Building for the Web

Crafting Experiences

Tools of the Trade

Technical Details

After 15 years of crafting web applications, I've come to believe that the best code is the one you don't have to think about. It works, it's tested, it's elegant. The architecture should serve the product, not the other way around. Every decision matters—from the database schema to the deployment pipeline.

I write Ruby because it reads like prose. I choose Rails because conventions matter more than configuration. I test first because confidence compounds. And I deploy continuously because shipping is the only metric that counts.

"The system worked perfectly, and it was a huge success. I remember debugging the last feature in the airplane, offline, during the flight from Paris to New York."

— From the FIFA FIWC experience

class ApplicationService
  def self.call(...)
    new(...).call
  end

  private

  def success(data)
    { success: true, data: data }
  end
end

Use ApplicationService as a base class. Links look like this example and use bold text or italic text for emphasis.

$ bin/rails db:migrate
== 20260118 CreateUsers: migrating ===
-- create_table(:users)
   -> 0.0042s
== 20260118 CreateUsers: migrated ====

$ bin/rails test
42 runs, 128 assertions, 0 failures, 0 errors

class User < ApplicationRecord
  has_many :projects, dependent: :destroy
  validates :email, presence: true,
                     uniqueness: true

  def display_name
    "#{first_name} #{last_name}"
  end
end

• ~ Ruby on Rails for rapid, reliable web applications
• ~ PostgreSQL with carefully designed schemas
• ~ Test-driven development as a daily practice

1. 01. Understand the problem deeply before writing code
2. 02. Design the data model and service boundaries
3. 03. Write tests, implement, deploy, iterate