Ruby on Rails has been around for over 15 years, which can make it seem like an ancient technology in the fast-moving world of web development. But there are still great reasons why Rails remains a relevant and compelling choice for many types of web applications today. As an experienced developer, let me explain why you should give Rails a fresh look.
First off, some quick history and context. Rails was created in 2004 by David Heinemeier Hansson as part of a project to build a project management tool called Basecamp. David was frustrated with the complex and verbose nature of enterprise Java frameworks like J2EE. He wanted to increase programmer happiness and productivity. The result was Rails – a web app framework that emphasized simplicity, convention over configuration, and the DRY (Don‘t Repeat Yourself) principle.
Over the years, Rails exploded in popularity as developers fell in love with its emphasis on clean code and speed of development. Major sites like Airbnb, Twitch, Hulu, Shopify, and countless others run on Rails. Analysts estimate over 600,000 sites are built with Rails!
So why is this decade-old framework still going strong in the face of stiff competition from newer options? Here are 5 compelling reasons Rails remains a great choice:
Rapid, Agile Development
Rails‘s conventions allow developers to build apps incredibly fast compared to other languages. Airbnb was built by 2 Rails developers in just 3 months! Rails makes it easy to quickly test ideas and modify code with agility. This suits lean development practices perfectly. Studies show [reference] Rails can lead to 10x faster development cycles compared to other stacks.
Startup Friendly
Given its speed of development, Rails is ideal for prototyping MVPs (minimum viable products) and experimenting with new ideas. Its simplicity also makes it very accessible to less experienced developers. This makes it appealing for startups that need to iterate quickly. Over 50% of startups use Ruby on Rails for these reasons [reference].
Vibrant Community
As one of the largest open source communities, Rails benefits from tons of resources, tutorials, conferences, and helpful forums. There are over 2500 contributors to the Rails codebase alone! This vibrant ecosystem ensures you‘ll always find the libraries, help, and support needed to be productive.
Stability and Reliability
The maturity of Rails means it‘s a stable, battle-tested platform that can stand up to the demands of large-scale production environments. Sites running Rails have reported [reference] 99.99% uptime and ability to handle massive traffic spikes. Unlike many trendy frameworks, you can trust Rails for the long-haul.
Flexibility
While Ruby and Rails are highly opinionated, the framework doesn‘t force you into one way of working. You have the flexibility to swap in different ORMs, templating engines, testing frameworks and more. For the frontend, you can integrate React, Vue and other modern JavaScript frameworks seamlessly.
With the release of Rails 7 in December 2022, the framework has also become much faster and more scalable. Support for hotwire, parallel testing, asynchronous processing, and many other improvements modernize Ruby on Rails while retaining its core philosophy.
So don‘t write off Ruby on Rails as a relic of the past. It remains a tried-and-true solution for all types of web applications in 2023. The emphasis on developer happiness and pragmatism gives it an enduring appeal. If you‘re looking for a proven, community-backed framework that can go from idea to production quickly, I highly recommend giving Rails a try. You may just fall in love like thousands of other developers have over the years.
