Rails
I’m finally dipping my toes into the murky waters that are Ruby on Rails. I’m too early into the project to make even the most rudimentary comments about it, other than the fact that I’ll be trying it out. I need to create an application for my Software Design class, and we have complete discretion to use whichever object oriented programming language we like… so, I figured I’d try out Ruby, using Rails simply because it seems like an easy way to put the application online, where it can be easily demoed, easily accessible. Also, I have a domain I’m using that has the capability of using Ruby on Rails… so, why not?
All that just to say… well, nothing about Rails, really. It was pretty easy to set up, and looks interesting. I have not used many frameworks, so there’s not much I can compare it to, but I’m looking forward to learning about it.
Groovy
This isn’t new, but it’s new to me: there’s a programming language for the Java platform called Groovy. From the Groovy website:
An agile dynamic language for the Java Platform with many features that are inspired by languages like Python, Ruby and Smalltalk, making them available to Java developers using a Java-like syntax.
I don’t know when or how I’ll ever have the time to look closer at that, but it’s now on my list; sounds interesting. There is even a port of Rails for Groovy, known as Grails. Cool.
There are a bunch of tutorials, free PDFs, etc. on Groovy and Grails over at http://aboutGroovy.com. Check it out.
An investigation into Ruby on Rails is well worth it, but don’t hesitate to check out Groovy and Grails too, especially if you’re already familiar with Java. Groovy is very cool and easy to work in, plus you have everything from Java at your fingertips. Grails is an excellent web development framework and it’s actually not a clone of Rails. It shares many similarities and was definitely inspired by Rails, but it does do some things differently (and maybe better depending on your perspective) too. Additionally, it’s built on top of Hibernate, Spring, and SiteMesh, so any familiarity with these frameworks allows you to go “under the covers” if you wish, but Grails effectively hides this if you don’t need it.
Good luck with your project!
-Jesse
Like I said… Groovy is now definitely on my list of technologies to investigate, but it’s going to have to wait a bit… my evenings for the foreseeable future are going to be spent writing use-cases, drawing UML on napkins, writing Java programs and determining the computational complexity of the algorithms… oh yes, and giving myself a crash course in Ruby on Rails. :-)
Thanks to both of you for stopping by the site and commenting. Hopefully I’ll get to check into Groovy before too long, and have something more to say about it.
Don’t forget to check out Django (and Turbogears, I guess ;) )
Wagh! Too many programming languages! Too many frameworks!
But yes… I’d love to have a chance to dip my toes into the existing Python frameworks as well. It will probably be awhile, though. :)