The strangler software pattern gets its name from the tree-strangling vines of the Amazon rain forest. These seemingly benign vines grow up the trunk of an established tree and over many years the tree is systematically consumed and destroyed, leaving a magnificent growth of vines where the tree once stood.
The pattern that is the software equivalent of the vine helps a code base transition from an old crusty architecture by systematically replacing it. The cardinal rule being that new code cannot call into the old, only the other way around. If a new feature requires behavior from the old code, the old code must be ported.
With JRuby enabling Rails on the JVM a similar approach can be taken. A java web application framework stack, let's say Struts and Hibernate, can have its view components systematically replaced by Rails without ever stopping new feature development. With Struts consumed we can set our sights on the model - systematically replacing Java classes with Ruby ones and Hibernate persisted objects with ActiveRecord models. Eventually leaving us with a super-productive, magnificent, Rails ecosystem to live within.
This talk will cover JRuby integration with Java and running Rails in the JVM, concluding with the port of a simple Struts / Hibernate app to Rails. The audience should leave with all the knowledge necessary to port their own applications to Rails.
IIT Rice Campus
Room 103
201 East Loop Road
Wheaton, IL 60187-8489
Directions to IIT - Rice Campus in Wheaton From the North or South: From I-355 (North-South Tollway), exit westbound at Rt.56/Butterfield Road and proceed west 3 1/2 miles on Butterfield Road to East Loop Road. Turn right onto East Loop Road (Phillip's 66 Gas Station on the corner); the campus will be on your right about a block north of Butterfield Road, behind Cozymel's. Park in the Student parking lot behind the building. Room 103 is the first room inside the north entrance.
From the I-294 (Tri-State Tollway), take the I-88 (East-West Tollway) westbound and follow directions "From the East or West" below.
From the East or West: From I-88 (East-West Tollway), take the Naperville Road exit. At the traffic light, turn left onto Naperville Road and continue north for 1\275 miles to Rt. 56/Butterfield Road. Turn right onto Rt. 56/Butterfield Road and proceed 1/4 mile to the first traffic light (East Loop Road). Turn left on to East Loop Road, ( Phillip's 66 Gas station on the corner); the campus will be on your right about a block north of Butterfield Road, behind Cozymel's. Park in the Student parking lot behind the building.
Room 103 is the first room inside the north entrance.Contact Dave Hoover at dave@obtiva.com for additional information about the meeting or about Polyglot Programmers.
For more information about UniForum Chicago contact info@UniforumChicago.org.