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Ruby on Rails for web applications

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  • 19-03-2012 1:56pm
    #1
    Dave!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,857 ✭✭✭✭


    Hi guys,

    Haven't posted here for a while, but I've got a few questions now if ye don't mind!

    I've been coming up with various ideas for websites/apps recently, and am trying to decide the best way to go about implementing them. I'm only starting out in the development game (professionally), so I have about 1 year's work experience with PHP/MySQL, and a few more years with the front-end stuff. I started a new job a couple of weeks ago where they have me learning VB.NET, and a bit of Objective-C for iPhone apps.

    Anywho - back to the point... AFAIK Ruby on Rails is quite a popular language/framework in the States, with lots of startups etc using it. But I also read recently that Twitter is moving away from it because it doesn't scale well? (not entirely sure what that means)

    I don't have any experience working with a framework, so either way I'll have to learn one. Is Rails a good choice for this, or is there some reason why I should avoid it?

    What's the best IDE for developing in Ruby? Netbeans was recommended somewhere, but the latest version doesn't support it, and I'm having trouble finding 7.0 or 6.9... :confused: I downloaded a trial of RubyMine, which seems okay.

    Any other general advice on web app development?

    Thanks


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    #2
    CarefulNow
    Registered Users Posts: 377 ✭✭CarefulNow


    You can download 7.0.1 from here. I had a look in the plugin downloader and it has Ruby and Rails there.


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    #3
    Dave!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,857 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    Nice one

    Anyone else? Anyone? Beuller?


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    #4
    Colonel Panic
    Registered Users Posts: 2,022 ✭✭✭Colonel Panic


    You know PHP so why not CakePHP? Or if you want a different language and framework, I've had moderate success with Python and Django.

    I can't comment on Ruby on Rails myself.


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    #5
    jester77
    Registered Users Posts: 11,262 ✭✭✭✭jester77


    We use RoR where I work, TextMate is the IDE of choice.


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    #6
    uck51js9zml2yt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,268 ✭✭✭✭uck51js9zml2yt


    Ive used RoR for the last few years in college building apps.
    we used Netbeans in the first year but this year used command line which I found much better.

    You can download a VM from oracle and run it with a Linux OS.

    The advantages of Netbeans is that you can view all the files easily and it allows for easy debugging. It comes with an inbuilt Webrick and Glassfish server.

    Using linux I was able to use the sqllite db inbuilt into firefox.With NB you will need to connect a separate database.

    If you want to get into RoR I have a ebook on creating an ecommerce site from scratch which I can send you.Just pm me.
    I found it useful for doing my projects. its from the Pragmatic Promammers Series.


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    #7
    szines
    Registered Users Posts: 32 ✭szines


    Give a try for Aptana Studio 3. Eclipse based IDE, and it's really handy and free... http://www.aptana.com


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    #8
    Talisman
    Registered Users Posts: 6,138 ✭✭✭Talisman


    Dave! wrote: »
    Anywho - back to the point... AFAIK Ruby on Rails is quite a popular language/framework in the States, with lots of startups etc using it. But I also read recently that Twitter is moving away from it because it doesn't scale well? (not entirely sure what that means)
    Twitter's issues are related to the architecture of Twitter - it wasn't designed to scale. If it was written in any other language there may have been a slight performance increase but the design would still have contained the same flaws.


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    #9
    The Corinthian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,777 ✭✭✭✭The Corinthian


    Dave! wrote: »
    But I also read recently that Twitter is moving away from it because it doesn't scale well? (not entirely sure what that means)
    When you scale up (or out) a Web application it means more and more people are accessing it, concurrently, and thus you need to add new software and hardware resources to deal with the extra traffic. It could mean going from a virtual server to a dedicated one, or beefing up the server and network you're using, or putting your database on a separate server or even duplicating your entire site on multiple servers so that they can each take a share of requests.

    Once you get to that last level of scaling, the application server (the bit that runs and interprets PHP, Ruby, Java or whatever) becomes important, as some are better designed for this than others.
    I don't have any experience working with a framework, so either way I'll have to learn one.
    Frameworks are a bit like dialects within a language. As long as your understanding of the language is solid, they're not too difficult to learn - not least of all because they are specifically designed to simplify development.
    Is Rails a good choice for this, or is there some reason why I should avoid it?
    I can't say as I'm not a Ruby/Rails person. All I'd say is that when Rails came out, Ruby had already been about for a long time without anyone taking much notice and it was the framework (with its promise of rapid development) that caught people's attention. My own personal opinion is that most of the interest in Rails has been hype, but ultimately you'll want to see how popular (i.e. how many jobs there are in it and thus how long it's likely to last) it is.


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