Rails is just an API

#1

Post by maccman » Wed, Mar 21, 2012, 6:52 PM UTC

Rails is just an API
blog.alexmaccaw.com

Re: Rails is just an API

#2

Post by cicloid » Wed, Mar 21, 2012, 7:07 PM UTC

The cherry on top is just coffescript and the new sourcemaps functionality coming from browsers.

Even if you prefer vanilla javascript, still is an awesome combo.

Re: Rails is just an API

#3

Post by phamilton » Wed, Mar 21, 2012, 7:09 PM UTC

One thing I find interesting is the balance of the Rails model and the Backbone model. On a new project, I generally have fat Rails models and skinny Backbone models. On legacy projects, I put most of the logic into Backbone (since I'd rather not tamper with a legacy backend) making liberal use of parse() and toJSON() in order to get the model the way I want to use it.

Rails/Backbone will work well for the time being but I wonder which way the balance will swing? Will we have fat Rails models or fat Backbone models? If it is a fat Backbone model, then maybe direct database queries is the solution, cutting out Rails entirely. CouchDB and others already support this and could make it even simpler in the future.

Re: Rails is just an API

#4

Post by clemesha » Wed, Mar 21, 2012, 7:13 PM UTC

This is how I feel about Flask. I've been using it with Backbone.js and they make a great combo: Flask API serving JSON, and the rest of the logic on the client.

Re: Rails is just an API

#5

Post by crusso » Wed, Mar 21, 2012, 7:16 PM UTC

Nice article... very timely and fits in with my perception of where I'm headed with my own Rails development.

I usually just go with wherever the Rails team is taking the framework. For some legacy sites, I may stick with wherever they're headed.

For new projects, I really view Rails as just the web api that feeds my Backbone framework.

Re: Rails is just an API

#6

Post by lrobb » Wed, Mar 21, 2012, 7:19 PM UTC

The caveats in moving state to the client is that it's a huge perceptual shift for developers, with a steep learning curve.

From my perspective we're coming full circle back to client/server desktop apps... only instead of C++, we're doing it with js inside a browser container... I've done ActiveX controls and Flash components... It's not that much of a stretch.

Re: Rails is just an API

#7

Post by eddie_the_head » Wed, Mar 21, 2012, 7:24 PM UTC

clemesha wrote: post #4

This is how I feel about Flask. I've been using it with Backbone.js and they make a great combo: Flask API serving JSON, and the rest of the logic on the client.

You might find these demoes of Flask with pjax interesting then:

http://flaskpjax.herokuapp.com/automobiles

https://bitbucket.org/a2c/pjax_flask/overview

Re: Rails is just an API

#8

Post by thetroll » Wed, Mar 21, 2012, 7:32 PM UTC

we've adapted this kind of style 3 years ago on one project and have worked quite well for us. and i think now it's going to be better with the likes of https://github.com/nesquena/rabl and https://github.com/rails/jbuilder on the view layer

Re: Rails is just an API

#9

Post by there » Wed, Mar 21, 2012, 7:37 PM UTC

It took me a bit to realize this wasn't Dustin Curtis' website; is this a theme or what?

Re: Rails is just an API

#10

Post by nirvdrum » Wed, Mar 21, 2012, 7:38 PM UTC

lrobb wrote: post #6

The caveats in moving state to the client is that it's a huge perceptual shift for developers, with a steep learning curve. From my perspective we're coming full circle back to client/server desktop apps... only instead of C++, we're doing it with js inside a browser container... I've done ActiveX controls and Flash components... It's not that much of a stretch.

We're also taxing browsers more, while simultaneously trying to run on less-powered devices. It almost defeats the point of a thin client.