Building dynamic Web 2.0 websites with Ruby on Rails create database-driven dynamic websites with this open-source web application framework. - Description based on print version record. - Includes index

In Detail Ruby on Rails is an open-source web application framework ideally suited to building business applications; accelerating and simplifying the creation of database-driven websites. Often shortened to Rails or RoR, it provides a stack of tools to rapidly build web applications based on the Model-View-Controller design pattern. This book is a tutorial for creating a complete website with Ruby on Rails. It will teach you to develop database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Controller pattern. It will take you on a joy ride right from installation to a complete dynamic website. All the applications discussed in this book will help you add exciting features to your website. This book will show you how to assemble RoR's features and leverage its power to design, develop, and deploy a fully featured website. Each chapter adds a new feature to the site, adding new knowledge, skills, and techniques. Learn to create dynamic websites with Ruby on Rails. Approach This book is a practical guide to creating a complete Web 2.0 website with Ruby on Rails. In this book, each chapter adds a new feature to the site, adding new knowledge, skills, and techniques. You will learn about the features of RoR by adding those features to your website. You will also learn about Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) as each chapter closely follows the SDLC starting from requirement gathering and ending with testing. Who this book is for This book is for anyone who has basic concepts of object-oriented programming as well as relational databases and wants to develop online applications using Ruby on Rails. Prior knowledge of Ruby or Rails is not expected.

Praise for Exploiting Software

“Exploiting Software highlights the most critical part of the software quality problem. As it turns out, software quality problems are a major contributing factor to computer security problems. Increasingly, companies large and small depend on software to run their businesses every day. The current approach to software quality and security taken by software companies, system integrators, and internal development organizations is like driving a car on a rainy day with worn-out tires and no air bags. In both cases, the odds are that something bad is going to happen, and there is no protection for the occupant/owner. This book will help the reader understand how to make software quality part of the design—a key change from where we are today!”          —Tony Scott
             Chief Technology Officer, IS&S
             General Motors Corporation

“It’s about time someone wrote a book to teach the good guys what the bad guys already know. As the computer security industry matures, books like Exploiting Software have a critical role to play.”          —Bruce Schneier
             Chief Technology Officer
             Counterpane
             Author of Beyond Fear andSecrets and Lies

“Exploiting Software cuts to the heart of the computer security problem, showing why broken software presents a clear and present danger. Getting past the ‘worm of the day’ phenomenon requires that someone other than the bad guys understands how software is attacked. This book is a wake-up call for computer security.”          —Elinor Mills Abreu
             Reuters’ correspondent

“Police investigators study how criminals think and act. Military strategists learn about the enemy’s tactics, as well as their weapons and personnel capabilities. Similarly, information security professionals need to study their criminals and enemies, so we can tell the difference between popguns and weapons of mass destruction. This book is a significant advance in helping the ‘white hats’ understand how the ‘black hats’ operate. Through extensive examples and ‘attack patterns,’ this book helps the reader understand how attackers analyze software and use the results of the analysis to attack systems. Hoglund and McGraw explain not only how hackers attack servers, but also how malicious server operators can attack clients (and how each can protect themselves from the other). An excellent book for practicing security engineers, and an ideal book for an undergraduate class in software security.”          —Jeremy Epstein
             Director, Product Security & Performance
             webMethods, Inc.

“A provocative and revealing book from two leading security experts and world class software exploiters, Exploiting Software enters the mind of the cleverest and wickedest crackers and shows you how they think. It illustrates general principles for breaking software, and provides you a whirlwind tour of techniques for finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities, along with detailed examples from real software exploits. Exploiting Software is essential reading for anyone responsible for placing software in a hostile environment—that is, everyone who writes or installs programs that run on the Internet.”          —Dave Evans, Ph.D.
             Associate Professor of Computer Science
             University of Virginia

“The root cause for most of today’s Internet hacker exploits and malicious software outbreaks are buggy software and faulty security software deployment. In Exploiting Software, Greg Hoglund and Gary McGraw help us in an interesting and provocative way to better defend ourselves against malicious hacker attacks on those software loopholes. The information in this book is an essential reference that needs to be understood, digested, and aggressively addressed by IT and information security professionals everywhere.”          —Ken Cutler, CISSP, CISA
              Vice President, Curriculum Development & Professional Services,
             MIS Training Institute

