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Ruby on Rails
Built for Speed
ELC has been developing web applications since 1991. Over the last few years, ELC’s practice has shifted its focus to the Ruby on Rails platform. Why? The simple answer, Ruby rocks.
Ruby on Rails is the fastest way to build and deploy database-backed web applications. Bruce Tate, a long time Java guru and recent Ruby advocate, claims that when deploying database-backed web-applications, Ruby on Rails is two to ten times more productive than Java or .Net. This is not surprising given that C++, the underlying language for these technologies, was designed to build operating systems versus applications.
Ruby on Rails requires fewer lines of code – Java on average requires 2 to 4 times the number of characters – which means greater productivity, fewer bugs and easier maintenance. Less time spent developing and maintaining an application frees up more time to improve its performance and features. This suggests that early Ruby adopters will likely have a sustainable advantage over later adopters.
What is Ruby on Rails?
Ruby on Rails is an open source programming language that provides a code scaffolding to quickly build database-driven web applications. It includes five standard packages ActiveRecord, ActiveResource, ActionPack, ActiveSupport and ActionMailer that can be extended with plugins built by the community. The out-of the-box scaffolding or the Rails framework, which provides the skeleton for the models and views needed for a basic website, is developed employing the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture.
There are two fundamental laws in Ruby on Rails--Convention over Configuration (CoC) and Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY). The principle behind COC is that only unconventional aspects of the application need to be specified; otherwise, they follow the established standard. DRY requires that information be placed in a single, unambiguous location to ensure a single point of reference and avoid hidden errors.
The building blocks and principles behind Ruby on Rails allow for tremendous development speed while minimizing lines of code and errors. It has the advantage of including decades of web development know how from its inception, which makes it simple to use, maintain, and extend. Through our client deployments, and other community projects, Ruby on Rails has proven to be an extremely robust and scalable solution capable of handling millions of transactions and page views per day.
David Heinemeier Hansson created Ruby on Rails while developing Basecamp, a project management tool from 37signals. He released ROR to the public in July 2004. Ruby on Rails is now widely embraced as a great tool to rapidly build scalable, database-driven web applications. In October 2007, Apple added their endorsement to the movement by shipping Ruby on Rails in Mac OS X Leopard.
How can I become more Rails savvy?
The Rails community is a vibrant group with multiple resources. To learn more visit the Ruby on Rails Community site.
What is ELC’s experience with Rails?
ELC has one of the largest, most experienced Ruby on Rails practices in the world. We are Rails Studio, Scale with Rails, Advanced Rails Studio and Enterprise Rails Studio Alumni and have more than 50 combined years of Rails experience. The first PayPal Rails Gem was created by ELC. We continuously share new plugins with the community and help improve the core Rails framework. ELC is also a regular speaker at RailsCON. We hope you’ll seek us out at the next event.
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Ruby is experiencing rapid growth in popularity, in part because of the productivity gains that developers report and in part due to the popularity of the Rails framework, which contains important functionality for developing Web applications. Ruby has many features stemming from its strong object orientation that appeal to developers. Adding new types is simple and is similar to adding a new class. Ruby makes it easy to override, replace, and extend base functionality. Ruby has a strong orientation toward code reuse, which further adds to its productivity.