visualcondition blog - flash & ruby on rails

For an upcoming non-Flash project, that’s akin to classifieds/ebay flavor, I’ve decided to give Ruby on Rails a shot - instead of reaching for PHP, which I’m quasi-comfertable with. I’m not a php guru by any means, and what I do know ties in with AS2 fairly well, so I can do what I need to do in php with very little fuss. After all, I did make the Desuade site in php just a few months ago, and I was fairly comfortable working with it. And since php is so popular, if I had a question, just give’er a Google and thar she be: instant answers.

This project is a fairly involved project, and under a tight deadline, so one would think using something I know and am comfortable with, would allow me to get right in and get it done fast. Maybe. But what if there’s something I could use to get it done even faster? Pre-made scripts and templates for php are a dime a dozen, I could just pay a few bucks and download something and go from there, but you all know me better than to cheat like that. Escaping from the back of my mind, a voice, very passionate and excited, was yelling to me to take a gamble with RoR. This voice was yelling, almost screaming to give it a try, but it was subdued to a whisper over the course of months due to the amount on my plate.

So out of pure sourceless inspiration, I decided to dive head first into Ruby, and more importantly, the Rails framework. Boy I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Or maybe I did. Maybe I suppressed the urge to give it a try since I’m so sick of all the Web 2.00001 buzz words out there, and dismissed Rails as another silly trend. Or maybe, I saw how easily complex and dynamic sites were made a long time ago, and how aesthetic the whole aura of RoR was, that a secret passion to gobble Rails up was seeded deep within. Well the answer as you can guess, is that Ruby seed has sprouted just yesterday, and it’s being smothered with water and fertilizer.

Plant analogies aside, Ruby is a brilliant language, and when you put those glorious gems on Rails, you get the most web-two-point-ohy, brilliantly easy, and excitingly fun time you’ve ever had. I’ve never been so excited to learn a language in my life. I actually went to sleep depressed that I had to sleep and wait before I could keep learning RoR the next morning (well actually it was the same morning).

It’s only been 2 days and I’m making classes, migrating, raking, scaffolding, hoeing, sweeping, and even washing the windows with Rails! WowWOWOwoWOwoW!!1eleven!1

The selling point of RoR is the not so conventional way it works, yet how it follows standards, and the fun novelty factor. It’s just so interesting and fun to learn, it makes you excited to use it! Maybe no due so much to the interesting part, but more so on how you can do complex things in seconds, and how well it’s put together. I can see why it’s getting so popular.

I’ll be sharing my progress as I dwell deeper into the rabbit hole, so expect this to turn into a Flash and RoR blog (interestingly enough).

I think that little voice is on to something.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 4:07 pm and is filed under Ruby, Ruby on Rails. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.