What is Ruby on Rails?

What is Ruby on Rails?

Ruby on Rails is an open-source server-side web application framework with an MIT license. While Ruby on Rails is written in Ruby, a dynamic, general-purpose programming language from Japan, RoR is, in fact, a framework, not a language. Many entrepreneurs and non-developers often confuse the two, thinking of Rails when hearing Ruby but rarely the other way around.

This may be brought on by the fact that the most of Ruby developers use the Ruby on Rails framework for development.

Ruby gained momentum as a programming language following the launch of Ruby on Rails.

The Origins of Ruby on Rails

Rails was created in 2004 and won the "Programming Language of the Year” award from Tiobe in 2006 despite being written in 1995 (a great year for action movies—Goldeneye anyone?).

There are other frameworks based on Ruby, but their popularity with developers and active contributors is low compared to Ruby on Rails. We’ll take a closer look at that later on in the article.

This isn’t to say that other Ruby frameworks are lower in quality than Rails. Quite the opposite, actually—they were built to respond to very specific use cases and often outperform Rails in these instances.

Rails, however, will be a good fit for the majority of projects that call for using a Ruby framework.

Why Do So Many Think Ruby on Rails Is Dead or Dying?

Almost an urban legend by now, the myth of RoR’s demise is the product of many misconceptions that grew around the framework and the language it’s based on.
Time to dissect them, then.

1. Slow Performance

While Rails has slower runtime speeds than, for example, Node.js or Golang, this only becomes noticeable with huge products with large-scale traffic.

And if this isn’t a huge app with a lot of users and requests, Rails isn't necessarily the culprit behind the slow speeds—there’s also server architecture or databases to consider.

With a well-thought-out architecture and infrastructure (necessary in all large-scale projects, regardless of the programming language), even huge apps or their parts written in Rails can be fast. Examples of large-scale RoR apps include Basecamp, Airbnb, and GitHub. So where does all that bad rep come from?

2. Scalability Issues

I’ll start by explaining why blaming only the framework for scalability issues and deficiencies in handling many user requests is wrong.

For the application to serve requests quickly, each element in the server system architecture, not only the web app’s backend, should be configured correctly and be appropriately performant.

Krzysztof Kaiser

Head of Product Design at Monterail

Many people voice their reasonable concerns regarding the security of AI tools, but there’s also the topic of copyright. While the texts, and images generated by artificial intelligence are for now not deemed copyrightable, we need a discussion around intellectual property and how to protect human-authored works of art, books, and scientific studies and ensure that companies such as OpenAI will have to disclose where their datasets are coming from and incentivize the authors of the materials used to build those similarly to how it’s been proposed in the early version of the recently released EU’s AI Act.

I’ll start by explaining why blaming only the framework for scalability issues and deficiencies in handling many user requests is wrong.

For the application to serve requests quickly, each element in the server system architecture, not only the web app’s backend, should be configured correctly and be appropriately performant.

I believe great remote team cultures start with trust. You have to trust that people want to win and want to perform, and then find out what they need in order to do that. Often that comes down to offering structure and accountability and finding ways to reduce isolation and provide real human connection among colleagues. As

a result, these things are central to the remote coworking product we're building at Focusmate.

While Rails has slower runtime speeds than, for example, Node.js or Golang, this only becomes noticeable with huge products with large-scale traffic.

And if this isn’t a huge app with a lot of users and requests, Rails isn't necessarily the culprit behind the slow speeds—there’s also server architecture or databases to consider.

For a JS developer, the ability to visualize data is

just as valuable as making interactive Web pages. Especially since the two often go in pairs. As JavaScript continues to gain popularity in the data visualization realm, the market is flushed with even new libraries with which to create beautiful charts for the Web.

Rails was created in 2004 and won the "Programming Language of the Year” award from Tiobe in 2006 despite being written in 1995 (a great year for action movies—Goldeneye anyone?).

There are other frameworks based on Ruby, but their popularity with developers and active contributors is low compared to Ruby on Rails. We’ll take a closer look at that later on in the article.

Rails, however, will be a good fit for the majority of projects that call for using a Ruby framework.

I’ll start by explaining why blaming only the framework for scalability issues and deficiencies in handling many user requests is wrong.

For the application to serve requests quickly, each element in the server system architecture, not only the web app’s backend, should be configured correctly and be appropriately performant.

Matylda Chmielewska

Content Specialist

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Why Ruby on Rails Is Still a Good Choice in 2023 [Updated]

Table of Contents

What is Ruby on Rails?

The Origins of Ruby on Rails

Why Do So Many Think Ruby on Rails Is Dead or Dying?