‘Web 2.0′ is a term often (and probably over-) used to describe virtually every development in web applications and/or user experience in the past five years. Much of this is marketing hoopla, but there is no question that that way things look and work on the World Wide Web is very different today relative to a few years ago. A primary driver for many of these changes in look and function is something called Ruby on Rails, or RoR. The purpose of this overview is to offer a non-technical explanation of what RoR is and why it has become so prevalent. Having this understanding is important because if an organization is exploring doing something on the web, it is highly likely that RoR will be a core component of development proposals.
Ruby is a programming language that originated in Japan in the mid-nineties. Rails refers to a framework (or programming environment) that lets developers use Ruby to create new applications for the web more quickly and in a way that is more responsive to user requirements. RoR has rapidly become a leading force in web development since it was released as an open source product (i.e., freely available) in 2005. Twitter is probably the most generally known web application built with RoR. Hulu’s service for streaming popular television shows is another RoR-developed application. The Washington Post uses RoR to run its CourseAdvisor.com web site. But what about bigger, badder enterprise scale applications?
Common wisdom states that RoR is not “ready” for enterprise applications – that it presents substantial barriers to integration with legacy systems, for example. However, remember the reference above to Rails’ responsiveness to user requirements. This responsiveness, fueled by the language and frameworks open source status, is driving the creation of networking protocols.These protocols – think of them as friendly translators – allow RoR to access other languages’ core functionality letting developers integrate RoR with more and more legacy systems. RoR already addresses security concerns and data migration issues. So, RoR could quickly become the right choice for enterprise applications as well while saving firms time and money.
To dig deeper, you can read:
Enterprise readiness thoughtful, pretty technical essay
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