Video: Upgrade your Rails workflows using visual code maps

As developers, it often feels like all of our time is spent wading through huge file trees, fixing failing test cases, waiting for code reviews and having meetings. What we want is a smooth flow for understanding what code actually does, which code is relevant to what were doing, and we want to be able to share as much knowledge as possible with our team.

In this 10 minute video, I describe how autogenerated, interactive code maps can improve team communication and productivity. I focus on AppMap, an open source framework that drives the back roads of your application, records code execution into JSON files, and generates interactive diagrams and useful code analysis -- right in your code editor.

Specifically, you'll see how to:

• Record AppMaps from running code.
• Enhance issue descriptions with AppMaps.
• Use AppMaps to gain context and understanding of an issue.
• Use AppMaps in pull/merge request to show the reviewer how your code works.

Better information about code behavior and design helps to lighten the load of code review, and helps your team deliver your best quality software.

For more information about AppMaps, see:

• appland.com/docs
• AppMap extension for VSCode
• dev.to/appland

To view the code used in this video, visit https://github.com/land-of-apps/sample_app_6th_ed/tree/appmap-e2e.