“This book describes the threats to software in concrete, understandable, and frightening detail. It also discusses how to find these problems before the bad folks do. A valuable addition to every programmer’s and security person’s library!”          —Matt Bishop, Ph.D.
             Professor of Computer Science
             University of California at Davis
             Author of Computer Security: Art and Science

“Whether we slept through software engineering classes or paid attention, those of us who build things remain responsible for achieving meaningful and measurable vulnerability reductions. If you can’t afford to stop all software manufacturing to teach your engineers how to build secure software from the ground up, you should at least increase awareness in your organization by demanding that they read Exploiting Software. This book clearly demonstrates what happens to broken software in the wild.”          —Ron Moritz, CISSP
             Senior Vice President, Chief Security Strategist
              Computer Associates

“Exploiting Software is the most up-to-date technical treatment of software security I have seen. If you worry about software and application vulnerability, Exploiting Software is a must-read. This book gets at all the timely and important issues surrounding software security in a technical, but still highly readable and engaging, way. Hoglund and McGraw have done an excellent job of picking out the major ideas in software exploit and nicely organizing them to make sense of the software security jungle.”          —George Cybenko, Ph.D.
             Dorothy and Walter Gramm Professor of Engineering, Dartmouth
             Founding Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Security and Privacy

“This is a seductive book. It starts with a simple story, telling about hacks and cracks. It draws you in with anecdotes, but builds from there. In a few chapters you find yourself deep in the intimate details of software security. It is the rare technical book that is a readable and enjoyable primer but has the substance to remain on your shelf as a reference. Wonderful stuff.”          —Craig Miller, Ph.D.
             Chief Technology Officer for North America
             Dimension Data

“It’s hard to protect yourself if you don’t know what you’re up against. This book has the details you need to know about how attackers find software holes and exploit them—details that will help you secure your own systems.”          —Ed Felten, Ph.D.
             Professor of Computer Science
             Princeton University

“If you worry about software and application vulnerability, Exploiting Software is a must-read. This book gets at all the timely and important issues surrounding software security in a technical, but still highly readable and engaging way.”
         —George Cybenko, Ph.D.
             Dorothy and Walter Gramm Professor of Engineering, Dartmouth
             Founding Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Security and Privacy Magazine

“Exploiting Software is the best treatment of any kind that I have seen on the topic of software vulnerabilities.”
         —From the Foreword by Aviel D. Rubin
             Associate Professor, Computer Science
             Technical Director, Information Security Institute, Johns Hopkins University

How does software break? How do attackers make software break on purpose? Why are firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus software not keeping out the bad guys? What tools can be used to break software? This book provides the answers.

Exploiting Software is loaded with examples of real attacks, attack patterns, tools, and techniques used by bad guys to break software. If you want to protect your software from attack, you must first learn how real attacks are really carried out.

This must-have book may shock you—and it will certainly educate you.Getting beyond the script kiddie treatment found in many hacking books, you will learn about

• Why software exploit will continue to be a serious problem
• When network security mechanisms do not work
• Attack patterns
• Reverse engineering
• Classic attacks against server software
• Surprising attacks against client software
• Techniques for crafting malicious input
• The technical details of buffer overflows
• Rootkits

Exploiting Software is filled with the tools, concepts, and knowledge necessary to break software.

