Ruby on Rails vs PHP/mySQL APP

Fi_C**

Hi everyone,

I've recently been approached by a potential client to build a secure database driven web application and to advise him about the best, most efficient, cheapest yet VERY secure framework.

I the past I have used a PHP, apache, mySQL framework and I feel that this framework would also be appropriate here, however I have recently come across Ruby - on Rails, although I haven't used it I have been reading many good things about it!

Does anybody here have any experience with it? If so any comments would be greatly appreciated .. ie.e what is the learning curve, how does ruby fare against PhP, etc.

Thanks in advance,

Fi

Adam

I'm in a very similar situation, I've got just under a years php/mysql development experience, and have been looking at ruby lately. I've toyed with it a bit, and I must say it's impressive! The learning curve is pretty high though, hence why I haven't thrown myself head first into it, in the fear that a couple of months from now I'll have learned nothing!

But I highly recommend the lynda.com tutorial vids, you should watch the first few free chapters to get a better idea: http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=324

When it comes to syntax, it's quite different, but not difficult. To me, the real key to learning RoR is getting a real grip on the MVC(Model View Controller) architechture, because it all seems very complicated at the moment but nothing else is phasing me so I figure it's the one nut to crack to spill the whole thing wide open!

Hope that helps, drop me a PM if you want any more info!

Adam

The Corinthian

Fi_C** wrote:

I've recently been approached by a potential client to build a secure database driven web application and to advise him about the best, most efficient, cheapest yet VERY secure framework.

Tell him he can't have his cake and eat it.

I the past I have used a PHP, apache, mySQL framework and I feel that this framework would also be appropriate here, however I have recently come across Ruby - on Rails, although I haven't used it I have been reading many good things about it!

IMHO, it’s a fad. Ruby’s been around for years, but no one paid it any notice until they built a Web framework around it (Rails) that promised, according to the hype, to allow people to build an entire database backed site with three lines of code.

So in essence you get a lot of people talking about it, but very few actually using it professionally. So if I was your potential client, I’d keep clear of it because developer rates for Ruby would likely be much higher than PHP due to the laws of supply and demand and would also face the danger that Rails will go the way of the dodo in a few short years.

Does anybody here have any experience with it? If so any comments would be greatly appreciated .. ie.e what is the learning curve, how does ruby fare against PhP, etc.

If you’re able to program (and by that I don’t mean the cut and paste excuse for programming that half of the posters here call ‘programming’) and are familiar with OO then it’s easy enough to get into and it is a nice language. Having said this, while I’ve coded up a few scripts in it, but I’m certainly no expert in Ruby, so I can only give my experience as to the learning curve to a point, which is that it’s not difficult to get into if you know what you’re doing.

HTH

Giblet

Rails is nice, and it's impressive how quick small apps can be done, and I'd probably even side with it if the app was small enough. It just doesn't scale well.

aidan_walsh

Giblet wrote:

Rails is nice, and it's impressive how quick small apps can be done, and I'd probably even side with it if the app was small enough. It just doesn't scale well.

Indeed. Reading quite a lot about the scaling trouble that Twitter has been having, and how the best solution they got from the Rails developers, aside from a couple of fixes that went in, was to throw more hardware at it.

Fi_C**

Thanks for the replies everybody!