To stay ahead, businesses seek solutions that help them meet evolving business and customer needs. Ruby on Rails is a prominent option that benefits both due to its exceptional offerings.
5.3% of websites are built using Ruby on Rails, including GitHub, Shopify, Twitch, Dribble, and Airbnb. It has gained popularity due to its consistent updates and the addition of powerful gems and libraries for building advanced applications.
But, some businesses ask “Is Ruby still alive in 2024?”.
Well, yes. It is alive and making a prominent impact on scaling businesses.
5.49% of developers prefer Ruby on Rails. This blog will help you understand the pros and cons of Ruby on Rails along with use cases and future trends.
What is Ruby on Rails?
Ruby on Rails, a popular open-source web development framework. It is built on the Ruby programming language, extending all its capabilities. It is known for simplicity, ease of use, rapid development, and low cost.
Here are some features that make Ruby on Rails a preferred choice.
Convention over Configuration: Rails emphasizes sensible defaults, reducing the need for configuration.
MVC Architecture: Uses Model-View-Controller pattern for organizing code and separating concerns.
RESTful Routing: RoR supports RESTful design principles for building dynamic APIs and web applications.
Active Record: RoR has an ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) layer for seamless database interaction without causing overhead.
Generators: Automates repetitive tasks like creating models, controllers, and migrations.
Scaffolding: Quickly generates a basic CRUD interface for prototypes and early development.
Gems: RoR offers a wide range of RubyGems for integrating next-gen functionalities.
Security: Its built-in security measures protect the application against common attacks like SQL injection and CSRF attacks.
Testing Framework: RoR offers a seamless testing experience with built-in testing tools MiniTest and RSpec.
Community and Ecosystem: Large and active community with extensive libraries (gems) and resources for support and learning.
To build next-gen RoR solutions, you must hire the best ROR developers from a leading Ruby on Rails development company.
Advantages of Ruby on Rails
1. Best Industry Standards
Ruby on Rails is an opinionated framework that ensures the best industry standards to be followed. It promotes best practices in web development. The DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) principle is central to Rails, ensuring organized and maintainable applications. Rails follow "convention over configuration," providing default ways to do things. It uses the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture for modular and extendable applications. Even complex applications like GitHub are built on Rails, demonstrating its scalability and management capabilities.
2. Fast development speed
Ruby on Rails was designed for fast prototyping and application development. It uses modules, generator scripts, and a package management system for quickly scaffolding complex applications.
The Ruby language and its many open-source libraries (gems) enable rapid development. Rails includes ActiveRecord for organizing applications and data logic efficiently.
Ruby requires writing significantly fewer lines of code, reducing development time by 30-40%. Rails' Convention over Configuration principle simplifies decision-making for developers. Built-in generators automate repetitive tasks, speeding up web application development. Rails integrates well with agile software development methodologies.
Hire a Ruby on Rails software development company to launch your apps faster and more efficiently.
3. Extensive and active community
Ruby on Rails has 53k stars, 21.2k forks, and over 4700 contributors on GitHub.
Rails is a web framework supported by a lively community of developers. They constantly improve the code and add new features. This means you don't have to start from scratch in your projects. Rails has a wide range of "gems" available for various functionalities. The Ruby community maintains these gems. The active community ensures Rails stays updated, fixes issues, and maintains security.
4. Cost-efficient Development
Ruby on Rails allows for quick and cost-effective development. It saves money by speeding up the process. RoR developers are affordable and easy to find. It's a popular choice for new developers because it's easy to learn. Maintaining applications in Rails is straightforward and inexpensive. Since Rails is open-source, there are no licensing fees. If you want to save money on web development, consider Ruby on Rails consulting.
Ruby on Rails is great for quickly building basic applications and MVPs with minimal code. It also offers many Ruby gems for adding features easily, keeping code light, and improving performance.
Consult with a Ruby on Rails consultancy to develop next-gen applications.
Disadvantages of Ruby on Rails
1. Runtime speed and performance
Some criticize Ruby on Rails for being slower compared to other frameworks like Node.js or Django. For most applications, performance issues are more likely due to server or database setup and the skills of your team. Ruby and Ruby on Rails sometimes unexpectedly use high CPU, which can be frustrating for developers.
