Ruby on Rails is a model-view framework written in the Ruby language. It’s widely recognized for its robust performance. However, certain challenges can affect the overall performance of your web application.
While we all have a deep appreciation for Rails, it’s essential to acknowledge that it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution for every application. It does have its limitations. I’ve gathered insights from our expert Ruby on Rails Developer team to mitigate potential issues. Together, we’ve identified common challenges that RoR Developers encounter and compiled the top tips and tricks that every aspiring Ruby on Rails Developer should know when starting their career. These invaluable insights will help you build robust RoR web applications.
Here are the top useful tips and tricks that will significantly enhance the quality and performance of your applications on various levels.
Understand the common differences between common ruby methods
It’s important to grasp the typical distinctions among common Ruby methods. While these differences may not have a profound impact on your application’s performance, they play a crucial role in ensuring clarity and consistency, especially as Rails continues to evolve. Many aspiring Ruby on Rails developers encounter confusion when first embarking on their journey with this technology.
Fortunately, Rails 5.1 has brought stability to various elements. Nevertheless, there remain some key distinctions you should be aware of to enhance the stability of your application.
Differences Between ‘Exists,’ ‘Present,’ and ‘Any’
When determining the presence of records, it’s essential to understand the distinctions between ‘exists,’ ‘present,’ and ‘any’ in Ruby on Rails.
If there’s at least one record, ‘present’ will return true, while ‘exists’ will involve a database query to check for the existence of any records.
However, it’s worth noting that ‘exists’ can be relatively slow in Rails versions 5.0 and above, as it may require the same query as ‘.exists’.
Optimizing Your Puma Configuration
By default, Puma operates on a single-worker process, but it can leverage threads to handle multiple requests when running in clustered mode with multiple workers. Load testing for Ruby on Rails apps varies based on their nature, and while starting with one worker per CPU core is a good initial approach, it may not be sustainable in the long run.
To achieve significant performance improvements, it’s advisable to use containers with 3 to 5 threads or employ three workers per server.
Utilize a CDN for Load Balancing
Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like CloudFront can help distribute the load effectively. CloudFront routes traffic to the nearest edge location in the AWS global network, optimizing your application’s performance. It’s likely that certain edge locations are closer to users than Application Load Balancers (ALB). Additionally, for a seamless user experience, ensure you customize CloudFront’s error pages to match your application’s style.
However, before implementing this, it’s essential to customize CloudFront’s error pages to align with your application’s design, as nobody wants their users to encounter an unappealing CloudFront interface.
Utilizing Redis for Fragment Caching
By default, Rails stores important data in the file cache. However, when operating a production site with multiple web servers, each having its individual cache store, it’s crucial to identify parts of your data that don’t change frequently. You can leverage these stable fragments to enhance the user experience.
To further optimize this process, you can employ the ‘hired’ gem to efficiently load cached content via Redis.”
Switching to Page for pagination
When it comes to pagination, other Ruby gems like ‘will_paginate’ and ‘kaminari’ tend to consume more memory compared to ‘pegy.’ Despite being relatively new to the scene, ‘pegy’ demonstrates significantly improved efficiency over other gems.
These are some essential tips and tricks to consider if you aim to boost the performance efficiency of your application. However, there are additional best practices that can greatly enhance the Ruby on Rails development process, which are too valuable to overlook. Here are some key attributes to keep in mind:
– Understand and utilize indexes, particularly for foreign keys in your database tables.
– Exercise caution with Rails migrations; consider adding ‘algorithm: concurrently’ to minimize unexpected downtimes during RoR application deployment.
– Opt for soft deletes rather than hard deletes, as hard deletes permanently remove data, making it unrecoverable.
– Implement HTTP caching for improved performance.
– Choose ‘fast JSON API serializer’ over the ‘active_model_serializers’ gem for faster JSON processing.
– When performing updates and inserts, avoid multiple loops with SQL statements. As a novice Ruby on Rails Developer, you can also explore ‘ActiveRecord-import,’ which serves a similar purpose.
These practices can significantly contribute to the efficiency and reliability of your Ruby on Rails applications.
Limit Your Gem Usage
Always remember that each gem you incorporate into your application can introduce dependencies on other gems, creating a chain of dependencies.
Using an excessive number of gems can bloat the size of your Rails application unnecessarily. This can potentially slow down application performance in a production environment and necessitate larger server memory configurations, resulting in increased operational costs.
Did you know that adding the ‘rails_admin’ gem can introduce 11 additional gems into your application? And those 11 gems may, in turn, have more dependencies.
So, exercise caution and thoroughly validate when adding gems to your application.
Monitor Your Logs
As most Ruby on Rails developers are aware, Rails provides default log files in both development and production environments. Unfortunately, many developers tend to overlook the information contained in these files. It’s crucial, however, to regularly inspect your log files during the development and testing phases of your application to track the flow of processes.
For instance, you may frequently encounter the N+1 query problem, and the only way to identify and address this issue is by carefully examining your log files.
Reviewing log files is a valuable method for pinpointing inefficiencies in your code.
Prioritize Automated Testing
It’s essential to have at least one high-level test case written for each action in your controller. This testing framework serves as a reliable means of ensuring the fundamental functionality of your application. Furthermore, it can uncover logic flaws within your code.
Utilize Background Tasks
Traditionally, we integrate third-party services into our applications using gems that make API calls. However, we can’t always guarantee that these services will operate smoothly. What if the service experiences significant delays or slowdowns?
To mitigate the risk of blocking calls, consider implementing them as background tasks rather than making direct, synchronous requests in your Rails application.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we’ve covered some fundamental concepts in this brief blog. However, as an experienced Ruby on Rails Developer, you’ll encounter other aspects that demand your attention.
Moreover, if you ever find yourself facing challenges and seeking a jumpstart, explore our Ruby on Rails Tech tutorials. These blogs offer insights into a range of topics, from the utility of various Ruby gems to crafting video chat applications and enhancing web apps with features like Markdown. They provide a valuable resource to help you embark on your journey with this extensive technology on a positive note!e
