1. Rapid Application Development - The Open Way
James McCarthy, MAD
Collin McIntyre, MAD
Mirko Vucicevich, Science Computing

2. Background Units need custom applications
Commercial options can be expensive
Politics/RFPs take a long time
Leverage skills of campus developer community
Collin

3. Open Source Software Software with public code base
Licensed to use and modify freely
Open source software helps developers build applications quickly
Collin

4. Collaboration Reduces duplication of effort
Lets team members leverage their talents
More well-rounded end product
Collin

5. Live Demo
This is Mirko’s desktop. He’s going to build an application while Collin and James take you through some of the tools and techniques that have worked well for us.
Live demo goes here
James

6. The Tools We Use Languages and Web application platforms
Javascript Libraries
UI Libraries
Other Tools
Collaboration
Live demo goes here
James

7. Web Application Frameworks
Django and Rails
Frameworks for rapid web application development
Uses MVC design pattern
Emphasize reuse, DRY, plugins
Live demo goes here
James

8. Django Framework written in Python Applications programmed in Python
Plugins managed with pip
Ex: Haystack for searching
Live demo goes here
Collin

9. Ruby on Rails (RoR) Framework written in Ruby
Applications programmed in Ruby
Thousands of useful plugins called gems
Ex: CAS, calendars, UI elements, image uploads
Live demo goes here
Collin

10. Who uses these? Django: Instagram, Mozilla, Pinterest, Rdio
Rails: Twitter (early days), Github, Groupon
Live demo goes here
Collin

11. How do they work? Generate web pages based on database objects
Templates render views based on actions (create, read, update, delete)
Django uses Jinja
RoR uses ERB (Embedded Ruby)
Live demo goes here
James

12. Template Example ERB TEMPLATE Live demo goes here GENERATED HTML
%></h1>
%></h2>
<p>
%>
</p>
<% if controller.valid_user %>
<%= link_to ‘Edit’, %>
<% end %>
Live demo goes here
<h1>Why Templates Rule</h1>
<h2>James M</h2>
<p>
This is why I think templates are the best!
</p>
<a href=”
GENERATED HTML
James

13. Javascript Libraries jQuery Node.js Highcharts FullCalendar jQuery UI
jQuery Mobile
Node.js
Highcharts
FullCalendar
Live demo goes here
Collin

14. UI Libraries Bootstrap Foundation Glyphicons Font Awesome
The Noun Project
Live demo goes here
Collin

15. Other tools Source control: git Text editors: IDEs Sublime vi Brackets
Notepad++
IDEs
Eclipse
Live demo goes here
James

16. Collaboration Tools git.uwaterloo.ca and github
Instant messenger: Google Hangouts
Searchable archive of chats
Koding
Koding demo
Live demo goes here
James

17. Software demos Herbarium Booking System Evaluate Survey tool
Live demo goes here
Collin and James

18. Next steps Foster better collaboration between people like us
We just found out each other existed a few months ago
Who else is out there?
How can we help each other out?
Live demo goes here
James

19. Questions? James McCarthy jmccarth@uwaterloo.ca Collin McIntyre
Mirko Vucicevich

20. Example - Blog Model Views Blog post Create a post Read a postDB
MODEL
CONT.
Model
Blog post
Views
Create a post
Read a post
Update a post
Delete a post
UPDATE
DELETE
Live demo goes here