(A-Z) Everything You Should Know About Ruby Use

There are numerous options available regarding programming languages for the cloud. Many developers prefer Ruby to create rapid applications with clear and understandable code. Ruby use is an excellent option for custom web application development, and it clearly outperforms Python in web development. With 7.1% of respondents working as Ruby on Rails developers, Ruby has ranked as the 17th most popular programming language globally in the 2022 Stack Overflow Developer Survey. 

In this article, we’ll discuss what the Ruby programming language is, in what way Ruby use is beneficial for developers, and how it stands out among other frameworks like Python and Java.

From A to Z: Everything About Ruby

Yukihiro Matsumoto created the object-oriented scripting language Ruby in the middle of the 1990s. Ruby is a popular, general-purpose, object-oriented programming language known for its simplicity and expressiveness. It’s a server-side scripting language, just like Python or PERL. This, it’s used for backend software development. In contrast, Ruby on Rails (RoR) is a full-fledged web application framework of ruby with an open-source MIT license. Ruby on Rails has created 380,996 global websites on 199,681 unique domains as of March 2021. This framework covers both backend and frontend software development. 

In this article, we’ll talk about Ruby programming language first. However, Ruby and RoR complement one another and could be used in conjunction. So we’ll talk about RoR as well. 

Ruby and Its History

To accelerate development, Yukihiro set out to build a scripting language that made use of object-oriented programming and increased code reuse, and thus Ruby programming language was created. Ruby use is straightforward, with simple syntax to manage data and logic to solve issues. 

• Ruby programming language was created in Japan in the mid-1990s by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto. Matsumoto began designing Ruby in 1993 as a hobby project, and the first public release of the language, version 0.95, was made in December 1995.
• Ruby on Rails framework was developed in 2004.
• The popularity of Ruby programming language began in 2006 when it was awarded the Tiobe “Programming Language of the Year“.
• 2018 saw the introduction of Ruby 2.6.1 with improved features and enhanced performance. The goal of the Ruby 3 developers was to triple the language’s speed over Ruby 2.
• There were 10 updates of the Ruby on Rails framework in 2022. The framework is constantly improving. The latest major update is Ruby on Rails 7.
• There were 12 releases of the Ruby programming language in 2022. The language isn’t about to die at all. The latest major update is Ruby 3.
• Numerous companies prefer Ruby use, including some well-known ones like SlideShare. Moreover, companies such as Basecamp, Airbnb, Kickstarter, CrunchBase, Groupon, Twitch, Bloomberg, Hulu, Dribble, Shopify, and GitHub, have come to trust Ruby on Rails.
• Ruby language on GitHub has 19.6k stars.
• Ruby is a flexible and user-friendly programming language that is used by about one million websites.
• Research of JetBrains says that over a million programmers use Ruby, and there are currently 300.000 professional Ruby programmers.

Ruby’s Strengths or How You Benefit from Ruby

Faster Development

Ruby use with less code redundancy and more precise syntax results in escalated development speed of the project. Ruby has been shown to cut development time by more than 30%, that is why ruby use is widely adopted for development. The Agile methodology of Ruby lets businesses and developers write and test code simultaneously to ensure rapid development. This enables enterprises to produce software that meets higher standards and enables Ruby developers to accomplish more with less code.

Free Libraries and Gems

In Ruby programming language, “libraries” refer to collections of pre-written code that can be used to perform specific tasks or solve specific problems. These libraries are typically made available to developers through package managers like RubyGems, which allow users to easily install, manage, and use these libraries in their own code.

RubyGems is a package manager for Ruby that provides a simple and easy-to-use way to install and manage Ruby libraries, also known as “gems”. Gems are packages of code that can be used to extend the functionality of Ruby applications. They are typically published on the RubyGems website and can be installed using the gem command-line tool.

RubyGems provides a central repository of gems that can be accessed and installed with ease. It has over 1 million registered users and over 170,000 libraries available for download. Developers can also create and publish their own gems to RubyGems, making it a vibrant and active community of open-source code.

Using libraries and gems can significantly simplify the development process by providing pre-built solutions to common problems, reducing the amount of time and effort required to develop complex functionality from scratch. Additionally, using well-established libraries and gems can also improve the reliability and security of your code, as these packages are often heavily tested and peer-reviewed before being published to the community.

Massive Community

Ruby is renowned for having an active community where people help one another and add new features to the codebase to ensure better technological development. Events like RailsConf are an excellent chance for businesses to meet framework developers and hire from a large talent pool. According to a latest update, the approximate number of ruby developers is 1.8 million. GitHub is the primary hub for Ruby developers, where companies can interact and recruit talent. 

Efficient Backend Development

Instead of spending ten times as much time and money constructing the same thing with other tools, many businesses are now preferring Ruby use to create fully-featured backend infrastructures for their Minimum Viable Products. Even after a software/application release, Ruby makes it simple for companies to update it and add new features to the code base.

