E-Commerce and Ruby on Rails: Why Do They Go Hand-in-Hand?

October 25, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

Nowadays, having a professional-looking website is a huge asset to any business. Online shopping, commonly called e-commerce, requires more than just an appealing website. It must be able to function smoothly.

When it comes to creating those websites, frontend development tools—or the elements that are visible to users—and backend tools, the things they can’t see, are equally important to achieving a smooth user experience. There are many tools for both ends of development, but the backend tools serve as the foundation for the site.

One such important backend development tool is Ruby on Rails.

Why Choose Ruby on Rails?

Apart from Ruby on Rails (RoR), other popular backend frameworks include PHP, Python, and Java. RoR has over 15 years of experience in the development community. This is because of the numerous advantages that make it great for development projects like e-commerce websites. These include:

Popularity

Believe it or not, having popularity in the development community is a testament to its effectiveness. RoR’s community is large and active, meaning there are always developers helping to improve the software’s functionality.

Flexibility

RoR is very flexible in its integration capabilities and scalability. It also has a modular architecture, meaning it can be modified for various different projects. With e-commerce, RoR supports platforms such as B2B, B2B2C, and B2C.

Reliability

This framework has a ‘Convention over configuration’ principle. It aids Ruby on Rail’s ability to work with other frameworks. Ruby on Rails was released in 2004 and its predecessor, Ruby, was released in 1995. It makes both established development tools that continue to be used and popular.

Performance Speed/Cost Efficiency

Alongside containing a fast performance speed, RoR is more cost-efficient as a result. This framework is designed to reduce development time. Thus, it’s simpler and easier to use. Companies like Doordash, Netflix, and Airbnb also incorporate Ruby on Rails into their systems.

A unique characteristic of RoR is its use of gems, which are pre-designed elements to help set up payment systems, virtual carts, and authentication options. These are extremely beneficial for e-commerce sites. Being open-sourced and free are other benefits too.

Why do e-commerce sites and Ruby on Rails go hand-in-hand?

The ability to use gems in RoR is one of the biggest reasons, in tandem with a fast performance speed, that developers like to use this framework when creating e-commerce sites. These websites must be able to not only hold a lot of data but run many tasks simultaneously, contain safe and secure ways to process data and run smoothly and quickly for users. All of these characteristics combined contribute to a positive user experience. Ruby on Rails was created to be startup-friendly, but support large businesses’ needs too. It’s also flexible enough to evolve with surrounding technologies. The community of developers backing it up to serve as a lifeline for RoR to remain a popular development tool as technological advancements and demand increase.

Developer Employer

Top 7 Reasons Developers Should Use Ruby on Rails for Startup Web Development

October 25, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

Ruby on Rails is an open-sourced, free framework that was released in 2004 for developers to use in a variety of different development projects. From large corporations down to startup businesses, this framework aims to be fast, easy to use, and secure. Commonly referred to as RoR, Ruby on Rails is great for startup web developers who may have little to no experience. RoR’s success and effectiveness are backed by major corporations like Hulu, Fiverr, Twitch, and Bloomberg. Those companies show how this framework can be used for different purposes such as news, live video streaming, and offering freelance services.

Here are 7 reasons why Ruby on Rails is great for startup web development:

Time to Market (TTM)

This indicates how long it takes development projects to reach the publishing stage. Thanks to the use of modules and plugins, Ruby on Rails can reduce development time up to 50%.

Tracks Code

By tracking code across different platforms, the projects created with RoR can continue to run even years later. Code doesn’t have to be reconstructed or transferred to another platform because the previous one was out of date.

Good for E-Commerce Sites

Ruby on Rails’s features are very accommodating for the development of e-commerce websites. It helps implement cart functionality, adds payment options, and can hold large amounts of data needed to maintain such a site.

Flexible & Low Cost

An open-source framework, RoR is free and flexible across varying platforms. This allows startup businesses, in particular, to benefit from a decrease in development cost due to the framework’s functions. Designed to do just that, and be high-performing as well, Ruby on Rails makes it simpler for developers to maintain the quality of their projects.

