Like large companies, start-ups also need custom web application to boost their business processes and online sales. But most start-ups lack adequate funds to use commercial web technologies and licensed web development tools. That is why; developers often use open source web application frameworks to build custom website for start-ups rapidly without increasing project overheads. The developers also have option to choose many open source web application frameworks including Ruby on Rails, popularly known as RoR.
As the name indicates, the web application framework is written in Ruby programming language. Despite being an object-oriented and functional programming language, Ruby is still simple and easy-to-use. Ruby on Rails (RoR) makes web developers productive by supporting common software development principles like model-view-controller (MVC), convention over configuration (CoC), and don’t repeat yourself (DRY). At the same time, the open source framework has been evolving continuously to meet the emerging trends in web application development.
Advantages of Using RoR for Building Web Applications for Start-ups
No Licensing Fee
RoR is distributed under the MIT license. So small businesses and startups can use it without paying any licensing fee. The openness makes it easier for the business owners to reduce the web application development cost significantly. Also, the framework helps businesses to get higher ROI by building and maintaining websites quickly.
Full Stack
ROR is one of the full stack web frameworks available in the market. It provides resources for developing both frontend and backend of the applications using commonly used web technologies. It allows programmers to create user interface using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Likewise, the users can improve data transfer by using common data transfer standards like XML and JSON. The features help small business owners to develop both frontend and backend of the website without investing in any additional tools and frameworks.
MVC Architecture
ROR is a model-view-controller (MVC) web framework. The MVC architecture enables programmers to keep the business layer and presentation layer of the application separate. At the same time, it enables developers to use default structure for web pages, databases and web services. So it becomes easier for developers to create large websites rapidly by dividing the project into smaller modules, and working on various modules simultaneously.
Reduced Coding Time
ROR is written in Ruby programming language. Ruby is designed with features to make programmers more productive. It enables developers to save time through a leaner code base. At the same time, ROR enables programmers to divide the project into multiple modules, and reuse the modules across different projects. They can even use a variety of existing plug-ins to add features and functionality to the web application without writing any additional code. Thus, small business owners use the framework to reduce time required for developing large websites significantly.
RubyGems
RoR further scores over other web frameworks due to RubyGems. Developers can use RubyGems as an efficient package manager while deploying RoR applications. Based on their requirements, users have option to choose from a wide variety of RubyGems. So they can use RubyGems to extend the application’s functionality without writing any extra code. The command line utilities provided by certain Gems further enable developers to automate common programming tasks. The RubyGems help small businesses impress clients by delivering fully-functional websites within a shorter amount of time.
Suitable for Developing Scalable Applications
Sometimes developers have to build websites that offer updated and relevant information to the user. For instance, popular websites like Groupon display daily deals to customers residing in many countries. So each customer needs to see a different and relevant deal. At the same time, the deals also need to be updated frequently to attract more website visitors. Groupon uses ROR to achieve both optimized scalability and information delivery. So the small business owners can rely on the framework to build highly scalable and dynamic web applications.
Easy and Quick Changes
While developing a website, the small business owner needs to consider the amount of time and effort required for future modification. As noted earlier, RoR comes with a modular design that enables users to divide the project into smaller modules. Thus, the programmers can simply make changes to the specific module and update the website quickly. Likewise, they can include new modules to the project to add new features and functionality to the application. So the framework makes it easier for businesses to modify and upgrade websites quickly without affecting their performance and scalability.
Automated Testing
Nowadays programmers have to make changes to the code frequently throughout the development process. So it becomes essential for them to test the code to ensure that the website is working flawlessly. ROR enables users to test the application by writing test scripts. They can further run the scripts quickly and easily using a single command. The simplified automated testing helps developers to evaluate various aspects of the application thoroughly. Thus, it becomes easier for the small business owners to impress and retain clients by delivering high quality web applications.
Huge Community Support
RoR is also supported by a large and active community. The members of the community frequently share code snippets and plug-ins. Thus, the developers can take advantage of these code snippets and plug-ins to accomplish common tasks without writing longer lines of code. Further, they can stay connected with the community to resolve all programming issues without any delay.
Keeps Evolving
In addition to being a mature web application framework, RoR has been evolving consistently to meet the latest web development trends. For instance, Ruby on Rails 5 boosts the speed of web applications significantly by supporting Ruby 2.2.0. Likewise, the Rails-API gems are merged into the core functionality of RoR 5. Hence, the developers can now build web applications by using Rails-API directly and exclusively.
Faster Page Refresh
RoR 5 comes with Turbolinks 3. The developers can take advantage of Turbolinks 3 to refresh web pages more quickly. The tool will refresh only the body contents of the application instead of refreshing the whole page. Hence, the current version of the framework makes it easier for developers to boost the performance of both single-page and large applications.
Better Notification Management
Nowadays both large companies and start-ups market their products and services through push notifications. But often developers have to use additional tools to streamline push notification management. RoR 5 comes with Action Cable. Programmers can use it as a client on the server to manage all push notifications in a faster and more efficient way.
Here you can find the reasons why every web developer must know Ruby on Rails, However, Ruby on Rails, like other web application frameworks, has several shortcomings. For instance, the runtime speed of Ruby on Rails is slower than other modern web application frameworks. Also, the use of many Ruby gems impacts the boot speed of the framework adversely. But the developers can always use Ruby on Rails to build web applications for start-ups by overcoming budgetary constraints. Also, the can take advantage of the features of the framework to build robust web applications within a shorter amount of time.
Thanks for your thoughts. It’s helped me a lot.