At times our clients would want to know what technologies we will use to develop their web application projects. However, we spend some time explaining why we choose Ruby on Rails (also known as Rails or RoR). After all, there are other well-known languages and frameworks for rear-end web development like Java, Python, or PHP. So why use RoR? There are multiple reasons for making this decision, and the main one is that it is often a better choice than any other tool. Ruby on Rails has been in usage for web development since 2006 and ranked as the best Ruby on Rails Developers by Clutch. Co, which we take advantage in considering that Ruby on Rails development is our strong suit.
What is Ruby on Rails?
Ruby is a multi-purpose, dynamic, interpreted language for object-oriented programming.
Nevertheless, developing new software using only Ruby is strenuous work. That is why a unique tool has been designed to improve the development process — Rails.
Rails is a web development framework that has been written in the Ruby language and introduced nine years after the initial release of Ruby. It was developed to make programming web apps more straightforward, helping to build websites of any complexity. It also marked the beginning of the entire popularity of Ruby and the arrival of Ruby on Rails companies that recognized its potential, including us.
Primary use cases of Ruby on Rails, and why it’s so popular?
The purpose of Ruby is to efficiently develop new high-performance web projects. Thus, there is no specific answer to what Ruby is used for like any general-purpose programming language. It’s used for a vast range of programming tasks. No web development company would see code as something that occurs outside of the business aims of a project. Each programming language, each technology stack are created to solve some problems. Depending on the purpose, you might or might not be the proper choice for your web project (but rather yes than no).
Types of projects that can be done using Ruby on Rails
- E-commerce, i.e., online stores with sophisticated choices.
- Photo editing web application
- Informational portals.
- Trading, news, and data analytics
- Dating websites
- Ad platforms.
- Booking websites
- Social networks.
- Non-standard complex projects.
- SaaS-solutions.
Ruby on Rails is a well-known framework; with the simplicity of prototyping, Rails is usually used by startups, non-profit projects, and huge companies. Ruby is the 11th topmost language in the TIOBE index (it shows how well-known a particular programming language is, depending on the SERP results), with various points up to 2020.
Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020 named Ruby the 14th topmost programming language in the entire world.
The number of live websites developed using Ruby on Rails goes over 900K worldwide (with almost 4 million that have existed at a point), and the number is growing.
Companies using Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails is a technology preferred for startups, although it has attracted numerous top tiers. The list of businesses that use Ruby on Rails entails Basecamp, Airbnb, Goodreads, Shopify, Kickstarter, Hulu, etc. Rails can be described as “ready for the enterprise.”
So why did these companies decide to use RoR to develop their web projects, and why use Ruby on Rails? The answer lies in the upsides of Ruby on Rails.
Upsides of Ruby on Rails from the business perspective
Speed
Ruby is easy, simple, logical, and has a tiny code-base (enabling fewer redundant code lines), resulting in quick development speed. If you add Rail, you will see how it helps RoR developers save time while coding on providing better solutions. Less code means that less time is spent on writing it while the functionality is the same.
Cost-effectiveness
As regards the recent point, development time is the client’s money. The more time development takes, the more costly it is. Because of the fast speed at which Rails websites can be created and modified, less money is spent developing and maintaining them with the account that an application is suitably designed and its development method in a given company that offers its Ruby on Rails development services is set properly.
In addition, Ruby on Rails is open-source, which means there are no licensing costs.
Flexibility
The Rails framework is very easy and allows to adapt websites to several updates about the innovations in the business method. In case you require further functionality in the future, there are different modules for that. What’s more, Ruby lets you remove several elements or redefine them if it is necessary. So also, individual parts of a program or application can be easily modified and expanded later on.
It is a uniquely expressive and easy language that allows it to solve one difficulty in several ways, giving Ruby on Rails developers a lot of freedom and opportunities to choose the most suitable solution for a project.
Different developers easily support RoR.
Ruby code is easy to read and widely self-documenting. This increases productivity, as developers are no longer required to write out distinct documentation. Thus, over 90% of Ruby web applications are written to make use of Rails. It means that RoR provides all kinds of integrations to meet the needs of the project.
Each project is perfectly structured, so a new developer will easily get the project details right from the onset. It means little downtime for business if there is a need to hire a different Ruby on Rails developer for an already existing project or source for various new ones to expand it. It’s also not a problem if one team starts a project for the other to finish it.
Massive resources and community
There’s a huge number of ready-made Ruby on Rails solutions in the public platform, the larger number of which have been tested already by another person, which reduces the need to develop something from one set.
The huge and friendly community where Ruby on Rails developers assist each other, announce new projects, and discuss all related to the framework is essential for coders and is useful for business. It helps to locate the best solutions to solve your problems in case of difficulties. The Ruby community is proud of the amount of ready-to-use code packages called “gems” provided by the developers. Presently, there are 166,327 gems that any Ruby developer can use to make your app more beneficial. Widespread use of Ruby applications and tools entails that you can integrate other services easily into RoR-based products.
Scalability
Right from the beginning, Ruby on Rails was popular for its scalability, and not without reason. The performance of the same applications written in Java and RoR can vary, especially with the high Java’s efficiency concerning multi-threaded applications. Thus, Rails 6, released last year, has resolved the entire Rails scalability challenges. Rails 6 is known to be scalable by default.
Many RoR apps that we’ve been developing can provide multiple instances of the same code (including on various servers) and work just fine. This concerns horizontal scalability (when you scale by adding more machines into your platform of resources). With vertical scalability, things are different (when you scale by adding more power to an existing machine). Thus, that’s not so much of a challenge, as you should not be deceived with it at all, or it’ll come out too costly because of server cost.
Scalability is another aspect that majorly depends on the architecture of the application and not on the framework.
High data protection
News about several resources being hacked gets published every day. For instance, Nintendo stated that a total of 300,000 customer accounts had been hacked up to date. Cybersecurity is our daily concern, both professionally and personally.
The Teams responsible for developing the Rails framework put great effort into its data protection capabilities. RoR also entrails password and credit card data encryption. Certain measures are taken to prevent SQL injection and XSS attacks.
High reliability and maintainability
The stability aspect is highly important for all businesses. Ruby on Rails development uses the TDD (test-driven development) method, and the toolkit assists the extensive testing capabilities. It means that solutions developed with Ruby on Rails are constant and easy to maintain. The framework itself also consists of automatic tests, which makes it very reliable.
Startups and SMBs
Practically, cost-effectiveness, scalability, speed access to the largest knowledge base, and other factors are all RoR’s importance, giving startups and small/medium businesses a competitive edge. Startups and developing businesses use Ruby on Rails services because they give them the capability to compete with larger firms.
The future of Ruby on Rails
It looks that every year certain articles appear presenting the demise of Ruby on Rails, to the phase where it has become something similar to a running gag in the developer platform. Why are people talking about it at all? The Ruby language goes back to 1995, while the Rails framework was developed in 2004. Everything changes with ease in the web development platform, with new hip technologies showing up now and then. At times, it is because of the necessity of solving some new challenges. Sometimes it is since something is trending. Like every other person, developers are sometimes prone to favor new exciting trends.
The essential thing that why Ruby on Rails is over 15 years old, it’s specifically being developed to help the arising requirements of the business. The current version of Rails is 3.0. It supersedes the previous one with 3x faster, featuring prime memory utilization, constant analysis, and new functions like Ractors and schedulers. These new features allow it to remain up-to-date and competitive.
