Managing and organizing multiple JavaScript files in your Rails applications can be a real pain, especially when it comes to deploying your application and you need to minimize those JavaScript files down for better application performance.

Enter Sprockets, the new dependency management and concatenation library from 37signals (or, more specifically, Sam Stephenson). Once installed, Sprockets allows you to organize your application’s JavaScript files into smaller more manageable chunks that can be distributed over a number of directories and files.

Using directives at the start of each JavaScript file, Sprockets can determines which files your current JavaScript file depends on. When it comes to deploying your application, Sprockets then uses these directives to turn your multiple JavaScript files into a single file for better performance. Read More

The development team behind the time tracking site freckle, have just released a PDF guide detailing the terminology and processes behind processing credit card details in Ruby.

Much like Amy Hoy’s previous guides relating to Rails, the Jump Start Credit Card Processing guide is a very colorful guide and is split into three small parts that make it easy to digest. It gives an overview of the process and actions involved in processing credit card payments as well as explaining different methods that can be used to validate a credit card.  A 6 step example in Ruby using the Active Merchant gem shows you the basic steps required to process payments. Read More