with Ruby. It's a concept that has helped me become a better programmer, not just in Ruby but in general.
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For those of you who are not familiar with the term, it’s actually quite simple: Ruby is Ruby. We all love Ruby.
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When we talk about best practices, there's a legal definition that pertains to doing work according to industry-recognized standards to prevent liability or negligence.
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However, what I'm discussing here is different. In the context of Ruby, I am referring to a set of techniques that experts recognize and use.
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One of the key words here is 'currently,' because best practices change over time. They represent our current understanding of the best ways to handle specific problems.
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A pattern is simply a decision that an expert makes repeatedly; it’s something that is repeatable.
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So, when we combine these ideas, Ruby best practice patterns refer to a series of techniques that Ruby experts currently use to make good decisions while writing code.
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If the decisions we make are repeatable, we can continue to make them because we often write similar code.
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So how do these patterns actually help us when writing code? Well, there are many aspects of optimization when coding.
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Performance optimization is often important, but I believe one of the most vital things to optimize for is the communicativeness of your code.
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This is where I encountered a sort of moral dilemma while preparing this presentation.
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If you're writing code that others can easily understand, that means they can work on it.
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Consequently, you might not need to work on it, which means they could potentially replace you easily. This raises an important question: how secure is your job really?
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Studies show a strong correlation between the maintainability of code and the expendability of its author.
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This leads me to propose a new paradigm called 'unfactoring' from patterns.
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So, what is unfactoring? It's actually quite simple. It involves taking well-designed software and making it completely unmaintainable through small, iterative changes.
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This might sound counterintuitive, but let’s explore this idea.
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Now that you're all curious about how to unfactor your code, here are some tips: look for code that is simple, communicative, and maintainable.
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Recognize the traits of good code and then work against them.
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Let's discuss what kind of code falls into the category of things to unfactor. Small methods are bad. Simple classes that don't perform more than one task are also undesirable.
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Additionally, DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) code is bad, especially when encapsulation is involved.
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Perhaps most importantly, the names of variables and methods should not be intention-revealing, as they allow for better maintainability.
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Looking through your projects, you may find code that you want to unfactor.
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The first step in this process is ensuring you have a comprehensive test suite.
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Having thoroughly tested code means that as you undergo the process of unfactoring, you can rely on your tests to guide you.
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After you have a solid test suite, you can start making small changes to your code.
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For instance, you can complicate your code by introducing unnecessary coupling or damping.
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This process can be amusing, but it can also lead to confusion.
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To illustrate this point, let’s analyze some case studies. Here is an example code snippet from Capistrano.
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This is a straightforward remote deploy command; very simple and easy to read. It effectively updates a repository cache and then copies it.
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This simplicity means that anyone can read this code, understand what it does and how to work on it.
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The first step in our unfactoring process is to complicate this code. Let's break out those methods and inline the code.
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By removing those clearly named methods, the code becomes harder to read and understand.
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Maintaining intention-revealing method names is important for comprehension, but we'll eliminate that.
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Now we have a well-factored method which is simple and easy to read, the goal is to reverse this.
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Next, we look at a code example from Webby, a lovely static site generation tool.
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This also demonstrates clear, maintainable methods that do straightforward tasks, but we can unfactor this too.
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By adding confusion and complexity, we obscure its clarity. Remember, our goal is to ensure our code is not intuitive.
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As it stands, it's easy to work with, but we can unfactor even the simplest code.
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Unfactored code represents a challenge that keeps you in your job longer.
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Now, to move on from our humor, what we really need to focus on is writing maintainable code.
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Writing maintainable code allows you to solve problems effectively.
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In our practice patterns, we learn to identify our shared decisions and refine them as we write again and again.
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The relations of decisions change as we tackle different problems.
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For instance, how do I give a variable a name that helps capture its intent?
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Practice regular naming conventions, as this can help in maintaining an overview of the program's goals while coding.
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Simplifying code through better understanding is vastly important; small changes in approach create cumulative improvement.
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Patterns help coders create methodologies that support better practices.
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Using composed methods is one such technique. The basic idea is to break a complex method into simpler, singular methods.
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When methods are smaller and well-controlled, they become much easier to read and test.
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It’s significantly more effective to break down methods for clear understanding and documentation.
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Let’s return to Capistrano as an example. An unfactored method awaits refactoring.
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By restructuring and allowing clarity over complexity, we create confidence in our deployments.
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Next, explore the execute around method; a technique essential to establishing control in our operations.
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Every time you need assurance that two operations happen in concert, this method helps with that.
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Moving onto Ruby's implementation, we can appreciate how it manages resource allocation.
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Writing good Ruby code means managing memory effectively.
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Equally vital are around filters in Ruby on Rails, which provide seamless operations before and after action calls.
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It’s important to ensure precautions are in place for unavoidable exceptions and errors.
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This quality is paramount, as is the performance of code.
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Each technical decision should be purposeful, grasping the balance of elements.
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Tools such as tap functions in Ruby, help encapsulate and clarify execution.
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By implementing these techniques consistently, you're ensuring greater control over result implementations.
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These manipulation fundamentals can help developers code with intent, avoiding ambiguity.
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Next, recognize state in method objects when dealing with repeated parameters; this method structure provides clarity.
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Such a class holds behavior and state through execution.
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The output generator class can consolidate repeated tasks, eliminating redundancy.
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By breaking down the code, we can ensure better comprehensibility and less overhead.
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Deliberate application of design patterns not only simplifies our coding but fosters better practices.
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Patterns bring structure to our methods, especially when scaling complexity.
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As you implement these learnings in your coding endeavors, remember their context.
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Performance and understanding should be fundamental in each action proposed.
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Applying these patterns to encourage simplicity promotes confidence in your code.
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It's vital to encourage readability and checkpointability in practice.
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Ultimately, striving for simplicity over complexity builds a responsive code environment.
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Clear variable naming is essential when creating complex structures.
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Be mindful of your decisions; they will define your outcome.
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To improve, engage with code structure and patterns to encourage maintainable practices.
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Always keep your expertise eager; embody the spirit of a learner, for it never concludes.
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How do we learn these patterns over time effectively? Start small, challenge your decisions.
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Growing toward intentional coding fosters better skills.
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Collaborate with others, understand their decisions as well as your own.
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Diving into open-source, facing and adapting different patterns, fosters rich learning.
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Experimenting with an understanding, adjust and practice your own methods.
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I encourage you all to embrace change and document your patterns.
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Patterns will surely align your goals with real-world applications.
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Join me in learning by each opportunity, make these your own.
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Thank you for your attention; I look forward to further discussions.
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If there are questions, let’s begin that dialogue.
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Yes, it seems many of us are familiar with Small Talk best practice patterns.
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Do you believe Ruby has unique patterns distinct to itself?
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Ruby is indeed idiomatic, and it displays certain creative patterns specific to its nature.
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This requires more emphasis on elegant coding within Ruby's framework.
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Ruby does this distinctively, promoting an individual idiom.
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My current writing includes Ruby best practice patterns expanded beyond previous texts.
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I hope to encourage awareness for advancing Ruby's syntax; it is worth exploring.
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Are you contemplating beta-testing that work?
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Not currently, but I would love to explore that in the future.
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It’s vital that we keep alignment between intent and implementation.
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For now, let's break for lunch, and thank everyone for participating!
