Docker is a widely known containerization strategy. One of its main use is to provide developers with a consistent environment for building, packaging, and deploying applications. I’ve used Docker containers to build and deploy many service oriented architectures. Most containers are based on the ruby:3.1-alpine image (and other close variants). While there are many resources describing how Ruby on Rails projects can be setup and run using Docker, I’d like to talk about it’s other uses.

I often enjoy starting and building new hobby projects. My ideas can come from different places. Sometimes there is an itch I need to scratch, or sometimes I just want to build something to see if it’s possible. In any case, I’ve been able to distill my process to a few general steps. Most, if not all, of my projects start off with similar architecture. Usually they involve a combination of a Docker container with a Ruby on Rails application. I’ve taken this one step further and I’m releasing the basic structure of my application from which I start all my projects with.

Part of being a Fullstack Developer means building features that touch every layer of your application stack. If you’re like me, with a background and preference for server side development, you may not have strong front end development skills. To overcome these shortcomings, it’s worthwhile to leverage pre-built frameworks that compress the underlying knowledge needed to create highly interactive features.

In web development, you’ll often come across the term “pagination”. This is a technique that allows you to divide your content into separate pages so that your user can navigate through the content page by page. This is usually done by providing ‘forward’ and ‘back’ links, as well as links to specific pages. Another technique of pagination is an “infinite scroll” design. Instead of having the user navigate from page to page, they continuously scroll to the bottom of the page and your application automatically loads the next page below.

I learned a neat vim trick the other day.