Rails 2.0 - I'm outdated...

For my new project, I decided to use an existing application that I wrote as a base for a new application. Of course, in undertaking this task I figured I had better get the "latest and greatest" for Rails.

OMG...this made me realize how OUT OF DATE I am! Mind you, I wrote my application over two years ago for our "other biz" - and I wrote it at a time when Rails was still in Beta. Mongrel - ahhh...I'm not even sure it was thought of, much yet conceived. I have since made sure that my "old app" worked with probably up to 1.2 Rails. So imagine my shock when I upgraded to Rails 2.0! Ughhh... I've fallen behind even while using the cutting edge stuff. :-)

Major diff's: RESTful! But even down to the smaller things, like Pagination. Oh, the rails boys always complained about pagination, but damn - they took it out! LOL... that's okay - we now have WillPaginate! Hah...it's still a change and something that took me a little research. Scaffolding (another thing the critics of rails have always bitched about) is different. Why doesn't someone understand the value of QUICKLY creating a skeleton for CRUD operations? Ohhh...the pundits - damn them. Scaffolding is different for sure - and I'm not happy about that! ;-) If I want to quickly have some views created then let me do it!!! Okay? It's just a change, that's all.

The whole REST stuff - that's a little more work! Work being education. Things change - that's life. Decision time: Do I stay the course on Rails 2.0 or stay on my old stuff that works knowing that my time is severely limited. Dang... of course, I'll go Rails 2.0 - I just hope this is a wise decision! I had a lot of repeated code for simple stuff in my original project which is a violation of the Rails principle - DRY (don't repeat yourself). BTW - this could be my own fault and not the fault of Rails - when you learn something quickly you don't always learn the RIGHT way to do it. Search, Pagination, etc... stuck in the controllers. This is different now. I just hope that I don't run into a ton of app changes as I start to port to 2.0 for a new purpose.

BTW...I, like many others, LOVE (absolutely) Ruby - and thus ROR. Years ago, I went down this path when searching for a canned, open source solution to my needs. I stumbled upon Rails and have never looked back. I wrote my own solution in less time than it took me to evaluate and modify existing solutions to my situation. I remain commited to the ROR cause. DHH (if you don't know who that is then you shouldn't read this anyway) is certainly, and self-proclaimed, opinionated. A bit of an ass indeed (as am I). However, he's created something that I think leads to faster web development than any tool I have ever seen - and it's a great contribution to the Open Source Community - all the better, which even removes the ass-itch! ;-) Thanks DHH! 2.0 it is. You are a brilliant architect and I'm grateful for the robust and growing Rails community.

-M