Did you know that among the most used applications by web app developers is Ruby on Rails? Some of the big and known names are Airbnb, SoundCloud, GitHub, Shopify, Hulu, Zendesk, Square, Basecamp, & more.
An eminent open-source platform, such as Ruby on Rails can assist you to make your software scalable and productive. Backed by more than 5000 contributors, the platform is made easy to use. With a variety of controversial points and concepts, IT consultation services providers offer dedicated Ruby on Rails development services to bring the needs into reality.
With a multitude of web and mobile app development platforms, many speculate on the sustainability of this framework. We can assure you that RoR is not going anywhere and will continue to help the developers build aesthetic, intuitive, robust, and reliable software solutions.
Let’s look at the trends from the last two years’ release notes of RoR.
Trends #2019 – RoR 6.0
The release notes of 6.0 in August 2019 brought some major changes, including bug fixing. The list of watchful upgrades that was deployed by the ROR contributors was –
- Action Mailbox to route incoming emails.
- Action Text that leverages editing on Rails while bringing rich text with the help of Trix Editor to handle everything.
- Parallel Testing to reduce the time taken to run a test suite.
- Action Cable Testing to review and identify the functionality at all levels ranging from channels, connections, and broadcasts.
Trends # 2020 – RoR 6.1
Last year Ruby on Rails released the 6.1 version in December that was to clear the clutter that was left in the 6.0 version. The 6.1 release notes had some major changes & features, that are –
- Pre-database Connection Switching for switching the roles and database connections.
- Horizontal Sharding allows you to functionally make multiple partitions, different schemas, which was not supported in 6.0.
- Strict Loading Associations to ensure eager loading of all associations and stop N+1’s.
- Delegated Types is a single-table inheritance alternative that is used to represent class hierarchies.
- Destroy Associations Async is an ability to destroy associations with apps in a background job by avoiding timeouts and performance-related issues.
If we look closely, the ROR has contributors that share releases and updates almost every month whether it is Rails 5.2.4.5 or 6.0.3.5, or 6.1.2.1. All improvements assure optimized performance and bug fixing inclusive of splendid features.
How Fun Is It To Create Web Apps in RoR?
Ruby on Rails framework is written in Ruby language crafted to program web apps easier through assumptions, that every developer needs. The virtue of RoR is that developers have to write less code to develop software. The enterprise software development team is also leveraged to integrate other software development platforms – languages and frameworks, which makes development fun.
Rails run on two major principles –
Don’t Repeat Yourself – The Ruby community insists on writing a piece of information just once in order to maintain it, make it more extensible, and with minimum bugs. Hence, every piece of knowledge within the system must be authoritatively, clearly, and singularly represented.
Convention over Configuration – Focusing on presumptions, you will always find the best and optimum ways or methods to implement new things in a web app. So, you need not specify details through endless configuration files.
Among the most popular technologies, Ruby was placed in 22nd position, as per the TIOBE index. In 2019, Ruby jumped to 11th place.
As per the StackOverflow survey, Ruby on Rails stood in 12th position on the list of the most loved frameworks by the developers in 2019 and jumped to 11th in 2020.
Where is Ruby Most Commonly Used?
Ruby on Rails can be used across wide industry verticals. From sophisticated websites to subtle applications, you can develop anything that can assist you in business recognition and ROI. Some of the popular domains where RoR can prove to be beneficial are –
Fintech
These projects usually demand rapid development. Ruby on Rails framework is proven to assist in developing a fast and scalable environment with the help of its large repository of gems.
SaaS Projects
Ruby on Rails can create an interface, like BaseCamp. Companies can integrate RoR to create modern software as a service that offers remote, web access hosted on the cloud.
Data Analytics Platforms
Ruby on Rails can also be leveraged to build News and Data Analytics based software. Additionally, you can create a project based on trading data or processes.
Ecommerce Application Development
The capability of RoR extends to developing multi-featured eCommerce platforms, such as Shopify and Etsy. RoR’s most use cases can be seen in eCommerce software solutions that also dictate the ability of the framework.
