Rich’s WebWorld

I’m taking a dramatic change in the way that I build web sites. I’m learning Ruby on Rails.

This is a much different method than is typical for building web sites. First, only a few hosting companies offer Ruby. You can’t just throw up a new site just anyway. But, the number of hosting companies that support it is growing as more web developers insist on it.

The next difference is that you don’t need the internet to develop your site. Using Instant Rails, it can all be done on your computer. The setup includes the Ruby program, mySQL database, and a web server. You start up Rails, tell Ruby what you want to call your new application or site, and point your browser to it. That’s all it takes to be up and running.

Once your application is complete, the application directory on your computer is copied to your web server and you are online.

Now, the thing that really makes this interesting is when you load Instant Rails on a laptop. Because you don’t need an internet connection, you can work anywhere. At the beach. Camping. On a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. It doesn’t matter.

Up to this point, I’ve been pointing to ease of use. Wait until you start using Rails. You also have ease of programming. All the tedious, mundane things are taken care of for you. This is agile programming at its best. You can have a basic database application up and running in 5 or 10 minutes. It won’t be pretty but you can view, add, modify, and delete records in your database. Rails does it automatically.

One thing that also drives me crazy is when a client says they want something and you build it. Then they say, “That’s not what I meant” or “Can you add this?” Rails makes changes simple. Even the database can be rolled back to a previous condtion if the client changes their mind. You avoid spending a lot of time rewriting code. And once you have everything working and given your client’s approval, then you make it pretty.

Learning Ruby on Rails is actually easier than I anticipated. It does so much for you. I’ll let you know how I do with this new programming language and how it affects the way I build web sites.

– Rich Pulham