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Ask HN: Would you still choose Ruby on Rails for a startup in 2025?

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Re: Ask HN: Would you still choose Ruby on Rails for a startup in 2025?

#91

Post by mgriepentrog »

rohan_ wrote: post #54

Modern React is a "full-stack" framework - with the current recommended implementation being NextJS. If you build on NextJS you will get the entire tailwinds of the industry behind you. Having Cursor write a full-stack app that leverages server components alongside client components is a 10x velocity unlock that you won't get if you bifurcate your codebase (as is the rails model) Typescript is going to be the languag…

The statement that Rails is an "unserious" framework is not true. There are many multi-million/billion dollar companies built with Rails: Shopify, GitHub, Chime, Gusto, GitLab, and Basecamp/Hey, to name a few.

1. It does: https://github.com/Shopify/ruby-lsp

2. It does have a type system, just not a _static_ type system. You can declare/annotate methods using RBS/Sorbet, just like TypeScript.

3. I don't care what paradigm is being used if it solves my problem and I can be productive in it.

4. I wouldn't want to work with them either.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still choose Ruby on Rails for a startup in 2025?

#92

Post by a-priori »

anonfordays wrote: post #81
a-priori wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst part about Rails is the 37signals people, in particular DHH. But the good news is that you can just ignore them and enjoy the framework, like I do.

>The worst part about Rails is the 37signals people, in particular DHH. Why? What is wrong with DHH?

The good news is that I can just say: go ahead and Google “DHH blog”, read his most recent few blog posts and form your own opinions.

I’ve had a negative opinion of him for a good five years or so, but at least right now it’s easy to go read those and form your own strong opinion one way or another.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still choose Ruby on Rails for a startup in 2025?

#93

Post by anonfordays »

muzani wrote: post #28
tra3 wrote: post #11

Yes, I would. In fact, I'd use any boring technology [0]. Anything that's been around and battle tested. If I was at a startup trying to solve a business problem, the last thing I'd want to do is bruise my knuckles fighting with my tools. Rails provides an opinionated way to structure your codebase as well as many existing modules that just work. It's not exclusive in this space, but it's a safe bet. You can get any…

Is it boring technology? I'm actually reluctant to pick up Rails because it had always been sold by the Basecamp cult and Jason Fried gives off Musk vibes. Many opinionated frameworks are also less reliable because of the layers of abstraction, so I'd also associate opinionated framework = sexy and temporary. I've never actually used Rails in production, just did some tutorial, so I'm probably wrong about this.

>I'm actually reluctant to pick up Rails because it had always been sold by the Basecamp cult and Jason Fried gives off Musk vibes.

Why? What "Musk vibes" have they given off?

Re: Ask HN: Would you still choose Ruby on Rails for a startup in 2025?

#94

Post by ajsharp »

rohan_ wrote: post #54

Modern React is a "full-stack" framework - with the current recommended implementation being NextJS. If you build on NextJS you will get the entire tailwinds of the industry behind you. Having Cursor write a full-stack app that leverages server components alongside client components is a 10x velocity unlock that you won't get if you bifurcate your codebase (as is the rails model) Typescript is going to be the languag…

I hate to break this to you, but typescript ain't type-safe. There's a lot I like about typescript, but your runtime is still node, so any "type-safety" is mostly illusory. Not to mention every typescript codebase I've ever looked at includes a copious amount of Any, so...there's that.

Also, typescript has OOP support for a reason -- lots of typescript codebases make copious use of classes. Javascript tried to remain mostly functional for a long time, and people kept trying to make class-based OOP, so, they added it.

Finally, React is not a full-stack framework -- it's a framework for generating UIs. It has recently added support for server-side rendering, and NextJS has added support for that, but Rails and NextJS are very different. Rails is batteries included, NextJS is bring your own [everything] that happens on the server.

YMMV/to each their own/etc etc etc, but referring Rails as "fundamentally unserious" (github, stripe, shopify, i could go on) reflects the opinion of someone who either has an axe to grind with ruby/rails, or is willfully ignorant of it's capability.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still choose Ruby on Rails for a startup in 2025?

#95

Post by schappim »

moorow wrote: post #78
schappim wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everything just works. I long to live in your world where this is the case! Unfortunately the migration from Sidekiq + Redis → Solid Queue has been anything but boring.

We're about to do this as well, but from resque. Got any tips to share?

TBH we backed out of it as we didn't need to make the change now.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still choose Ruby on Rails for a startup in 2025?

#96

Post by gregors »

Rails is pretty amazing to get started. Rails is definitely the gold standard when it comes to Get Shit Done fast. I think the Active Record model can lead to some technical debt down the road, but for getting started nothing is faster from a dev perspective.

All that being said these days I'd start with Elixir/Phoenix.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still choose Ruby on Rails for a startup in 2025?

#97

Post by gregors »

mettamage wrote: post #70
shortrounddev2 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, hire people because of their intrinsic competency and not because they check the "X years of experience in Rails" box. Hire people who can pick up new languages easily

Most companies don't do that in my experience. It'd have been easier to get hired over the years if they did.

It's always been a non-issue for me. However, when I do want to explore a new stack I generally go as a consultant or in a small startup i.e. not-well-funded. I'm more than willing to pay the price in wage for a few shorter-term engagements.

Re: Ask HN: Would you still choose Ruby on Rails for a startup in 2025?

#98

Post by gregors »

robertlagrant wrote: post #59
nickserv wrote: post #52

I would not. I've used PHP, Python, Go, JS/TS, and Ruby in production with small to medium teams. Teams that I managed on occasion and recruited, to a certain extent. RoR is great at first but in my experience quickly becomes full of hard to diagnose bugs, its magic metaprogramming seems too tempting for developers to use and leads to all sorts of problems. There is a lack of good quality, well maintenained 3rd party…

> If you need to hire a sizeable team quickly, I would reach for Node or PHP. I always wonder about this. Surely the technology you pick influences the size of the team.

shopify, airbnb, github, hulu ....managed to make it work
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