Best Design Paradigms

Ruby language has design standards and features, such as DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) and CoC (Convention over Configuration), that other server-side programming languages do not offer. DRY or Do not Repeat approach to Ruby use in development focuses on decreasing information repetition. CoC provides better code readability and navigation among multiple segments of a Ruby-based application. 

Ruby’s Weakness or What You’ll Struggle With

Delayed Runtime

Linkedin shows that the runtime speed of Ruby is slower than those of specific other languages.

Image Source: Linkedin

However, this issue only arrives when there is significant traffic of millions of users on a company’s website/application. The updated version of Ruby supports multiple database connections where runtime efficiency can be accelerated by dividing the work between separate databases.

Expensive Developers

Salary.com stated on October 27, 2022, that the average income that Ruby programmers earn in the United States is approximately $81,096. Ruby stands in the 6th position globally among the highest-paid programming languages of 2022. But companies using Ruby can only be sure that their project will be of high quality by utilizing the experience of qualified professionals

When Ruby Performs Great

Web development is mostly about Ruby on Rails rather than about Ruby. In this abstract, we’ll speak about software categories RoR is suitable for. For real-life cases, look at our top 29 websites built on Ruby on Rails. Keeping that in mind, the following areas of web development see the most widespread use of Ruby and Rails apps: 

• Projects with numerous complex functions
• Large-scale initiatives demand radical changes and undergo constant parameter adjustments.
• Short-term projects to create MVPs and prototypes.
• E-commerce refers to sophisticated internet stores.
• Exchange platforms for stocks.
• Social media sites.
• Servers and API clients
• SaaS-solutions.

Image Source: sloboda-studio

1. Is Ruby Used for E-commerce? 

The answer is yes. Ruby’s prominent features, like rapid development, versatility, and cost-effectiveness, enable the management of numerous transactions at once, making it an ideal choice for developing eCommerce software development. Many E-commerce platforms like Spree or Shopify prefer Ruby use for their development.

2. Is Ruby Used for Web Development?

Ruby has a famous web development framework called Ruby on Rails, released in 2005. The structure of every Rails app is defined by conventions, which saves developers time when setting up their projects. Developers can produce certain sections of their applications with just a few easy commands using Ruby’s code generator feature. Popular web development platforms supported by Ruby are SoundCloud, GitHub, Zendesk, Ask.fm, and Twitch.

3. Is Ruby Used for Data Processing?

Ruby occupies the lead position when it comes to data processing. The cleaning, processing, and filtering of data are perfectly suited to this programming language. An example of a data processing tool created using Ruby and VueJS is ADAlytics. This tool is used to visualize complex data. ADControl is the firm that created ADAlytics. This firm has a fantastic stream of information derived from radio and television commercials which they further use to derive useful insights such as how frequently a specific ad airs on a broadcaster, etc.

4. Is Ruby Used for Web Scraping?

For web scraping tasks, Ruby has several packages. Crawling and downloading web pages is done using libraries like Vessel. To make data analysis easier, Ruby libraries like Nokogiri are used. Nokogiri to parse HTML from crawled pages to specific areas of the page. Ruby web scraping is used for multiple purposes like lead generation, brand monitoring, market research, and competitor analysis.

5. Is Ruby Used for Static Site Generation?

Yes. A static site generator creates all the pages for a website at once while using code. A static HTML file is produced when you visit a URL after those pages have been deployed to a server. Static site generators produce quick, effective, safe, and simple-to-deploy websites. They are helpful for websites with static content as well. Jekyll and Nanoc.app are popular static site generators written in Ruby. Groupon is another popular company that uses Ruby for static site generation.

6. Is Ruby Used for DevOps and Automation?

Website deployment, DevOps, and automation all employ Ruby programming language. Heroku is a popular web app deployment platform supported by Ruby. Heroku is used to simplify the deployment process, making it easy for developers who do not possess DevOps expertise. Vagrant, a popular tool, is also written in Ruby. Vagrant is used to managing virtual machines from any operating system. For example, one can write code for Linux systems on Windows or Mac and can still check their operating validity for other operating systems.

