From: Chad Perrin <code@...>
Date: 2012-01-25T05:20:51+09:00
Subject: Re: Web Application from Scratch - like PHP

On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 03:35:35PM +0900, Gaurav C. wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I come from a PHP background. I've created many web apps in PHP, using
> simple self-made ORM classes and also other popular open-source
> frameworks.
> 
> I intend to learn Ruby thoroughly before jumping to any Ruby web
> framework. How do I create simple web applications using plain Ruby (and
> a server like WEBrick of course)? I learnt PHP by creating simple
> classes that could read stuff from and add to the database. Once I was
> through with this, I started learning other major frameworks in PHP
> (like Yii). I think it will be best to learn Ruby the same way, once I
> know the basic concepts of it.
> 
> How do I go about this? How can I create a very simple web app in Ruby,
> with a few classes that can talk to the db?

You might want to look at Ruby's CGI library, and possibly do some
reading about eruby (hint: eruby is more of a concept than a singular
thing, with multiple implementations).  CGI provides a lot of markup
related functionality (generating DTDs and markup, handling POST
requests, et cetera), while eruby provides templating similar in many
ways to what is the norm for PHP web development.

For database connectivity without using big frameworks like Rails (or
even small frameworks like Sinatra, which might be a good stepping stone
between the Ruby basics and Rails as well as being useful in its own
right as a good framework), look into things like the pg (aka ruby-pg),
sqlite, and sequel libraries.

This is, of course, far from comprehensive.  It's just suggestions for
where to start looking.  Armed with some useful terms like these, Google
can be your friend in making early progress.  Good luck.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]