How are Ruby and Rails related?

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+4 Q:

How are Ruby and Rails related?

First of all, i want some clarification :)

1) Is RoR like a server scripting language?

2) Can it be used as an alternative to php?

I started learning Ruby from The Ruby Programming Language book and haven't yet come across something which relates to the web. Is Ruby for desktop apps and Rails for web apps?

Thanks

+7 A:

ruby - dynamic programming language
ruby on rails - framework for creating web apps written in ruby

Arnis L. 2010-02-01 10:57:29

+3 A:

Ruby is an all-purpose scripting language. There are GUI toolkits for Ruby, sure.

Rails is a web framework implemented in Ruby, which can be used to develop web apps - as an alternative to PHP.

Leonid Shevtsov 2010-02-01 10:58:37

+2 A:

Ruby is a language - and one that encourages (some might say enforces) object-oriented programming.

Rails is a framework for writing applications and it uses the Ruby language - hence the term "Ruby on Rails".

Sohnee 2010-02-01 10:58:41

Not Really. Ruby on Rails is a web application framework written in Ruby. If you need a comparison, Ruby on Rails is for Ruby what Zend Framework, CakePHP or Symfony are for PHP.
Neither Ruby nor Ruby on Rails are real alternatives to PHP. PHP is a programming language focused on web applications. Ruby is a pure programming language which can be used for creating web applications.

Ruby on Rails offers a more high-level approach for writing web applications with Ruby. Ruby offers some low-level CGI libraries you can use to interact with web servers, but it requires much more effort compared to PHP (because again, PHP is a web-focused language). For this reason, almost nobody writes web application in Ruby without using a framework such as Rails, Sinatra or others.

Simone Carletti 2010-02-01 10:58:56

RoR is not written in PHP.

Gishu 2010-02-01 11:00:35

PHP is a Scripting language, not Programming language !! just like 'ol ASP!

balexandre 2010-02-01 11:03:24

What is the definition of a "scripting language" and what is a "programming language" so you can claim that X is one of them, but not the other?

Emil Ivanov 2010-02-01 11:05:35

I disagree with your second paragraph. Ruby alone is not focused on web applications like PHP is, but Ruby with Rails is very much a real alternative to PHP.

Christoffer Hammarström 2010-02-01 11:11:27

I don't agree with you in that PHP requires less effort to learn. It's something unmeasurable - too many factors. I could say Ruby is easier to learn since it looks more like plain English than PHP (which looks more like C).

egarcia 2010-02-01 13:44:35

The "more effort" was related to the interaction with web server. Ruby requires more effort to work with web server because it doesn't offert built-in server/cookie/session facilities like PHP does.

Simone Carletti 2010-02-01 13:52:36

@Emil Ivanov: Typically a "scripting" language is interpreted as it runs, whereas a "programming" language is compiled into an independent binary before it is run.

bta 2010-02-01 18:36:06

@bta: So this means that Java is a scripting language - it's compiled to bytecode and then ran.

Emil Ivanov 2010-02-01 18:45:29

PHP is a DSL for web servers. Ruby is a general purpose language with strong metaprogramming capabilities that make it suitable for creating DSL's. You could say that Ruby is a DSL metalanguage; RoR is an instance of a Ruby DSL.

Wayne Conrad 2010-02-01 23:28:59

+2 A:

Ruby is a general-purpose, dynamic, object-oriented scripting language
Ruby on Rails is a web framework that's written in Ruby

Rails' ActiveSupport module also enhances Ruby in certain ways by adding capabilities to some of Ruby's built-in classes. Rails depends on Ruby, but Ruby doesn't depend on Rails.

John Topley 2010-02-01 11:04:22

ansaurus

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