Ruby on Rails (RoR) is an open-source, full-stack, web framework created using open-source Ruby. It adheres to Convention over Convention and Don’t Repeat Yourself ideologies, which make the development process more efficient, easy, and clean. It is relevant due to its powerful community support, scalability, and easy learning. RoR is reliable since it is used by such popular apps as Shopify, Airbnb, GitHub, and Hulu. Although the new technologies are appearing, RoR continues to offer an impressive and uncomplicated way of creating strong web applications.
For over 20 years, ROR projects have been leading in the tech industry, with many big companies using them to stay ahead of the competition. Ruby on Rails (RoR) is an open-source full-stack framework that was created to develop different web applications.
ROR is a collection of software modules, called RubyGem, that can be added via the operating system's command-line interface. This tool allows Ruby programmers to save time by offering ready-made solutions for common tasks such as designing website forms or menus instead of manually coding them.
Being an open-source tool, Ruby on Rails is perfect for developing web apps, allowing developers to concentrate on the creative aspects of their projects. This guide to Ruby on Rails is designed for beginners looking to take on innovative web development projects.
The Evolution of Ruby on Rails
Ruby is a famous programming language created by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto in the mid-1990s. It is one of the general-purpose languages, just like Java and C. However, it appears to be gaining more fame in web development. Rails, on the other hand, is a program library that expands the Ruby language with additional functionalities and conventions. In this way, David Heinemeier made this library and called it "Ruby on Rails."
One of the fundamental reasons why software engineers are eager to learn Ruby is that it has taken the programming world by storm and has taken an unchallenged position in the IT industry.
What is Ruby on Rails?
Rails is a web app development framework, written using the Ruby programming language. It aims to simplify web application programming by assuming the basic needs of all developers. It enables you to achieve more with less code compared to various other languages and frameworks. Experienced Rails engineers have also expressed that it improves the satisfaction of web application development.
Rails has strong opinions about how software should be structured. The assumption is that there is an optimal approach to doing things, and the system is intended to promote that approach, sometimes at the expense of other options. Learning "The Rails Way" will likely lead to a significant boost in productivity. Continuing to apply old habits and familiar patterns from different languages to your Rails development can result in a less enjoyable experience.
The following are the two key components to remember:
- Ruby is a versatile programming language that can be used for a variety of projects, including E-commerce, SaaS solutions, social networking platforms, etc.
- Rails is an easy-to-use and user-friendly framework for developing websites and apps.
The Rails logic incorporates two major directing principles:
- Don't Repeat Yourself
The DRY principle, essential in Ruby on Rails, reduces redundancy, ensuring efficient, maintainable, and cleaner code. It represents each piece of knowledge uniquely, leading to fewer bugs and easier maintenance.
- Convention Over Configuration
Rails has opinions about the best way to do many things in a web application and defaults to this set of conventions, rather than requiring that you specify minutiae through endless configuration files.
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Ruby on Rails Architecture: Model-View-Controller (MVC)
Model
The model component oversees database interactions and trade rationale (information traded between the database and site interface). This element is connected to a database, typically housing an application that displays the current orders of a customer.
View
The view component displays all the graphical user interface elements with presentation logic. This section is solely dedicated to showcasing website pages; it does not involve accessing or saving data from a database. The task of the view component is done when the data is visible to the user; it's as straightforward as that.
Controller
The controller module manages the user interface and application. In this section, the controller acts as a binding agent, connecting the model, view, and web browser in the application. The controller must collect data from the web browser request and then update the information in the model component.
Why Use Ruby on Rails?
439,443 websites are using Ruby on Rails to scale in the vast IT industry in 2024. Don't these statistics show why it remains relevant after 20 years? If not, here are the 8 reasons why you must use RoR for your projects.
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1. Convenient
Ruby on Rails utilizes a free open-source framework that is open to all clients and is helpful for developers. Furthermore, there are numerous gems to choose from for additional features, making it convenient for customizing your website or application and saving time.
2. Easy to Learn
Feeling overpowered and threatened is common when beginning to learn to code, particularly while grasping new concepts. Ruby on Rails is amazingly simple to study and closely follows the English language.
3. Agile Software Development
Ruby on Rails is suitable for Agile software development. It allows developers to make quick iterations and add new features instantly.
