3.4. Routing and CRUD

The acronym CRUD (Create Read Update Delete) is the classic summary of the spectrum of database operations. It’s also a kind of rallying cry for Rails practitioners. Because we address our databases through abstractions, we’re prone to forget how simple it all is. This manifests itself mainly in excessively creative names for controller actions. There’s a temptation to call your actions add_item and replace_email_address and things like that. But we needn’t, and usually shouldn’t, do this. True, the controller does not map to the database, the way the model does. But things get simpler when you name your actions after CRUD operations, or as close to the names of those operations as you can get.

The routing system does not force you to implement your app’s CRUD functionality in any consistent manner. You can create a route that maps to any action, whatever the action’s name. Choosing CRUD names is a matter of discipline. Except... when you use the REST facilities offered by Rails, it happens automatically.