Social Media Platforms
An exemplary use of RoR in social media is Twitter, which is widely used. Also, Dribble is the most popular platform used by the designers and is also a social media platform built on RoR.
How Does RoR Differ From Other Accelerating & Scalable Platforms?
We comprehend and are hopeful of the Ruby on Rails bright and scalable future, we have compared other languages with RoR that proves the competitiveness and extensiveness of the framework.
Rails with Python
Both being an open-source platform, RoR & Python are high-end programming languages used for creating server-side architecture that can work on multiple platforms. Their key differences are –
- Rails dominates Python for being an object-oriented language.
- For web app development Ruby relies on Ruby on Rails language, whereas Python on Django.
- Python has a huge community focused on complex building, such as machine learning tasks, whereas Rails have a community of web developers that focus more on assumptions for concrete and accurate syntax.
- Where Python supports multiple inheritance, RoR supports only single inheritance on the OOP front.
Rails with PHP
They too resemble each other as both are used for developing server-side applications. Rumors were in the air about PhP dying just as about Rails. However, both languages share almost the same style for writing code but have their differences as well.
- The visible difference is the easy deployment of the application, which is better in PhP compared to Rails.
- PHP has LAMP & LAPP, which makes it easy to deploy, whereas Rails is composed of stacks that need careful picking from web servers or databases, or apps.
- Unlike Rails, PHP is not object-oriented hence is dominated by Rails for the project development process.
- Another point where Rails wins is the need for lesser coding, where PhP requires tireless & monotonous coding at times.
Rails with Nodejs
Both are scalable platforms enriched with tools to develop enterprise-grade apps. Despite being used for developing server-side environments, both deliver agility, support multi-threading, and provide ease of maintenance. Still, they share some unique differences, which are –
- When you look at performance, NodeJs is unbeatable by offering preeminent benchmark runtimes when compared to any other related languages.
- Nodejs is built on the epitome of languages, i.e JavaScript, hence when you get the choice between RoR & Nodejs you would pick Node.
- Javascript helps cut the major cost of development when developing front-end & back-end apps. Hence, Nodejs can be taken into consideration here. Favoring RoR, Nodejs is new in the field hence, cannot be said that it is the absolute choice and cost-effective solution.
Advantages of Using Ruby On Rails for Your Next Project
It is known that there are a plethora of frameworks and programming languages for web and app development services that are backed by a big fat community of expert freelance and newbie developers. These professional and dedicated communities strive to innovate and provide the best ever experience of development.
Introducing Ruby on Rails in your development arsenal can give you substantial benefits, such as –
Code Quality – The quality of code in RoR is better than Nodejs and PHP, despite using a third-party package to integrate into your app. The code of RoR will never cause performance issues on the Rails application.
Maturity – Backed by the huge community, today RoR is profoundly used for developing enterprise-grade mature products. Rails is a reliable framework that can be used for developing high-end projects.
Libraries – Rails has its own warehouse of packages that are available as gems that assist the developers to make the development process fast without reinventing the part of a project each time.
Testing – Writing test codes is the most time-consuming yet vital task. With the help of automating the testing process, RoR makes the testing easier thereby delivering accurate value requisite for high-quality solution.
Productivity – A well-written easy to understand language, RoR helps developers to get rid of any uncertainty. Rails are developed on assumptions hence you will find only clear syntaxes. The productivity of your project is defined by its scalability and RoR is a flexible platform that supports complex paradigms to concurrent & parallel executions making your app scalable.
Future with Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails has been with us for a quite long time and we shall continue to see it furthermore. Its popularity isn’t hidden, hence popular brands, such as Makers Academy, CodeCademy, and Steer are relying upon RoR for their upcoming projects. If you choose RoR today for your next project, you will always have a vigilant and active community to support you and improve your application in the future as well.
Author’s Bio: Alicia works with the editorial team of A3logics, a leading company that offers a wide variety of enterprise-grade software solutions inclusive of edi solutions for which they have prowess and dedicated team. Exploring the latest technologies, reading about them, and writing her views have always been her passion. She seeks new opportunities to express her opinions, explore technological advancements, and document the details. You can always find her enjoying books or articles about varied topics or jotting down her ideas in a notebook.
