XML support in Grape API takes two steps: register the additional content_type so endpoints accept and return application/xml, then change the root element name of the XML output. Complete Ruby examples built around a products endpoint you can adapt to your API.
Running shell commands from Ruby: system, backticks, exec, the IO class, spawn, and Open3.popen3 compared with pros and cons, from quick one-liners to capturing stdout, stderr, and exit status, so you can pick the right method for scripts and production code.
Database pagination goes beyond LIMIT and OFFSET: ROW_NUMBER(), the FETCH clause, and keyset pagination each behave differently as tables grow. SQL examples for every approach, why offsets get slow on big datasets, and a verdict on which method scales best.
Database sharding in Rails step by step: create a separate database per shard, wire them up in database.yml, and query across them. Plus how sharding differs from partitioning, with a native PostgreSQL partitioning example done through Rails migrations.
Domain Driven Design in Ruby with a working example: aggregates, entities, value objects, and repositories built around a ProductCatalog, then extended with event-driven design and event sourcing, where projections rebuild state from events instead of a database.
Rails locking strategies for concurrent updates: optimistic locking with a lock_version column that works out of the box, pessimistic locking with lock! and with_lock, and practical ways to rescue and resolve the StaleObjectError that optimistic locking raises.
Rails eager_load, includes, preload, and joins each fight slow queries differently: LEFT OUTER JOIN versus separate queries, how includes picks its strategy, and when a plain joins is enough. Clear examples showing which loading method to choose for each situation.
Ruby has four ways to load code and each behaves differently: load re-executes a file every time, autoload waits until first use, require loads once from the load path, require_relative resolves from the current file. Examples plus a summary of when to use each.
Ruby 3.2 runs in the browser through WebAssembly: embed Ruby in a script tag with ruby-wasm-wasi or drive the Ruby VM from JavaScript and mix it with HTML. Working examples plus honest limits: no threading or networking, and no extra gems without a custom wasm image.
Three ways to define constants and enums per class in Ruby: the ActiveRecord enum macro, a mixed style combining frozen constants with enum, and a dependency-free PORO version. Code for each solution and a comparison to help you pick the right one.
The Factory Pattern in Ruby, then a step further: using naming conventions and regular expressions so the factory auto-detects which notification class to instantiate. Complete code for both versions, plus when strict class listing is the safer choice.
SOLID in Ruby with working code for every principle: Single Responsibility, Open-Closed, Liskov Substitution, Interface Segregation, and Dependency Inversion, plus a bonus rule on minimizing nesting and a fair look at the criticisms of SOLID.
Ruby 3.2 adds new syntax for anonymous arguments: forward positional and keyword arguments with bare * and ** and unpack them inside the method, no more digging through kwargs hashes. A before-and-after example shows how much cleaner argument passing gets.
Rails CookieOverflow strikes when a cookie exceeds 4096 bytes. How to inspect cookies in Chrome dev tools, read the session dump on the error page, and use the cookie_debugger gem to log exactly which session key is eating the space, even in production.
ActiveRecord callbacks bring tight coupling, slower transactions, and painful debugging. Why before_save and after_save hooks in Rails models cause trouble, and how replacing them with an explicit process class makes the same flow readable and easy to debug.
Apipie looks like an easy way to document a Rails API, but check its limits first: no advanced type constraints like exactly_one_of, only partial OpenAPI support, and weak handling of output examples. What to weigh before picking the gem for a larger application.