For the past decade, companies have invested much in technologies, getting plenty of advantages from them. Based on a poll done by Digital Intelligence Briefing: 2018 Digital Trends, 73% of company respondents believe that their skills are a mix of technology and digital marketing expertise.  This trend is believed to continue to grow in the next 10 years.

Having these factors in mind, companies should pay more attention to web application development.

To help you understand better the technologies that are used in the development process, we have compared the two most popular leading technologies out there – Ruby on Rails vs JavaScript.

Ruby on Rails (ROR): how does it work?

Written in the Ruby language, Ruby on Rails is a framework widely used among programmers for the development of web and desktop applications. To help you save on hours of typing, Rails uses Ruby rather than SQL code.

The MVC (Model View Controller) type of framework is implemented in Ruby on Rails in which models store information, views display it and controllers act as intermediaries who control them.

The framework is specifically designed to be customized to suit the user’s needs. Additionally, ROR includes Gems, which are libraries and modules of Ruby programs organized in a standard format for installation in order to be used as plug-ins.  

Ruby on Rails: what makes it so popular?

Even though Ruby on Rails has suffered a decline in popularity in recent years, due to the availability of other competitors, it has successfully stayed on the market for more than 15 years thanks to some key factors:

  • Convenience
  • Large audience
  • Compatible with Content Management Systems (CMS)
  • Businesses adopting Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails is the obvious choice if you need a quick release and simplicity for integrating the complex attributes with the web applications. Knowing that giant companies such as Hulu, Twitch.tv, Github, Imgur are still using ROR as their main framework for web development, which simply supports the fact of the vast popularity of the framework.

Now that you have been introduced to Ruby on Rails, Let’s learn a little bit about JavaScript and its popularity.

JavaScript (JS): How does it work?

This framework developed by Brendan Eich is an object-oriented coding language that allows users to create a dynamic HTML page and interactive effect for a website that engages users. JavaScript provides full-stack programmers with complex functionalities and allows them to interact with other web development languages.

Additionally, with these scripting languages, you can also access animated graphics, photo slideshows, interactive shapes, and suggestions for auto text completions. JS is commonly used by Google search results and Facebook pages that load quicker and more.

JavaScript: what makes it so popular?

Generally, JS is used for web-based apps and web browsers. However, it can also be used for web servers, software, and embedded hardware controls. Its learning curve is quite easy. Many of the fortune 500 organizations used JS for front-end web development. Also, if you look at the StackOverflow survey results,  JavaScript has been rated as one of the top programming languages for the past six years.

 Ruby on Rails vs Javascript: differences

   Object-oriented programming system:

Ruby on Rails: object-oriented, dynamic, general scripting language.

JavaScript: object-oriented scripting, dynamic language.

  1. Programming language:

Ruby on Rails: mainly used for Back-end development.

JavaScript: mainly used for Front-end development.

  1. Usage:

Ruby on Rails: for building substantial CPU applications with fewer lines of code.

JavaScript: for building applications in real-time with scalability and performance.

  1. Performance:

Ruby on Rails: time-consuming and slow.

JavaScript: faster performance with the highly optimized engine.

  1. Scalability:

 Ruby on Rails: low scalability

JavaScript: more scalable in comparison to ROR.

 Ruby on Rails vs JavaScript: the better option?

Both languages provide various attributes, advantages as well as disadvantages. ROR was designed to run on web servers that are supporting CGI. Also, Ruby on Rails programming is used for frameworks such as MySQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and DB2.

On the other hand, JavaScript is a multi-paradigm, single-threaded, prototype-based, robust language supporting imperative, declarative styles.

To conclude, both languages attract their own users which mainly depends on the needs and business models the companies adopt. While ROR is mainly used for back-end development, JS is mainly used for front-end. If you take into consideration everything we said above, you could conclude that these two languages are not each other’s competitors and could be used to complete one another.