Easy to Learn

The creator of RoR intended for it to be easier to learn how to use than most other backend tools. Using an English-based syntax, the framework lowers the chance of coding errors previously experienced with number-based syntaxes. Similarly, it implements reusable code, which simplifies the development process.

Fast-Performing

A high-performance speed is one of Ruby on Rails’s specialties. The smaller file size, which leads to a decreased download speed, adds to the speed of the framework’s performance on top of having a faster load time.

Simple to Maintain

Ruby on Rails has a large, active community of developers. This adds to the simplicity of being able to maintain it. Libraries, in tandem with those developers, can solve issues that arise with using RoR, making the maintenance of the framework itself much easier. Within it exists a community hosting service called RubyGems as well.

Conclusion

When starting a business, it’s important that developers choose frontend and backend development tools that can support the business’s growth. Ruby on Rails is a lightweight, high-performing framework that can do just that. From startup companies to major corporations, RoR can handle all of it while running smoothly. Isn’t that the ultimate goal for any aspiring business owners?

Developer

Is Ruby on Rails a Good Technology to Build an MVP?

October 18, 2021 Comments Off Roxana read

Today we will look at Ruby on Rails as a tool to build MVP. Ruby on Rails is an open-sourced, server-side web application framework. It focuses on efficient code writing and minimizing app production time.

The framework provides default structures for a database, web service, and web pages and so takes over repetitive tasks. This gives developers more time to focus on fundamental challenges.

RoR main features:

Open-sourced: the code is accessible to the public for use, modification, and distribution.
No surprises: as the code is owned and worked on by the community, it works as a developer would expect it to. The same tasks are simply executed in different ways.
Re-Use: It allows the developer to re-use as much code as possible.
Convention Over Configuration: Defaults, settings, and values are automatically selected without intervention. This is easier than, say, Java frameworks, with many settings and new configurations.
Follow standard protocol; everything is more straightforward: Rails uses established practices. The more you follow, the fewer decisions you need to make, leading to quicker development times and hassle-free maintenance.
An omakase menu: Ruby chooses frameworks that work for your project and concerns itself with how they fit together. There are fewer individual developer choices; some would say, less of a burden to choose?
Value-integrated systems: the whole system addresses front-to-back-end problems.

Ruby language has an engaged and supportive community that has created many resources over the years. Some of these include ActiveAdmin, Devise (authentication), Byebug, and Spree (e-commerce platform for Rails).

Ruby on Rails has become increasingly popular since being launched and has a large following in the developer community. It is recognized within the community as a way to develop MVP with ease. Even those developers who have not yet used it are aware of it and have expressed their admiration for its qualities.

Ruby on Rails is ready to go with the tools needed for a faster and more efficient process when it comes to MVP development.

Some of these tools are:

Generators

RoR has a library of generators that make creating the MVP pattern a little easier. There is no need to generate files and code, but developers still have the option to create customized generators to speed up repetitive tasks.

Engines

These are miniature apps that provide a range of capabilities to a Rails application. This enhances the productivity of the developer and saves time for focusing on core responsibilities. Engine examples are Devise, Spree, and Thredded.

Object Relational Mapping:

Active Record is the part of the system tasked with displaying business data and logic information. With Active Record, developers can:

Represent models and the model data, as well as model associations
Through related models, represent inheritance
Verify models
Undertake database operations in an object-orientated manner

Companies such as Airbnb and Shopify have credited RoR with their web application success at the beginning of their expansions.

Whether you are a business owner or a developer building an MVP, Rails has many benefits. These are summarised below:

Rapid development
First-rate quality
Scalability and security

Much to learn from the philosophy and community of the language used for developing web solutions. Its code runs faster than other frameworks, and it offers flexibility in database connectivity. Recent upgrades and more relevant tools being added will only increase its relevance in 2021 and beyond.