Praise for Exploiting Software " Exploiting Software highlights the most critical part of the software quality problem. As it turns out, software quality problems are a major contributing factor to computer security problems. Increasingly, companies large and small depend on software to run their businesses every day. The current approach to software quality and security taken by software companies, system integrators, and internal development organizations is like driving a car on a rainy day with worn-out tires and no air bags. In both cases, the odds are that something bad is going to happen, and there is no protection for the occupant/owner. This book will help the reader understand how to make software quality part of the design--a key change from where we are today!" -- Tony Scott Chief Technology Officer, IS&S General Motors Corporation "It's about time someone wrote a book to teach the good guys what the bad guys already know. As the computer security industry matures, books like Exploiting Software have a critical role to play." -- Bruce Schneier Chief Technology Officer Counterpane Author of Beyond Fear and Secrets and Lies " Exploiting Software cuts to the heart of the computer security problem, showing why broken software presents a clear and present danger. Getting past the 'worm of the day' phenomenon requires that someone other than the bad guys understands how software is attacked. This book is a wake-up call for computer security." -- Elinor Mills Abreu Reuters' correspondent "Police investigators study how criminals think and act. Military strategists learn about the enemy's tactics, as well as their weapons and personnel capabilities. Similarly, information security professionals need to study their criminals and enemies, so we can tell the difference between popguns and weapons of mass destruction. This book is a significant advance in helping the 'white hats' understand how the 'black hats' operate. Through extensive examples and 'attack patterns,' this book helps the reader understand how attackers analyze software and use the results of the analysis to attack systems. Hoglund and McGraw explain not only how hackers attack servers, but also how malicious server operators can attack clients (and how each can protect themselves from the other). An excellent book for practicing security engineers, and an ideal book for an undergraduate class in software security." -- Jeremy Epstein Director, Product Security & Performance webMethods, Inc. "A provocative and revealing book from two leading security experts and world class software exploiters, Exploiting Software enters the mind of the cleverest and wickedest crackers and shows you how they think. It illustrates general principles for breaking software, and provides you a whirlwind tour of techniques for finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities, along with detailed examples from real software exploits. Exploiting Software is essential reading for anyone responsible for placing software in a hostile environment--that is, everyone who writes or installs programs that run on the Internet." -- Dave Evans, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Computer Science University of Virginia "The root cause for most of today's Internet hacker exploits and malicious software outbreaks are buggy software and faulty security software deployment. In Exploiting Software, Greg Hoglund and Gary McGraw help us in an interesting and provocative way to better defend ourselves against malicious hacker attacks on those software loopholes. The information in this book is an essential reference that needs to be understood, digested, and aggressively addressed by IT and information security professionals everywhere." -- Ken Cutler, CISSP, CISA Vice President, Curriculum Development & Professional Services, MIS Training Institute "This book describes the threats to software in concrete, understandable, and frightening detail. It also discusses how to find these problems before the bad folks do. A valuable addition to every programmer's and security person's library!" -- Matt Bishop, Ph.D. Professor of Computer Science University of California at Davis Author of Computer Security: Art and Science "Whether we slept through software engineering classes or paid attention, those of us who build things remain responsible for achieving meaningful and measurable vulnerability reductions. If you can't afford to stop all software manufacturing to teach your engineers how to build secure software from the ground up, you should at least increase awareness in your organization by demanding that they read Exploiting Software. This book clearly demonstrates what happens to broken software in the wild." -- Ron Moritz, CISSP Senior Vice President, Chief Security Strategist Computer Associates " Exploiting Software is the most up-to-date technical treatment of software security I have seen. If you worry about software and application vulnerability, Exploiting Software is a must-read. This