Benchmarks don't always tell the whole story; performance involves more than just speed. For most projects, execution time isn't critical unless there are strict hardware limitations. Interestingly, Python can sometimes be slower than Ruby in actual execution. To reduce CPU usage, editing configuration files and disabling unnecessary background processes can help. However, the main issue often stems from the quality of the code. Identifying problematic lines can be a challenge for developers.
2. Low flexibility
Ruby on Rails comes with predefined settings and modules that are essential for starting a project. These default features are useful for standard applications but may limit customization for unique needs. You might face challenges if your project requires significant customization beyond Rails' defaults. At some stage, you may need to decide whether to heavily modify your Rails application or switch to a more suitable framework. You can hire a dedicated Ruby on Rails developer to implement optimized solutions to improve flexibility.
3. Scalability issues
Critics point out that Ruby on Rails lacks scalability compared to other frameworks, mainly due to limited support for concurrency and asynchronous processing. However, scalability isn't solely the framework's responsibility; it heavily depends on the application's architecture.
Consider scalability tools, expected user numbers, and the environment from the start of development. Rails can handle increased requests with a load balancer and modular code that works well with various databases. With optimization, Ruby on Rails can effectively manage scalability challenges.
4. Price of mistake
Mistakes in Ruby on Rails development can greatly affect performance. Attention to detail is crucial for successful development with Ruby on Rails. Incorrect decisions early on can slow down your application, disrupt software connections, and lead to unintended issues.
5. Lack of skilled Ruby on Rails Development Team
Employers often struggle to find skilled Ruby developers with extensive experience and proven abilities. This challenge isn't specific to Ruby developers; it's a common issue across many specialized fields, according to a Glassdoor survey. To streamline hiring and find suitable candidates faster, consider using a specialized Ruby on rails outsourcing company like OnGraph.
Popular Applications Using Ruby on Rails
Ruby covers almost all aspects of web development effectively.
1. Marketplaces: Ruby on Rails simplifies marketplace development with built-in tools for HTML, JavaScript, and data storage, making it efficient and straightforward.
2. Software as a Service (SaaS): Ruby on Rails integrates smoothly with external services like payment methods and cloud servers, ensuring efficient and scalable SaaS products.
3. MVP and prototypes: Ruby on Rails' modular architecture allows quick changes without disrupting other parts of the application, saving time and costs.
4. Mobile backend development: RoR is excellent for building backend services for mobile apps with easy authentication and flexible database support.
5. Educational platforms: Ruby on Rails supports the rapid development of interactive educational platforms with its MVC architecture and rich functionality gems. At OnGraph, we created an e-learning platform, Gradready to improve 30% user engagement.
6. Social networking sites: RoR's scalability and modular architecture make it ideal for developing social networking sites that can grow with user demand.
7. Project management tools: Ruby on Rails' modular architecture enables customization to meet specific project management needs, supported by Active Record for efficient database management.
8. AI/ML-powered and IoT solutions: Ruby on Rails is capable of handling complex innovations with robust features and a wide range of gems for integrating AI and IoT functionalities.
You must connect with a Ruby on rails web development company to explore diverse use cases and understand how you can achieve instant growth with their Ruby on rails development services.
Ruby on Rails and Integration with Latest Technologies
Here are some Ruby on Rails trends that help developers leverage the latest technologies to build scalable solutions.
1. RoR and cloud computing- When businesses need scalable cloud solutions for Ruby on Rails applications, they hire AWS developers to optimize performance and reliability using services like AWS, Google Cloud, and Heroku.
2. Containerization and orchestration- Docker simplifies packaging and deploying Ruby on Rails applications, while Kubernetes automates their management for scalability and fault tolerance.
3. RoR and GraphQL- GraphQL enhances Ruby on Rails applications by efficiently managing API queries and reducing data retrieval issues compared to RESTful APIs.
4. AI and ML- Ruby on Rails, despite initial skepticism, supports machine learning and AI integration through libraries like TensorFlow and Scikit-learn for building and training models.
Hire a Ruby-on-Rails developer with OnGraph
Ruby on Rails is a top web development framework for your next project. It offers capabilities similar to other strong frameworks. RoR has a great community and quality code base. Many successful projects like Airbnb and GitHub use RoR. It's ideal for projects with tight deadlines and budgets.
With 15+ years of experience, we offer expertise in RoR development services. As a Ruby on Rails Development Agency, we aim to deliver scalable Ruby on Rails solutions. To hire a Ruby on Rails developer in India, connect with our experts.
Comments