4. Secure
The Ruby on Rails framework has default settings for all the fundamental security features. While you utilize Ruby on Rails, you’ll be taking after a secure advancement process without even knowing it.
5. Readable
Ruby on Rails has a similar syntax to the English language, which makes it unique. It simplifies web development for beginners by enabling them to add as many features to their website or app as they want.
6. Flexible
Normally, a website may require Rails for the backend, but it can conveniently utilize a different programming language for the front end. Developers have the flexibility to utilize Ruby on Rails as needed, incorporating various coding languages smoothly.
7. Scalable
Ruby on Rails is amazingly versatile, as it allows engineers to execute indistinguishable code on different platforms. Its scalability allows applications or websites to effectively manage increased web traffic, making it well-suited for social media platforms or streaming services.
8. Helpful Community
Since Ruby on Rails is open-source, many developers are available to share their code, which can save you time and the frustration of starting from scratch. Beginners in coding can feel reassured knowing that a group of skilled developers is available to assist.
Popular Web Applications Created Using Ruby on Rails
In the last two decades, Rails has led numerous companies to huge user bases and massive market valuations.
Airbnb
Airbnb is the best pick globally for linking travelers with accommodations, created using Ruby on Rails. This online platform was established in 2008 and offers services in 65,000 cities globally across 191 countries.
GitHub
GitHub is the favored choice for overseeing source code, having over 66 million dynamic projects. This site permits developers to host and assess code, trade past projects, and exchange code for web applications with worldwide colleagues. GitHub is a web application planned with Ruby on Rails that permits engineers to share and collaborate on their work.
Shopify
Shopify is one of the most preferred platforms for online retail businesses worldwide. Ruby on Rails functions at the very core of this SaaS business model as its base programming language. This platform helps in designing one's e-commerce website and makes digital marketing and SEO efficient.
Zendesk
Zendesk services companies like Shopify, Airbnb, Uber, etc. by running a client benefit program on RoR to give clients a quick means of reaching a back agent for any individual company.
Hulu
Hulu is one of the largest video streaming platforms, and it has been one of the go-to places ever since its establishment in 2008. It had more than 12 million active subscribers in the U.S., diverse in its range of shows, movies, and other content—basically, all loved by people. However, most of them hardly know the fact that it is powered by Ruby on Rails.
Kickstarter
Kickstarter would be the first website any business or individual would approach when seeking funds to kickstart any new project or product. Given that the company has had more than 150,000 successful campaigns in the past, it is surprising that a website as popular as this uses Ruby on Rails for its base, despite having such a friendly user interface.
Twitch
Twitch, the online video streaming platform, depends on Ruby on Rails for versatility and execution, serving 38 million viewers every month. Presently, in any case, Twitch is gradually peering toward Go for backend administrations, with a few engineers starting movements. Both Ruby on Rails and Go remain solid for large-scale stages like Twitch.
Bloomberg
Bloomberg is one of the leading news agencies about finances, providing the most recent data on the stock market with prices and analytics. It is equally important for investors and companies at large. Bloomberg’s tech stack includes Ruby on Rails, ASP.NET, Express, and PHP, along with over 12 libraries like jQuery, RESPOND.js, and Backbone.js. These technologies work together to handle and power Bloomberg's vast amount of information.
SlideShare
SlideShare is a social media platform that allows registered users to put up any of their PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, or even Keynotes and spread the word about them. It has had more than 18 million transfers since the company began, in 40 categories. In this manner, it is the viewers' favorite. It is one of the 100 most visited websites on the web and is among the best examples of successful ROR projects.
Basecamp
Basecamp was developed by David Heinemeier, the same man behind the development of Ruby on Rails. Well-known marketing firms, IT companies, academic institutions, and governments around the world use it. Basecamp has a user base of 75,000 people from 166 countries. Using ROR as its framework helped it get 2 million users in 2016 who preferred using this platform for project management services.
What Is the Future of Ruby on Rails?
Considering the constantly changing technologies, the success and relevancy of Ruby on Rails seem uncertain. Without a doubt, it once created ripples in the web development era, and big players like Basecamp, GitHub, Shopify, etc., are still using it, but somewhere it shows that Ruby on Rails has somehow been tapered off and may get outdated shortly.
