--- title: 'This week in #dev (Aug 4, 2023)' teaser: 'A guide on web security, DeMorgan Laws, force-pushing without losing your work, and more! ' tags: this week in dev,rails,ruby,git,til,tip,security,performance,mathematics author: thoughtbot published_on: 2023-08-16 --- Welcome to another edition of [This Week in #dev](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/tags/this-week-in-dev), a series of posts where we bring some of the most interesting Slack conversations to the public. ## Learning DeMorgan Laws [Matheus Richard] recommended using [DeMorgan Laws] to simplify boolean operations or spot _wrong_ refactoring. He also shared a RailsConf talk by [Joël Quenneville] about this very topic: [The Math Every Programmer Needs]. ## Mozilla's Guide to Web Security [Steve Polito] shared that Mozilla maintains a [guide on web security] which provides information on how to protect websites from security threats. It covers topics such as authentication, encryption, and secure coding. The guide has a [web security cheat sheet] that is particularly useful! ## Glob Expansion On Rake Tasks [Summer ☀️] shared a client's tip to use glob expansion on rake tasks. Here's an example: ```sh rake db:{drop,create,migrate,test:prepare} # This is the same as: rake db:drop db:create db:migrate db:test:prepare ``` ## Optimizing Heavy Queries on Rails with `accessed_fields` [Neil Carvalho] suggests using the [`accessed_fields` method] to help optimize heavy queries on Rails when using `select`. This method returns all the database fields that were read by an ActiveRecord model instance. ## Creating or Finding with Rails 6+ [Neil][neil carvalho] also shared Rails 6+'s [`create_or_find_by method`], which attempts to create a record in the database and, if it fails, finds the record instead. ## The Benefits of Using `--force-with-lease` [Jeanine Soterwood] advised a client to use git's [`--force-with-lease`] instead of `--force` when pushing to a git branch, as it will not allow you to force push if another developer has added other commits to the branch in the meantime. She also mentioned that she uses `--force-with-lease` even when working on a feature branch by herself to make it a habit and avoid accidentally force-pushing over someone else's work when working together on a feature branch. ## Thanks This edition was brought to you by [Jeanine Soterwood], [Matheus Richard], [Neil Carvalho], [Steve Polito], and [Summer ☀️]. Thanks to all contributors! 🎉 [Matheus Richard]: https://thoughtbot.com/blog/authors/matheus-richard [DeMorgan Laws]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Morgan%27s_laws [Joël Quenneville]: https://thoughtbot.com/blog/authors/joel-quenneville [The Math Every Programmer Needs]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzYYT40T8G8 [Summer ☀️]: https://thoughtbot.com/blog/authors/summer [steve polito]: https://thoughtbot.com/blog/authors/steve-polito [guide on web security]: https://infosec.mozilla.org/guidelines/web_security [web security cheat sheet]: https://infosec.mozilla.org/guidelines/web_security#web-security-cheat-sheet [`--force-with-lease`]: https://thoughtbot.com/blog/git-push-force-with-lease [neil carvalho]: https://thoughtbot.com/blog/authors/neil-carvalho [`accessed_fields` method]: https://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/AttributeMethods.html#method-i-accessed_fields [`create_or_find_by method`]: https://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActiveRecord/Relation.html#method-i-create_or_find_by [Jeanine Soterwood]: https://thoughtbot.com/blog/authors/jeanine-soterwood