Slightly off Rails

Slightly off Rails

I use Rails both professionally and personally for more than a decade now. Through the years, my usage of Rails also evolved together with new concepts and trends in web development. Here are some of the personal changes I am applying moving forwards on how I work with the framework.

Authentication using JWT

JWT.io
https://jwt.io/

JSON Web Tokens (JWT) provides a way to effectively secure API endpoints. As web applications move more to the front-end with the popularity of Javascript frameworks like React and Angular, JWT ensures that the connection between the front-end and the back-end remains secure. Continue Reading

Complain Last

Complain Last

I notice a disturbing pattern in society today: people seem to complain more and more about everything. This is readily apparent in social media, but I also notice it in real-life interactions as well. Instead of complaining immediately after a perceived slight (complaining first), is it possible for us to complain last?

Being a victim is easy. And us humans love easy things. It is easy to blame other people, to blame our environment and our past. It doesn’t seem to be natural for us to take ownership of what is happening with our lives. Continue Reading

Hello Rails 6!

Hello Rails 6!

Rails 6 was just released last month (August 2019). I have been using Rails professionally for more than a decade now, starting from Rails 2. Having worked on version 2 up to 5, this latest release is an exciting moment for me.

The full release notes are available here, but we will touch on some of the more notable changes and improvements that make Rails 6 a nice major version upgrade. Continue Reading

Grit is bad?

Grit is bad?

This is in response to an article from Aeon titled “Teaching ‘grit’ is bad for children, and bad for democracy“. After reading it, I asked myself, “Is grit really bad?”.

The article discussed the ideas behind the book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth. Citing several examples in the book, it discussed the darker side of grit. It says that grit results to people doing mean, stupid things or doing things that they should not have done. One particular example is from a football team’s chant: Continue Reading

Where did my money go?

Where did my money go?

You just received your regular paycheck. Finally, after all those weeks of hard work and not having enough sleep, you finally reaped the fruits of your labor. After a few days, you checked your bank account and most of your fresh money just disappeared. You ask yourself, “Where did my salary go?“.

This is a common occurrence nowadays. People sometimes feel like they don’t see any rewards from their work as most of their paycheck just seems to vanish every month. While we need to pay our dues and bills and our costs of living, do you honestly know where your salary is going? Continue Reading