Gems are the libraries or plugins that enhance RoR's functionality and a decline in their creation means developers are shifting their interest and focusing on other technologies.
With continuous development in technology, developers are reaching out to different technologies that emphasize varied capabilities, such as;
- Machine learning
- Blockchain
- Automation
While all of these features can be supported by Ruby on Rails to some extent, it does not mean it is the best choice if the developer wants to use cutting-edge developments in these regards.
Moreover, no framework can easily keep up with all the latest trends in the development of technologies because of the fast pace it holds. Where Ruby on Rails did progress with new releases and enhancements, it would not at all times be at the forefront of emerging technologies.
Although the core technology may have changed over time, it's the robust community of Ruby on Rails that continues to be a huge factor in its continued relevance. The community behind Ruby on Rails is energetic and accommodating; it offers a parcel of assets, forums, and meetups through which engineers can share data.
Recent & Upcoming Updates in Ruby on Rails
These are the latest features, improvements, and changes in RoR (Rails) that are known to beginners or to developers in the present time.
- Rails 8 Release & Beta Features
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- Rails 8.0 was officially released in November 2024.
- New features include enhancements in deployment, updated asset pipelines, security improvements, etc.
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- Solid Trifecta: Solid Cable, Solid Cache, Solid Queue
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- To reduce dependency on external tools like Redis and simplify infrastructure.
- These are database-backed solutions for WebSockets (Solid Cable), caching (Solid Cache), and job queues (Solid Queue).
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- Native/Built-in Authentication System
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- Rails 8 also provides an in-built authentication generator, which minimizes the usage or even removes the usage of popular external gems such as Devise to most common authentication workflows.
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- No More Support for Old Versions of Ruby
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- Rails 8 has just switched to Ruby 3.2 or later and dropped support of Ruby 3.1. This encourages using newer Ruby features and improvements.
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- Default Regexp Timeout for Security
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- To mitigate ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial of Service) attacks, there’s a default Regexp.timeout of 1 second in Rails 8.
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- Improved ActiveRecord & Database Features
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- Better performance, smarter querying, improvements in migrations.
- Support for devcontainers (development environments using containers) in Rails 7.2.
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- Modernized Asset Pipeline and Deployment Tooling
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- Rails 8 uses Kamal (or Kamal 2) for easier deployments.
- Updates to asset pipelines to be more modern and efficient.
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- Better Production Support for SQLite (and others)
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- Rails now improves production-capabilities for SQLite (often used in development) and overall cross-database consistency features.
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- Security and Defaults
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- Removal of deprecated configuration settings for better consistency.
- Stronger defaults (e.g. timeout, authentication) to make Rails apps secure “out of the box”
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- Smaller Developer UX Improvements
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- New guides, updated documentation.
- Improvements like minimal apps option, better console behavior, etc.
Conclusion
Ruby on Rails has maintained an excellent presence in current web development. It is easy to use, flexible, and has a robust ecosystem that makes it a very good option among both beginners and businesses. As newer technologies appear, RoR has proven its worth to global companies and therefore remains a reliable framework. To businesses, it offers scalability, cost effectiveness, to developers it offers a simple point of entry to professional web development.
FAQs
Q1. Will Ruby on Rails be relevant beyond 2025?
Yes. RoR has been very popular despite new frameworks owing to its scalability, speed of development, and good community. It is still used by big platforms such as Shopify, GitHub, and Airbnb.
Q2. Is it necessary to know some coding language when learning Ruby on Rails?
The knowledge of basic programming is useful but not necessary. RoR is user-friendly to novices as its syntax is English-like, and therefore, a novice can build projects for the first time within a short time.
Q3. What classes of applications can I develop in RoR?
RoR is versatile. With it, you can build eCommerce platforms, SaaS products, social networking, CRM, project management solutions and streaming.
Q4. Is RADAR web application safe with Ruby on Rails?
Yes. RoR is provided with default security measures against such common threats as SQL injection and XSS. Gems can also be used to extend security by developers.
Q5. What is the rationale of businesses using Ruby on Rails and not other frameworks?
RoR provides prototyping which is quicker and provides thousands of pre-existing gems, is scalable over the long run and also provides access to a great community of developers. This will reduce the cost and accelerate time-to-market.
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