Why we still build with Ruby • Hacker News Board

Re: Why we still build with Ruby

#91

Post by at0mic22 » Thu, Aug 21, 2025, 9:48 AM UTC

horsawlarway wrote: post #71

at0mic22 wrote: post #59

With rails you'd always have to pay for absence of strict types with extensive testing where you'd basically have to verify that data structures match. I don't buy it anymore

This is where I landed too. Type system support, and the tooling around that support, has gotten SO much more powerful in the last decade or so. Lots of the warts also got burned off with better support for smart typing, auto vars, duck typing for inputs, etc. That tooling covers a HUGE swath of bugs that I just don't have to worry nearly as much about, and it makes quick refactoring less painful and less risky. Goin…

Ruby guys have made an attempt to introduce type system few years ago, but they found it nearly impossible to infer types from metaprogrammed code - which makes sense. So they came with the suggestion that you write types for dynamically generated methods yourself. Comeon!

Re: Why we still build with Ruby

#92

Post by lardissone » Thu, Aug 21, 2025, 3:13 PM UTC

I've been working with Django/Python for many years, and around 10 years switched to JS stack, because of work (and because I read HN too much).

Last year finally convinced me that the entire JS community is sick, they want to re-invent the wheel all the time and making new libraries obsolete in months. So I started to use Django again. Most of the things needed for MVPs or prototypes are covered by their admin panel, thn when I need to build a front, I decide if use views or a simple frontend (next.js, svelte, etc) that communicates to my API.

Re: Why we still build with Ruby

#93

Post by dismalaf » Thu, Aug 21, 2025, 4:34 PM UTC

SkyPuncher wrote: post #27

dismalaf wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Python is best for working with LLMs Just curious how you're integrating LLMs... Self hosting? I've been using RubyLLM and find it pretty decent for my needs, it's also improving at a very rapid rate. But it does focus on the most common providers and tools...

Basically, the entire data and language processing world works in Python. It's not that tools don't exist in other languages. It's that Python has the most readily available tooling. That makes analysis and iteration a lot easier.

> Basically, the entire data and language processing world works in Python.

Dunno, when I started I learned Stata, but it seemed the big open-source thing was R. Python data stuff was in its infancy. R got huge, then Python got huge. Of course all the underlying libraries are C/C++ or Fortran. Everything does exist in Ruby as well.

But hey, I also just hate Python (find it super complicated to set up, their package managers are terrible, plus find the language inconsistent) so I avoid it at all costs. Would much rather Julia become the de-facto standard.

Re: Why we still build with Ruby

#94

Post by vindin » Thu, Aug 28, 2025, 5:56 AM UTC

hakunin wrote: post #75

vindin wrote: post #2

I don’t understand why Ruby and Rails get a reputation for being outdated or “legacy.” Over the last several years both have seen massive numbers of contributions, both in improvements and new features. I’d be surprised if any tool for building a new web app could even come close to what Rails has to offer across the full stack.

This is anecdotal, but one thing I do when comparing languages and frameworks, is browse the most popular libraries on GitHub from that ecosystem, and see how much maintenance they're getting. I usually use the contributors graph, as well as review how/when issues are handled. Ruby projects seem to have the most contributors maintaining the "deepest" libraries of any ecosystem I've seen, consistently, for the longest…

I've noticed the exact same thing. Every tablestakes component has a gold standard library (sidekiq, puma, devise, rake, vcr, and so many others) and all seem to have been updated within the last week. The community might be small and have a dull outward appearance, but anyone who works with Ruby knows that the ecosystem has been blooming with life for 2 decades.