This book is a tutorial and reference for the Ruby programming language. Use Ruby, and you'll write better code, be more productive, and enjoy programming more. These are bold claims, but we think that after reading this book you'll agree with them. And we have the experience to back up this belief.

Using the Ruby on Rails framework it is relatively easy to develop complex systems that are backed by an Oracle database, but this ease doesn't exempt the developer from the need to optimize the data model and the code that manipulates it. This article is for developers working with Ruby on Rails applications on an Oracle database, with special attention to those having a live application that needs to be optimized. You will learn which options tweak the parameters that handle the connection to the database for the Oracle adapter to boost the application performance, as well as get a useful plugin to track down the query execution plans for live applications. You'll build a simple set of models and look at various typical queries on them, exploring how you can improve their efficiency.

In this article you will learn some of the transferable concepts common to Oracle SQL, Linux operating system commands, and scripting. In particular, it will show how to use a "set oriented" way of thinking about problems that involve sets of data that need to be grouped, sorted, and filtered. These operations are familiar to those with a knowledge of SQL but are also often required when using Linux commands and or the Ruby programming language.

I will not an attempt to discuss mathematical set theory in any sort of rigorous disciplined fashion. Instead, all the fuzzy boundaries that exist in human language (and typical business problems) can be found throughout. Oracle SQL provides a much purer way of manipulating sets of data than scripting: each column contains fields of a defined type, and the logical data is handled independently of the underlying physical representation. Data returned from a query is not the same in any formal sense as the output of a shell command. The intent of what follows is pedagogical, to provide some analogies that are familiar to those who know SQL to leverage their problem solving abilities when required to work outside the database. It will provide a different perspective for approaching problems and encourage you to delve into new and unfamiliar areas.

Ruby on Rails, a popular Web development framework based on the Ruby programming language, makes it easy to access your database, but it does not always do so efficiently. Learn more about common performance problems with Rails and discover how you can fix them.

If you’ve been hesitant to switch to JRuby due to lack of familiarity with the JVM, Joe has some good news for you.

Over the last couple of decades we've seen a growing gap between database-oriented software developers and in-memory application software developers. This leads to many disputes about how to use database features such as SQL and stored procedures. In this article I look at the question of whether to place business logic in SQL queries or in-memory code, considering primarily performance and maintainability based on an example of a simple, but rich SQL query.

Dynamic scripting languages are enjoying a surge in popularity, because they provide powerful features and enable rapid development. Recent interest in the Ruby on Rails framework has brought Ruby into the forefront for the software development community. However, Ruby can be used for much more than Web development; it also provides database professionals with a powerful, elegant, and flexible scripting language. This article delves into some of Ruby's capabilities and how these features can be leveraged with Oracle Database.

This is the second article in a four-part series about using XForms, IBM® DB2® pureXML™, and Ruby together to more easily create Web applications. In this series you will develop a hypothetical application for managing patient information at a doctor's office. You will get a taste of the individual strengths of each technology, but you will also see how to integrate them together. In Part 2 of the series, you will begin to implement the application.

Learn a fast and easy way to implement and consume web services with Ruby on Rails' Active Resource. In a RESTful way, Rails helps you simplify the interoperability between your web applications. Examples walk you through the basic operations of Active Resource. You'll also explore the differences between REST and SOAP.

In this chapter from The Rails 4 Way, 3rd Edition, Obie Fernandez and Kevin Faustino wrap up their comprehensive coverage of Active Record by reviewing callbacks, single-table inheritance (STI), and polymorphic models. They also review a little bit of information about metaprogramming and Ruby domain-specific languages (DSLs) as they relate to Active Record.