We need to talk about Ruby
It was week eight of bootcamp. I had just built my first React app and was deep into JavaScript but I was eager to learn something different. Then came Ruby.
Ruby seemed intuitive (at least to me) and the syntax felt a lot closer to the English language.
"Why didn't I learn this first?" I thought, as I was making my way through Ruby modules with ease. Would learning Ruby first have helped me in understanding code better?
A few weeks later, it was time to start working on our final projects and we all opted to abandon Ruby and build React apps instead. For some reason post bootcamp, I haven't looked back at Ruby. I'm choosing to learn more about Next.js, TypeScript and now Python. But why not return and build something with Ruby on Rails? I liked it so much but I keep getting distracted by new things to learn.
As it turns out, I'm not the only one who has asked themselves these questions. Do some Googling on Ruby and next time you start to type "Should I...", the first suggested search will be "...learn Ruby?".
Those with much more time and experience in this field have told me that languages come and go in popularity all the time - so am I subconsciously being influenced by a 'popular' opinion that Ruby is on the way out?
After doing some light digging around, I found more pros to Ruby on Rails than cons. Pros like:
- it's easily accessible and a cross-platform language
- Ruby syntax is generally viewed as 'beginner friendly'
- there is a lot of Ruby on Rails documentation out there with an even more supportive and robust community of devs (not to mention a large number of RubyGems available that help with faster building)
- it is believed that Ruby is one of the most time efficient languages, as software can be built relatively quickly (which is why startups love the RoR framework)
From the small personal experience I do have with Ruby on Rails, I would add one more thing to the list. The error messages are a little more helpful. Although the development mode error screens are big and red and seem daunting at first, the source code is displayed nicely and there is a lot of context as to what has gone wrong. It's common for new developers to not want error messages and I felt the same way, until I worked with RoR and realized that the error messages were actually helping me gain a better understanding.
And for the cons:
- application runtime may not be the best - at least for apps with larger userbases (although there is argument that the database just needs to be managed better in this case)
- flexibility; not having too much experience in RoR yet I can't speak to this from first-hand knowledge, but it seems that there are a number of unchangeable modules that come with the framework which can hinder creativity)
And then we come full circle and arrive at the question of popularity. It seems that new devs are ushered into learning JavaScript, HTML and CSS right away and I've heard of some bootcamps that don't even touch on Ruby at all. There is a sort of connotation that Ruby is old news.
Okay, maybe Ruby isn't as 'popular' as JavaScript but that doesn't mean demand is gone. Many large companies are still using RoR and as previously mentioned, it is popular with startups as well.
So - let's talk about Ruby! Comment below and let me know your thoughts. Is Ruby on the way out; is it harder to land a senior or junior Ruby role; would you have learned Ruby first if given the option?
References:
- Why You Shouldn't Sleep on Ruby on Rails in 2022 - Alice Wenner
- Should I learn Ruby? - Stephan Miller
- Pros and Cons of Ruby Software Development - Jakub Jakubowicz
- Pros and Cons of Ruby on Rails - Victor Rak
- Pros and Cons of Ruby on Rails for Web Development - Ankur Vyas