Recently I decided to learn rails… I’m taking notes about what I learn and I’ve decided to post them here. I’m posting my notes in hopes that I will be helping others that might be learning rails… This first entry is an abstract look at developing an application, which is just one piece of building any web application, whether your speaking in terms of rails, php, asp, asp.net etc… I’ll be adding more notes as I continue to learn.

Application Blueprint

• before you start developing any web application, it is smart to sit down and draw up a blueprint, to actually sit down with a pen and paper and draw out what you think the application will look like. This does two things for you as the developer of a product:
  1. you have an idea about what you expect to have at the end
  2. it gives you a road map to follow along the development process.
• with a blueprint to work from you can complete your application piece by piece instead of trying to build it all at once.

An example of what a blueprint might look like for a presentation layer of a music store application:

click thumbnail to enlarge

• in addition to blueprinting your presentation layer, you’ll also want to blueprint your database.
• the database plays a critical role in the application because it is ultimately the foundation of everything you’ll do with/in your application.

An example of what a blueprint might look like for a database of a music store application:

click thumbnail to enlarge

Development from the MVC (model/view/controller) architecture standpoint:

• it’s a wise decision to develop your application in a specific direction:
  • Database -> Model -> Controller -> View