How to Create Custom Flash Types in Rails

While reading the Rails codebase last week, I came across a useful method that lets you create custom flash types. In this post, we'll learn how to use it and also how it's implemented behind the scenes. In the process, we'll also learn a few metaprogramming tricks in Ruby.

Inline Routes in Rails

If you want to quickly try out some Rails feature or code in the browser without spinning up a whole new controller and a view, simply map the incoming request to a lambda Rack endpoint, i.e. a lambda that returns the status, headers, and response body.

Simplifying My Blogging Workflow with Ruby

This is the 100th post on this blog 🎉 I wanted to share how a simple Ruby script simplified my blogging workflow and dramatically increased the number of posts I write on my various blogs.

Did You Know that You Can Catch and Throw Stuff in Ruby?

Unlike traditional programming languages, Ruby's throw and catch are not used to raise and catch exceptions. Instead, they let you escape from deeply nested control flows. This post shows how `throw-catch` works in Ruby with practical, real-world examples, including their usage by the Warden gem.

Various Ways to Run Shell Commands in Ruby

Ruby provides multiple ways to conveniently execute external processes from the code. In this article, we'll learn all the ways you can run shell commands in Ruby and also consider various circumstances under which you'd choose one over the other.

Ruby's Switch Statement is More Flexible Than You Thought

Ruby's switch statement is very versatile and flexible, especially due to the dynamic nature of Ruby. In this post, we'll see how you can use it in various ways. We'll also learn why it works the way it works. Hint: it uses the `===` operator (method) under the hood.

Can You Spot the Error?

I recently encountered this error and in the process of debugging, learned some useful stuff about `self` and how assignment works in Ruby. See if you can figure it out yourself. Can you spot the error in this simple Ruby snippet?

The Definitive Guide to Rack for Rails Developers

The word Rack actually refers to two things: a protocol and a gem. This article explains pretty much everything you need to know about Rack as a Rails developer. We will start by understanding the problem Rack solves and move to more advanced concepts like middleware and the Rack DSL.

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Sessions in Rails: Everything You Need to Know

In this post, we’ll learn about Rails sessions, including what is a session, why we need them, and why they're so important. I’ll also take you behind the scenes and show you how Rails implements sessions and where the `session` method actually comes from. Hint: it’s not in the Rails codebase.