book gets at all the timely and important issues surrounding software security in a technical, but still highly readable and engaging, way. Hoglund and McGraw have done an excellent job of picking out the major ideas in software exploit and nicely organizing them to make sense of the software security jungle." -- George Cybenko, Ph.D. Dorothy and Walter Gramm Professor of Engineering, Dartmouth Founding Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Security and Privacy "This is a seductive book. It starts with a simple story, telling about hacks and cracks. It draws you in with anecdotes, but builds from there. In a f Building Dynamic Web 2.0 Websites with Ruby on Rails......Page 1 Table of Contents......Page 7 Preface......Page 13 Ruby and RoR—The Next Level in Dynamic Web Development......Page 17 Ruby......Page 18 Philosophy......Page 19 Features......Page 20 Manual Installation......Page 21 Downloading and Installing Ruby......Page 22 Updating Gem......Page 25 Installing RoR......Page 26 One-Click RoR Installation......Page 27 Configure Instant Rails Installation......Page 28 RoR......Page 31 Summary......Page 36 Ruby—the Basics......Page 37 Classes......Page 38 Attributes......Page 39 Methods......Page 40 Objects......Page 42 Inheritance......Page 43 Data Types......Page 44 Float......Page 45 Iterators......Page 46 Exception Handling......Page 49 Hashes......Page 50 RoR is a Ruby-Based Framework......Page 51 Active Record......Page 52 Action View......Page 54 Action Controller......Page 55 Setting up the Application Structure......Page 57 Adding the First Controller Class......Page 59 Defining the Action Method......Page 60 Adding the View Template......Page 61 Testing the Application......Page 62 Summary......Page 63 Understanding the Requirements......Page 65 System Requirements......Page 66 Managing the Stories......Page 67 Designing the Database......Page 68 Understanding the Conventions......Page 69 Designing the E-R Model......Page 70 Defining the Schema......Page 73 Creating the Tables......Page 74 Creating the Application Structure......Page 76 Generating the Scaffolds......Page 77 Customizing the Model......Page 80 Customizing the Controller......Page 85 Refining the View......Page 87 Testing the Application......Page 90 Summary......Page 96 Understanding the Requirements......Page 97 Managing the User......Page 98 Managing Roles......Page 99 Designing the E-R Model......Page 100 Deriving the Schema......Page 104 Creating the Tables......Page 105 Developing the User Management......Page 106 Developing the Role Management......Page 107 Developing the User Management Functionality......Page 110 Testing the Functionalities......Page 116 Summary......Page 121 Understanding the Requirements......Page 123 Managing the Comments......Page 124 Designing the E-R Model......Page 125 Deriving the Schema......Page 127 Developing the Login Management Module......Page 128 Creating the Login Page......Page 129 Implementing the Authenticate method......Page 130 Setting up the Session......Page 132 Applying Authorization......Page 133 Tying Up the Loose Ends......Page 135 Developing the Comment Management Module......Page 136 Modifying the Model......Page 137 Refining the View......Page 139 Customizing the Controller......Page 141 Testing the Module......Page 142 Summary......Page 147 Understanding Migration......Page 149 Generating Migration Classes......Page 150 Editing the Generated Classes......Page 151 Running the Migration......Page 154 Customizing the Layout of the Login Page......Page 155 Defining the Master Layout......Page 160 Setting up the Navigation......Page 164 Testing the Application......Page 167 Summary......Page 168 Understanding the Requirements......Page 169 Developing the Tag management Module......Page 170 Installing the Plug-in......Page 171 Setting up Tables Required by the Plug-in......Page 173 Adding a Tag......Page 175 Visualizing the Tag Cloud......Page 178 Searching By Tag......Page 181 Testing the Modifications......Page 184 Summary......Page 187 Understanding the Requirements......Page 189 What is Ajax?......Page 190 How Ajax and RoR are Related......Page 191 Specify the Location to Display the Result......Page 192 Use the observe_field Helper......Page 193 Implementing the In-line Editing......Page 195 Marking the Fields for In-line Editing......Page 196 Set up the Controller......Page 199 Testing the Modifications......Page 200 Summary......Page 202 Understanding the Requirements......Page 203 Modification of the Deletion of Tales......Page 204 Providing Access to All the Functionalities of the Comment Management Module......Page 206 Implementing Auto-Complete for the User name......Page 207 Implementing Search......Page 209 Testing the Modifications......Page 211 Summary......Page 216 Understanding the Production Environment......Page 217 Production Mode......Page 218 Migrating to the Production Database......Page 219 Configuring Mongrel......Page 220 Summary......Page 222 Index......Page 223

