Top Related Projects
Classy web-development dressed in a DSL (official / canonical repo)
Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for node.
The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines.
Laravel is a web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. We’ve already laid the foundation for your next big idea — freeing you to create without sweating the small things.
Spring Framework
Peace of mind from prototype to production
Quick Overview
Ruby on Rails, often simply called Rails, is a server-side web application framework written in Ruby. It follows the model-view-controller (MVC) architectural pattern and provides default structures for databases, web services, and web pages, emphasizing the use of the "convention over configuration" principle.
Pros
- Rapid development: Rails' convention over configuration approach allows developers to build web applications quickly
- Large ecosystem: Extensive library of gems (plugins) available for adding functionality
- Active community: Strong support and frequent updates from a large, engaged developer community
- Built-in testing tools: Comes with a testing framework that encourages test-driven development
Cons
- Performance: Can be slower compared to some other frameworks, especially for large-scale applications
- Learning curve: While easy to get started, mastering Rails and its ecosystem can take time
- Opinionated framework: The "Rails way" of doing things might not suit all project requirements
- Version upgrades: Major version updates can sometimes be challenging and time-consuming
Code Examples
- Creating a new Rails application:
rails new my_app
cd my_app
- Generating a model and migration:
rails generate model User name:string email:string
rails db:migrate
- Creating a controller with actions:
rails generate controller Users index show
- Defining a route in
config/routes.rb
:
Rails.application.routes.draw do
resources :users, only: [:index, :show]
end
Getting Started
To get started with Ruby on Rails:
- Install Ruby and Rails:
gem install rails
- Create a new Rails application:
rails new my_app
cd my_app
- Start the Rails server:
rails server
- Open your browser and visit
http://localhost:3000
to see your Rails application running.
Competitor Comparisons
Classy web-development dressed in a DSL (official / canonical repo)
Pros of Sinatra
- Lightweight and minimalist, offering a simpler learning curve
- Provides more flexibility and control over application structure
- Faster performance for small to medium-sized applications
Cons of Sinatra
- Less built-in functionality, requiring more manual setup
- Smaller ecosystem and fewer available gems/plugins
- Limited convention-over-configuration, potentially leading to inconsistent code organization
Code Comparison
Sinatra:
require 'sinatra'
get '/' do
'Hello, World!'
end
Rails:
# config/routes.rb
Rails.application.routes.draw do
root 'home#index'
end
# app/controllers/home_controller.rb
class HomeController < ApplicationController
def index
render plain: 'Hello, World!'
end
end
Sinatra's simplicity is evident in its concise syntax, while Rails follows a more structured approach with separate routing and controller files. Sinatra's code is more compact and straightforward for simple applications, whereas Rails provides a more organized structure that scales well for larger projects.
Both frameworks have their strengths, with Sinatra excelling in simplicity and Rails offering a comprehensive ecosystem for complex applications. The choice between them depends on project requirements, team expertise, and scalability needs.
Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for node.
Pros of Express
- Lightweight and minimalist, allowing for more flexibility in architecture
- Faster execution and lower memory usage due to its non-opinionated nature
- Easier learning curve for developers familiar with JavaScript
Cons of Express
- Less built-in functionality, requiring more manual setup and configuration
- Lack of standardization can lead to inconsistent code across projects
- Smaller ecosystem of plugins and extensions compared to Rails
Code Comparison
Express route definition:
app.get('/users/:id', function(req, res) {
res.send('User ' + req.params.id);
});
Rails route definition:
get '/users/:id', to: 'users#show'
Express is more explicit in defining the route handler, while Rails uses a more convention-based approach, mapping the route to a controller action.
Both frameworks have their strengths and are suited for different types of projects. Express offers more flexibility and is ideal for lightweight, custom applications, while Rails provides a more structured, full-featured environment for rapid development of complex web applications.
The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines.
Pros of Django
- More explicit and less "magic" than Rails, making it easier to understand and debug
- Better built-in admin interface for managing database content
- Stronger support for asynchronous programming and WebSockets
Cons of Django
- Less convention over configuration, requiring more boilerplate code
- Smaller ecosystem and fewer third-party packages compared to Rails
- Steeper learning curve for beginners due to its more explicit nature
Code Comparison
Django view:
from django.http import HttpResponse
def hello_world(request):
return HttpResponse("Hello, World!")
Rails controller action:
class WelcomeController < ApplicationController
def hello
render plain: "Hello, World!"
end
end
Both frameworks offer concise ways to handle HTTP requests and responses, but Django's approach is more explicit, requiring the import of HttpResponse. Rails, on the other hand, provides the render method out of the box, showcasing its "convention over configuration" philosophy.
Django and Rails are both powerful web frameworks with their own strengths and weaknesses. The choice between them often depends on specific project requirements, team expertise, and personal preferences.
Laravel is a web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. We’ve already laid the foundation for your next big idea — freeing you to create without sweating the small things.
Pros of Laravel
- Simpler learning curve and easier to get started for beginners
- More flexible and less opinionated, allowing developers more freedom in structuring their applications
- Built-in support for frontend development with Vue.js
Cons of Laravel
- Smaller ecosystem and community compared to Rails
- Less mature and battle-tested in large-scale enterprise applications
- Fewer built-in features and conventions, requiring more manual setup
Code Comparison
Laravel route definition:
Route::get('/users', [UserController::class, 'index']);
Rails route definition:
get '/users', to: 'users#index'
Laravel model definition:
class User extends Model
{
protected $fillable = ['name', 'email'];
}
Rails model definition:
class User < ApplicationRecord
validates :name, :email, presence: true
end
Both frameworks offer elegant syntax for common web development tasks, but Rails tends to be more concise and follows stricter conventions. Laravel provides more flexibility in how developers structure their code, which can be beneficial for certain projects but may lead to less consistency across different applications.
