Django or RoR like common Java or ASP web-frameworks

Question

Hello, I am a fan of big agile software development methodology and love to develop web pages using Django and RoR. However, it creates a big constrain as there are really very few Django or RoR developers to hire.

For a new web project, we will be hiring developers and even though I would love to see these employees using such tools, sadly it will be either impossible to find related developers or even if we find them(virtually impossible for my country), we will be very dependant on them.

Also time is a big constrain thus considering "finding clever programmers and letting them learn these technologies" is not an option.

Under these conditions, I would like to hear common Java or .Net alternatives and why would you suggest them.

I can think of Spring, Hibernate, Stripes, Struts and Wicket for Java

Also Microsoft ASP.NET MVC looks really promising.

EDIT: I Need to mention that I won't be an active developer for this project but act as a manager.

Regards

Answer 1

ASP.NET MVC is quite promising. It "borrows" a lot of its ideas from the Rails framework and community. I am a ASP.NET (MVC)/C# developer primarily, but had the opportunity of doing some Rails development before I moved from traditional ASP.NET WebForms to ASP.NET MVC. After doing development in Rails, I found it quite easy to make the transition to ASP.NET MVC.

Also, I haven't done any web development in Java, but since there are so many web frameworks to choose from, you may not find enough Java developers to build out and ramp up a team quickly enough, all with experience in the same Java web framework.

Answer 2

web4j might be what you're asking for. However, it is not that popular and your developers will have to learn the framework too. I think it will be faster than learning a new language though.

I believe that building a framework in java or .Net that resembles RoR or DJango is very difficult. This because the languages designs are so different. Also because Java and .Net target the enterprise market, which usually requires more robustness.

Answer 3

If you want Java, Spring, and Hibernate with RoR-like "convention over coding", why not try Grails? It's based on Java, Groovy, Spring, and Hibernate. You'll be able to get a lift similar to RoR for web-based CRUD apps.

Answer 4

Agile development really has nothing to do with what languages or tools you're using. Of course, certain tools and methodologies make it easier (MVC tends to make it easier), but my suggestions would be as such:

1. Go with ASP.NET MVC. It borrows a lot of the good stuff from Rails, and provides some powerful tools that will make developing ASP very friendly to everyone involved.
2. Use an agile planning tool. I suggest Skinnyboard, as it allows you to do true agile planning.
3. Don't fret about the tech! Agile is how you manage the project, not the technologies that the project is using.

Answer 5

You're asking how to develop webapps fast with enterprise frameworks vs RoR.

My initial answer is you can't expect to develop webapps in .NET/(Spring/Hiberbnate) as you would for RoR. Lots more setup, lots more to learn and understand at a deeper level. Lots of configuration.

I don't see php here. I assume a lot more people use php. Why not look at php and symfony. Symfony derives its fundamentals from RoR.

If none of the above fit the bill I'd go for Spring/Hibernate/MySQL/Tomcat. We developed multiple largescale web apps with that stack in an agile Scrum/Sprint scenerio

Answer 6

A platform based on Seam/Hibernate/JBoss sounds exactly like what you're looking for.

Seam is the web framework, Hibernate is the object relational model, and JBoss is the server container.

After coming up with a database schema, you can even use seam-gen to reverse engineer it and do your "scaffolding."

It's flexible, enterprise level, and free to work with.

Furthermore, Java developers are everywhere.

Answer 7

For Java, VRaptor has a controller+view implementation similar to rails actionpack, and uses a DI Container based on Spring. Also has some nice integration with Hibernate/JPA, XML/JSON serialization using XStream, helpers for Integration Tests and a pretty nice documentation.

Answer 8

Haven't tried it myself, but Play! Framework for Java looks very promising. RESTful architecture, MVC and a neat admin interface (like Django) built in.