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Ask HN: Is Ruby on Rails still worth it?

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Re: Ask HN: Is Ruby on Rails still worth it?

#12
Yes, Rails helps developers make good upfront choices to the structuring of their application and database. The DB layer and structure is going to be a bottleneck well before the programming framework is (I think this is true in any framework). I enjoy that Rails makes it easy to do things like take care of N+1 queries, do associations correctly, etc. That isn't exclusive to Rails, but it is really good in Rails.

Re: Ask HN: Is Ruby on Rails still worth it?

#13
From someone who doesn't use Rails day-to-day: It's still about as relevant as it used to be before, for the same reasons it was relevant then.

In summary: If you need to get shit done fast, it's a good bet.

It isn't as hyped as it used to be 5 or so years ago, and if hype cycles are relevant to you, you likely already know your answer.

As to whether you are asking whether learning it would make you unemployable, by no means. RoR is still going strong, at least in my country.

Re: Ask HN: Is Ruby on Rails still worth it?

#15

Wouldn't Python/Django make more sense in 2018 considering that Python could be used for data science and machine learning? I realize this is a Python vs Ruby question, but if you didn't know either Python or Ruby and were trying to pick between Django and Rails for a project, wouldn't you pick Django in 2018 due to future data science and machine learning opportunities?

Merely knowing python does not a data scientist make.

Re: Ask HN: Is Ruby on Rails still worth it?

#16
Yes. Rails has by now certainly crossed into boring software territory – arguably a [positive thing](http://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology) anyway – but it remains an excellent choice coming into 2018:

- Out of the box, Rails has close to unbeatable developer ergonomics, tooling, stability, and ease of use

- Lots of high quality, large companies use it (GitHub, Shopify, Airbnb, Square, Twitch) and have by now figured out how to scale it, often sharing and open sourcing their efforts, e.g. https://github.com/Shopify/identity_cache

- If your product front end is simple, Turbolinks can be an excellent choice (find me a faster, more bug free product than Basecamp)

- If you prefer to use a more modern JavaScript solution on the front end like Ember or React, Rails API is a perfect fit

- The Ruby ecosystem and community are both very high quality

Re: Ask HN: Is Ruby on Rails still worth it?

#17
Much of what you learn in Ruby and Rails is not portable to other languages. Ruby and Rails are deeply flawed and much of what you learn is dealing with those flaws. Similar to learning PHP for example (but differently flawed than PHP). Ruby is also showing its age and is lagging behind modern languages.

Rails is probably fine and fast and good for small projects. It is probably not good for professional large projects.

Re: Ask HN: Is Ruby on Rails still worth it?

#18

Wouldn't Python/Django make more sense in 2018 considering that Python could be used for data science and machine learning? I realize this is a Python vs Ruby question, but if you didn't know either Python or Ruby and were trying to pick between Django and Rails for a project, wouldn't you pick Django in 2018 due to future data science and machine learning opportunities?

No. Learning Python is quick and simple compared to learning data science or machine learning.

Knowing Python and Django (which I do) does not afford you any ability do to those things.

Re: Ask HN: Is Ruby on Rails still worth it?

#19

Wouldn't Python/Django make more sense in 2018 considering that Python could be used for data science and machine learning? I realize this is a Python vs Ruby question, but if you didn't know either Python or Ruby and were trying to pick between Django and Rails for a project, wouldn't you pick Django in 2018 due to future data science and machine learning opportunities?

Merely knowing python does not a data scientist make.

Of course, but wouldn't one be better preparing themselves for data science by working with python/django on a web app vs working with Ruby/Rails?

Re: Ask HN: Is Ruby on Rails still worth it?

#20
There’s nothing wrong with Rails in 2018. It’s maybe not the most forward-looking choice you could make but it’ll get you running quickly.

But if you have a smart team and a little bit of time for ramping up then I’d suggest Elixir+Phoenix or Node tbh.

Rails is good at what it’s designed to be - a one stop shop for fast to develop, kinda dirty, framework magic, webdev.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

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