Developers at API Digital

This is a reply to Rails is a Step by bryanp. Check out metabahn for some awesome guys who really know their stuff. I’m posting it here also because it got pretty long.

First off, I agree with the sentiment of the post, Rails is not the best way in all situations, just like PHP, Sinatra, Merb, Grails and whatever that busted C++ web framework is called are not the best way for every situation. However, Rails is a pretty good way.

I believe that Rails is sufficiently versatile that most web-based applications could be written successfully in Rails. Partly because of the limited domain in which web applications are created, and partly because of the sheer amount of mental power behind Rails development right now.

Many of the Rails Consultancies springing up (Hashrocket, ENTP, etc…) are using rails almost exclusively. Does this mean they are treating rails as the destination? Well, not exactly. Rails just happens to be the tool they’re most comfortable with.

A lot of what is heard from the Rails super-evangelists is just that, someone pumping religion as the end-all be-all of whatever domain they’re in. However, I would venture to say that the vast majority of the the top Rails developers would say that Rails is not the best suite of tools for every situation.

It seems that the lash-back against Rails in the latter part of 2008 was less about the technology itself, and more about a) the hype building up around rails since 2005 b) the high profile outages of Twitter, c) spreading of FUD about something new by a minority that didn’t like Rails for various (not necessarily invalid) reasons.

It happens all the time. A very vocal minority will try something new, decided they don’t like it, and let everyone else know they don’t like it and why you shouldn’t either. They share their opinions as fact, over-generalize and spin information, and use community rivalries as reasons to dismiss whatever it is they hate. I think it’s less a technology issue than a human nature issue.

That said. Rails IS NOT the be-all end-all of web development. You should devote time to exploring new tools, ideas, and technologies. That’s how you grow, however when you find something you like, you tend to stick with it. Nobody pays the bills by jumping to every new flavor of the month; eventually you have to produce something.