Comments on: Ruby on Rails won’t make it in 2007?

By: Matteo

Matteo — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This guy is a fool in oh so many ways. He “predicts” that “Java remains the best choice for the server side enterprise development, but it won’t be able to compete on the desktop.” when this has *always* been the case with Java. He complains about “the abcence of programmers in the USA.” when in fact we don’t need more programmers, we need *less* with *better education*.

And even more hilarious is the kind of bozos that leave comments on his blog, like the guy who wishes he could disable the “back” key on my browser.

But my question is: Antonio, why are you even reading that blog?

By: Antonio Cangiano

Antonio Cangiano — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Google, it’s all “Google’s fault”:http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=rails+2007++predictions, Matteo. 😉

By: Ben Kittrell

Ben Kittrell — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Silly me, I thought that Rails and Ajax already made it.

I guess this just goes to show how really in-the-dark java developers are. And that’s coming from a full-time J2EE consultant.

By: Jesse O'Neill-Oine

Jesse O'Neill-Oine — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yakov is a bonehead and his predictions are meaningless, but it’s also completely ridiculous to make a blanket statement like “just goes to show how really in-the-dark java developers are.” Really? What percentage of Ruby/Rails users to you think are these in-the-dark Java guys? I’d bet a ton and growing. I’m not trying to jump on you, Ben, but I just don’t think it’s fair to lump all Java devs together like that. Java itself isn’t really the problem, it’s the developers, like Yakov, who are using it poorly. Rails is a compelling framework that will continue to grow by leaps and bounds this year, but there are also others out there in the Java space that’ll also be big in 2007 (see: Groovy on Grails).

Just my 2 cents…

By: ance

ance — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ruby has made it in 2006, but it has not made it in the “enteprise” yet, and probably will not in 2007. Matteo hints at why:

“…when in fact we don’t need more programmers, we need less with better education.”

Ruby gives the developer a large amount of power, trusting the developer not to blow their own foot off. Java (and many other languages) give the developer less freedom, but offer more protection against self-inflicted wounds. Large shops employ large numbers of programmers with varying degrees of ability, some of whom know far more Ruby or Java than I do, others of whom might not know a mixin from a mixmaster. Such an environment will always be very conservative, and favor “safer” languages over potentially more dangerous ones.

If these shops are Yakov’s enterprise, I agree with him. Ruby will not penetrate these environments, easily, unless:

1) A competitor starts using dynamic languages to run rings around them, forcing them to upgrade their development staff and take the plunge themselves.

2) Ruby comes up with some VS- or Eclipse-level IDE, with static language type features like class/method/field usage and full-scale refactoring. You can argue that developers should not *need* this, and I would be inclined to agree, but it would go a long way towards adoption by large scale in-house shops.

Please forgive this if it sounds like FUD — I am not saying that Ruby is itself dangerous, just that it allows a developer a new breed of mistakes, whereas in Java or C# many potential sources of errors are explicitly disallowed or are caught by the IDE. Ruby grew in 2006, and will grow more in 2007. If we hit one of those two marks, it will sweep through even Yakov’s “enterprises.” Until that day, though, it will still be too hot to touch for conservative shops.

By: Regnard

Regnard — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

There’s still a lack of developers and well-adopted tools for RoR. While I truly like the platform, I’m giving it a darkhorse chance in 2007.

By: a java enterprise developer

a java enterprise developer — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jesse,

I agree w/ your sentiments.

Yakov is just in it for the money. He’s actually fighting two battles; he just become a Flex certified instructor and so he’s trying to get java swing guys to move to Flex, and he’s trying to get Ajax guys to move to Flex.

He lost my respect a long time ago he was totally against outsourcing, and then he became a partner at his consulting firm and he said outsourcing is okay as long as you stay on top of your guy. He’s also said stupid things like ‘ask your manager for a flex license and if you don’t get it he sucks and maybe you should think about changing companies’

I don’t think many in the java world take him seriously at all; all you hear about nowadays from him is Flex nowadays just so he can pad his own bottom line.

The only reason why his opinion was even solicited for this poll is b/c his blog is at Java Developer’s Journal, and the technical editors don’t have a clue that he lesson’s the reputation of their publication.

RoR guys – rails is nice..but it’s rails not ruby that wields the power. Ruby has been around since the 90’s, the hype started after Rails came out. But Django is much better.

By: Andrew Gwozdziewycz

Andrew Gwozdziewycz — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

While I really could care less Ruby, or Rails, I wish that most AJAX apps would die. When the amount of javascript on a page hinders the ability to use it in all browsers consistently then you have a problem. Right now, we’re getting into the phase that people are forgetting that javascript isn’t entirely consistent across browsers, and worse yet, some people turn it off, rendering sites totally useless. Actually, what renders sites useless is the developers and designers who feel that making everything AJAXY and interactive will make their site better. I use Netflix as an example of a great AJAX application, despite the fact that in recent months it’s use of “lightboxy” popups has been increasing. Before this, ratings and the tooltips were the exact use of javascript and AJAX, that _should_ be present on sites. It allows you to not only a) convieniently rate multiple movies quickly, but b) keep page load times down by not loading all of the images/text in hidden divs so in the chance that you might hover over one of the movies, you’ll see Johnny Depp on the cover of Pirates. Make use of AJAX sparingly and it’ll survive well into the future.

By: Carlo

Carlo — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t know when (if) they will (ever) breach the corporate wall but modern frameworks, such as RoR and Django, are here to stay.

My 2 cent prediction: in 2007 RoR will consolidate its position and Django will grow fast because of the 1.0 release and the publication of the Django Book.

Personally, I’m using Django a lot these days: you can’t imagine how fun and fast is building not only a web app but an entire complex web site with this Python framework. And the free documentation is simply amazing.

My only complaint is the current scarcity of shared hosting companies officially supporting RoR and Django. I hope this situation will change in 2007.

By: Ivan

Ivan — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Carlo: “My only complaint is the current scarcity of shared hosting companies officially supporting RoR and Django. I hope this situation will change in 2007.”

Hi, I have a Django test site on DreamHost and it works fine with FCGI.

A more focused and supportive company is WebFaction: they officially support Django (with mod_python) and Rails. Their new prices are really affordable and their uptime is outstanding.

Other popular Django-friendly web hosts are Bluehost and TextDrive.