Introduction

Today, building fantastic web applications has become quite easy with the help of Ruby on Rails. Many applications such as GitHub, Shopify, Zendesk, Twitch, Basecamp, etc. are built with Ruby on Rails. The major difference between other frameworks and Ruby on Rails for web application development lies in the ease of use and speed that developers working within the environment adore. Changes made to applications are applied immediately evading the time taking steps usually associated with the web development cycle. So, what actually is Ruby on Rails?

What is Ruby on Rails?

Rails is an open source framework for the development of web applications in Ruby. Ruby is an OOP(object-oriented programming) language similar to Python and Perl. Ruby on Rails is the complete, legal name for the Rails framework. Rails is almost 10 times faster when compared with other Java-based frameworks, according to David Geary, an expert in Java.

What’s So Special about Ruby on Rails?

Rails is just awesome and elegant. It was a total revelation soon after its launch due to its exceptional design. It is actually designed keeping the best practices in mind. So, even if you wouldn’t know how to write an awesome code, this framework makes it possible. Rails is an easy way to go if you want to develop robust web applications which can be easily maintainable and scale up according to your need.

Benefits

There are many other benefits associated with the Rails framework. Let’s dig deeper into the major ones.

Plug-and-Play Functionality

One of the amazing features of Rails is you can develop your own building blocks with plug-and-play functionality. The development of web applications with plug-and-play functionality is much easier to accomplish with Rails than with other technologies available in today’s market.

This actually means, instead of developing the entire thing from scratch, you can take your present custom application’s elements and utilize them in your future projects. Rails enables your applications to be multi-purpose and expandable.

Big Players from Various Industries Use Ruby on Rails

Companies such as Basecamp, Twitter, LivingSocial, Groupon, Hulu and many more are using Ruby on Rails. All these organizations are not only entirely different but also provide different services and functionality. If there hadn’t been something seriously right about Ruby on Rails, these companies(big players in different industries) wouldn’t have adopted it.

Cost-effective

As I have already told you, Ruby on Rails is an open source framework which is distributed under the license of MIT. This means you need not spend even a single dollar for the framework. Also, you will be impressed by the selection of special libraries that enable developers to append any functionality from authentication and authorization to payments and file uploading.

Since special libraries allow adding of features without the need for building them from scratch, a lot of developer effort and time will be saved which translates into faster development of the product. Ruby on Rails enables better coding practices resulting in fine quality.

Time-efficient

Rails is associated firmly with startups, which is not a surprise. Ruby on Rails, as a framework, contains multiple ready-made modules and plugins that enable developers to begin developing a web application eliminating the need for writing boilerplate code. Ruby on Rails teams develop applications 30 to 40 percent faster when compared with teams utilizing other frameworks and programming languages.

Another benefit of Ruby on Rails is its consistency. Your developers can follow standardized programming and file storage conventions with Ruby on Rails. This keeps your project readable and structured. A maintainable and a readable codebase means your developers will need less time than the usual for updating code in the future.

Scalability

You must think about scalability when you build an IT startup. In this context, scalability can be defined as the capability to ramp up your service in order to deal with increased loads, which means more requests per minute. Acquiring a huge number of visitors is what any mobile or web application strives for. This is the reason why you must prepare in advance and ensure your website can handle all the visitors you are trying to attract.

Scalability doesn’t depend only on your framework. In scaling an application, your development strategy, database and system architecture play a significant role. Rails has an exceptional scaling potential. It is characterized by modularity for beginners which involve dividing the system into gems and modules. Take for instance; we have an application in which database queries take large number of resources. You can actually sub-divide that application into micro services (functional blocks). You can even move a database to an Amazon RDS or a separate server. This implies you can horizontally scale your application for accommodating more requests.

Conclusion

Not only for large companies, is Ruby on Rails ideal for local businesses or startups as well. Nowadays, Rails is one of the in-demand skills and so you can select from all types of organizations to work for. So, Rails can be termed as an arsenal that executes some of the brightest ideas in computer programming with no confusion.

Author Bio:

Savaram Ravindra was born and raised in Hyderabad, popularly known as the ‘City of Pearls’. He is presently working as a Content Contributor at Tekslate.com. His previous professional experience includes Programmer Analyst at Cognizant Technology Solutions. He holds a Masters degree in Nanotechnology from VIT University.