Ruby vs. Python vs. JavaScript 

	When to Use	When Shouldn’t be Used
Ruby	Web Development Projects: Ruby use is ideal for developing powerful online applications/platforms. Fewer lines of redundant code in Ruby promote clarity, simplicity, and rationality. This results in rapid development, i.e., web platforms built in weeks or months can now be completed in a matter of days. E-Commerce Projects: Ruby on Rails use is renowned for its capacity to reduce development costs and time. Companies can effortlessly develop prominent features of e-commerce platforms, like authentication, authorization, payment, shopping carts, etc., by using Ruby gems. For example, the e-commerce platform Cubebrush was launched within a year, with only two developers working on it. Small Business Startups: Startups and small/medium businesses get a competitive edge against larger firms through ruby use. The Ruby use provides advantages to small or non-profit startups including cost-effectiveness, speed, scalability, access to the broadest knowledge base, and prototyping simplicity.	Massive Projects: The Ruby framework takes a while to start up, especially when working on a large project. The slow runtime speed can be a problem for projects that receive a large amount of traffic.   Creative Projects: Ruby is beneficial if developers only work with the built-in modules. But Ruby does not provide much room for customization to construct something innovative or unique.
Python	Web Development Projects: Python aids in the scalable, secure, and rapid development of web applications. Django, Pyramid, and Flask are some notable python frameworks that support easier development and integration with HTTPS, XML, and SSI protocols.  Data Science and Machine Learning: Python works best in developing applications for data science and ML because a large variety of python libraries (Pandas, Seaborn, NumPy, etc.) are available for data processing, data visualization, and data cleaning. It also has a fantastic support community. ERP Application Development: Due to the scalable and secure nature of python, it is ideal to use it for creating high-level enterprise applications. Python is mostly used for handling databases and supporting numerous database calls at once. This makes it top choice for ERP development.	Low Memory Projects: The structures in Python require more memory. The utilization of python language for the development of projects under memory constraints is not recommended. Game Development: Due to the slower processing speed and higher memory consumption of python in comparison to other programming languages, python is not thought to be the best programming language for creating games and mobile apps. Projects with Legacy Data: The database access layer of python is immature and underdeveloped compared to other widely used technologies like java database connectivity. This results in high security risks for applications.  Therefore, using Python is inappropriate if developers want to develop a project that requires interaction with complex legacy or confidential data.
Java	Android Development: Java is specifically made for mobile devices and aids in creating apps that work with Google’s operating system for smartphones, tablets, etc. Popular platforms built with Java include Google Maps and Zoho business suite. Java enables the creation of applications that don’t require any code rewriting for various operating systems. Server-side Applications: The Java language is used to develop server applications. Java is ideal for this purpose because it provides fast data processing and can be synced with numerous servers, which increases the stability of the applications. For example, ATMs created using Java provides reliability, scalability, and stability while dealing with large amounts of transactional data from around the globe. Web Development: The Java technique offers several capabilities, such as Java Server Pages (JSP) or Servlets. These features are ideal for developing dynamic web pages and platforms.	Simple/Small Project: Java is best to use for complicated projects to scale. Utilizing this framework serves to streamline your work and save time by using standard JavaScript. For small projects, the time you save will be outweighed by the time you spend learning the framework. Creating Complex GUIs: Even while Java has GUI builders for designing graphical interfaces, they are still not appropriate for complex UI creation. You must work with third-party GUI builders to address this deficiency. But this becomes a time-consuming task while determining which option is best for your project.

Ruby and RoR Development with SumatoSoft

SumatoSoft is a software development service provider that became a technological partner to its Clients across 27 countries. Our portfolio counts over 150 successful projects in various industries like eCommerce app development, Elearning software, Finance, Real Estate, Logistics software development, Travel, and more. 

The company delivers exemplary services in 10+ business domains and works with all types of technologies like Big Data, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, web, mobile, and progressive app development. However, our key expertise areas are Ruby, Ruby on Rails and the Internet of Things development. 

We mastered Ruby on Rails working on projects like: 

• the user interfaces for robot operation;
• custom ERP system for Toyota car dealer;
• big data trading platform.

And dozens of other projects. We also enjoy writing about Ruby on Rails technology and know its usage, pitfalls, benefits. Look at our blog articles: 

• Build Your Live-Streaming Service with Ruby on Rails and TokBox.
• Ruby on Rails for Startups: Birds of a Feather.
• Why use Ruby on Rails for Your Software Development Project.
• 15+ Best Sources to Hire Ruby on Rails Developers for Your Project.

We can make a massive contribution to the development of complex projects. Contact us if you are looking for high-level technical expertise. 

Conclusion 

To sum up, this article addressed why Ruby is a commonly used language in the tech industry and highlighted its primary benefits and drawbacks. Ruby use is the relatively best choice for developing technically challenging web projects. 

Developers appreciate Ruby for multiple reasons: Ruby facilitates code writing and fastens the process thanks to its expressive syntax and high-level abstractions. Another major reason is that it’s easy to modify and extend existing code thanks to dynamic typing and an open class system. Moreover, the developers’ community is large and active. 

The community size ranges from several hundred thousand to millions of developers worldwide. There are many online resources available for Ruby developers, such as forums, blogs, and documentation websites. The RubyGems package manager, which is used to distribute and manage Ruby libraries, has over 1 million registered users and over 170,000 libraries available for download.

Sumatosoft possesses the solid technical expertise to create products with the best Ruby programming techniques that operate seamlessly. Contact us if you plan