You’ve probably heard of Rails, Ruby or Ruby on Rails, especially in conversations about web application development or perhaps you’ve already mastered it yourself.
Here are 6 key points everyone should know about Ruby on Rails.
RUBY ON RAILS…
What is Ruby and why was it created?
It is a dynamic, reflective, object-oriented, multi-purpose programming language. It was designed and developed in the mid-1990s by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto in Japan. The first version of Ruby was 0.95, which was announced on December 21, 1995.
Matsumoto said that the goal of Ruby’s creation is to increase programmers’ productivity and fun, following the principles of user interface design. He highlighted a phrase that Yukihiro said in a technology talk at Google. He wants every programmer to be productive and happy with the interface.
What is Ruby on Rails?
It’s a programming framework created by David Heinemeier Hansson, who named it Ruby on Rails, which is usually just called Rails.
Rails is focused on creating websites and combines Ruby with HTML, CSS and JavaScript to create web applications that run on a web server. Given this it is considered server-side or back-end.
Ruby on Rails is more than a framework; it’s the core project of a giant community that constantly produces libraries to simplify the tasks of creating complex web applications.
What are the principles of Rails?
1. Rails is dogmatic
This means that unlike Perl, for example, which is a programming language where there is more than one way to do each thing and there is no right way or best way. In Rails it’s said that a “Rails way” actually stops many problems. The benefit of this is that you can develop faster, improve collaboration and it’s easier to maintain.
2. Convention Instead of Emphasizing Configuration
Some frameworks, such as Java for web applications need to make a multiple amount of configurations in files and each one with many adjustments. Rails makes this much easier for you by assuming things, so for example if you conventionally create a Rails model called “User” it will create a table in your database called “Users” with no configuration required and Rails will also assume that if the name of the table is plural then the name of the class is singular.
3. Don’t Be Overly Repetitive
Known by the acronym DRYS, it is a principle of software development. As its name implies, it tries to avoid duplicates, since duplicates make the code more complex, difficult to maintain and more vulnerable to errors.
Rails takes advantage of the metaprogramming features that ruby has, not only to reuse code but also to remove code where possible. So with Rails it’s possible to create web applications with just a few lines of code.
4. Why Has Ruby on Rails Become So Popular?
One of the reasons is that its launch was a revolution in design and also that Rails is designed with best practices in mind so it naturally leads you to write some amazing code.
A key point is that in just a few hours it makes it possible for you to build web applications and get them up and running online. To give you an idea, the first version of Twitter was made in a day using Ruby on Rails.
Another important point is that many eye-catching companies that you know for sure use Ruby, such as: Walmart, Groupon, Cisco, CNET, IBM, JP Morgan, NASA, Yahoo. There are over 800,000 websites using Rails in the world.
So from startups to large companies have come to the conclusion that when it comes to creating web applications the best option is Ruby on Rails.
5. What can I build with Rails?
Whatever you have in mind for a web application you can do with Rails. Just take a look at some of the greats who have built their sites with Rails: Shopify, Airbnb, ThemeForest, BaseCamp, are just a few of the sites that relied on it.
6. Can I build mobile applications with Rails?
Only in Ruby on Rails you can’t build a mobile application, but you can build a web application and it works as a backend for a mobile application.
There is also a tool called RubyMotion that allows you to easily build native applications for IOS and Android with Ruby.
So as a conclusion you literally couldn’t build mobile applications with Rails, but it can certainly be an important part of a mobile project.