In Detail

Ruby on Rails is an open-source web application framework ideally suited to building business applications; accelerating and simplifying the creation of database-driven websites. Often shortened to Rails or RoR, it provides a stack of tools to rapidly build web applications based on the Model-View-Controller design pattern.
 
This book is a tutorial for creating a complete website with Ruby on Rails. It will teach you to develop database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Controller pattern. It will take you on a joy ride right from installation to a complete dynamic website. All the applications discussed in this book will help you add exciting features to your website. This book will show you how to assemble RoR's features and leverage its power to design, develop, and deploy a fully featured website. Each chapter adds a new feature to the site, adding new knowledge, skills, and techniques.

Learn to create dynamic websites with Ruby on Rails.

Approach

This book is a practical guide to creating a complete Web 2.0 website with Ruby on Rails. In this book, each chapter adds a new feature to the site, adding new knowledge, skills, and techniques. You will learn about the features of RoR by adding those features to your website. You will also learn about Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) as each chapter closely follows the SDLC starting from requirement gathering and ending with testing.

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who has basic concepts of object-oriented programming as well as relational databases and wants to develop online applications using Ruby on Rails. Prior knowledge of Ruby or Rails is not expected.

What you need to significantly reduce software development failures before they become fatal and how to repair their causes so they don't re-surface Learn from the mistakes of others documented here in this hard-hitting, humorous, and career-enhancing book from the authors of the bestselling "AntiPatterns". Rise above the industry-wide malaise of mass denial and realize that you too can, and definitely must, master Software Configuration Management (SCM) for successful software engineering. In this much-needed book, the authors provide 16 new AntiPatterns covering the most common SCM mistakes and pitfalls. They also supply you with proven solution strategies including 3 Process Patterns and other tested-in-the-trenches approaches. As in AntiPatterns they present each AntiPattern and Pattern using the same entertaining, practical, and pull-no-punches approach. "AntiPatterns and Patterns in Software Configuration Management" arms you * The knowledge that SCM is neither too hard, nor too complicated, for software engineers, developers, architects, and project managers * The most valuable (ROI) process you can have-SCM * 8 SCM AntiPatterns, 4 Management and Process AntiPatterns, 4 Requirements and Testing AntiPatterns, and 3 Process Patterns that address process, people, and tool issues William J. Brown is Product Engineer for Concept Five Technologies leading developments of distributed, object-oriented frameworks. Hays W. "Skip" McCormick III and Scott W. Thomas are lead engineers with the MITRE Corporation. Bill and Skip co-authored the critically acclaimed AntiPatterns, also available from Wiley. Learn From The Mistakes Of Others Documented Here. Rise Above The Industry-wide Malaise Of Mass Denial And Realize That You Too Can, And Definitely Must, Master Software Configuration Management (scm) For Successful Software Engineering. In This Much-needed Book, The Authors Provide 16 New Antipatterns Covering The Most Common Scm Mistakes And Pitfalls. They Also Supply You With Proven Solution Strategies Including 3 Process Patterns And Other Tested-in-the-trenches Approaches. Pt. 1. Introduction To Patterns And Antipatterns -- Introduction: The Nature Of A Pattern: A Brief Tutorial. Ch. 1. The Lost Disciplines: A System Engineering Perspective. Ch. 2. The Father Of All Management Antipatterns -- Pt. 2. Software Engineering Antipatterns And Patterns. Ch. 3. Software Configuration Management Pattern And Antipatterns. Ch. 4. Management And Process Patterns And Antipatterns. Ch. 5. Requirements And Testing Patterns And Antipatterns -- Pt. 3. Conclusions And Resources -- App. A. Antipatterns And Patterns Synopsis -- App. B. Patterns And Antipatterns Cross-references. William J. Brown, Hays W. Skip Mccormick Iii, Scott W. Thomas. Wiley Computer Publishing. Annotation. Ruby on Rails is an open source web application framework ideally suited to building business applications; accelerating and simplifying the creation of database-driven websites. Often shortened to Rails or RoR, it provides a stack of tools to rapidly build web applications based on the Model-View-Controller design pattern. What you will learn from this book This book will show you how to assemble RoR's features and leverage its power to design, develop, and deploy a fully featured website. This book will teach you the following: * Installing, configuring, and testing both Ruby and RoR * Setting up the application and database * Managing users and roles * Gathering user comments * Setting up the template and generating migrations for your tables * Using plug-ins; adding and searching a tag * Enhancing usability with AJAX * Developing an administration interface * Deploying the application Who this book is written for This book is for anyone who has basic concepts of object-oriented programming as well as relational databases and wants to develop online applications using Ruby on Rails. Prior knowledge of Ruby or Rails is not expected **Foreword by Avi Rubin. How does software break? How do attackers make software break on purpose? Why are firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus software not keeping out the bad guys? What tools can be used to break software? This book provides the answers. This book is studded with examples of real attacks, attack patterns, tools, and techniques used by bad guys to break software. If you want to protect your software from attack, you must first learn how real attacks are really carried out. Learn about: Why software exploit will continue to be a serious problem; When network security mechanisms do not work; Attack patterns; Reverse engineering; Classic attacks against server software; Surprising attacks against client software; Techniques for crafting malicious input; The technical details of buffer overflows; and Rootkits. This information needs to be understood and digested by security professionals so that they know the magnitude of the problem and they can begin to address it properly. Today, all developers should be security-minded. The knowledge here will arm you with a real understanding of the software security problem. How does software break? How do attackers make software break on purpose? Why are firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus software not keeping out the bad guys? What tools can be used to break software? This book provides the answers. This book is loaded with examples of real attacks, attack patterns, tools, and techniques used by bad guys to break software. If you want to protect your software from attack, you must first learn how real attacks are really carried out. Learn about why software exploit will continue to be a serious problem, when network security mechanisms do not work, attack patterns, reverse engineering, classic attacks against server software, surprising attacks against client software, techniques for crafting malicious input, the technical details of buffer overflows, and rootkits Where Design Patterns identify what procedures, designs and codes worked, AntiPatterns highlight recurring problems with methodologies, management, and people. Now the authors of AntiPatterns take on software configuration management (SCM) and catalog the common problems associated with this area of software development. Using the same style as their previous book, the authors document over 20 AntiPatterns and 10 Design Patterns for SCM and provide real-world solutions.