Spring Framework
Pros of Spring Framework
- More flexible and modular architecture, allowing developers to use only the components they need
- Better performance and scalability for large enterprise applications
- Extensive support for various data access technologies and integration with other Java frameworks
Cons of Spring Framework
- Steeper learning curve due to its complexity and extensive configuration options
- More verbose code compared to Rails, requiring more boilerplate
- Slower development speed for small to medium-sized projects
Code Comparison
Spring Framework:
@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api")
public class UserController {
@Autowired
private UserService userService;
@GetMapping("/users")
public List<User> getAllUsers() {
return userService.findAll();
}
}
Rails:
class UsersController < ApplicationController
def index
@users = User.all
render json: @users
end
end
The Spring Framework example demonstrates its dependency injection and annotation-based configuration, while the Rails example showcases its convention-over-configuration approach and concise syntax. Spring requires more setup but offers greater flexibility, whereas Rails prioritizes simplicity and rapid development.
Peace of mind from prototype to production
Pros of Phoenix
- Significantly faster performance and lower latency than Rails
- Built-in real-time capabilities with channels and presence
- Leverages Elixir's concurrency model for better scalability
Cons of Phoenix
- Smaller ecosystem and fewer third-party libraries compared to Rails
- Steeper learning curve, especially for developers new to functional programming
- Less mature and battle-tested in production environments
Code Comparison
Phoenix controller:
defmodule MyAppWeb.UserController do
use MyAppWeb, :controller
def index(conn, _params) do
users = Repo.all(User)
render(conn, "index.html", users: users)
end
end
Rails controller:
class UsersController < ApplicationController
def index
@users = User.all
render 'index'
end
end
Both frameworks follow similar MVC patterns, but Phoenix leverages Elixir's syntax and functional programming paradigms. Rails uses Ruby's object-oriented approach, which may be more familiar to many developers.
Phoenix excels in performance and real-time capabilities, making it suitable for applications requiring high concurrency and low latency. Rails offers a larger ecosystem and may be easier for newcomers to web development. The choice between the two depends on project requirements, team expertise, and scalability needs.
Convert
designs to code with AI
Introducing Visual Copilot: A new AI model to turn Figma designs to high quality code using your components.
Try Visual CopilotREADME
Welcome to Rails
What's Rails?
Rails is a web-application framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern.
Understanding the MVC pattern is key to understanding Rails. MVC divides your application into three layers: Model, View, and Controller, each with a specific responsibility.
Model layer
The Model layer represents the domain model (such as Account, Product,
Person, Post, etc.) and encapsulates the business logic specific to
your application. In Rails, database-backed model classes are derived from
ActiveRecord::Base
. Active Record allows you to present the data from
database rows as objects and embellish these data objects with business logic
methods.
Although most Rails models are backed by a database, models can also be ordinary
Ruby classes, or Ruby classes that implement a set of interfaces as provided by
the Active Model module.
View layer
The View layer is composed of "templates" that are responsible for providing appropriate representations of your application's resources. Templates can come in a variety of formats, but most view templates are HTML with embedded Ruby code (ERB files). Views are typically rendered to generate a controller response or to generate the body of an email. In Rails, View generation is handled by Action View.
Controller layer
The Controller layer is responsible for handling incoming HTTP requests and
providing a suitable response. Usually, this means returning HTML, but Rails controllers
can also generate XML, JSON, PDFs, mobile-specific views, and more. Controllers load and
manipulate models, and render view templates in order to generate the appropriate HTTP response.
In Rails, incoming requests are routed by Action Dispatch to an appropriate controller, and
controller classes are derived from ActionController::Base
. Action Dispatch and Action Controller
are bundled together in Action Pack.
Frameworks and libraries
Active Record, Active Model, Action Pack, and Action View can each be used independently outside Rails.
In addition to that, Rails also comes with:
- Action Mailer, a library to generate and send emails
- Action Mailbox, a library to receive emails within a Rails application
- Active Job, a framework for declaring jobs and making them run on a variety of queuing backends
- Action Cable, a framework to integrate WebSockets with a Rails application
- Active Storage, a library to attach cloud and local files to Rails applications
- Action Text, a library to handle rich text content
- Active Support, a collection of utility classes and standard library extensions that are useful for Rails, and may also be used independently outside Rails
Getting Started
-
Install Rails at the command prompt if you haven't yet:
$ gem install rails
-
At the command prompt, create a new Rails application:
$ rails new myapp
where "myapp" is the application name.
-
Change directory to
myapp
and start the web server:$ cd myapp $ bin/rails server
Run with
--help
or-h
for options. -
Go to
http://localhost:3000
and you'll see the Rails bootscreen with your Rails and Ruby versions. -
Follow the guidelines to start developing your application. You may find the following resources handy:
Contributing
We encourage you to contribute to Ruby on Rails! Please check out the Contributing to Ruby on Rails guide for guidelines about how to proceed. Join us!
Trying to report a possible security vulnerability in Rails? Please check out our security policy for guidelines about how to proceed.
Everyone interacting in Rails and its sub-projects' codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms, and mailing lists is expected to follow the Rails code of conduct.
License
Ruby on Rails is released under the MIT License.
Top Related Projects
Classy web-development dressed in a DSL (official / canonical repo)
Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for node.
The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines.
Laravel is a web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. We’ve already laid the foundation for your next big idea — freeing you to create without sweating the small things.
Spring Framework
Peace of mind from prototype to production
Convert
designs to code with AI
Introducing Visual Copilot: A new AI model to turn Figma designs to high quality code using your components.
Try Visual Copilot